Short Story Wednesday: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

I bought this small hardback book consisting of one short story because it was pretty, very appealing, and with lovely illustrations. And apparently a Christmas story. For its size, it was expensive, not exorbitant, but an indulgence.  I bought it at our lovely independent book store (at a 50th anniversary sale, so I got 20% off).

Previous to reading this story, I had read nothing by Susanna Clarke and I had no idea what to expect. 

I loved the story. It is a fantasy story about a young woman, Merowdis, who loves animals and nature. She has many dogs and many cats, and a pig, plus other assorted animals. She prefers to spend her time in the woods alone, and she has a sister, Ysolde, who understands her and aids and abets her in her escapes to the woods. The rest of her family wants her to marry and be normal.

As the story begins, Ysolde takes Merowdis out to the woods in the chaise, dropping her at the gates to the wood, leaving her to walk alone in the woods with two of the dogs and the pig, named Apple. 

The story begins a few days before Christmas and there are mentions of the Christmas season, but I hardly noticed the connection to Christmas the first time I read it. 

I loved the Afterward too, where the author talks about her inspiration and sources for the story. It was as good as the story, and I found both the story and the afterword moving.

The story takes up 42 pages of the book but there are a lot of illustrations, so it is really about 30 pages long. The illustrations by Victoria Sawdon are gorgeous and the writing is magical.

Top Ten Tuesday: My status on my Bookish Goals for 2023

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is "Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year." 

I am choosing an alternate option, to report on how I have done on my Bookish Goals for 2023, which I shared in more detail last January on my blog. After each goal, I am adding a brief note about my status as of the end of September.

1. Read more graphic novels.  I was aiming for one a month.

Current Status:  I read a total of five so far: two graphic memoirs in August, and three books in the A Man and His Cat series (Japanese manga). This is an improvement over last year.

2. Read more science fiction. My aim in 2023 was to read ten novels or short story anthologies.

Current Status: I did not do very well in this area. I read two science fictions novels (one by John Scalzi, the other an alternate history book). And a few short stories. Next year I would change this goal to also include fantasy novels. 

3. Read more espionage novels. My goal was to read 10 or 12. Specific authors I would like to catch up on are Anthony Price, Victor Canning, Len Deighton, Mick Herron, and Charles Cumming.

Current Status: I have only read six spy fiction novels in 2023 so far. I read novels by Anthony Price, Victor Canning, and Mick Herron, but haven't read any by Len Deighton or Charles Cumming.

4. Aim at reading books on my shelves rather than buying new books. 

Current Status: I did very well on reading books from my own shelves. My goal for 2023 is 48 books, and I am only one shy of that at this point. But I have not succeeded at all on cutting back on buying new (to me) books.

5. Read more ebooks. I continue to buy ebooks but hardly ever read them. 

Current Status: Total Failure. I have read one ebook this year.

6. Read some every morning. Anything would be fine, but I can't read ebooks at night because it interferes with my sleep, so ebooks would be a priority. 

Current Status: Not much progress on this one either. I sometimes read in the morning or afternoon, but only now and then.

7. Read more books from my Classics List. My goal was to read at least one classic a month. 

Current Status: I think I only read five books from my classics list this year. I am far behind on completing my Classics List.

8. Train myself to write short reviews. I don't necessarily want to write only brief reviews, but I would like to master that art.

Current Status: I did make some efforts in this area, but with little results. However, it is still an important goal for me.

9. Complete more short story anthologies or collections. I currently have many half-finished short story books all over the house. 

Current Status: My goal was to complete one short story book a month. On a quick glance through the blog, I think I finished 5 collections or anthologies so far this year. That is not bad, but I may have to accept that I just don't like that approach to reading short stories; usually I just want to dip in and out of short story anthologies or collections.

10. I want to regularly track my goals and any challenges I participate in. 

Current Status: I knew that would be a real challenge for me, and I haven't kept up with it. I have to decide how much I care about this, and whether it is worthwhile for me.

Summing up

To be honest, I don't know that I am going to push to finish any of my current goals in the last three months of the year. In the summer months, I read a lot of books from my TBR shelves for the 20 Books of Summer (all of which I enjoyed), and now I am more interested in just reading what strikes my fancy for the rest of the year. Between now and the end of the year, I plan to read two books for the 1962 Club in October and I hope to read some books with Christmas themes in December.

However, this has given me a great opportunity to think about what Bookish Goals I want to aim at in 2024.

 

Assassin's Apprentice: Robin Hobb

 

Introductory description from Goodreads: 

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

Fitz is initially cared for and trained to work in the stables by Burrich, who is strict and standoffish. Burrich worked for Prince Chivalry before he abdicated, and he blames Fitz for his "demotion." Eventually the King offers Fitz the opportunity to have a role in the family as the King's assassin. He begins very intense training with Chade, in secret. Fitz is still not accepted by many members of the family.

