tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26685377751328262024-02-22T03:35:27.215-06:00A Year of Stories, PirateEscape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-8378595075340426632009-08-09T23:14:00.002-05:002009-08-09T23:15:06.325-05:00August 9 - "L.T.'s Theory of Pets"<center><font size="+1">Sunday’s with Uncle Stevie</font></center>“L.T.’s Theory of Pets”<br />by Stephen King<br /><i>Everything’s Eventual</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Realistic<br /><br />L.T. shares the story of how his marriage to Lulubelle ended and of how the pets they bought each other as anniversary gifts became attached to the wrong person. <br /><br />King wrote in his introduction to this story how it was his favorite of the collection, but I just don’t see it. Maybe it has to do with my lack of an emotional connection to the concept of pets. Actually, in reading why he believes this story has a great impact on the reader – the whole notion of people forging lasting connections with their pets – I’m sure that’s the reason it doesn’t do as much for me. In fact, without that emotional connection, I don’t feel there is much to this story. It is well written and enjoyable enough on a superficial level. It’s just one of those times where a story can’t please everyone (me).Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-61501414132058796192009-08-09T22:58:00.001-05:002009-08-09T23:00:38.042-05:00August 8 - "The Lost Regiment"“The Lost Regiment”<br />by Italo Calvino<br /><i>Numbers in the Dark</i> (1995)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Fable<br /><br />An army regiment becomes uneasy and eventually lost while parading through a city.<br /><br />There is a lot of beautiful imagery in this story of a lost regiment on parade. Calvino does a brilliant job describing the regiment’s unease as they begin marching through the town. He does this by describing how one soldier’s tentative steps are picked up by another and then another until the whole regiment is cautiously tiptoeing through the streets. Later when the villagers attempt to lead the regiment back to their base by way of climbing over the roofs of the buildings I could easily picture this parade gone awry, and it is a truly marvelous thing to behold. This being a fable I know there is deeper meaning here, but I’m happy with just the images now. Maybe upon rereading or further reflection I’ll take something more away from the story, but for now I’m content. <br /><br />[<i>This story was read on August 8. The review was not posted until later due to falling asleep in the Chair of Unexpected Sleep.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-69829442551872502962009-08-07T23:39:00.001-05:002009-08-07T23:41:13.213-05:00August 7 - "King Crin"“King Crin”<br />by Italo Calvino<br /><i>Italian Folktales</i> (1980)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Folktale<br /><br />After catching King Crin in his true form, the third baker’s daughter must wear through seven pairs of iron shoes, mantles, and hats to win back Crin. While doing so the daughter collects three prizes that help her in her quest to find Crin.<br /><br />Three baker’s daughters, three houses visited, three rewards for surviving each night, three nights to convince Crin of her love – notice a pattern here? And the importance of wearing through seven pairs of iron shoes, iron mantles, and iron hats? And the meaning of the passage at the end?:<i><blockquote>They put on the dog and high did they soar,<br>They saw me not, I stood behind the door.</blockquote></i>Huh? What does this have to do with anything in the story?<br /><br />Some of these tales make little sense, and jump from one illogical scenario to another (a pig son killing baker’s daughters until he finds the one who wipes mud from his body to surviving the nights at the cottages of Wind, Lightning, and Thunder to being rewarded with a chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut), but are quite engaging in some unexplainable way. They somewhat succeed by the fact that they are outrageous.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-41120141139027826852009-08-06T22:44:00.000-05:002009-08-06T22:45:12.479-05:00August 6 - "Duel"“Duel”<br />by by Richard Matheson<br /><i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1994)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Suspense<br /><br />When Mann passes a truck only to find it come roaring past him moments later he realizes that he may be driving for his very life.<br /><br />Matheson did a wonderful job creating suspense in this story of road rage. Nearly every sentence builds on the last, heightening the suspense, pulling you along for the crazy ride. I’ve actually been in a similar situation with an RV. Granted, the RV wasn’t trying to kill me (or maybe it was?), but we were racing each other down the road, cutting each other off – basically just pissing each other off, completely on purpose. At the time I was lost in the battle, but looking back – it was stupid. But it was fun.