I’M READING AS FAST AS I CAN (FEBRUARY 2020 EDITION)
Getting it done. Objects may be closer than they appear. And so on.
Monster Museum by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
As a kid I used to come across these kinds of anthologies in the public library - and while I was only vaguely aware of who Alfred Hitchcock was, I knew he was associated with suspense and horror stories, to include the Three Investigators series, which I loved. So when it had Hitchcock’s name on it, it captured my attention.
Of course, as it turns out, Hitchcock had little to do with the story selection - he mainly licensed his name for pulp magazines and collections like this one, which was edited by Robert Arthur (who also created the Three Investigators books). As the title suggests, this one has a monster theme, which it mostly sticks to, albeit in unusual forms - dragons, shapeshifters, werewolves, tiny subterranean humans, army ants, and something that I swear must have been the inspiration for The Blob. So points for avoiding the usual tropes, or taking a different approach to the standard monster stories.
That said, there’s nothing especially scary here, and not that much suspense, but there are a few good stories - notably Miriam Allen deFord’s “Gone To The Dogs”, Idris Seabright’s “The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles”, Jerome Bixby’s “The Young One” and Richard Parker’s “The Wheelbarrow Boy”. However, the best of the lot by far is Ray Bradbury’s “Homecoming”, which also appears in The October Country, so if Bradbury is the only attraction here for you, I'd recommend you get that one instead.
(Note: Theodore Sturgeon’s “Shadow, Shadow, on the Wall” apparently appears in a different edition than mine, sadly.)
Shadowmancy by Jason Franks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jason Franks’ third novel actually started life years ago as a short comic-book story he wrote for the first issue of the Kagemono horror-comic anthology. That story covered mainly the ending of this book, which (naturally) fleshes out the backstory that led up to it. The basic premise - 13-year-old joins a secret magic school - may sound familiar, but Hogwarts this ain’t.
Indeed, Franks openly draws his inspiration more from Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea than Harry Potter, and possibly from Richard Stark’s Parker series in that protagonist Quay is a joyless sociopath focused solely on the immediate job at hand. It’s not exactly “Parker Goes To Earthsea” (and that wouldn’t be a bad thing), but it’s in the ballpark. All that said, this isn’t pastiche - Franks has a clear sense of the characters and the dark, gritty magical world in which they operate.
It’s a well-paced story that keeps the pages turning. The main weakness for me is that Quay really is an unlikeable person even for an anti-hero, although to be fair, Franks excels at writing these kinds of characters - and in this case, a plot twist near the end actually explains why Quay is the way he is in a way that makes sense. So if you like your wizards angry and badass, this is definitely something you should be checking out. (Kudos also to Nicholas Hunter - the artist of the original comic - for the keen illustrations.)
Terry Jones' Fantastic Stories by Terry Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this probably back in the late 90s, but with Terry Jones passing away, I felt compelled to pull it out and reread it. Also, I recall my initial reaction was one of slight disappointment in that I was (quite unfairly, I admit) expecting Pythonesque silliness, and while there is a bit of that, these stories range from madcap to sad and occasionally grim.
Jones follows the basic children’s bedtime story template here, with kingdoms and dragons and dinosaurs and talking animals and magic and mermaids, and usually wraps up everything with a moral to the story, although to his credit sometimes the lesson is that the good guys don’t always win. They’re not all fairy tales - hence the title, according to Jones’ intro - but they do have that feel to them.
After revisiting it with fresh eyes, I think I can appreciate it better now. Naturally, a few stories don't work or have somewhat predictable outcomes - but then I’m not the target audience. These stories are clearly designed to be read aloud to kids, which plays to Jones’ strength as a scriptwriter and a storyteller. If I had kids, I’d definitely read at least some these stories to them.
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
After I read Thomas Merton for the first time a couple of years ago, several people suggested I read this classic autobiography that chronicles his life’s journey to faith and his eventual calling to become a Trappist monk. Given that Merton was born in France in 1915 when WW1 was in full swing, I was expecting the usual tale of suffering and hardship that usually precedes inspirational epiphanies of faith. This is not that.
Instead, Merton grew up in New York and Britain, travelled around Europe and enrolled at Columbia University, while his suffering was limited to the usual empty and unsatisfying vices that plague teenagers and college students (Merton is noticeably vague about the details, but they presumably involve sex, alcohol and possibly jazz). But it’s interesting that his conversion to Catholicism was the result of studying James Joyce and heavy philosophy - both of which often gets blamed for driving people away from God, not towards Him.
Anyway, despite not being a Catholic (which does put me at odds with some of his views), I did find his story rather relatable in terms of feeling at odds with the world and the desire and difficulty to seek something beyond it. And while I didn’t come away from it wanting to join a monastery, he does make the idea sound very appealing, at least in theory. That said, this being Merton, it often veers into deeply philosophical and theological tangents, and I felt it ran a bit too long, especially at the beginning (apparently it’s better than his original draft that started right in with the philosophical stuff). But Merton is such a good and (at times) quotable writer, and ultimately I found it worth the effort.
