The Short Story Thread

[Connavar]

Have you read The Hills of Dead yet ?

Easily the best story in African setting i have read. So wonderfuly wierd,horrific.

 

[Fried Egg]

Have you read The Hills of Dead yet ?

Easily the best story in African setting i have read. So wonderfuly wierd,horrific.

Yes, in fact I've finished the entire collection now. All the stories were of a very high standard but "Wings in the Night" really stood out for me.

 

[Connavar]

I read Last Castle by Jack Vance from 1967 and a novella that has won both Hugo,Nebulla. The story,the writing was one of the best i have read by Vance short story or novel.

Unlike The Dragon Masters this is a story that deserves its highly rating as vintage Vance. Even by Jack Vance standards i was surprised by the great writing,story.

Now im reading The Moon Moth that is in SF Hall of Fame and seen as his best SF short by the fans too. The reason i have saved these two stories for rainy summer days.

 

[blacknorth]

Thanks for the heads up on the Vance shorts, Conn - I don't think I've read many of his. Will have a look through my various anthologies later.

I've been wasting my time reading LP Harley's collection of supernatural shorts, The Travelling Grave. Thus far I'm finding them very bland.

 

[Connavar]

Thanks for the heads up on the Vance shorts, Conn - I don't think I've read many of his. Will have a look through my various anthologies later.

I've been wasting my time reading LP Harley's collection of supernatural shorts, The Travelling Grave. Thus far I'm finding them very bland.

Check out library there has been several new collections with his famous short stories. If you like fantasy or SF you must atleast try him. Sure he is niche writer for fans with certain taste but he is a grandmaster in SF,F,highly influential.

I didnt take Fantasy or SF literary ability wise seriously before him. Sure i was a new to genres then but still.

 

[j d worthington]

I've been wasting my time reading LP Harley's collection of supernatural shorts, The Travelling Grave. Thus far I'm finding them very bland.

Now, that surprises me considerably. My own impression of Hartley is that he is often rather subtle (sometimes a bit too much so for his own good), but usually with a very sharp, nasty edge which tends to creep up on you. Certainly the title story is a classic of the field, and the best example of that kind of tale written, where the humor is itself so integral a part of the sheer ghastliness of the denouement... a rare enough thing in itself. "A Visitor from Down Under" and "The Killing Bottle" both have more than their share of sheer viciousness, delivered in an understated fashion which, to me, only increases the chill they carry.....

However, I'm curious about why you feel these are bland. If you'd rather not take the thread off-topic, would you mind PM'ing me with your thoughts on this? I'd be very interested in hearing them....

 

[blacknorth]

It's possible I haven't been reading them closely enough - to be honest, I chose them as light reading and am probably treating them too lightly. My bad.

Certainly I'll let you know what I think when I finish up.

 

[j d worthington]

It's possible I haven't been reading them closely enough - to be honest, I chose them as light reading and am probably treating them too lightly. My bad.

Certainly I'll let you know what I think when I finish up.

This could be the case, as Hartley, like Aickman, chooses an elliptical approach a great deal of the time. At any rate, I'd be interested in your thoughts....

 

[Connavar]

Im reading Klondike Tales by Jack London along side my current SF book. Im on Son of the Wolf collection.

He is very literary documentary feel in this collection. Feels like im stuck in those cold wilderness and its about survivle reading the stories.

A writer despite his world fame who keeps surprising me how much i enjoy his writing,his realistic,naturalist stories.

 

[GOLLUM]

A writer despite his world fame who keeps surprising me how much i enjoy his writing,his realistic,naturalist stories.

Have you read his dsytopian novel Iron Heel? I have a copy but confess to not having read it yet. If you have not yet read it, I'm pretty sure you will want to.

 

[Connavar]

Have you read his dsytopian novel Iron Heel? I have a copy but confess to not having read it yet. If you have not yet read it, I'm pretty sure you will want to.

He wrote surprisingly many genre like stories about post apocalypse,dystopian,time travel(Star Rover). Of course i cant help but being drawn to those novels but next is his classic novel The Sea Wolf. I read a fun part of fan review in Goodreads about Sea Wolf:

Initially, I was upset at this book because it refused to be want I wanted it to be, which was a rousing piratical-type adventure. Instead, I got a philosophical sea-lesson.

Haha why would you expect pure adventure from somone like Jack London.My first book of his Star Rover i expected star roving,sf writing but i got emotional hardships,depressing story about a man that star roves to escape the hurt of his body in hellish jail life.

 

[jojajihisc]

I've decided to read as much of the Hugo nominees as I can before the results come in and so....I just read Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster, which is a nominee for best novelette. A really well written story about a world in which people lead their entire public lives behind various masks. I've already read the short story nominations and I'd have a hard time choosing between Spar by Kij Johnson and Bridesicle by Will McIntosh.

 

[Fried Egg]

I just read an excellent tale by Keith Roberts called "Weinachtsabend" that is set in a version of our history whereby England made peace with Germany after the fall of France in 1940 (the BEF was lost, presumably Dunkirk never happened) and they became joined together as the "Two Empires". The story follows a British civil servant in the new beaurocracy who becomes embroiled in an assassination attempt by the "freedom fighters" against the minister that the protagonist works for.

