Every story in this collection is already fading from memory.
I look at the contents list and try to remember what any of them were about: 'His VegetabEvery story in this collection is already fading from memory.
I look at the contents list and try to remember what any of them were about: 'His Vegetable Wife', was that the story about the passive woman and her abusive husband or was it 'Women in Trees'? I check the pages quickly but actually they were both that story. 'Sweetly the Waves Call to Me' was the same again, except in this one the man is only insensitive not abusive, and the woman escapes to the ocean not the trees.
'Dead Men on TV' was a passive woman and her bad relationship with her father. 'Goodbye, Cynthia' was a passive woman and her bad relationship with her mother. Or was it the one where a lonely woman escapes to the stars? No, that was her sister in this one. 'Recycling Strategies' was the one where the lonely, friendless woman escaped to the stars. Or was that 'On a Hot Summer Night'? No, that was the one where a lonely, friendless woman came from the stars.
There were a few good stories, but were they only good in comparison? 'With Four Lean Hounds' is a nice fantasy quest, although the characters are flat. But did I just feel like it was good because I was so relieved to finally encounter a plot? I might just remember 'Rachel in Love', if only because of the squicky bestiality content. This is the closest the whole collection comes to real science fiction, because it did make me think about consciousness and transhumanism.
The best stories of this collection deserve to be the solid middling stories in another collection, and most of them should go back into the creative writing exercises folder....more
A mostly enjoyable adventure story. The hero is an admirable square-jawed fellow, who punches a satisfying number of bad guys. It's that sort of book.A mostly enjoyable adventure story. The hero is an admirable square-jawed fellow, who punches a satisfying number of bad guys. It's that sort of book. His poet side-kick is plucky but flakey. His girlfriend is quickly dispatched in the early chapters - despite the large number of dresses that are ripped open in the course of the story, it is not a kissing book.
I highly recommend it to any precocious 9 year old boys you might know.
Otherwise, it is not very memorable and shares a great deal with other gaslamp fiction, not least The Anubis Gates. In a few years time, I will look back and think, 'Which one of them was it that had the time travel, men on stilts, plucky ragged boys, and amusing cameos from historical characters?'...more
This is an extremely jolly time-travelling, swash-buckling adventure! I'm surprised though that it won a science fiction award, as it's clearly fantasThis is an extremely jolly time-travelling, swash-buckling adventure! I'm surprised though that it won a science fiction award, as it's clearly fantasy. The time travel here is powered by Egyptian wizards, with no time wasted on specious physics.
Thoroughly recommended for anyone looking for a boys-own adventure: there's plenty of sword-fights, monsters, wizards, evil beggar-kings, revolutions, creepy clowns, and even cameos from great poets like Byron and Coleridge....more
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