"Black Dog" by Neil Gaiman

"Black Dog" by Neil Gaiman

First Publication:  Trigger Warning:  Short Fictions and Disturbances

I have a confession to make.  I started reading Neil Gaiman when he did “Sandman” for DC Comics.  His work on it impressed me.  Somehow I never made the time to read much of his prose.  Since then I have started to work my way through them.  “The Graveyard Book” is one of my favorites.  I have also read “Odd and the Frost Giants”.  “American Gods” and his other novels are making their way to the top of my reading stack.

“Black Dog” is a follow up to “American Gods” that takes place a few years after the novel.  Shadow Moon is in England and meets a woman in a small-town pub.  Of course, this is just the beginning of his nightmare.  The Black Dog of the title is a local myth of a large dog that appears to people when they are about to die.  Gaiman starts the story with an uneventful easy pace that slowly builds in suspense as the American God Shadow is drawn into an adventure that could lead to his death.  Another solid effort from Gaiman.

Recommended, especially to fans of “American Gods”.

I read this as part of the Short Story Quest of Once Upon a Time X.

Star Trek: The Original Series: Shadow of the Machine

Author:  Scott Harrison

First Publication:  March 2015

Publisher:  Pocket Books

Source:  NetGalley

Cover Artist:  ???

Challenge:
42 Challenge 2015

One of my favorite Next Generation stories was the one that showed how Picard dealt with being turned against the Federation by the Borg.  It showed him returning to Earth and visiting his brother’s family.  Many times we see a big event but do not get to see how the characters deal with the repercussions.  “Shadow of the Machine” is done in a similar style.

The crew returns to Earth after the first movie encounter with V’Ger.  The Enterprise needs repairs and it is the perfect time for shore leave on the homeworld.  As Scott Harrison shows us, the crew is not perfect.  Take a look at how things go wrong for Sulu when he visits his daughter.  Kirk is hesitant about visiting his nephew (who is struggling with the death of his father).  I give Harrison high marks for capturing the voice and personality of the various characters.  While the stories are not a threat to the Federation, they are very important to the crew.  It is the personal stories he touches on that make this one of my favorite Trek books of recent years.  And the shorter length is perfect for this story.


I will be looking for more stories by Scott Harrison.  Highly recommended.

Slow Bullets

Author:  Alastair Reynolds

First Publication:  June 2015

Publisher:  Tachyon Publications

Source:  NetGalley

Cover Artist:  Thomas Canty

Challenge:
42 Challenge 2015

The author is one of my favorites of the “new space opera” movement.  His “Revelation Space” series is a favorite of many readers.  Which reminds me that I need to get back to reading it.  So far, I have only read the first book.  I have read a few of Reynolds’ short stories that were very good.  “Slow Bullets” is a novella published by Tachyon Press.  At 192 pages, it is more the length of many of the science fiction books I read in the seventies.  The novella is one of my favorite story lengths.  It has more meat to it than the short story but is not overly padded to reach the massive length of many of today’s novels. 

“Slow Bullets” features Scur from the “Revelation Space” series.  She is a soldier at the end of the war when she is captured by a sadistic enemy, injected with a slow bullet, and left to die.  The slow bullet was created as a futuristic dog tag that can be destroyed and kill the soldier.  Her enemy puts it on a path to slowly make its way to her brain and painfully kill her.  Scur wakes up on a spaceship and that is when this adventure begins.  Her tormentor is also on the ship which helps set the stage for the conflict.

Reynolds’ tells the story from Scur’s point of view.  The reader is not sure if she is a reliable narrator or not.  While not as good as “Great Wall of Mars” it is still a very good story.


Highly recommended.