My thoughts:

I am not an experienced fantasy reader. I have read other fantasy series but not a lot and not this type (I guess it is called High Fantasy). I would have been shocked by the corruption and evil among the members of the court, but the same behavior occurred in actual courts I have read about. With so much corruption at all levels, the reader never knows who to trust. 

The only other fantasy series that I liked almost as much as this one is the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. And that series is a cross-genre blend with detectives, policemen, and crime investigation of a sort so it fits into my standard reading. I have read other fantasy series that I liked, but this is the first one I really got invested in.

Some reviews said that this book is slow and not a page turner. Maybe it is slow, in that it doesn't have a lot of action, but I found it to be a page turner from the beginning. I read the first few chapters just to see if I wanted to get involved in a long book (435 pages). After about 50 pages, maybe less, I knew I was going to continue and hoped it would stay just as compelling throughout. And it did.

I gather that this book uses tropes that are common in fantasy series: the bastard child of royalty; apprenticeships; an unhappy and confusing childhood. But it was all new to me so not a problem at all. 

I thought the characters were very well done. There were many characters that I cared about and a few others that I despised. I got very caught up in the story. I want to read more of the series to see what happens to the characters, the good ones and the bad ones. 

I discovered this book and author via Cath at Read-Warbler. She recently reviewed The Mad Ship, the second book in the second trilogy by Robin Hobb about this world, The Realm of the Elderlings. My son had a copy of the first book in the first trilogy, so I started reading it just a few days later. 

The cover of this paperback edition is an illustration by Michael Whelan.

Publisher:   Bantam Books, 1996 (orig. pub. 1995)
Length:      435 pages 
Format:      Paperback
Series:       The Farseer Trilogy, #1
Genre:       Fantasy
Source:      Borrowed from my son

Short Story Wednesday: The Ghost of Opalina by Peggy Bacon

This was another book I read for the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril event. The Ghost of Opalina is a children's fantasy, made up of a series of linked stories that Opalina, the ghost cat, tells to the children of the house that she has lived in for all of her nine lives. None of these stories are scary, and Opalina never behaves maliciously. She does protect those she cares about.

The book begins with a family, Mr. and Mrs. Finley and their three children, moving to a house in the country with lots of land, gardens, barns and such. They arrive in the summer, and the children have all their days free to explore. Their parents have set up a play room for them in a section of the house that has no electricity. One evening they stay in the room until after dusk, and when it gets dark in the room they see a glowing form in an old stuffed chair in the room. This is Opalina, a beautiful white cat, who announces to them that she is a ghost and can only be seen at night. They beg her to tell them about the various families that have lived in the house since she was there.

The unique aspect of this children's book is that the stories give the reader a picture of the house and the way people lived over two centuries, from 1750 up to 1966, the year the Finley family moved in. The first story is First Life, 1750: "The Mice, the Mouser and the Mean Young Man." The last story is Ninth Life, 1966: "Trick or Treat." The book was published in 1967. Most of the stories are from 20 to 40 pages in length.

This was a fun and entertaining read, although certainly aimed at children. I see it as a perfect book for reading aloud to children of any age. I was particularly drawn to the book because it is illustrated by the author. And a book featuring a cat is always of interest. 

Many reviewers at Goodreads mention that they loved this book as a child and were thrilled to find an affordable copy. For many years this book was only available for high prices online.

I first heard of this book at Staircase Wit. Constance's post also has more information about the author and illustrator, Peggy Bacon.

My Son's Books from the 2022 Book Sale

 

For the next couple of book sale posts, be prepared for more variety than usual. My son reads mostly fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction. My husband reads all types of fiction, but leans toward nonfiction.

The Planned Parenthood Book Sale ran from September 16th through September 25th, over two weekends. We visited five times. 

This post showcases some of the books that my son found at the book sale, and there are a lot of gorgeous covers here.

Zero World by Jason M. Hough  (578 pages)

From the book description at Goodreads:

Technologically enhanced superspy Peter Caswell has been dispatched on a top-secret assignment unlike any he’s ever faced. A spaceship that vanished years ago has been found, along with the bodies of its murdered crew—save one. Peter’s mission is to find the missing crew member, who fled through what appears to be a tear in the fabric of space. Beyond this mysterious doorway lies an even more confounding reality: a world that seems to be Earth’s twin.

I like stories that merge spying and science fiction, and a parallel Earth could be interesting.

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owens (369 pages)

This is a YA Fantasy with a gorgeous cover. I liked the description and I love the cover, and there is a cat named Barf.

