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This Just In...News
From The Agony Column
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06-17-07: Preview for Podcast of Monday, June
18, 2007 : Be Prepared.
Here's an MP3
preview of the Monday June 18, 2007 podcast for The Agony Column.
Enjoy!
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06-16-07: NPR URL For Vampire Lit Now Accessible
NPR
has just created the URL where you'll be able to get the audio for my
report on vampire
fiction. You can even use the Email this story link now, and
it would be helpful if you did so. Working the system! Thanks!
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06-15-07 Update: Vampire Fiction on Weekend All Things Considered
NPR URL Now Accessible: No Audio
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Harris, Huston, Marks, Moore
My
report on vampire fiction featuring Charlaine Harris, Charlie Huston,
John Marks, and Christopher Moore will air tomorrow on Weekend
All Things Considered, assuming that actual news does not displace
it. Check
out the website at NPR.org – the story should go up there at around
2-3 PM PDT, and as ever, please email the heck out of it. And enjoy,
it was really
fun to put it together – almost as fun as reading, which I shall
now permit myself to do. I'll post that URL when I get it, stay
tuned!
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06-15-07:
'Interfictions' Edited by Theodora Goss & Delia
Sherman ; KUSP Digitization Drive
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An Anthology of Interstitial Writings
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Between
the lines. |
Small Beer Press brings the world a lot of great fiction that just doesn't
fit elsewhere. They're just slightly out of alignment with literary reality,
which is why they produce so much work that's actually of literary import
as well as enjoyable to read. Note that those two qualities are found
as often in the same books as one might hope.
Playing outside the rules once again is 'Interfictions: An Anthology of
Interstitial Writings' (Interstitial Arts Foundation / Small Beer Press
; April 30, 2007 ; $18.00), edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora
Goss.
In this case, Small Beer Press is the distributor, which means, as I said
above, they're bringing the world this collection, while the publisher
is the very interesting Interstitial
Arts Foundation. The mission is pretty
clear: publish stuff that falls between the cracks, that lies outside of
any single and perhaps all genres. They call themselves Artists Without
Borders, so expect to find literature, visual arts, music and performance
arts. Their list of contributors on the website is pretty amazing; Ellen
Kushner, Gregory Frost, Heinz Insu Fenkl and Eve Sweetser; all these just
writing essays. There's a lot to look at and more importantly read, and
they seem to have chosen to publish on line the sort of material one can
read online.
The anthology is quite stellar. Heinz Insu Fenkl provides the introduction
that lays out the groundwork of what they're doing. It's not just a haphazard
kitchen sink approach. Thought and theory are applied with skill and enthusiasm.
But in the end, I'm afraid, we care about the fiction. And that's where
this book really shines.
Christopher Barzak's "What We Know About the Lost Families of –––– House" is
the perfect example of how fiction can be simultaneously quite experimental
and as a result, utterly approachable. Posed like a Q&A, it's the story
of its unfortunate effect on those who make the mistake of living there.
It simply drew me in immediately with a matter-of-fact delivery of facts
that don’t bear close examination. Superb, slick prose in the
service of subversive agenda. How could one not like it?
Or Rachel Pollack's 'Burning Beard', taking Joseph out of the Bible and
into a modern storytelling idiom, along with lots of Egyptian mythology.
Here again, the experimental aspect of the literature is the adoption of
a rather breezy tone applied to subjects that do not usually get such a
treatment. Plus, it's funny, with mordant prose applied to fantastic, well
Biblical-sized events.