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-18515266740320581772009-08-06T16:07:00.004-05:002009-08-06T16:09:09.128-05:00August 5 - "In Reference to Your Recent Communications"“In Reference to Your Recent Communications”<br />by Tessa Brown<br /><i>New Sudden Fiction</i> (2007)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * * *</font> (Excellent) Humor<br /><br />Jessica responds, in detail, to the couple of messages Randolph left on her answering machine breaking up with her. <br /><br />What can I say? I am a sucker for footnotes. I really enjoyed how Brown took the couple of phone messages left for Jessica and had her breaking down each communication into its individual components, adding her thoughts and beliefs – as accurate or obsessive – to the message, all in an attempt to convince Randolph of the error of his ways. In fact, I bounced back and forth in my sympathy, at once for Jessica and her broken heart, and then for Randolph, because at times it appears that Jessica might be a tad too committed to her part in this relationship. All told, this story was quite hilarious and it’s been a rare thing to come across humor in these stories I’ve read so far this year. <br /><br />[<i>This story was read on August 5. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-60596436092264468742009-08-06T16:07:00.001-05:002009-08-06T16:07:34.216-05:00August 4 - "Following the Notes"“Following the Notes”<br />by Pia Z. Ehrhardt<br /><i>New Sudden Fiction</i> (2007)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Realistic<br /><br />A father and daughter find a small measure of connectedness and attachment through the music he shares with her. <br /><br />I think the author was attempting to infuse this story with more meaning than it could hold. I guess, by the end of the story, I felt Ehrhardt was a little heavy handed with the imagery of the father and daughter sitting together at the piano as music gave them peace. In honesty, none of the characters were all that sympathetic. I felt about as involved as the mother who simply decides to leave the pair at the kitchen table in favor of watching TV alone in her room. There was potential here for much more, and I really did enjoy the beginning of the story with the dead car battery and switching of tee shirts (dude, a Ninja Turtles tee is always a great addition to a story). <br /> <br />[<i>This story was read on August 4. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-40503634064693932452009-08-06T16:06:00.001-05:002009-08-06T16:06:51.738-05:00August 3 - "The Distributor"“The Distributor”<br />by Richard Matheson<br /><i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1994)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * * *</font> (Excellent) Suspense<br /><br />Theodore Gordon moves into a new neighborhood and proceeds to pit neighbor against neighbor until the entire street erupts in chaos. <br /><br />I feel as though I know this story from somewhere…I just can’t place it. I did, however, enjoy it tremendously. I think it’s fascinating that one man can prey on the fears and feelings of others to the point in which, with a simple nudge, neighbors attack each other. It shouldn’t be so easy to convince people of the worst, but with the negativity and pessimism we’ve developed as a culture, it really isn’t such a surprise that Gordon’s plan works so well. Now, I just wish I could remember where I’ve heard this story from before. <br /><br />[<i>This story was read on August 3. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-687475252416869002009-08-06T16:05:00.003-05:002009-08-06T16:06:06.044-05:00August 2 - "Strawberry Spring"<center><font size="+1">Sundays with Uncle Stevie</font></center>“Strawberry Spring”<br />by Stephen King<br /><i>Night Shift</i> (1979)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Horror<br /><br />Hidden in the fog, a killer haunts the campus of the New Sharon Teacher’s College during the strawberry spring of 1968.<br /><br />King does a better job with the setting and the mood of the story here than he does with developing the characters. Which is unusual. That’s not to say that he foregoes setting and mood in his greater works – in fact they are a large part of many of his stories – but they are usually combined with interesting, realistic characters. Here the narrator does little more than recollect fragments of that time when Springheel Jack stalked the campus, killing coeds in the fog. The twist at the end of the story is of little surprise, and by the end, it doesn’t appear to be much more than your average slasher/horror story. <br /><br />[<i>This story was read on August 2. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-1573523304923471302009-08-06T16:04:00.001-05:002009-08-06T16:04:38.510-05:00August 1 - "The Wine Doctor"“The Wine Doctor”<br />by Frederick Adolf Paola<br /><i>New Sudden Fiction</i> (2007)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Realistic<br /><br />Dottore Cotrolao had always been skeptical of the wine doctor, Ezio Delli Castelli, and his practice of prescribing wines to cure ails, but was even more surprised when Castelli sought his help with a medical concern.<br /><br />I thought this was a wonderful, if not predictable, tale of the respect competitors often have of each other’s success. The “real” doctor and the man playing at doctor were both sufficiently realized as characters to the point where you felt as though you understood each character’s point of view. It’s so much easier to become invested in a story when you understand – and empathize – with the characters and their motivations. Also, it’s nice to read a story every once in awhile in which people act with class.<br /><br />[<i>This story was read on August 1. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-20336534427386210922009-08-06T15:07:00.001-05:002009-08-06T15:08:19.268-05:00July 31 - "The Canary Prince"“The Canary Prince”<br />by Italo Calvino<br /><i>Italian Folktales</i> (1980)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Folktale<br /><br />A witch grants a prince the ability to turn into a canary so that he can reach the princess he loves.