From the cover of the book:

Fie abides by one rule: look after your own. Her Crow caste of undertakers and mercy-killers takes more abuse than coin, but when they’re called to collect royal dead, she’s hoping they’ll find the payout of a lifetime.

When Crown Prince Jasimir turns out to have faked his death, Fie’s ready to cut her losses—and perhaps his throat. But he offers a wager that she can’t refuse: protect him from a ruthless queen, and he’ll protect the Crows when he reigns.

 

Variable Star by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson (300 pages)

This is a 2006 science fiction novel by American author Spider Robinson, based on a novel outline by the late Robert A. Heinlein. 

From the back of the book:

When Joel Johnston asks Jinny Hamilton to marry him, he believes he is entering an ordinary union. Then she reveals that she is the granddaughter of the wealthiest man in the solar system, and any man who marries her will be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business....

Daunted by the prospect of such a future, Joel flees—and awakens on a colony ship heading out into space, torn between regret over his rash decision and his determination to forget Jinny and make a life for himself among the stars.

Artful by Peter David (276 pages)

This fantasy novel tells the further adventures of Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. It is a few years later in his life, and in this version there are vampires and a plot to overthrow the British monarchy. 

Another book with a very impressive cover.

The Space Between Worlds by Macaiah Johnson (320 pages)

From the summary at Goodreads:

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total.

On this Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now she has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. 

 

Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook (700 pages)

This omnibus edition comprises The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose―the first three novels in Glen Cook's Black Company fantasy series.

I have read the first novel in this series (my review here). It combines elements of epic fantasy and dark fantasy as it follows the story of an elite mercenary unit that serve the Lady, ruler of the Northern Empire. Now I can read the second novel in this edition.

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (420 pages)

From the summary at Goodreads:

Severin Unck's father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1946 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father's films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.

Told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.

The Changewinds by Jack L. Chalker  (820 pages)

My son introduced me to Jack Chalker's books in 2005, and I read several of the books in the Well of Souls series.

This book is an omnibus edition of the three books in the Changewinds series, including When the Changewinds Blow (1987), Riders of the Winds (1988) and War of the Maelstrom (1988). From what I can glean from descriptions, I think the stories are a blend of science fiction and fantasy.

Are you familiar with any of these books or authors? 

Short Story Wednesday: Book Sale purchases

 

Last Friday, September 16, was the first day of the Planned Parenthood book sale and it will continue through Sunday, September 25. We went to the book sale on both Friday and Saturday. (And we will go back again tomorrow, and Saturday and Sunday.) 

My goal this year was to cut back on short story book purchases, since I have so many, both in print editions and on the Kindle. Yet I went ahead and purchased these three books for various reasons. I have not sampled any of them yet. So, here they are.

MASH UP: Stories Inspired by Famous First Lines

Gardner Dozois  (Editor)

This is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories. The subtitle describes the theme. Each author picked a first line of a favorite classic and use it as a first line in a short story. There are thirteen stories in the 400 page book, and each one is around 30 pages in length. My son found this book for me, and I am glad he did.

Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction: Third Series

Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg (Editors)

This anthology is 633 pages, with 20 short stories and novellas by various authors from 1943-1944. Each story is preceded by short introduction by Asimov and Greenberg.

In this case the authors are not listed on the cover, so I will include a list of the stories, from the Goodreads summary:

• The Cave by P. Schuyler Miller
• The Halfling by Leigh Brackett
• Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lewis Padgett]
• Q.U.R. by Anthony Boucher
• Clash by Night by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lawrence O'Donnell]
• Exile by Edmond Hamilton
• Daymare by Fredric Brown
• Doorway into Time by C. L. Moore
• The Storm by A.E. van Vogt
• The Proud Robot by Henry Kuttner [as Lewis Padgett]
• Symbiotica by Eric Frank Russell
• The Veil of Astellar by Leigh Brackett
• City by Clifford D. Simak
• Arena by Frederic Brown
• Huddling Place by Clifford D. Simak
• Kindness by Lester Del Rey
• Desertion by Clifford D. Simak
• When the Bough Breaks by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore [as Lewis Padgett]
• Killdozer! by Theodore Sturgeon
• No Woman Born by C.L. Moore

A Rare Benedictine

by Ellis Peters, Clifford Harper  (Illustrator)

This last book contains only three short stories, from the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. I already had a copy of this in paperback, but I jumped at the opportunity to get this hardback copy, mainly for greater ease of reading. It also is enhanced by lovely illustrations, so I am doubly happy to have it. My husband found this book for me; I am very grateful that he did.

Short Story Wednesday -- Catfantastic: Nine Lives and Fifteen Tales

Recently my son went through his paperback books for books to donate to the book sale. He offered me three short story anthologies in the Catfantastic series, and I just could not pass them up without reading some of the stories first. 

