Goals

I have decided to set some goals for this site.

So far I have reviewed 18 books and 7 short stories. Due to various factors, I have not read as much as usual this year. Between now and the end of December of 2010, I will attempt to review 100 books and 100 short stories. It sounds crazy when you look at my current output but I think I can do it.

Only time will tell if I can do it.

Short Story Review Index

Aldiss, Brian W. "In the Arena"

Asimov, Isaac "Button, Button" 
                       "Day of the Hunters"
                       "Everest"
                       "Let's Not"
                       "Shah Guido G"
                       "The Monkey's Finger"
                       "The Pause"

Bartell, David "Misquoting the Star"

Baxter, Stephen "The Ghost Pit"

Bradbury, Ray  "The Playground"

Dickson, Gordon R.  "Act of Creation"

Farmer, Philip Jose  "The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World"

Heinlein, Robert A.  "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"

Hemry, John G. "The Bookseller of Bastet"

Kress, Nancy "By Fools Like Me"

Lake, Jay ""Hello", Said the Gun"

Lovett, Richard A. and Mark Niemann-Ross  Phantom Sense

Martin, George R. R. "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels"
                                   "Override"
                                   "Remembering Melody"
                                   "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr"
                                    "The Second Kind of Loneliness"
                                  "With Morning Comes Mistfall"

Nagle, Pati  "Draw"

Plante, Brian "The Astronaut"

Resnick, Mike "All the Things You Are"

Reynolds, Alastair  "Scales"
                             "The Great Wall of Mars"
                           
Shaara, Michael "Beast in the House"

Shaw, Bob  "Light of Other Days"

Simak, Clifford D.  "The Birch Clump Cylinder"

Smith, Cordwainer "No, No, Not Rogov!"

Sturgeon, Theodore "The Graveyard Reader"

Wolfe, Gene  "A Fish Story"
                      "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories"

Zelazny, Roger   "And I Alone Am Escaped to Tell Thee" 
                         "Auto-da-Fe"
                         "Devil Car"
                         "Dismal Light"
                         "Love is an Imaginary Number"
                         "The Engine at Heartspring's Center" 
                         "The George Business"
                         "The Man Who Loved the Faoli"
                         "The Monster and the Maiden"
                         "The Naked Matador"
                         "The Night has 999 Eyes"
                         "The Stainless Steel Leech"

"The Graveyard Reader" by Theodore Sturgeon

The Graveyard Reader by Theodore Sturgeon

Published in Science Fantasy, 1958.

This is a different type of story to read for R.I.P. IV. The title led me to believe this would be a scary story. I was not exactly sure what a "graveyard reader" was but it sounded like the title to a good spooky tale. What I ended up reading was an excellent story that initially was not frightening. But then, upon further thought, it was a very scary story.

How many people would be happy to find that others could read their grave after they die? Would you want all of your secrets and actions revealed to others? Probably not. Sturgeon is an author I have not read much. After reading this story, he goes on my must read list. It is not a flashy story but it is well written.

Highly recommended.

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

What do you think of when you see a copy of The Invisible Man? Normally, I think of a man's descent into darkness. Wells is able to create numerous full blown characters in this short novel. What amazed me this time around was the sympathy I felt for the Invisible Man early in the story. It seems like he is being discriminated against. Children make fun of him. Adults don't even try to think of his feelings. It turns out that they are right. He is evil but would his story have taken a different path if the villagers had shown him compassion? I don't know but it does make you think. Next time you see someone being ignored or picked on, think back to this story.

It makes me think that sometimes people are the scariest things in the world.

"Beast in the House" by Michael Shaara

Published in Orbit#4(1954)

Beast in the House was a very interesting story. The beast in the title is an ordinary looking dog that wanders into the yard. Nothing sounds scary so far. Then, the mother notices that the dog seems to be watching her. But something else does not seem right. The dog's ears do not move when sounds are made. Every dog she has ever seen has it's ears move in reaction to sounds.

In another part of the neighborhood, a man finds the dead body of a dog. The dog has been skinned. What would do something like that? And why?

After reading this story, I know I will be looking at stray dogs more carefully.

Highly recommended.