The list of writers is pretty amazing, so I'm just going to blurt them
out in alphabetical order: Karen Jordan Allen, "Alternate Anxieties",
Christopher Barzak, "What We Know About the Lost Families of - House",
K. Tempest Bradford, "Black Feather", Matthew Cheney, "A
Map of the Everywhere", Michael DeLuca, "The Utter Proximity
of God", Adrián Ferrero, "When It Rains, You'd Better
Get Out of Ulga" (translated from Spanish), Colin Greenland, "Timothy",
Csilla Kleinheincz, "A Drop of Raspberry" (translated from Hungarian),
Holly Phillips, "Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom", Rachel Pollack, "Burning
Beard - The Dreams and Visions of Joseph Ben Jacob, Lord Viceroy of Egypt",
Joy Marchand, "Pallas at Noon", Anna Tambour, "The Shoe
in SHOES' Window", Veronica Schanoes, "Rats", Léa
Silhol, "Emblemata" (translated from French), Jon Singer, "Willow
Pattern", Vandana Singh, "Hunger", Mikal Trimm, "Climbing
Redemption Mountain", Catherynne Valente, "A Dirge for Prester
John", and Leslie What, "Post hoc". Many of these have
graced the pages of this column, because I find this sort of fiction
really interesting.
The volume concludes with 'The Spaces Between', a Q&A with the
editors about matters that will concern a fair number of the readers
of this book;
stuff about submissions and how the stories were chosen and the rulebook,
so to speak for interstitial fiction. (Yes, I know that's something
of an oxymoron.)
On a hold-it-in-your-hands note, the book is very nicely printed and
bound. It has a quality feel to it. Each story is followed by a brief
paragraph
from the author. The cover is very nice, but it might not jump out
at you in the store, so take the time to go between the cracks. If
you
like literary
fiction, weird fiction, or more simply: to read ; then pick up this
anthology. Turn to almost any page. You'll see what I'm talking about.
And, if you
don’t already know it, why Small Beer Press is a really a big deal.
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On Friday, June 15, from 10:00 AM PDT until 11:00 AM PDT, I'll be running
an edit of my most recent interview with Cory Doctorow for the Digitization
Drive for KUSP. They're trying to upgrade to the digital radio format
that's been steamrollered over us so we can all buy new hardware.
I'm hoping that some of my listeners will be willing to call in and
donate
for this cause during the show, or do so online during the show.
During the show.
Last time we had one of these here pledge drive thingies, I had the delightful
experience of hosting a show during which nobody called, nobody donated
and I was paired with the NPR Mephistopheles. He was really nice guy,
super pro, but they dropped me on the board and didn't mention which pot
was his. It was a complete and utter embarrassment and any of the pledgy
stuff, well I just blew that totally. I expect a similar performance on
the morrow and am prepared to be humbled, but if a couple of readers called
during the show, that might at least make them less likely to shoot me
in the office. So, the number to call is 1-800-655-5877. I hope to hear
from you. Thanks!
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06-14-07: A Review of John Burdett's 'Bangkok Haunts' ;
Jesse Ball Listens to 'Samedi the Deafness'
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Ghost World
'Bangkok
Haunts', John
Burdett's third Sonchai Jitpleecheep novel is to
my mind his best yet. It has more ghosts and more humor in the service
of a powerfully orchestrated plot of revenge. Burdett's prose, his evocation
of the Buddhist perspective in the voice of Sonchai Jitpleecheep, is
compellingly alien and familiar. Here's
my full-length, in-depth, spoiler-free review of 'Bangkok Haunts'. Sure, I miss the Chip Kidd book cover of
the sort that made 'Bangkok
8' so delightful. Kidd did do the dust jacket,
though, and it's very nice. Pertinent, too.
For readers of horror fiction, this Burdett novel will offer the
best evidence that it is still possible to write utterly innovative
horror
fiction that
is in all respects very different from everything else out there. His
sense of supernatural is super-convincing. It's the matter-of-fact
presentation
of a spiritual world-view that makes 'Bangkok Haunts' such an unusual
novel. It's rife with all sorts of otherworldly events and beings,
yet it does
not feel at all like any other "horror" novel I've ever read.
Mystery readers will find an equally fresh approach to the genre. Burdett
upends just about every trope you expect to find in a police procedural,
just as matter of course. None of this seems forced or arch. The world
that Sonchai inhabits is already so over-the-top that it is beyond satire.
