Forty Nine, Bruce Holand Rogers

Forty Nine:  A Square of Stories by Bruce Holand Rogers is a book that I helped Kickstart.  Rogers has won several awards and his story samples looked promising, so I thought it made sense to help the author get some of his stories that publishers weren't publishing out into the wild.

Started: September, 2013 (?)

Completed: January 9, 2016

Recommendation:  Mildly recommended

Recommended by:  Nobody

Review:

This book of short stories was supposed to only grace my bedside table for a few days as the stories represent some pretty light reading.  Unfortunately, the book slipped off the bedside table (I wish I could write some great story about how that happened, maybe it was in the throws of passion or perhaps the book felt unappreciated or maybe the dust bunnies got lonely) and was lost beneath the bed until it was moved, about a week ago.

The stories are broadly inventive and the character of Donat Bobet is a masterpiece.  There were seven stories about stories (sort of along the lines of the book feeling unappreciated).  I found these self-referencing stories the kind of thing that might be submitted for a high school English class (the quality is better, but it felt like that kind of assignment).  They did not help the book.  There were two stories that had me laughing out loud to such a degree that I was compelled to read them to my wife.

The author's intent, I think, is to transport the reader to another place or another idea.  There were seven stories about hotels that were quite good and did this rather effectively.  I enjoyed several of the stories in this section, and found one in particular quite insightful into human character (this hotel allowed guests to deny amenities to others,  for a price).

I was hoping for some fantasy or science fiction themed stories as this was the area in which the author has received most renown, but was disappointed in that regard.

Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman

Fragile Things:  Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman is a book I borrowed from the library to occupy me during my commute.  I have read several other books by Gaiman and enjoyed them, but I try to steer away from his horror.  This book seemed to be outside of the horror range.  The book won the Locus Award for best collection and one of the stories, "How to talk to Girls at Parties" was nominated for the Hugo Award, "Sunbird" won a Locus award for best short story, "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" won a Locus award for best short story, "A Study in Emerald" won a Locus Award for best novelette and a Hugo Award for best short story, "Closing Time" won a Locus Award for best short story, and "October in the Chair" won a Locus Award for best short story.

Started:   5/3/2013

Completed:  5/8/2013

Recommendation: Mild recommendation

Recommended by:  Nobody

Review:

For the most part, this book is striking.  The story telling is rich, as one would expect.  The collection of stories is a little obtuse and they don't seem to go together to me.  There is one story about a boy who runs away from home ("October in the Chair") that is not horror, but is truly haunting and will still flicker at the edges of my mind long after I heard it.  There is something to be said for hearing a tale told by the author and the audio version was done by Gaiman.  None of these stories is particularly uplifting ("Harlequin Valentine" is about as close as it gets and that story stretches the concept of uplifting to near breaking), but they are also rarely outright depressing.  In his other books, Gaiman has tread this line well and this book is no exception.  Gaiman's original intent was to write a series of short stories that exposed people trying to be remembered ("October in the Chair" certainly did that for me), but he acknowledged that the collection had a life of its own and did not really end up doing that.  "Sunbird" also grabbed my attention and held it in a steely grip but, while I absolutely enjoyed the telling, upon completion I wonder how long this story will stick in my mind.  Another of the stories dipped into his American Gods characters and had a familiar flair perhaps because the characters had a certain familiarity.  In general, I enjoyed the stories and would recommend the book as a diversion.  I'm not convinced this is Gaiman's best work (but that is a very high standard against which to measure anything), but it is enjoyable.  My only reservation involves his ending to the Narnia stories ("The Problem of Susan") which was very off-putting to me for several reasons not the least of which was adding a graphic sex scene to what has long been considered a series of children's books.  I'm not a prude and didn't find the other sex that occurred in some of the stories (the American Gods characters surely made me uncomfortable, but that is, largely, the idea) particularly offensive, but here it felt like Gaiman was just using the sex to shock the reader and it is a shock I could have done without.  For that reason, I can only offer a mild recommendation.