I read the first two stories from Catfantastic: Nine Lives and Fifteen Tales, edited by Andre Norton and Martin H. Greenberg. I liked both of them, so I guess I will be holding on to all the books for a while. The book is designated (on the cover) as fantasy, but I think some of the stories are science fiction. 

"The Gate of the Kittens" by Wilanne Schneider Belden

I found this first story to be confusing, much was not explained. The writing was excellent though. A young cat is a mouser for a property. The master of the property has located a Gate which allows things to pass from one world to the other. To test the gate the Master chooses to send the cat to the other side. On the other side, Judith, a librarian out in the bookmobile nearly runs into a cat in the road. She rescues the cat and further adventures ensue. 

It seemed to be a sort of time travel tale, but one reviewer noted a connection to Andre Norton's Witch World. I would have liked this better if it had been longer and the story expanded. The cat and the librarian were great characters.

"The Damcat" by Clare Bell

This story focuses on two men who are involved in building the Black Canyon Dam. One is a white man, an engineer, who takes measurements to assure the structure of the dam is safe. The other man, Mike, is of the Hopi tribe and is a high-scaler; high-scalers climb down the canyon walls and prepare the surface for the concrete pour. The cat in this story is a small bobcat that is Mike's partner in his work. Although there were definitely supernatural elements in the story, the story was fairly straightforward and very interesting. 

This original anthology of fantastic cat tales was published in 1989 and all of the stories were first published in this book. I look forward to reading more stories in this book and I will probably sample some from Catfantastic II and Catfantastic III also.

Reading Summary for April 2022

I felt like my reading in April went very slowly, and that has continued into May. Towards the end of April, there were nine days that I did not finish a book at all which never happens to me. But I did read eight books in April. Two general fiction books, one fantasy, and five books in the crime fiction genre. All of them were good reads, and three of them I gave five stars, which for me just means that they were especially good reads. So, not a bad month at all.

And here is what I have read...

General Fiction

Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier

This is the most widely known novel written by Daphne de Maurier. It may not be the best; I haven't read any others. I read Rebecca for my Classics Club list and for the Back to the Classics Challenge and it was a great read. I can't decide if I had read it before, years ago. Maybe I had just watched the Hitchcock film. Either way, we will be watching the Hitchcock film again soon.

Because of Sam (1954) by Molly Clavering

This book is part of the Furrowed Middlebrow collection from Dean Street Press, books by women writers of the early to mid-twentieth century. I had heard of the author, and purchased some her books for the Kindle, including Because of Sam, but I was motivated to read this book after I read Cath's review at Read-Warbler. I loved it, although it took me half the book to figure out where it was going, and even then I was only partly right. It is a lovely postwar story set in a village in Scotland. 

Fantasy

The Midnight Library (2020) by Matt Haig

After dying, Nora Seed wakes up in a library and the books on the shelves are all possible lives she could live. She is given the opportunity to try some of those lives and return to one of them if she chooses. The story is about regrets and opportunities. This was my first book by Matt Haig.  It did not live up to my expectations but I still enjoyed it a lot. I do look forward to reading Haig's other books on my shelves.

Crime Fiction

Go, Lovely Rose (1954) by Jean Potts

Rachel Buckmaster returns to her small midwestern hometown when her brother calls to tell her that the housekeeper who had lived with them for decades has died. When her death is declared murder rather than accidental, Rachel's brother is the main suspect. My review here.

Dog On It (2009) by Spencer Quinn

This was a book which went beyond my expectations. It is a mystery narrated by a dog, and I was a bit leery of that, although I knew that this is a series loved by many. Chet, the dog who narrates, flunked out of K-9 training, but still has the heart of a detective. His owner, private investigator Bernie Little, is not perfect but never gives up on the case. Together they are a great pair and I hope to read more of the books in the series. The setting seems to be Arizona, although I don't think that is really specified in this book.

Beast in View (1955) by Margaret Millar

Beast in View by Margaret Millar was my pick from the latest Classic Club Spin. Helen Clarvoe is a rich young woman who lives in a low quality hotel. She gets a threatening call from a woman from her past that she does not remember, and calls in her father's old investment counselor to help. This is a very brief book that could easily be read in one sitting or in one day. The book was published in 1955, and won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1956. My review here.

Bangkok 8 (2003) by John Burdett

This story is set in Thailand and the main character is a Thai policeman, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. His partner (and life-long friend) is killed on the job and Sonchai has vowed revenge. The story is told from Sonchai's point of view and I really like the voice it is told in. The story covers some challenging topics: transsexualism, prostitution, drugs and alcoholism. This book is #1 in a series I would like to continue reading.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934) by Agatha Christie

This is lighter and breezier than most novels by Agatha Christie. The two main characters are Bobby Jones, the vicar's son, and Lady Frances Derwent (Frankie). They were friends in childhood but have drifted apart as they grew older. Bobby discovers a dead body which had fallen off of the cliffs of the Welsh seacoast, and Frankie is convinced it was murder. It was a very entertaining story, once I settled into the tone of the book, and I never had a clue who the murderer was. I read it at this time because we wanted to watch Hugh Laurie's adaptation, and we have now done that. I enjoyed it as much or more than the book.