But it's not beyond genuine warmth. The characters seem vivid and real.
If you;ve not read the first two books in the series, you should; the first is
'Bangkok 8' and the second is 'Bangkok
Tattoo'.
Burdett should be on your auto-buy list, and he's currently on tour
from Bangkok. Here are his tour dates. He's worth listening to – and
of course reading.
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Remembering Lies Perfectly
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Oh,
if only it were all so simple. |
Is it really desirable
to remember it all? We now know that we can suppress our memories by ingesting
chemical compounds shortly after a traumatic
experience, and the morality of such a decision is not obvious or
apparent. Our memories are elided without our planning or permission. This
becomes
particularly pertinent with regards to those who witness a crime.
Eyewitness testimony is the most believable and the most inaccurate. Often
we do
not know that we are witnessing a crime until after the fact. Our "you
must remember this" switches aren't on. We have to work our
way backwards into the past.
This is not the problem faced by James Sim, the mnemonist at the center
of 'Samedi the Deafness' (Vintage Original Publication ; September 4, 2007
; $12.95) by Jesse Ball. One fine Sunday morning, James Sim goes out to
buy a newspaper, which he takes to read in the park. Absorbed in his own
thoughts, he looks up when he hears a shout. A man crumples in the field
in the distance. James approaches him, sees that the man has been stabbed,
many times, and asks his name. Thomas McHale, the man replies. He then
follows on with series of mysterious but clearly meaningful confessions.
Names, places. A particular name, Samedi. It's so much information that
the reader might think James would have a hard time remembering it.
But he's a mnemomist.
He has a photographic memory and recall is the least of his worries.
Soon he'll read of yet another suicide on the lawn of the White House.
The carries a note signed SAMEDI. Soon, James will find himself pursued,
kidnapped. Locked in a mansion with compulsive liars. He'll meet a woman
named Grieve. And then things will get strange.
Any genre reader will perk up their ears at the name Samedi. We all know
the good Baron, who has made appearances in science fiction novels by Richard
Morgan ('Broken
Angels') and William Gibson and supernaturally tinged novels
by Neil Gaiman ('American
Gods') and Tim Powers. We know from the get-go,
then, that reality is going to be undermined in Jesse Ball's novel. But
dive and you'll quickly become aware of just how much one can undermine
reality in a simple novel.
'Samedi the Deafness' is a very strange novel. Written in a dash-style
blackout series of scenes, set in a seven-day span, it's subversively easy-to-read.
That makes assimilating it all the more ... unusual. Readers who enjoy
writers like Chuck Palahniuk and Jonathan Lethem are directed to this novel.
Readers who are too comfortable in this reality are too, and those who
have never felt comfortable. This is not a novel to comfort you.
Jesse Ball is not the comforting sort either. Take
a look at his peculiar in the best way website. He's a poet and a provocateur. I regret to inform
you that his website may deliberately frustrate you, though the design
is simply outstanding. It may shock you. I read a bit from one of his other
book there that was quite disturbing. Girls in a box as a present for your
gal. Ankles.
I think a lot of people will either be talking or complaining about
'Samedi the Deafness' when it arrives late in August. I think that
Vintage Books
is doing a smart thing with a trade paperback original debut novel.
It's not his first book–you look at that website, you'll see
plenty of books. You can even order the Girls in a box book.
It's the perfect gift for someone you want to remember you.
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06-13-07: Michael A. Stackpole Explores
'The New World' ; A Review of Tony Ballantyne's 'Divergence'
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Summertime, and the Reading is Easy
Michael Stackpole concludes
The Age of Discovery trilogy with 'The New World' (Spectra / Bantam / Random
House ; June 26, 2007 ; $15.00) – and
you know that summer has arrived.
