Books: Thrilling Tales of Barbarians and Mutinies! Plus, Mind Hacks

[woodwardiocom]

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon

This anthology was Chabon's experiment with subverting the modern definition of the short story, which he lays out as "the quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory story". He went out and asked authors for stories with plots in 'em, darnit. The stories he ended up with are often quotidian, and also often revelatory, but they do actually have plots, and some of them (particularly Gaiman's "Closing Time", Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium", and (though I wouldn't have guessed it was to my taste) Laurie King's "Weaving the Dark") are quite good. A few others, I didn't finish. Moderately recommended as an experiment in modern short stories, not recommended as a collection of pulp advenutures (as the cover might lead you to think it is).

Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner Fox

Though Fox is better known for his work in comics, I seem to have a soft spot for his novels. Kothar is a blithe Conan-clone (to the point that the Kothar stories were adapted into Conan comics in the 70s), but they're moderately imaginative and entertaining. Even if Fox clearly had no idea what "shibboleth" means.

Mutiny in Space by Avram Davidson

A novel about the loyal survivors of a mutiny, who set down in their lifeboat on a planet where the women are six feet tall, and the men are three feet tall, with the inevitable result that the women are the warriors. The coming of six-foot-tall men into this society rips it to bits, even before the rapacious mutineers show up . . . Interesting, and I give Davidson points for wrapping up a complex plot in the last few sentences of the book, with seconds to spare, but I'm still not sure why people are so gung-ho about him.

Mind Hacks by Stafford and Webb

An O'Reilly book about assorted tricks of how our brain works, many of which are kinda freaky to learn. Summary: Our brain is faking it most of the time, and it's very easy to make the seams show, if you know how. Recommended.

Comments

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

Huh. What else by Davidson have you read by him? I don't think novels are his best medium, frankly, though his Marco Polo novel (*checks* Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty) is pretty good. I think short stories and essays are his best works.

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

What Jess said, although I would also heartily endorse Peregrine: Primus and Peregrine: Secundus. And The Phoenix and the Mirror. But yes, short stories and essays are AD's forte: go read Limekiller! and Or All the Seas With Oysters and The Other Nineteenth Century and the Esterhazy stories. And Adventures in Unhistory, of course.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

What else by Davidson have you read

Rogue Dragon. What's his best short story collection?

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

I'd begin with The Avram Davidson Treasury (used copy for $4.99 at Amazon).

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I'm reading a book of short stories by George RR Martin right now and I couldn't agree more. On the other hand, I've read books of non-SF short stories that I liked quite a bit. Perhaps SF is more prone to spending ten plotless pages to set up a sketchy world and an even sketchier character just for a revelatory moment that was painfully telegraphed two pages in. Or maybe just George RR Martin is.

[mizarchivist]

Laurie King is one of my all-time favorite authors. So is Neil, but that's more obvious, I think.

[superfinemind.livejournal.com]

Enchanted Chamber of Amazing Stories was better. Still some quotidian stuff, but some utterly blissfully brilliant stuff, too. (And less as a whole, so the good-to-bad quotient is much improved.) In particular, the closed-door mystery by the man behind Lemony Snicket is one of the better stories I've read in a very long time. (I've recommended it to you before, because it has one of Mieville's document stories. The other real shining highlights are "7C" and the Margaret Atwood story "Lusus Naturae.") The premise of the volume is similar, but the opening essay this time discusses genre and boundaries therein.

What did you think of "The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter"? I liked that one a bunch. (The same plot was used in a CSI Vegas episode last semester. My mother was astounded when I sussed out the entire show after perhaps five minutes.)

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

What did you think of "The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter"?

I liked it. Probably not as much as you did, but I thought it was a neat premise.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Enchanted Chamber of Amazing Stories

Oh, and, this is already in my to-be-read stack, merci!