Status of my challenges and other events:

• I have read and reviewed four novels for the European Reading Challenge. That leaves only one more to complete my goal of five books, but I hope to read more novels set in European countries.
• I have read at least six books that fit categories for the Book Bingo Challenge. 
• Back to the Classics Challenge: I have read Rebecca by du Maurier, for the "20th century classic." I have read and reviewed Beast in View by Millar, which can be used either for a "classic by a woman author" or for the "Mystery/Detective/Crime classic."
• The TBR Pile Challenge: Two books that I read this month were for this challenge, Dog On It by Spencer Quinn and Bangkok 8 by John Burdette. 
• In March and April I read two books for the 1954 Club: Go, Lovely Rose by Jean Potts and Death Likes It Hot by Edgar Box (aka Gore Vidal).

The photo at the top of the post and the one immediately above are from a recent visit to our local plant nursery, the first one this year. My husband took photos of plants, pots, and garden decorations. Click on the images for best viewing quality.

Short Story Wednesday: Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer

Today I am featuring a collection of short stories written by Naomi Kritzer. Most of the stories were published in various science fiction or fantasy magazines between 2000 and 2015. Two of the stories were first published in this book, which was released in 2017. 

My husband and I had both read short stories by this author previously. We liked the stories so much we purchased this  book.

I read "So Much Cooking," originally published in Clarkesworld in November 2015. I covered it in this Short Story Wednesday post in April 2021.

The story is written as a series of blog posts, beginning with hints of an outbreak of bird flu. The blog focuses on food and cooking. That is a great way to illustrate the differences that a catastrophe (like a pandemic) can make in your life. The setting is in Minneapolis. That story is also in this book.

My husband read "Little Free Library," which was first published by Tor in 2020. He read it on his Kindle. 

When Meigan moves to St. Paul, she purchases a Little Free Library kit and decorates it herself. Once she stocks it with books, she develops an unusual relationship with one of the visitors to her Little Free Library. You can read it here.

Yesterday, I read two stories from Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories.

The title story, "Cat Pictures Please," won the Hugo Award and the Locus Award for Best Short Story in 2016. It is about an AI whose greatest desire is cat pictures. The AI, who narrates the story, also has a strong urge to help people but no real connection to achieve this with. This AI wants to find a way to have cat pictures and help people. I loved the story. 

Originally published in Clarkesworld in January 2015. The story is available to be read online here.

The second story I read was "What Happened at Blessing Creek." It is a fantasy story set in the western US when settlers were moving out west and taking over Indian land. A group of people from Ohio are going out west on a wagon train. Their leader is a magician who claims to be able to protect them from the dragons, who are allied with the Indians. This is a very interesting, thought-provoking story. The author includes a note in the book on how she came to write the story. 

Originally appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show in August 2011. The story can be read online here.

Table of Contents:

"Cat Pictures Please" 

"Ace of Spades"

"The Golem"

"Wind"

"In The Witch's Garden"

"What Happened at Blessing Creek"

"Cleanout"

"Artifice"

"Perfection"

"The Good Son"

"Scrap Dragon"

"Comrade Grandmother"

"Isabella’s Garden"

"Bits"

"Honest Man"

"The Wall" 

"So Much Cooking"

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury

Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are young boys, aged thirteen years old, and ready for some new experiences. Will is more cautious, Jim is willing to take chances. When a carnival arrives in town after midnight, they escape from their bedrooms and watch it being set up. They gradually see the evil in the carnival that can change people and transform them into unrecognizable versions of themselves. 

The carnival that threatens the town is Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, and the main antagonist is Mr. Dark, or the Illustrated Man, who can control the freaks in the carnival via his tattoos. He works in league with the Dust Witch, and their goal is to gather more souls to power the carnival. And the carnival has an especially scary merry-go-round that can add or take away years from a person's life.

Will's dad, Mr. Charles Halloway, is a quiet and melancholic man. On this occasion he steps up and helps the boys and the town out of a very scary situation. 

My Thoughts...

The set up of the situation in the first half of this book did not hold my interest. It was too poetic and too drawn out. At the middle point as the situation turns from bad to worse and Mr. Halloway is alerted to the problem, I got more interested and the story finally pulled me in. However, I never did get fully immersed and sense the horror of the situation.

I liked the themes of childhood, aging, parenthood. Although books are not a big part of the story, scenes set at the library where Will's dad works are prominent in the story.