We hear a lot about summer reading, and how it has to be frothy fun. Well,
sure it does, and Stackpole provides the fantasy version, but he offers
readers just enough more to make his work worth seeking out. Sure, those
things might be on the surface of the novel, but hey, I read the surface
of novels as well as plumb the depths. And I happen to enjoy the surface
of novels, and I happen to especially enjoy the surface of novels that
have some aspects of fantasy and throw in some science fictiony type stuff.
Stackpole does this and he does it exceptionally well.
Having setup the world of Nine Principalities in 'A
Secret Atlas' and
fleshed it out in 'Cartomancy', he whips up a storm in 'The New World'.
And it
is a New World, with a lot of original fillips that one will not usually
find in your standard GCFT. (Generic Celtic Fantasy Trilogy.) Stackpole
spins his story not from pastoral medieval Britain, but from the vital
and grasping Age of Exploration. What this change immediately does
is to give him a wider canvas with more opportunities for interesting
action,
characters and here's what I like – technology. Though Stackpole
is clearly writing the sort of easily-read fantasy that is captivating
enough to make you forget the beach you’re sitting on, he litters
the work with technology significantly more advanced than rocks, spears
and swords. It gives the series a more complicated feel, a deeper texture.
Stackpole follows this up with interesting characters who are intelligently
written and tend not to go into dark caves alone. And better still,
a fair number of monsters and weird critters. Some people are coo-coo
for Cocoa
Puffs, others are suckers for serpent people, and I happen to be among
the latter. (I prefer Cocoa Crispies to Puffs, thankyouverymuch.) Stackpole
also glosses his fantasy with lots of Oriental flourishes that give
'The
New World'
a much more
exotic
feel.
If the
books lend themselves
to being read near the water – like on a beach – then this
is not too surprising.
Given the import of books like Naomi Novik's 'His
Majesty's Dragon' (the
Temeraire series) and Austin Grossman's 'Soon
I Will Be Invincible', it's
probably not a bad time to mention that Stackpole shares a background
in computer game design with these writers, which
he writes about on his website. Not
so long ago, I would have counted that against
an author. But if I ever did so in print before, I'll not do so now.
The world of computer games is proving a fertile ground for developing
writers.
Indeed, it may be The New World.
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Where Saints No Longer Tread
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Above,
UK, below US. |
The Saints are ever
with us, though not in the form that the ancient religious institutions
would have us believe. But they’re not writing a lot
of parables these days. No that's down to writers like Tony
Ballantyne,
who in 'Divergence' sets a drawing room afloat in space with passengers
there to converse about the meaning of life while deftly avoiding
death.
Ballantyne's trilogy is very peculiar science ficion. Since you've got
spaceships and encounters in space, the space opera description is certainly
obvious, but this book most reminds me of Philip K. Dick's 'The Three Stigma
or Palmer Eldridch'. Both books use a space journey to provide a means
of discussing problems that were until recently the sole provenance of
religious thinkers. Ballantyne also goes for a spectacular climax that
is joyously hallucinatory, a special-prose effect extravaganza that creates
some lovely visuals and justifies the glorious covers of Dominic Harman
on the UK editions.
Stateside, you can now pick up all three book for just a hair over twenty
bucks and plow through them without pause. I prefer the UK trade paperbacks,
but then, I'm fussy that way. It's always preferable to refrain from beginning
a series until the final book comes out, just to be sure that the series
is going to get finished in this lifetime. 'Divergence'
is reviewed here.
I'd love to think of Saint Augustine brought to life in our century, and
were that to be the case, I think the most interesting literature to him
would not be the administrivia of the Church. No, Augustine was a man who
wanted to think about our soul, about our inner freedom and bondage. If
wanted to read about those concepts, wrapped up and delivered in a science
fiction series, Tony Ballantyne's 'Recursion' / 'Capacity' / 'Divergence'
trilogy would be pretty damn good place to start.
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06-12-07: Jeff Prucher Discovers 'Brave New Words' ; A Review
of 'Capacity' by Tony Ballantyne
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The Oxford Science Fiction Dictionary
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That
has such beings in it. |
Books about the science
fiction genre can speak to much more than an ill-defined genre of literature.
