July 16 - "Other People"

“Other People”
by Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things (2006)

* * * * * (Excellent) Fantasy

A man meets a demon in a long, gray room for an eternity of torture.

For a story as short and depressing as this one, I enjoyed it immensely. For its simplicity and impact. It is amazing to read that the story was written so quickly – on an airplane flight – and could be so complete. I particularly enjoy stories like this: one that takes a character full-circle. Sure, a character arc is great for change and growth, but only goes so far. Moving all the way back to the beginning gives a story a sense of…destiny. Perhaps I’m not explaining it well enough. Regardless, I enjoyed this story quite a bit.

July 15 - "Seven Pieces of Severance"

“Seven Pieces of Severance”
by Robert Olen Butler
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * (Okay) Fantasy

Seven different accounts of the moments just after decapitation.

These flashes of fiction are interesting, but ultimately not engaging. The conceit here is that the mind is still conscious after decapitation for 60 to 90 seconds, giving a person about 160 to 240 words flowing through his or her mind before death. I get that these thoughts wouldn’t necessarily be coherent, or tell a story, but the rambling mess of words, while at times bordering the poetic, does very little for me. I think I’d be more excited if there was a profanity-laced tirade, or some humor, but these are the opposite of that. What truly saddens me: I have an entire book of these stories (Severance), from which these 7 were excerpted, that I’m now not looking forward to reading. Maybe in small doses?

June 16 - "Sunbird"

“Sunbird”
by Neil Gaiman
M Is for Magic (2007)

* * * * * (Excellent) Fantasy

The five aging members of the Epicurean Club head to Egypt in search of the fabled Sunbird after deciding they’ve sampled every delicacy known to them.

Even though we as readers know– and to some extent so do the four other members of the Epicurean Club – that Zebediah T. Crawcrustle is leading the group to its final meal, Gaiman has given us such an interesting quest, that we can’t not follow along. (Granted, without our lives on the line, it is easier for us to follow.) I found the characters to be so uniquely Gaiman-esque – which is a great thing, indeed – that I could easily picture them in my mind, worrying and wondering and salivating at the adventure they’d embarked upon. I do so enjoy a story in which I feel as thought I’m right there with the characters. Everything worked perfectly in this final story in collection.

June 4 - "The Holiday Man"

“The Holiday Man”
by Richard Matheson
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1994)

* * (Okay) Fantasy

David dreads going to work, especially on holidays, when the death toll is higher and feels somehow more wrong.

The story is supposed to be slightly mysterious and ominous, but ends up just being a bit too oblique. In an attempt to never explicitly state David’s job – some lie about a job in advertising – Matheson leaves the reader with too many questions. There’s also an overly long scene that begins the story that has little link to the purpose of the tale. What took a quarter of the story could have been done in a paragraph or two, leaving room for more detail about David’s mysterious job.

[This story was read June 4th but the Chair of Unexpected Sleep claimed yet another victim, and this review was posted a day late.]

May 27 - "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire”

“Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire”
by Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things (2006)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

A young man struggles to write literature until a raven convinces him to write what he enjoys, as fantastic and escapist - and unexpected - as it may be.

The great twist in this story – and I will spoil it here – is that we come to find the young man’s escapist, fantasy world is our own. The idea is hinted at early on in the tale, and becomes clearer as the story progresses. In fact, the beginning of the story feels slightly off until the all the pieces start to come together, and then when it all makes sense, the beginning becomes that much more interesting. I particularly enjoyed the Poe-ish story within the story. It’s a fun kind of suspense you don’t find in horror stories today. And what a title! Long and convoluted and ominous.

April 22 - "How to Sell the Ponti Bridge"

“How to Sell the Ponti Bridge”
by Neil Gaiman
M Is for Magic (2007)

* * * (Good) Fantasy

A tall, bald man steps up to defend the Ponti Bridge con at the Rouges’ Club after listening to a group of ne'er-do-well artists decry it’s merits.

