I’ve been meaning to read more of Greg Bear’s short stories, especially after reading Blood Music (my review can be found here), a groundbreaking novel that was originally based on one of his earlier stories. Fortunately his short-story collection Just Over the Horizon caught my eye right when I was looking for something to read over my vacation.
I’ve said it before, but my favorite thing about China Miéville’s writing is how he comes up with ideas that are so off the wall, so completely out of nowhere, and then builds a whole story around them. And they become such a matter-of-fact part of the world you accept the idea completely, as if it
A lot of people think the “Vampire Bubble” may have burst (Vampire Diaries seems to be gearing up for its final season, True Blood is already gone, Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Dracula never got off the ground) and that zombies have taken their place in that part of geek culture that wants to be scared by
Readers of Chuck Palahniuk’s comic book sequel to Fight Club might see his recently released short-story collection Make Something Up and think “Oh hey, it’s the guy who wrote the book that the Brad Pitt film was based on. I’ll probably love this.” Whoa. Slow down. Hold up. Hang on just a minute. Palahniuk is
I remember Icarus. He flew too close to the sun. In the stories, though, it’s worth it. Always worth it to have tried, even if you fail, even if you fall like a meteor forever. Better to have flamed in the darkness, to have inspired others, to have lived, than to have sat in the darkness, cursing
Talking stags, on the other hand, were nearly always bespelled royalty, and fairies, who could theoretically choose to look like anything, nearly always picked white cats or black horses. Fairies are very beautiful and very vain and they haven’t got the imagination to fill a thimble. And they never learn from their mistakes. I’ve followed
Around this time of year all the book publishers start talking about what you should be reading over the next couple of months. “Great Beach Books”, “Perfect Summer Reading”. No one gets very specific about the criteria though. Should the books be light and easy to read? Linked to big news stories or the latest
There are a lot of Neil Gaiman projects coming out this year that I’m REALLY looking forward to: a graphic novel version of The Graveyard Book (with art by the incomparable P.Craig Russell), a very creepy-looking children’s book adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, an illustrated version of Gaiman’s novelette The Truth is a Cave in the Black
Post-apocalyptic fiction is about worlds that have already burned. Apocalyptic fiction is about worlds that are burning. The End is Nigh is about the match. I love short story collections – eat them up like candy, actually, so expect to see me review one every few weeks – but sometimes it’s hard to find one with