This is my husband's book and he loves it. The gorgeous, poetic descriptions work very well for him. He especially likes the small town setting in autumn.

What I learned from reading this: I should have started with another novel or a book of short stories from Bradbury's works. In a Reading Pathways article for Bradbury works, Something Wicked this Way Comes was the last book on the list due to its difficulty and complexity. The first book on the list was The Halloween Tree, a children's book by Bradbury, which I read and reviewed three years ago. It was also more on the poetic side but a lovely children's story. Many years ago I read Fahrenheit 451, but I have forgotten much about it and plan to reread it. 

Next year maybe I will try some of Bradbury's short stories, such as The October Country (suggested by Rick Robinson at Tip the Wink) or The Martian Chronicles.

Another good read for R.I.P. XVI (Readers Imbibing Peril).

 -----------------------------

Publisher:  William Morrow, 2001. Orig. pub. 1962.
Length:     289 pages
Format:     Hardcover
Setting:     Illinois
Genre:      Fantasy / Horror
Source:     Borrowed from my husband.

Short Story Wednesday -- Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories by Charles Beaumont

After reading Patti Abbott's post featuring "Black Country" by Charles Beaumont, I was motivated to read some of Beaumont's stories in the collection, Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories. From reading articles on his work, it seems he wrote mostly short stories in the horror, fantasy, and science fiction subgenres.

I initially bought the book more for the cover than its contents. In 2017, I bought several classics in the Penguin Classics series, and this was one I came upon by chance. The cover illustration is by William Sweeney.

The book starts with a very enthusiastic and complimentary Foreward by Ray Bradbury. There are 23 of Beaumont's short stories included and an Afterward by William Shatner. At this point I have only read the Foreward and the first six stories.

The title story, "Perchance to Dream", is about a man having the same dream over and over. There is a twist ending and it did surprise me. This one was made into a Twilight Zone episode.

In "The Jungle", a man roams the city he lives in and has designed, looking for the solution to a disease that is killing people. It has themes of development taking over cultures and the assumption that technology always improves things. An interesting story, but not one I enjoyed reading. Also adapted for a Twilight Zone episode, with significant changes in the story.

"Sorcerer's Moon" was a very short story about two warlocks trying to kill each other. Entertaining, with an interesting ending. It was first published in Playboy.

In "You Can't Have Them All", a doctor visits a man who is wasting away. The man's goal in life is to have sex with every woman within his chosen parameters before he dies. It is a long story and goes on and on. I liked the ending, but the premise was so disgusting that I could not enjoy the story. The story was written in 1956, and maybe it was written for its shock effect?

"Fritzchen" was also not a favorite. It was about a man who owns a pet store, and a very unusual animal that his son finds. Not appealing and I did not like the ending. 

The story I liked the best, so far, was was "Father, Dear Father". This very short story (about 5 pages) was panned in another review, at Greenwich Library, saying that the ending was obvious. I guess so, but I enjoyed it anyway. Maybe because I like time travel. 

It may be that Beaumont's stories are too weird for me. The stories with horror elements did not appeal at all. But, I still have seventeen more to go in the collection, and I am sure I will find more that I like. So far I like the shorter stories more than the longer ones.

As noted above, some of Beaumont's short stories were later adapted for Twilight Zone episodes. Although I did watch that show when I was younger, I don't remember having seen the episodes mentioned here. 

Short Story Wednesday: I Love Galesburg in the Springtime by Jack Finney

Long ago I read Time and Again by Jack Finney. I loved it. But I haven't read anything else by that author, until now. My husband has a good collection of books by Finney, so I decided to try one of his short story books for Short Story Wednesday.

I read the title story from I Love Galesburg in the Springtime in the morning and liked it; I took the book up to read in bed that evening and finished the book before I went to bed. 

All of the twelve stories in the book are magical, with unexpected, lovely endings. A few included some variation of time travel, and all had some fantastic element, although the setting is our everyday world. The stories in this book were published between 1952 and 1962,  and most were published in McCall's magazine, the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, or Playboy.

Overall I see this as "feel good" reading, although at least two stories left me in tears. I don't mean that they are light reading, but that I felt entertained and uplifted in some way by each story. But I can see that some of them could be interpreted in different ways.

The short story, "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime", is about a small town saving itself from being paved over and becoming completely modern. Galesburg is a real town in Illinois and Jack Finney attended Knox College there.

I enjoyed every story in the book but these two other stories  were ones I especially liked:

"The Love Letter" is told in first person by a young man who buys a desk with a secret drawer, and finds an old letter in the drawer. He finds an extraordinary way to communicate with the letter writer.