I’m all for the con. But what keeps me away from fantasy, and often drives me out of this story, are the names I cannot pronounce. I was impressed, as always, with the style of writing displayed by Gaiman, and the con of selling the unsellable bridge was engaging, but I couldn’t get past the fact that this was a tale told on a different world, to other rogues I couldn’t picture because of the trappings in which they were dressed (named). It seems like such a little thing, but it’s often those minor details upon which stories find their fans, or do not.

April 3 - "Her Voice in a Bottle"

“Her Voice in a Bottle”
by Tim Pratt
Subterranean: Winter 2009 (2009)

* * * * * (Excellent) Fantasy

Tim Pratt recalls the mysterious Meredith, a weeklong love from college who vanished from sight only to return years later before vanishing once again. She floats in and out of his life in those moments of loneliness, last time leaving a message in a small blue bottle for when Tim needs to call on her again.

It was difficult finding the correct label for this story – fictionalized reality, memoir, or fantasy? I settled on fantasy because of the ephemeral nature of Meredith, and because of Pratt’s short digression about fantasy.

“…and just because I write fantasy doesn’t mean I believe that stuff. I’m a skeptic. Sure, I knock on wood, I have little superstitious rituals, but I know they’re merely magical thinking, that they don’t exert any influence on the world, that at most they exert influence on my mind, which is enough, sometimes.”

There’s a quality here, something slightly off, slightly magical, in Pratt’s recollection of his time with Meredith. There’s even a weird mix of The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, Pratt’s first novel, which I enjoyed, but remember in only broad strokes (as is true of most fiction I read) and Pratt’s own mentioning of a faulty memory, a mind incorrectly (maybe) filling in the past. Everything about this story – there’s even a mention of air hockey – clicked for me tonight in ways I know I won’t be able to articulate, or even remember correctly, come tomorrow. This is a story worth saving, a hopeful story for lonely hearts in troubled times.

March 31 - "The Rememberer"

“The Rememberer”
by Aimee Bender
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * * (Good) Fantasy

A woman’s lover begins to devolve at an alarming rate. From man to ape to sea turtle and simpler creatures, her Ben slips away.

Bender writes some great and often fantastical fiction. However, in her stories the fantasy is always grounded firmly in reality. Sure, a man may change from human to ape, and ape to sea turtle, but the foundation of the story – the emotion – remains realistically true: the sadness in our world is a result of the lack of feeling and the reliance on thought. For a couple that believe this sentiment, Ben’s transformation comes as no surprise. The woman does what she can to keep her man as long as she can, but in the end understands his place in the world. That does not stop her from keeping her ears tuned to the news, and her phone number listed, in case of the sudden reappearance of her lover. This story makes me want to dig out that copy of Bender’s The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and dive back into a world of the strange and beautiful.

March 21 - "October in the Chair"

“October in the Chair”
by Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things (2006)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

The months of the year gather around a campfire to share stories. October, in the seat of position, shares the final tale of the night – the story of a runaway boy and the friend he finds in the moonlit fields.

The brothers and sisters of the months in this story could very well be cousins to the brothers and sisters of the Endless from Gaiman’s popular comic series, Sandman. Even the idea of gathering to share stories doesn’t stray far from the format of comic series. Don’t get me wrong, this similarity is in no way a disparagement to the story here; it is a compliment. It was enjoyable trying to match personalities and traits to the individual months, but it was October’s tale within the larger story that made this an interesting piece of fiction. The tale of Runt was reminiscent of Nobody Owens from The Graveyard Book. [There are a lot of connections to be made when you enjoy the works of such a prolific author.] Gaiman is at his best when pairing the innocent and supernatural. The open-endedness of Runt’s tale is what leaves an enduring impact on the reader. It is the type of story that will come back into your thoughts long after you’ve placed the collection back up on the shelf.

March 21 - "A Study in Emerald"

“A Study in Emerald”
by Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things (2006)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

In an alternate version of Victorian England, two men search for a killer. Using new, but effective manners of deduction, the men follow the killers's trail to an unexpected revelation.