<br /><br />I enjoyed this story more than some of the other folktales because of its uniqueness – an ability to forego some of the more formulaic elements of these Italian folktales – and its more logical narrative. While this story still had its moments of illogical incidents and suddenly appearing characters, the entire tale wasn’t populated by such occurrences. I also enjoyed the fact that it was a riff on the Rapunzel story – or maybe the Rapunzel story was the one doing the riffing. It’s always fascinating to see a different take on a familiar story.<br /><br />[<i>This story was read on July 31. The review was not posted until later due to laziness on my part.</i>]Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-85148569842922999412009-07-30T23:44:00.000-05:002009-07-30T23:45:03.619-05:00July 30 - "The Container"“The Container”<br />by Deb Olin Unferth<br /><i>Minor Robberies</i> (2007)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Realistic<br /><br />Believing a gas leak in her apartment to be the cause of her ongoing headaches, a woman calls the gas department only to find a mysterious container left behind when the workers leave.<br /><br />My favorite part of the story is the mysterious container left behind by the workers. It sort of just shows up and looks all threatening with its blue liquid and plunger on top. The gas company refuses to claim the object and the closest safe disposal site is states away, so what does the woman do? She pushes the plunger and the story ends. While the act – and container – seem to have little the do with the rest of the story, it’s a strong image to end a story on. Sometimes a great visual goes a long, long way to making a huge impact.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-90224949927886753992009-07-29T21:43:00.000-05:002009-07-29T21:44:04.859-05:00July 29 - "Mantage"“Mantage”<br />by Richard Matheson<br /><i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1994)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Fable<br /><br />A writer wished that the time spent struggling and waiting for success could be condensed as it is in movie montage. When life begins to fly by, the writer questions whether his wish came true, or if life truly speeds by as quickly as it appears.<br /><br />Time does speed by. Days slip and weeks fall away. Soon months are gone, seasons change, and years pass by. And yet I know when a week does drag on the first thing I wish is for it to speed up, forgetting somehow that that time is gone forever. It’s a sad story to recognize that you lose everything you love in time – to time. I like how Matheson leaves the interpretation up to the reader: did the man’s wish come true, or did life simply pass it does? It’s hinted that the wish may have come true, but I tend to think life is just life. <br /><br />And why, “<i>man</i>tage?” It’s spelled “montage.” Unless it is supposed to be a <i>man</i>’s life done in a montage?Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-33875407402882236172009-07-29T21:30:00.000-05:002009-07-29T21:31:29.336-05:00July 28 - "The Test"“The Test”<br />by Richard Matheson<br /><i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1994)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Science Fiction<br /><br />As an elderly man, Tom must pass The Test every five years in order to keep on living. His body failing him, Tom makes a difficult decision while on his way to The Test. <br /><br />It is scary how some extrapolations of future public policy seem far-fetched, but not necessarily impossible. It would be tough enough knowing the punishment for failing the test is death, but knowing you couldn’t possibly pass the test would make the appointment a difficult one to keep. The story spent too much time at the beginning showing the test in detail, and could have been better served by leaving some of this up to the reader’s imagination. Overall, it’s a great, thought-provoking idea that provides a nice mix of thinking entertainment. <br /><br />(This story was read July 28th, but the review was not posted until a day later due to a bout of unexpected sleep.)Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-25560016122878468442009-07-27T22:50:00.000-05:002009-07-27T22:51:25.861-05:00July 27 - "The Island"“The Island”<br />by Peter Watts<br /><i>The New Space Opera 2</i> (2009)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Science Fiction<br /><br />A work crew in space building travel gates across the universe comes in contact with an intelligent super-entity that directs them to build their new gate in a different location. <br /><br />I hate when stories make me feel dumb. It’s the science here that seems beyond me. And I’m frustrated with the fact that it may not even be “real” science, but rather something fictional and thus not supposed to make sense in a real way. Still, once I finally keyed into the idea of the story, it was entertaining. It took me some time – over halfway through before I started to understand what was happening – but eventually things made enough sense that I could see the story. I may have not taken away what the author intended with the tale, but I got spaceships and drama and challenging questions: good science fiction.