View all my reviews
Ain't no mountain high enough,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1636165.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Monster Museum by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
As a kid I used to come across these kinds of anthologies in the public library - and while I was only vaguely aware of who Alfred Hitchcock was, I knew he was associated with suspense and horror stories, to include the Three Investigators series, which I loved. So when it had Hitchcock’s name on it, it captured my attention.
Of course, as it turns out, Hitchcock had little to do with the story selection - he mainly licensed his name for pulp magazines and collections like this one, which was edited by Robert Arthur (who also created the Three Investigators books). As the title suggests, this one has a monster theme, which it mostly sticks to, albeit in unusual forms - dragons, shapeshifters, werewolves, tiny subterranean humans, army ants, and something that I swear must have been the inspiration for The Blob. So points for avoiding the usual tropes, or taking a different approach to the standard monster stories.
That said, there’s nothing especially scary here, and not that much suspense, but there are a few good stories - notably Miriam Allen deFord’s “Gone To The Dogs”, Idris Seabright’s “The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles”, Jerome Bixby’s “The Young One” and Richard Parker’s “The Wheelbarrow Boy”. However, the best of the lot by far is Ray Bradbury’s “Homecoming”, which also appears in The October Country, so if Bradbury is the only attraction here for you, I'd recommend you get that one instead.
(Note: Theodore Sturgeon’s “Shadow, Shadow, on the Wall” apparently appears in a different edition than mine, sadly.)
Shadowmancy by Jason Franks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Jason Franks’ third novel actually started life years ago as a short comic-book story he wrote for the first issue of the Kagemono horror-comic anthology. That story covered mainly the ending of this book, which (naturally) fleshes out the backstory that led up to it. The basic premise - 13-year-old joins a secret magic school - may sound familiar, but Hogwarts this ain’t.
Indeed, Franks openly draws his inspiration more from Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea than Harry Potter, and possibly from Richard Stark’s Parker series in that protagonist Quay is a joyless sociopath focused solely on the immediate job at hand. It’s not exactly “Parker Goes To Earthsea” (and that wouldn’t be a bad thing), but it’s in the ballpark. All that said, this isn’t pastiche - Franks has a clear sense of the characters and the dark, gritty magical world in which they operate.
It’s a well-paced story that keeps the pages turning. The main weakness for me is that Quay really is an unlikeable person even for an anti-hero, although to be fair, Franks excels at writing these kinds of characters - and in this case, a plot twist near the end actually explains why Quay is the way he is in a way that makes sense. So if you like your wizards angry and badass, this is definitely something you should be checking out. (Kudos also to Nicholas Hunter - the artist of the original comic - for the keen illustrations.)
Terry Jones' Fantastic Stories by Terry Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this probably back in the late 90s, but with Terry Jones passing away, I felt compelled to pull it out and reread it. Also, I recall my initial reaction was one of slight disappointment in that I was (quite unfairly, I admit) expecting Pythonesque silliness, and while there is a bit of that, these stories range from madcap to sad and occasionally grim.
Jones follows the basic children’s bedtime story template here, with kingdoms and dragons and dinosaurs and talking animals and magic and mermaids, and usually wraps up everything with a moral to the story, although to his credit sometimes the lesson is that the good guys don’t always win. They’re not all fairy tales - hence the title, according to Jones’ intro - but they do have that feel to them.
After revisiting it with fresh eyes, I think I can appreciate it better now. Naturally, a few stories don't work or have somewhat predictable outcomes - but then I’m not the target audience. These stories are clearly designed to be read aloud to kids, which plays to Jones’ strength as a scriptwriter and a storyteller. If I had kids, I’d definitely read at least some these stories to them.
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
After I read Thomas Merton for the first time a couple of years ago, several people suggested I read this classic autobiography that chronicles his life’s journey to faith and his eventual calling to become a Trappist monk. Given that Merton was born in France in 1915 when WW1 was in full swing, I was expecting the usual tale of suffering and hardship that usually precedes inspirational epiphanies of faith. This is not that.
Instead, Merton grew up in New York and Britain, travelled around Europe and enrolled at Columbia University, while his suffering was limited to the usual empty and unsatisfying vices that plague teenagers and college students (Merton is noticeably vague about the details, but they presumably involve sex, alcohol and possibly jazz). But it’s interesting that his conversion to Catholicism was the result of studying James Joyce and heavy philosophy - both of which often gets blamed for driving people away from God, not towards Him.
Anyway, despite not being a Catholic (which does put me at odds with some of his views), I did find his story rather relatable in terms of feeling at odds with the world and the desire and difficulty to seek something beyond it. And while I didn’t come away from it wanting to join a monastery, he does make the idea sound very appealing, at least in theory. That said, this being Merton, it often veers into deeply philosophical and theological tangents, and I felt it ran a bit too long, especially at the beginning (apparently it’s better than his original draft that started right in with the philosophical stuff). But Merton is such a good and (at times) quotable writer, and ultimately I found it worth the effort.
View all my reviews
Ain't no mountain high enough,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1636165.html. Please comment there using OpenID.