"Hey, Look at Me" is the story of an author whose knows without a doubt that someday he will write great books and be a renowned writer. He dies young, before he can accomplish this. This one is also told in first person, this time by a book critic. The setting is Mill Valley, California, where Jack Finney lived when the story was written.

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Publisher:   Simon and Schuster, 1963. 
Length:      264 pages
Format:      Hardcover
Setting:      US
Genre:       Fantasy, short stories
Source:      Borrowed from my husband.

Short Story Wednesday: Clarkesworld Year 5

Clarkesworld Magazine is an online magazine started in 2006 which publishes science fiction and fantasy stories. Neil Clarke is the editor and publisher. 

The stories in Clarkesworld Year 5, ed. by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace, were published in Clarkesworld Magazine between October 2010 and September 2011. Of the 24 stories in the book, most are science fiction, a few are fantasy, and some I am not sure about. I enjoyed reading almost all of them. 

Rick Robinson at Tip the Wink generously sent me this short story collection to read.

Here are my thoughts on the first three stories in the book, all of which were good reads. 

"Ghostweight" by Yoon Ha Lee

This is the first story in the book and my favorite of the collection. As soon as I finished reading it, I read it again. Partly because the ending confused me, but mostly just because I enjoyed it so much.

At Yoon Ha Lee's website, this story is described as "Fantasy in space: origami, ghosts, and atrocities." A young cadet seeks revenge on the mercenaries that attacked her planet. She has a ghost attached, sewn on by her parents, which was a tradition in her society. The ghost assists her in her quest. Yet she finds out later that nothing is as it seems. Some reviewers noted that the resolution of the story was unclear. True, but not a problem for me.

The story is available online here. More stories by Yoon Ha Lee's stories are available online here.at Free Speculative Fiction Online. 

"Perfect World" by Gwendolyn Clare

Another very interesting story set in space, dealing with interspecies communication. The Mask People are hyper-expressive and hyper-observant, and they wear masks to hide their expressions. Humans want to negotiate an agreement with them. Nora is hired by the UN's Interworld Relations Organization as an ambassador because she can control her expressions and lie successfully to the Mask People.

The story is available online here. 

“Tying Knots” by Ken Liu

This was one of the stories that did not seem like science fiction or fantasy to me. No matter, I liked the story a lot.

There are two main characters, Soe-bo and To-Mu, who each narrate parts of the story. To-Mu is from the US and has traveled from Boston to visit Soe-bo's village in the Burmese mountains. Soe-bo is gifted at knot-writing, used by his people to keep historic records. He is persuaded to come to Boston and share his knot-writing skills with To-mu in exchange for new rice seeds to improve the harvest. 

A thought-provoking story, and very sad. The story is available online here. 

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Publisher:   Wyrm Publishing, 2013 

Length:       287 pages 
Format:       Trade paper
Genre:        Science fiction, Fantasy, Short stories
Source:       A gift.

The Master and Margarita: Mikhail Bulgakov

Katrina (at Pining for the West) and I read this book at the same time. We both had it on our Classics lists and she asked if I wanted to read it now with her. That was a really good thing because without that motivation I don't know when I would have read it or if I would have persevered to read it all.

I always prefer to read a book knowing as little as possible about it. Sometimes that is not possible but with this book I only had a basic overview of the book. It was written in the 1930's and finished shortly before the author died in 1940, at the age of 49. The author's writings were often rejected and he wanted to leave Russia so that he could write. He knew he could not publish this book while he was alive; otherwise he would "disappear." The novel was finally published in Russia in 1966.

I did not read the foreword or the introduction, and for the first two hundred pages I skipped the notes at the end, because I usually find that notes impede the flow of reading or tell too much. However, in this case I should have read all of those. I just did not understand enough about the issues that were at the center of the novel or Bulgakov's writing to understand what I was reading or its intent.

At this point, I will share a summary from Penguin Random House.

When the devil arrives in 1930s Moscow, consorting with a retinue of odd associates—including a talking black cat, an assassin, and a beautiful naked witch—his antics wreak havoc among the literary elite of the world capital of atheism. Meanwhile, the Master, author of an unpublished novel about Jesus and Pontius Pilate, languishes in despair in a psychiatric hospital, while his devoted lover, Margarita, decides to sell her soul to save him. As Bulgakov’s dazzlingly exuberant narrative weaves back and forth between Moscow and ancient Jerusalem, studded with scenes ranging from a giddy Satanic ball to the murder of Judas in Gethsemane, Margarita’s enduring love for the Master joins the strands of plot across space and time.

This is a very weird book. It made little sense to me. At times it is very funny, but in a sad way. Things happen to people and they make no sense. People lose their apartments or jobs for fabricated reasons. And yet life goes on. I realize that this is a satire on conditions in Russia at the time it was written, but I did not have enough context to understand it.

