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.

Tetrasomy Two by Oscar Rossiter

Sometimes a book just jumps out at you. That was the case with this book. I was checking out at a used book store when I saw a table of discounted books. As I scanned the table I saw the name "Tetrasomy Two". The name catches your attention. Reading the back cover made me think of a Philip K. Dick novel.

The mind that runs the universe is locked in the body of a person in an asylum. What better place to hide?

The author naturally reveals the personality of the various characters until you start thinking of them as real people. The main character is Dr. Boyd. He reminds me of Monk on the USA Network TV show. It is obvious that he has numerous problems. As the story progresses the reader starts thinking that the doctor might be going insane. Are any of the things described by the doctor happening or is he suffering a breakdown? The reader is not sure until the final two pages.

I must also admit to being surprised by the revelation near the end. I will not spoil it for you but you will know what I mean when you read it. It was one of those great moments that made sense after you read it.

If you are a fan of Philip K. Dick or Barry Malzberg, hunt down this book. You will enjoy it.

After finishing it, I went in search of more books by Oscar Rossiter. Why did I not hear of him before? Probably because this is his only novel. The author, whose real name was Vernon Skeels, quit writing after completing this novel. Between his professional career and writing Tetrasomy Two, it left no time for his family. The choice was simple for Skeels, family came first.

In the final days of his life, his children would read this novel to him as he lay in a rest home. He was proud to tell people that he wrote a novel.

Why did he use a pen name? Because of his work as a psychiatrist in Seattle. He worried that people would get upset if they thought he used their personality and cases in a novel. Like most good novelists, he used real life as inspiration but did not copy specific cases.

A month after finishing this book, I still wonder what he would have produced if he had continued writing.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Newton's Wake by Ken MacLeod

Sometimes you pick a book because it looks interesting. The cover is amazing, the storyline sounds exciting, the reviews are good, and you take the plunge and buy it. Until I read this book, MacLeod was an author I had not tried. This looked like the perfect book to start with. Maybe it was me but this book sounded better than it actually was. By the time I was a third of the way through, it lost my interest. Other books were calling and I did not care if I read the rest of this story.

One of my problems was the way the author was sidetracked down other paths. It almost seemed like he was not sure what book he wanted to write. Authors like Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny can take you on side roads and keep my interest. Here, it seemed like MacLeod would obsess with details that did not interest me.

Another problem I had was the characters. In general, the characters were not likeable. I found myself not caring who was right and who was wrong. Usually I find some character to cheer for. That was not the case in Newton’s Wake.

I put MacLeod on my list of authors to try again in the future. For now I have too many other authors I want to try. Add the authors I already enjoy and it will be a while until I return to MacLeod’s books.

Walpurgis III by Mike Resnick

When mankind spreads to the stars, various groups filed claims to settle the new worlds. Walpurgis III was one of those worlds. In this case, Satanic covens and practitioners of witchcraft were the groups that claimed this planet.

The book focuses on three characters.

Conrad Bland lives to kill. He has led massacres on many planets. Now he has been granted sanctuary on Walpurgis III. Many people on this planet think he is their Dark Messiah. Bland is planning on killing the inhabitants of this world. When he is done, he will move on to another planet.

Jericho is the best hired killer in the underworld.The Republic (the ruling government of the human worlds) has failed to kill Bland so they turn to Jericho. He is hired to journey to Walpurgis III and kill Bland.

John Sable is the chief detective of one of the largest cities on Walpurgis III. He is an honorable family man who believes in the law. Sable believes that the Republic has sent a killer to his city on a mission to take out Bland. Even though he does not agree with Bland's philosophy and prior actions, he has sworn an oath to uphold the law. He tries to warn his planet's government but they are not concerned. It becomes evident that they are collaborating with the Republic. Sable tries to warn Bland but he also is not concerned.

Jericho moves like an irresistable force towards Bland. He kills effortlessly. Sometimes he does it only to throw the police off his track. By changing identities, he is able evade the police and Bland's troops.

Bland kills everyone in various cities where he thinks Jericho is located. Sable is captured and held prisoner by Bland. The two are waiting together for Jericho to arrive for a final showdown. As Sable sees first hand what Bland has done, he starts to regret trying to stop Jericho.

The book showcases the old question, what would a moral man do when a person wants to kill the embodiment of evil? Sable faces this choice when he has a chance to stop one evil person from committing a crime. In the end, he allows one crime to happen but follows the law afterwards. His choice probably saved millions of lives. It still does not make it any better in his eyes. Sable was a very realistic character. Like many people in real life, he wants to live in a world of absolutes. Sable has to choose between evils and live with the consequences.

Two things stand out at the end of this novel. One was how constant exposure to the atrocities committed by Bland had a numbing effect on Sable. After a while, some of Bland's acts did not create the revolting feelings they initially did. And this permanently scarred Sable. Another was how when Sable returned to his normal life, he could not stop smelling the decaying corpses that he was exposed to in Bland's city. I imagine he remembered that smell for the rest of his life.

Resnick's story is fast paced. His writing style is what I would call transparent. If you are looking for a literary craftsman like Gene Wolfe, this is not the book for you. The reader will not have to ponder and try to decipher the meaning of his sentences. This keeps the story moving and focused. Sable's story will stay with you long after you finish the book.

The author does a great job of incorporating the details that develope this fictional world. Walpurgis III becomes a believable world in Resnick's hands.

It is highly recommended to fans of pulp style stories with a modern sensibility.