Print Collections
Reviews of single-author collections.
Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights by Patrick Chapman
Patrick Chapman’s Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights is a collection of poetry which functions as a continuous unit. If this were a piece of music, it would be a concept album. As the differences between songs and poems vary from vague to nonexistent, it should come as no surprise that this is a highly effective […]
Continue ReadingAliens of the Heart by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Aliens of the Heart is number 19 in Aqueduct Press’s series of Conversation Pieces and collects four works by Carolyn Ives Gilman. The series exists to present texts related to feminist SF, so while there are no accompanying essays or even introductions about how the editors saw these works in a feminist context, that […]
Continue ReadingThe Cusp of Something by Jai Clare
When reading a new collection of short stories, especially one so widely varied as Jai Clare’s The Cusp of Something, it is difficult to know how to describe it in terms of genre. Some of the work is truly macabre, laced with hints of horror and dark fantasy, some of it openly erotic; the author […]
Continue ReadingCrap Ghosts by Gavin Inglis
This is the second edition (or “second apparition”) of Gavin Inglis’s collection, Crap Ghosts. Six new stories have been added to the original ten, and I will note the reprints as I come to them. On balance, if you enjoyed the first edition, then it’s probably worth getting your hands on this one […]
Continue ReadingAn Alternate History of the 21st Century by William Shunn
The story that opens William Shunn’s collection, An Alternate History of the 21st Century, is “From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left,” which was originally published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1993 and set in 2009, with part taking place in 2021. This short story, which […]
Continue ReadingViewpoints Critical by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
L.E. Modesitt, Jr., is an author better known for his novel length writing than his short fiction. In the introduction to Viewpoints Critical, Modesitt points out that he has published half as many stories as novels, an unusual achievement for a writer who began his career in the pages of Analog and Asimov’s. Equally unusual, […]
Continue ReadingIn the Yaddith Time by Ann K. Schwader
Speculative poet Ann K. Schwader’s collection, In the Yaddith Time, is an ambitious thirty–six sonnet sequence inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s famous sonnet cycle, Fungi from Yuggoth (coll. 1941). Schwader, an exceptionally talented poet, is able to tell her story in naturally rhythmic conversational verse that builds in intensity, pulling the reader across […]
Continue ReadingGod Laughs When You Die by Michael Boatman
I have no idea whether or not God Laughs When You Die, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she allowed herself a wry grimace after reading Michael Boatman’s first collection of stories. The subheading, Mean Little Stories from the Wrong Side of the Tracks, accurately reflects both their mood and origin—cynical, grotesque, and sometimes hilarious […]
Continue ReadingFinding Magic by Tanya Huff
It’s odd how you can get to know a stranger by simply perusing a block of squashed tree for a few hours. Ten days ago, I didn’t know Tanya Huff from Adam—or Lilith, for that matter. I have since learned from her collection, Finding Magic, that she adores animals and strong women (especially redheads), appreciates […]
Continue ReadingPS Showcase #1: Sanity and Other Delusions: Tales of Psychological Horror by Gary Fry
The first of PS Publishing’s new Showcase range, Sanity And Other Delusions by Gary Fry is a collection of short stories which explores the human mind, takes the reader on a journey through the seemingly mundane, and forces them to face those nightmarish fears that keep us all staring at the ceiling after the lights […]
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