The power of this story is its ability to take your expectations and twist them just so, each turn dropping you deeper into a world you thought you knew. The story is an excellent example of a mystery in which all the clues are explained, conclusions justified by the evidence collected. Having never read a story starring Sherlock Holmes, I can only imagine – and probably rightly so – that the format here follows that of Doyle’s rather closely. [Some research on Wiki suggests Gaiman wrote Emerald as a mashup of Holmes's first adventure, A Study in Scarlett, and H.P. Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones from the Cthulhu Mythos – which is all beyond my reading.] One of the other powers of fiction is a story’s ability to spark a desire to follow the tale to its obvious influences. I am more intrigued by the worlds of Holmes and Cthulhu than I ever had been.

March 18 - "Pop Art"

“Pop Art”
by Joe Hill
20th Century Ghosts (2007)

* * * * * (Excellent) Fantasy

A boy and his inflatable best friend, Arthur Roth, are forced to deal with bullies, apathetic and overprotective parents, and Happy, a dog out for his piece of inflatable boy. Through all of this a friendship is cemented, and the questions of mortality become more immediate and momentous.

Over the course of this story you come to truly care about Art, the inflatable boy. You know his ending will not be kind, or deserved, and that painful awareness grows with each scrap of information you collect, written down in crayon on the tablet the mute Art wears around his neck. His loneliness, his fear, his dreams of becoming an astronaut; all of these convince us of Art’s humanity, his heart, even if he is just four ounces of air in a plastic container. That is an impressive feat of writing. The ability to take a concept as silly as this and transform it into a powerful piece of writing shows a skill for story that makes me hunger for more. Two stories from Hill in a day is not nearly enough.

March 17 - "Return to Pleasure Island"

“Return to Pleasure Island”
by Cory Doctorow
A Place So Foreign and Eight More (2003)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

Working as a candied floss spinner at an amusement park for stolen children, George – the strongest of three golem brothers – notices the changes in the children, and his family, and starts to question his place on this paradise island.

This story reminded me very much of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, the first of Doctorow’s works I read. Both offer twisted, and yet seemingly truthful extrapolations of the future and purpose of amusement parks. George, the strong golem, serves as a tragic tour guide in this cautionary tale about the pursuit of a life of pleasure. You feel sorry for George as all those around him succumb to their every desire, while he stands stoically unfulfilled, but safe. There were some repetitive and unpolished sentences throughout the story – actually making it quite difficult to get invested in the tale early on – but in the end, the story won out, and I was entertained.

February 25 - "Troll Bridge"

“Troll Bridge”
by Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors (1998)

* * * (Good) Fantasy

After wandering down an unfamiliar path in the sun-dappled woods, Jack finds himself face to face with a troll. In an attempt to keep the troll from eating him, Jack promises to return one day, older and wiser and tastier, his life lived more completely.

This story seems familiar. Not like I’ve read it before and forgotten, but more in the sense of a story similar, with the same type of bargain for extended life. It must just be one of those recycled ideas – only here the result doesn’t feel warmed-over or retread. The descriptions of setting and flashes of Jack’s life are what give this tale its strength. However, there are only glimpses of Jack’s life, not enough for me to become invested in Jack’s fate, or his eventual decision. I understand the story; I just don’t care one way or the other about Jack. I was more interested with the growing little town and its developing neighborhoods encroaching and overwhelming the fields and countryside. This was simply an instance of the setting overshadowing the characters and plot.

January 24 - "Chivalry"

“Chivalry”
by Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors (1998)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

Mrs. Whitaker, in her weekly visit to the secondhand shop near the post office where she collects her pension check, discovers the Holy Grail among the multitude of used objects. Taking it home, cleaning the age from the cup, she then places the Grail on her mantelpiece between a small china basset hound and a photo of her late husband. One day not long after she brings the Grail home, a mysterious visitor on a quest arrives at her front door.

Once again Gaiman does not disappoint. It doesn’t take much effort to imagine Mrs. Whitaker and her weekly routines. This allows the reader to feel an active part of the story as it unfolds. The fantastical elements of the tale aren’t heavy-handed – they seamlessly blend into the ordinary world, feeling only slightly off, slightly magical. Not a huge fan of fantasy fiction, I prefer when the rudiments of fantasy appear unobtrusively in the real world, such as they do here in this bittersweet story.