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-52448934544918145942009-07-26T14:57:00.001-05:002009-07-26T14:58:31.005-05:00July 26 - "Trucks"<center><font size="+1">Sundays with Uncle Stevie</font></center>“Trucks”<br />by Stephen King<br /><i>Night Shift</i> (1979)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Supernatural<br /><br />A small group of people find themselves trapped inside a truck stop surrounded by an increasing number of murderous trucks. <br /><br />This is the kind of story that would have really excited me – creatively and in my imagination – when I was a kid and spent my summers traveling by semi across the country, staying many nights in truck stops, constantly surrounded by vehicles such as these monstrous trucks. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it now; it did bring back memories, and I could very vividly picture all of the little details right down to the smells and sounds. It actually reminded me of King’s very similar story, <i>The Mist</i>, which I recently rewatched on DVD. In fact, this story of stranded survivors surrounded by overwhelming odds could almost be viewed as a sort of inspiration for the later story.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-45054289379694155552009-07-26T14:56:00.000-05:002009-07-26T14:57:16.136-05:00July 25 - "The Hiding of Black Bill"“The Hiding of Black Bill”<br />by O. Henry<br /><i>The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Western<br /><br />Percival Saint Clair takes a job herding sheep at a remote ranch where discussion of the train robber Black Bill prepares him for the arrival of sheriffs in search of the rogue. <br /><br />The one problem I have with some of Henry’s stories comes from, I’m sure, the style of writing at the time, but also from his insistence on having his characters telling stories inside of the story without very clearly delineating the dialogue. This character said that this other character said this about that – it all becomes muddled after awhile. Here it became especially difficult when the character of Black Bill, pretending to be another character, was telling stories about himself. Paying careful attention I was able to follow the story and it was good, but it took a lot of work for very little payoff.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-81197233210372447952009-07-26T14:55:00.002-05:002009-07-26T14:56:31.450-05:00July 24 - "A Retrieved Reformation"“A Retrieved Reformation”<br />by O. Henry<br /><i>The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Realistic<br /><br />Master safecracker Jim Valentine unexpectedly finds happiness in the legit life of a shoe salesman until his past catches up with him when a small child becomes trapped in a time-sealed bank vault. <br /><br />This was the most <i>Hollywood</i> of stories by Henry I’ve read. The story played out like most movie or television stories today, with a thoroughly predictable and easy to follow flow. There was just the slightest level of Disney suspense, and a happy ending. It’s the type of story that offers no surprises, only comfort and ease of reading. It’s a well-developed formula now, but I’m curious as to how commonplace a story like this might have been back when it was originally written. I would guess it still felt rather <i>light</i> on importance, but was enjoyable for what it was: hopeful. Hope in a better life, in a happy ending.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-44134135831591088392009-07-26T14:55:00.001-05:002009-07-26T14:55:49.555-05:00July 23 - "The Clarion Call"“The Clarion Call”<br />by O. Henry<br /><i>The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Realistic<br /><br />Cornered by Detective Barney Woods after murdering a millionaire, Johnny Kernan counts on the detective’s reluctance to arrest a man he’s indebted to. Woods turns Kernan’s arrogance into a way to capture the man with some help from the local newspaper.<br /><br />The need to brag, or show off, will bring you crashing down every time. I knew that the overly principled policeman would eventually find a way to capture his murderer, but it seemed a protracted way of basically writing and I.O.U. on a napkin and handing it to the man to erase the debt. The story was okay, but once you realized what was bound to happen, Kernan’s repetitive bragging became a bore.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-70515882668888004002009-07-26T14:54:00.001-05:002009-07-26T14:54:55.956-05:00July 22 - "A Chaparral Prince"“A Chaparral Prince”<br />by O. Henry<br /><i>The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Fable<br /><br />Lena, a child of eleven, toils at the Quarrymen’s Hotel while dreaming of a prince out of Grimm’s tales to rescue and return her to her loving mother. <br /><br />Okay, I don’t understand the title here. The word chaparral has something to do with a dense growth of shrubs or small trees. I thought Lena’s prince was the band of mail thieves that rescued her from the hotel? The robber band do tie the mailman whose load contained Lena’s letter to a tree, and it is his cart they slip the child in to carry her home, but what does that have to do with a “chaparral prince”? Anyway, I did enjoy the story mostly for the personal wish I had at the moment of reading for a rescuer to come and save me from my punishing ride across Iowa (RAGBRAI). Granted, my wish was for a rich princess to swoop in with a helicopter to carry me away from the ride, but it’s the same basic idea.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-17387036914038490042009-07-26T14:53:00.000-05:002009-07-26T14:54:11.480-05:00July 21 - "To Do"“To Do”<br />by Deb Olin Unferth<br /><i>Minor Robberies</i> (2007) <br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * *</font> (Great) Realistic<br /><br />A woman becomes obsessed with creating lists of things to do. <br /><br />As a man who enjoys making To Do lists, I can see the appeal and understand the obsession that can develop in creating such lists. I don’t know that I’ve ever taken the process to the extreme of making lists of lists, but I can remember some lists with subchores under others. And what help are they, really? Funny thing, though, while reading the story I was thinking of how <i>helpful</i> it would be to make a couple of lists right then. The story is a nice slice of real life, relatable to many, I’m sure.