When we examine our most free-form,
imaginative literary
creations, we're looking at ourselves in a funhouse mirror. Our hopes
and fears and dreams and insecurities dance before our eyes, brought
to life
in the words we have written – and created. Science fiction is
perhaps one of the most fertile grounds for neologisms, those made-up
words, that
within the genre are used to describe technologies, societies, events
and philosophies that do not as yet exist. 'Brave New Words: The Oxford
Dictionary
of Science Fiction' by Jeff Prucher is an annotated lexicon of science
fiction's neologisms. It's 278 pages of made-up words, defined. It is
the bits and
shreds of our shattered psyches, catalogued, analyzed, brought to light.
Prucher is straightforward and thorough. He tells us from the get-go
that, "My
use of "science fiction" here excludes, for the most part, the
genre of fantasy, while recognizing that the boundary between the two is
indistinct at best; words that are used in both genres are represented, as
are those in such hybrid genres as science fantasy." The book includes
not just words coined in science fiction, but also those words coined to
describe science fiction. So you get worldbuilding as sell as worldlet– neither
of which is recognized by my built-in M$ Word dictionary.
The entries are generously laid out in type large enough to be easily read.
You get:
Word {n,v,adj, etc} {Pronunciation, where applicable} Definition(s), Citations.
It's a simple formula and a fascinating book. You also get some breakout
pages that collect words associated with major science fiction topics,
such as Space Drives and Time Travel. These pages discuss the über-sbject
and offer pointers to a variety of definitions associated with that subject.
The cites are listed from earliest to latest, and Prucher offers readers
an opportunity to submit updates and other cites via his website.
If you are among the readers who think that this sounds like the keenest
thing since the jetpack, then run, don’t walk to your nearest local
independent bookstore and buy it. You are indeed correct, you do need this
book. If you think you might need this book for academic purposes, then once
again, you’re correct -- go buy it. If you want something that
will stimulate conversation instead of long strings of drool on the coffee
table,
then again, this is the book you seek.
The introduction by Gene Wolfe is as literate as you might expect, that is,
very, but admirably brief. The setup pages and explanation pages are as nicely
laid out as the main body of the book. No part of this book will hurt your
eyes, and that is not often the case with a book that claims to be a dictionary.
'Brave New Words' is an essential book for almost any reader, any writer,
in fact anybody. We understand our world with language, and as you page
through this book, you'll realize that the power of science fiction stems
not just
from the collections of words that form novels, short stories and criticism.
The individual words created by science fiction writers are the secret
poetry that animates the genre and helps create our world. Many words
that we take
for granted as having been part of the language, well, forever, are indeed
the work of a single author toiling away to create a novel. Like it or
not, science fiction writers are building your future, one word at a
time. This
book catalogues those words, our world, our past and paints the future.
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Saints and Patience
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OK
UK. Art by Dominic Harman. |
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OK
USA. Cover art by Jon Blackford, design by Jamie S. Warren
Youll.
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I'm presenting a
review of Tony Ballantyne's 'Capacity', his follow-up to 'Recursion'.
I like Ballantyne's work a lot, and 'Capacity' is
part of an ambitious trilogy. It can't hurt to say this too many times,
so
I find myself forced to mention that you can read 'Recursion' by
itself, 'Capacity' is a sequel that to my mind requires you read both
'Recursion'
and 'Divergence'. You need to read 'Recursion' to know the world
and because specific portions of the novel are referred to in 'Divergence'.
You need to read 'Divergence' because 'Capacity' sets up portions
of
a story it does not finish. The UK Trade paperback original, the
true first edition, puts it this way: "The end of Capacity. Judy's story
will be completed in 'Divergence'" . The US Mass Market paperback
just includes a teaser from the 'Divergence'.
