I was traveling during the first half of September and thus got a little less reading done last month than usual. But I managed two good short-story collections as well as another Discworld novel and a free short Kindle book!
Late Victorian Gothic Tales - Edited/Intro by Roger Luckhurst (2005)
"And yet it was not the mystery, but the comedy of suffering that struck him; its absolute uselessness, its grotesque want of meaning. How incoherent everything seemed! How lacking in all harmony! He was amazed at the discord between the shallow optimism of the day, and the real facts of existence. He was still very young."
With a long and detailed introduction as well as a long list of resources, this collection stands up as a good mix of stories from a very specific slice of time. I appreciated that the 12 stories/novellas here included offerings from both male and female authors - some well-known (e.g. Kipling, Wilde, Doyle) and some I'd not come across before (Bithia Mary Croker). The general collection gives a good sense of the atmosphere of the genre of a whole as well as the 10-year slot that the stories here fit into. Pick this up if you're at all interested in Gothic literature, appreciative of late 19th-century writers, or want to get a little more background to forerunners like Poe or later authors like H. P. Lovecraft.
Related Reads:
(See compilation given by the editor)
Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett (1994)
"Adventure! People talked about the idea as if it was something worthwhile, rather than a mess of bad food, no sleep, and strange people inexplicably trying to stick pointed objects in bits of you."
I found this offering by Pratchett (the 4th in the Rincewind/Wizards timeline) a little harder to read than others of the Discworld series due to the proliferation of footnotes, asides, and representations of different languages and cultures for the "cross-cultural" aspect. However, it was still a fun read and left me wanting more Discworld stories.
Insistence of Vision - David Brin [Short Story Collection] (2016)
"To live, we must think. Our thoughts must encompass the entire range of possibility."
Unlike the bulk of other SciFi short stories I've come across (Philip K. Dick collections, for instance), Brin's stories aren't short and snappy pieces so much as slices of larger worlds. The general feeling I got after reading most of the pieces here was that of wanting to hear more. I wouldn't say this is a generally undesirable thing, it's just different. And some stories in Insistence are based off and related to his other works (which helps explain some of those feelings).
While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this collection to someone completely unfamiliar with Science Fiction, I enjoyed it overall. Those who are already David Brin fans - or who've read a good amount of SciFi already - will probably find this a good addition to round out their library. I also appreciated reading the author's thoughts via a couple of essay like pieces and occasional between-chapters commentary.
Related Reads:
The Postman (Brin)
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories
The Female Soldier, or The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell (1750)
"These Reflections must possess the Reader with generous Sentiments of this our Heroine, who by her Subtlety, and ready Inventions, destroyed in the Embrio every Thing advanced by her Fellow-Shipmates that she imagined might be a Means of exposing her Virtue."
I had this on my to-read list for quite a long time before it occurred to me to check if it was available for free on Kindle (spoiler: yes!). This little book is a fascinating, not entirely credible, ostensibly from-the-source account of an Englishwoman who disguised herself as a man and served in the Royal Marines in the early 1700's. Stylistically, it's very "of its time", with embellishments and assurances of Hannah's Female Virtue abounding and all Nouns capitalized. This makes for a bit of difficult reading, but if you're interested in history - especially of 18th century accounts - this is a good little sample to check out.
Related Reads:
Bloody Jack series (Meyer)
A Soldier's Secret (Moss)
Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder, and Piracy
Moby Dick (Melville)
Late Victorian Gothic Tales - Edited/Intro by Roger Luckhurst (2005)
"And yet it was not the mystery, but the comedy of suffering that struck him; its absolute uselessness, its grotesque want of meaning. How incoherent everything seemed! How lacking in all harmony! He was amazed at the discord between the shallow optimism of the day, and the real facts of existence. He was still very young."
With a long and detailed introduction as well as a long list of resources, this collection stands up as a good mix of stories from a very specific slice of time. I appreciated that the 12 stories/novellas here included offerings from both male and female authors - some well-known (e.g. Kipling, Wilde, Doyle) and some I'd not come across before (Bithia Mary Croker). The general collection gives a good sense of the atmosphere of the genre of a whole as well as the 10-year slot that the stories here fit into. Pick this up if you're at all interested in Gothic literature, appreciative of late 19th-century writers, or want to get a little more background to forerunners like Poe or later authors like H. P. Lovecraft.
Related Reads:
(See compilation given by the editor)
Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett (1994)
"Adventure! People talked about the idea as if it was something worthwhile, rather than a mess of bad food, no sleep, and strange people inexplicably trying to stick pointed objects in bits of you."
I found this offering by Pratchett (the 4th in the Rincewind/Wizards timeline) a little harder to read than others of the Discworld series due to the proliferation of footnotes, asides, and representations of different languages and cultures for the "cross-cultural" aspect. However, it was still a fun read and left me wanting more Discworld stories.
Insistence of Vision - David Brin [Short Story Collection] (2016)
"To live, we must think. Our thoughts must encompass the entire range of possibility."
Unlike the bulk of other SciFi short stories I've come across (Philip K. Dick collections, for instance), Brin's stories aren't short and snappy pieces so much as slices of larger worlds. The general feeling I got after reading most of the pieces here was that of wanting to hear more. I wouldn't say this is a generally undesirable thing, it's just different. And some stories in Insistence are based off and related to his other works (which helps explain some of those feelings).
While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this collection to someone completely unfamiliar with Science Fiction, I enjoyed it overall. Those who are already David Brin fans - or who've read a good amount of SciFi already - will probably find this a good addition to round out their library. I also appreciated reading the author's thoughts via a couple of essay like pieces and occasional between-chapters commentary.
Related Reads:
The Postman (Brin)
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories
The Female Soldier, or The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell (1750)
"These Reflections must possess the Reader with generous Sentiments of this our Heroine, who by her Subtlety, and ready Inventions, destroyed in the Embrio every Thing advanced by her Fellow-Shipmates that she imagined might be a Means of exposing her Virtue."
I had this on my to-read list for quite a long time before it occurred to me to check if it was available for free on Kindle (spoiler: yes!). This little book is a fascinating, not entirely credible, ostensibly from-the-source account of an Englishwoman who disguised herself as a man and served in the Royal Marines in the early 1700's. Stylistically, it's very "of its time", with embellishments and assurances of Hannah's Female Virtue abounding and all Nouns capitalized. This makes for a bit of difficult reading, but if you're interested in history - especially of 18th century accounts - this is a good little sample to check out.
Related Reads:
Bloody Jack series (Meyer)
A Soldier's Secret (Moss)
Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder, and Piracy
Moby Dick (Melville)
