Desparately seeking story

[morsla]

It's been ages since I read much fiction. I think it's partly due to no longer having travel time to and from work, but it's also because of a growing despair that good stories are getting harder to find.

I love Of Science and Swords, but their latest catalogue doesn't give me much hope for the state of my bookshelves. Either the store is

Comments

[virtual_munkee]

Ooh a call for decent reading! My fave sort of post. I saw you mentioned the words...SPECULATIVE FICTION. I may be going out on a limb here, but have you read anything by JG Ballard? Sure, a few people have heard about Crash, and Empire of the Sun...But Ballard TRULY shines in his short to novel-length fiction.

There is a great short story collection or two out there, I recommend just reading from the front. I have a favourite story..I will have to track it down...Anyways its about the sun going nova and the plants on earth all hyperaccumulating metals (ie gold leaves) to deal ....Super nerdy :P

Here is a review of one of his collections from polyester books online...

Complete Short Stories Vol 1, The Ballard, J.G.

"The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard are required reading for all connoisseurs of Ballard's writing. This compilation brings together 96 short stories drawn from previous collections of Ballard's short stories, including The Voices of Time and War Fever, as well as four previously uncollected stories. The result is an exhilarating overview of Ballard's development as a short-story writer, from the singing orchids of Vermilion Sands in Prima Belladonna, completed in 1956, to the millennial anxieties of Report from an Obscure Planet, written in 1992. The Complete Short Stories confirm Ballard's stature as a craftsman of the short story, which often suits his surreal brilliance above and beyond later novels such as Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes. In his Introduction, Ballard reflects, "the short story is coined from precious metal, a glint of gold that will glow for ever in the deep purse of your imagination." Time and again, whether exploring the furthest reaches of science fiction, or the banal surrealism of English suburban life, Ballard's perverse insight lodges itself in your imagination, as he explores and often punctures what he refers to as "that over-worked hologram called reality". This collection will delight devotees, but it will also allow readers new to Ballard to experience a short-story writer of the stature of Borges, Bradbury or Edgar Allan Poe. "

[virtual_munkee]

Ooh I also recommend his novels, The Crystal World and The Drowned World.

Have you read any Kurt Vonnegut? Cat's Cradle was pretty good.

Neil Gaiman's novels are FANTASTIC, OH MY American Gods was one of the best books I read this year! Bring on Stardust.

Hmm will think of more laters, my mom always swore by Alistair Reynolds...Definitely recommend him. And Greg Bear.

[morsla]

I haven't read nearly enough Ballard, although I have a bunch of short stories. I love SF short story compilations... so many ideas to explore in so little space.

Greg Bear tends to make my head hurt (still haven't gotten around to finishing Diaspora), although I've liked most of his stories so far.

I read American Gods while travelling in the US, which was... odd. Especially when a huge storm was tearing through downtown while I was holed up on a couch reading the final conflict...

[virtual_munkee]

damn i will have to dig up some recommendations!

but kurt vonnegut for sure :)

have u read ursula le guin's short stories/spinoff stories? she has some great scifi blended with fantasy stuff.

but i am being too obvious, i know!

*thinks*