I find it pretty interesting that they compare Ballantyne's books to those
of Alastair Reynolds and Ian Banks, but to my mind the better comparison
is William Gibson or Philip K. Dick. The 'Recursion ' / 'Capacity' / 'Divergence'
books do get off earth and ramble about the cosmos, but they do so using
for the most part floating drawing rooms. There the characters try to sort
out who is who and what is what. Expect a lot of conversation that deals
with Saint Augustine-like concepts of sin and free will. You may however,
need your saint-like patience when it comes to putting together the plot.
Ballantyne's plotting style may confuse some readers, as he intermingles
past and present for characters in a manner leaves you breathless. But
for this reader, that's part of the appeal. Ballantyne writes what I call
science fiction mysteries, but not in a future gumshoe manner. Instead,
he presents you with separate mysterious worlds and plots and character
and lets you figure out how they intermingle. One portion will often prove
to be back story for another, just as this introduction provides, I hope
a backdrop for the
actual review. Here it is.
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06-11-07: A 2007 Interview of Helen Simpson by Kathryn Petruccelli
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"Farce, it's just tragedy speeded up"
"I read a short
story before I get out of bed each morning," Helen Simpson says. "It's
a way to steal a march on the day." Not surprisingly, Simpson's
works are perfect for this plan, which strikes me as a very good idea.
'In the Driver's Seat' (Knopf / Random House ; May 8, 2007 ; $22) collects
eleven stories in 177 pages, each a self-contained world, a bubble in
time. She deals in close-ups of men and women who in a moment, in a gesture,
in a single savage phrase, reveal their lives, their hopes gone sour.
Often this turns out to be,as it were, rather funny.
Simpson's language is simple and direct, but her ability to immerse the
reader in the immediacy of a situation without really any exposition
is simply amazing. But still, immediacy, smart writing, insight, all
good – funny is better. And the dark sense of humor that Simpson
brings to her work is utterly refreshing. She revels in the unpleasant
truth, a truth that hurts so much the only workable response is a sort
of uncomfortable laughter. But it's laughter all the same. "If I'm
Spared" is a fantastic example of this. Tom is a foreign correspondent
who has a bit of a hard time re-adjusting when he returns to his safe
home. "So when Barbara in a crass moment asked him to do something
like take out the rubbish, as she had tonight, it jarred. 'Sorry, I was
miles away,' he'd said. 'Can't get that child out of my mind, the one
I was telling you about who lost both her legs in the bombing. What did
you say?'" Trouble is, the girl he can't keep out of his mind is
Fiona, "proud of what in Pilates-speak was described as her inner
corset."
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Issues
of control and confinement. |
Kathryn Petruccelli of KUSP interviewed Helen Simpson, and you can hear the (MP3 or RealAudio)
reading that Simpson does, some partway through
the conversation, from "If I'm Spared". It's probably the funniest
reading you'll ever hear wherein a patient receives a bad cancer diagnosis.
It's hysterical and Simpson's reading is a delight. Trust me, when you
hear her talk with Kathryn and read from her work, you'll definitely
be heading down to the bookstore to pick up the collection. The great
thing is that having heard Simpson speak and read, you'll have that sort
of delightful experience of hearing the stories in her voice when you
do.
"Up at a Villa" is the kind of miniature vision that demonstrates
Simpson's skills. It's a very short, one-scene story in which some teenagers
using a hotel pool they're not supposed to be using are forced to hide
when a new mum and dad show up. They become privy to a conversation that
reveals much both about P&M but also about the kids. Pasts and futures
collide and stumble into one another. It's a wonderfully crafted tale
that could only work as short story, a story that demonstrates the power
of the medium.
And once again, this is why we have to make an effort to break out of
whatever our reading and other habits may be. We have to force ourselves
to pick up books that are out of our comfort range, because you'll more
often than not find that those books help extend our comfort range, or
in the case of Simpson, our discomfort range. Simpson's work is engaging,
charming and deadly. You might want to laugh, especially if you consider
the alternatives.
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