Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: January 2007

[calico_reaction]

Comments

[buymeaclue]

Interesting--it's been a while since I've read Gaiman, but I've in the past been rather of the opinion that his short fiction is stronger than his long works. (But I've heard some objections to it that I can parse.) What don't you care for, if you don't mind?

[calico_reaction]

I'm not going to fault his techinical ability, and the most of his shorts that I've read were in Smoke & Mirrors. But most of his stories are idea stories, the kind that show what a cool idea something is, but the idea never goes anywhere. It doesn't change the characters, it has no plot, nothing. In the case above, the POV we got was never affected by what was happening (and what was happening, I'm still puzzling over), whereas his friend experienced the horror up close and personal. HIS FRIEND. WHOSE STORY WE DID NOT EXPERIENCE. In this case, I do fault Gaiman a bit, because I think he chose the wrong point of view and therefore distanced the reader from what was really happening.

I've read a few shorts that I have liked, but like I said, they're few and far between. Most of his shorts leave me very unsatisfied.

[pnew8]

HIS FRIEND. WHOSE STORY WE DID NOT EXPERIENCE.I've been thinking about this comment and those thoughts pulled me along this path in regard to sidelines stories (stories where the point of view is from a character who is along the sidelines of action/consequences/stronger focus of a piece

[calico_reaction]

Oooh, thanks for the syndication link!

And yes, I have. Actually, "Singing My Sister Down" (review here) is the only story I've read of hers so far, but I'm anxious to get that particular book

[pnew8]

This issue was a miss for me as well. As I was reading Bruce Sterling's Kiosk I thought it was going to be the story of the issue, but it lost me before the conclusion. Alas.

[calico_reaction]

Glad I'm not the only one. :)