A really good story, the first of anything I've read by Keith Roberts and the highlight so far in the collection of alternative histories I'm reading entitled "The Mammouth Book of Alternate Histories". Makes me keen to check out more by Keith Roberts, especially his entry in the SF Masterworks series "Pavane".

 

[j d worthington]

Been more than three decades since I read Pavane, but (unless my memory serves me particularly poorly here) I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Out of the (regrettably few) short stories I've been able to read (or reread) lately, the one which struck me most powerfully is a piece by Poe which I've not read in some time: "The Oval Portrait" I read it this time in the first volume of Mabbott's edition of Poe's Tales and Sketches, which also includes the textual variants from the earliest version ("Life in Death") which, if anything, brings out in even starker contrast the enormous power of the final version. I especially like the subtlety with which Poe introduced the narrator's impression of what lies within the portrait several lines before he gives the more blunt affirmation that it was the "life-likeness" of the thing. The way he created such a frisson with just a few deft touches there shows Poe at his very height; and I can agree with Mabbott and others that he may have been influenced by Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" (included in Mosses from an Old Manse); which is interesting, as at about the same time Poe also wrote a glowing review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales (and his work in general) for Graham's Magazine. It was also apparently influenced by the near-loss of his wife Virginia, who suffered a burst blood vessel while singing.

 

[dask]

"Herbert West - Reanimator" and "The Hound" by H.P. Lovecraft, from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES edited by S.T. Joshi. Great way to kick off the Halloween season which, for me, begins yearly on September first. Assiduously attacked for being overwritten, I say big deal. Are we therefore not supposed to read them, not supposed to enjoy them? Bah! These stories exude atmosphere and creepiness. Highly recommended.

 

[Ian Whates]

A really good story, the first of anything I've read by Keith Roberts and the highlight so far in the collection of alternative histories I'm reading entitled "The Mammouth Book of Alternate Histories".

What fine taste you have, FE! Ian Watson and I had a lot of pleasure putting that book together, selecting our very favourite alternative history tales and then commissioning new ones from Jim Morrow, Steve Baxter and Ken MacLeod. I agree about "Weinachtsabend" -- a fabulous story.

Pavane is an excellent novel/fix-up, which I'd thoroughly recommend.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Mammoth.

 

[Fried Egg]

What fine taste you have, FE! Ian Watson and I had a lot of pleasure putting that book together, selecting our very favourite alternative history tales and then commissioning new ones from Jim Morrow, Steve Baxter and Ken MacLeod. I agree about "Weinachtsabend" -- a fabulous story.

Pavane is an excellent novel/fix-up, which I'd thoroughly recommend.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Mammoth.

Thanks, I did enjoy it. There were a lot of good stories in there.

 

[j d worthington]

"Herbert West - Reanimator" and "The Hound" by H.P. Lovecraft, from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES edited by S.T. Joshi. Great way to kick off the Halloween season which, for me, begins yearly on September first. Assiduously attacked for being overwritten, I say big deal. Are we therefore not supposed to read them, not supposed to enjoy them? Bah! These stories exude atmosphere and creepiness. Highly recommended.

"Are we" etc. No on both points; that is, no one said anything about not reading or even enjoying them. It is just that they are among Lovecraft's worst artistically. (Then again, Ed Hamilton's favorite HPL piece seems to have been "The Horror at Red Hook". Go figure.) Personally, I have a fondness for each of these, even though I am fully aware of their flaws. And, to be honest, each also has its genuinely effective moments as well. So I'd say "Enjoy!" and don't worry about it....

My own reading is still largely focused on Poe, and I recently reread his "The Gold Bug", and was reminded of what an enjoyable little tale that is. By no means his best or most effective aesthetically, but it is a delightfully fun little detective tale, even though many a modern reader is likely to be put off by the completely un-PC presentation of Jupiter, the old black servant (a manumitted slave) of one of the characters.

I also read both "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" this week, and remain impressed with Poe's handling of the themes and protagonists in each. Despite the tendency to view his work (at least in this vein) as having a very similar tone and voice, there is really quite a bit of difference between these two, in part because one is the product of a genuinely "unreliable narrator", while the other hovers between a psychological study, a story of crime and murder, and a genuine instance of the supernatural meting out a destined fate.

And then there's "Morning on the Wissahiccon" and "Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences", which show him in a totally different sort of mood....

 

[Connavar]

What fine taste you have, FE! Ian Watson and I had a lot of pleasure putting that book together, selecting our very favourite alternative history tales and then commissioning new ones from Jim Morrow, Steve Baxter and Ken MacLeod. I agree about "Weinachtsabend" -- a fabulous story.

Pavane is an excellent novel/fix-up, which I'd thoroughly recommend.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Mammoth.

I must say i bought the book when it came out just on a haunch and when i started reading i was thinking what a great blend of stories,writers. Morrow was one of the authors i hadnt read before that i was so impressed that i want his World Fantasy novels badly now.

Not a big reader of alternade history and it was nice reading smart stories that are not just military action stories in different timelines.

 

[Fried Egg]

"Honey in the Wall" by Oliver Onions.

A most strange story that starts out like a Jane Austin novel but takes an unusual turn. I wouldn't say I really understand what was going on...any explanations offered would be greatly appreciated!