Some of my confusion was due to the names being hard to follow. Some names were similar. Sometimes a person would be identified by his last name, other times by the first and second. Some important characters were identified by different names in different parts of the book. And I did not realize it would read like a fantasy, thus I was not prepared for the tone. For instance, the cat does not only talk, it walks upright its back feet and is the size of a human being.

Some of the writing was very entertaining and most of the time I did not care whether the book made sense or not but there was a large portion, from about page 50 - 200, where I was so confused it was hopeless. It seemed incoherent to me.

The book is in two parts. Book Two begins with Margarita trying to find the Master. Although that half is very fantastical, also, I found it more coherent and less confusing.

Margarita loves the Master and wants to leave her rich husband. She is willing to give up her privileged and easy life. But she cannot find him. The devil, often referred to as Woland in the edition I read, offers to grant her a wish ... and weird things happen. She gets two wishes because her first wish is selfless... to save her maid, Natasha.

Four chapters of the Master's book on Jesus and Pontius Pilate is included in The Master and Margarita. Those four chapters were my favorite part. The writing style in those chapters was entirely different. The chapters are interspersed throughout the book, two in Book One, two in Book Two.

I fear that my review is incoherent and doesn't tell you much about how I liked the book. I liked parts of it, I will reread it again, and maybe one day I will understand it more.

The translation I read was by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The very enthusiastic Foreword was by Boris Fishman and the Introduction was by Richard Pevear.

My husband took the photo of the cover above and it shows the many, many sticky tabs I used trying to keep track of the story.

I highly recommend Katrina's review of The Master and Margarita. Her summary and thoughts on the book are excellent.

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Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2016 (orig. pub. 1966)
Length:  396 pages
Format:  Trade paperback
Setting:  Moscow, Russia
Genre:   Classic Fiction (Fantasy, Magical Realism)
Source:  On my TBR since 2017.
Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Westside: W. M. Akers

From the introduction to the book at HarperCollins:

It’s 1921, and a thirteen-mile fence running the length of Broadway splits the island of Manhattan, separating the prosperous Eastside from the Westside—an overgrown wasteland whose hostility to modern technology gives it the flavor of old New York. Thousands have disappeared here, and the respectable have fled, leaving behind the killers, thieves, poets, painters, drunks, and those too poor or desperate to leave.

It is a hellish landscape, and Gilda Carr proudly calls it home.

Slightly built, but with a will of iron, Gilda follows in the footsteps of her late father, a police detective turned private eye. Unlike that larger-than-life man, Gilda solves tiny mysteries: the impossible puzzles that keep us awake at night; the small riddles that destroy us; the questions that spoil marriages, ruin friendships, and curdle joy. Those tiny cases distract her from her grief, and the one impossible question she knows she can’t answer: “How did my father die?”

The story opens with Gilda working on an investigation for a woman in the Eastside. She is trying to find a lost glove for Mrs Edith Copeland, whose husband, Galen, owns a shipping firm. As a result she sees Galen Copeland shot and killed but when she reports this to the police, they are not interested. This "tiny mystery" leads to discoveries related to what happened to her father and why. Gilda breaks her own rule of sticking with the smaller mysteries, and digs further into the mysteries surrounding her father's disappearance.

My thoughts on this book:

This book is a  mashup of so many genres, but in a good way. Historical fiction, mystery, alternate history, private detective novel, and urban fantasy. The story is told in first person, thus we only get Gilda's perspective. That works very well to keep the suspense going. And she is a very entertaining narrator.

I really liked this book.  The story telling is good and it kept me engaged. I especially liked the way the author built this alternative version of New York in the 1920's. Prohibition. Bootleg liquor. Jazz. But a dark and damaged version.

Gilda is a strong female character, capable, not afraid to take chances but she is also childlike and innocent in some ways, which makes her very appealing. The secondary characters are interesting, although in this dark and evil place we know that they may not be trustworthy.

I felt like the mystery element was the strongest and overshadowed the fantasy and supernatural elements. But if you like your mystery straight with no fantasy mixed in, this might not be for you.

There are some extremely violent scenes in this novel, although honestly I did not notice it that much until it was pointed out in a couple of reviews. There is a lot of action and the pacing is good. Once I got close to the end, I could not put the book down until I knew the denouement.

Bookmarks reports "rave" reviews at Chapter 16, New York Times, NY Journal of Books, and Kirkus.

This was the debut novel for W.M. Akers. He has a new book coming out in this series, in early May, and I am interested because  I can't figure out where it will go from here.


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Publisher:  Harper Voyager, 2019
Length:      291 pages
Format:     Trade paperback
Series:      Westside, #1
Setting:     Alternate version of New York City, 1920's
Genre:      Cross-genre
Source:     I read my son's copy, which was an ARC.