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-30982213955309877812009-07-26T14:52:00.000-05:002009-07-26T14:53:21.966-05:00July 20 - "Transients in Arcadia"“Transients in Arcadia”<br />by O. Henry<br /><i>The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories</i> (2002)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Realistic<br /><br />Harold Farrington and Madame Beaumont meet at a secluded hotel in Aracadia where they develop a friendship when they reveal their true identities.<br /><br />I’ve thought about how “storybook” it would be to meet someone while on vacation with whom I developed such a strong connection that we would get together again after leaving that place. I think a lot of people go somewhere else, like on vacation, thinking that they will finally be able to be their “true” self and find someone that would notice that “better” version and fall in love with them. The two characters in this story take that idea to the other extreme – are pretending to be people they aren’t in real life. In that they find a connection through a similar deceit they become a bit too clichéd, but it’s still a good story with a happy ending.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-86611422626644306552009-07-26T12:32:00.004-05:002009-07-26T12:34:11.688-05:00July 19 - "The Man Who Loved Flowers"<center><font size="+1">Sundays with Uncle Stevie</font></center>“The Man Who Loved Flowers”<br />by Stephen King<br /><i>Night Shift</i> (1979)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * *</font> (Good) Horror<br /><br />A young man with a secret peacefully walks the streets of New York City before purchasing a bundle of flowers and setting off in search of his girl, Norma. <br /><br />Sometimes all it takes is a single small moment, a clue hidden into the narrative so that the twist ending doesn’t come out of nowhere, to spoil a story. I’m not saying that I enjoyed the story less by recognizing this story beat, but the tale did become predictable from that point forward. But I was a bit disappointed here because the story started off so differently that any other King story I’d read. It was a story about a man in love and things were grand and I didn’t know where it was going to lead me. Once I knew there was a hammer killer on the loose, it was apparent who he was and what he was going to do and how the story would end. It was a fine story with an apt ending, but my excitement vanished long before that point.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-41040585975921459092009-07-26T12:31:00.000-05:002009-07-26T12:32:01.693-05:00July 18 - "Shoofly"“Shoofly”<br />by Richard Matheson<br /><i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1994)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* * * * *</font> (Excellent) Realistic<br /><br />An irritating fly sends Pressman into a rage as he destroys his office attempting to kill the elusive insect. <br /><br />Oh, it’s the little things that can become so frustrating. Matheson does a fantastic job of showing how someone can become obsessed by a distraction and take that distraction to an unhealthy extreme. It is both funny and sad because I’ve been in so many similar situations. It’s an interesting story because with each new attempt to kill the fly you know the man is going to fail – there are still more words in the story – but you become part of the action and eventually begin to hope the same hopes and feel the excitement of each new attempt to kill the beast. And I love the name Pressman gave his first weapon, the “Prospectus of Doom,” a client’s rolled prospectus. It just sounds so legal and threatening.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-53743167261008386912009-07-18T06:57:00.003-05:002009-07-18T07:00:05.137-05:00A Brief InterruptionI am riding RAGBRAI this week and will be away from computers, so there will not be regular posts of short story reviews. Rest assured, I'll still be reading a story a day and writing the reviews by hand. I'll post them when I have the chance, possibly a few Tuesday night, or a week's worth next weekend.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2668537775132826.post-51711453297237813542009-07-17T21:53:00.000-05:002009-07-17T21:54:29.142-05:00July 17 - "Crack and Crook"“Crack and Crook”<br />by Italo Calvino<br /><i>Italian Folktales</i> (1980)<br /><br /><font color="yellow">* *</font> (Okay) Folktale<br /><br />Two master thieves, Crack and Crook, join together to rob the king. In an attempt to catch the thieves the king asked his prisoner, another thief, Snare, for advice. <br /><br />How many daughters does a king have ready to be married at his whim? It seems as though all it takes to find yourself married to a princess is to solve a problem, overcome some (3) challenges, or simply just show up. I wish there would have been a more detailed account of the heist; I’m a sucker for a good heist story. That is the problem with the entire tale, we are <i>told</i> what happened, not <i>shown</i> what happened. It makes the story read quickly, but is not very entertaining.Escape Piratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10402768484956338422noreply@blogger.com0