Today I set out to read a number of short stories, as opposed to a single book for review. Before I post those reviews though, I’m going to allow myself a small, selfish gripe. It’s really just to make myself feel better. We all need that on occasion.
I say this a lot, but I’m not a huge fan of short stories (or novellas, novelettes, etc). I respect that it takes a lot of talent to cram any amount of punch into a short piece, but I generally find them less than satisfying. And this feeling has only intensified with the recent trend of serialised shorts, in which stories are apparently no longer expected to stand on their own. Rather, they form part of a larger whole. I am not a fan. In fact, I hate this. A lot. I’m of the opinion that if an author wants to write a 100 page work there is no good reason to break it into four 25 page stories. There just isn’t.
But I digress. My initial point was just that I dislike short stories. Somehow, however, my review request list is always cluttered with them. And though I find their presence an annoyance, I can never bring myself to just delete them. I’ve promised to give all books sent to me consideration (though I don’t honestly consider a short story a book), so eventually I’ve so far always given in and read them…basically just to remove the detritus form my TBR list.
It always feels like homework when I do it, though. With few exceptions, any enjoyment I get out of the experience is of the ‘creating order and neatness’ kind. Not that there aren’t good shorts out there (I always hope to be reading one) and not that I don’t give each a fair crack at a good review. But they really aren’t my thing. OK, now that’s out of the way…
Description from Goordreads:
A captivating, mystical and erotic story about the life before Earth. The first world was ideal, the first humans were immortal, everything was given to them to ensure a happy and endless future and life seemed to be going perfect. But there was a curious angel who changed the course of life.
To begin with, angels hadn’t any feelings, they were cold, emotionless creatures wandering around the new world and examining the surroundings. But one of them learned to feel and to see the beauty of God’s creation and for that life, even the angel is surely ready to leave even Heaven.
Review:
This is essentially the exodus of Adam and Eve. It just starts a little earlier in the timeline. I’ll confess that I don’t gravitate toward religious stories at all. But even if I did, I’m still not sure I would think well of this one. There is a lot that is assumed…or rather, presumed. For example, Eve and the Angel hide their actions from Adam. However, two such innocent creatures wouldn’t have even had the moral understanding necessary to perceive those same actions as anything but natural in the circumstances. So, there is no reason they would think to hide them. It requires the reader to impose modern western morality (or rules God doesn’t set out until far later in the Bible) to circumstances that would essentially be wholly without need for them in order for this story to make any sense at all.
Plus, the passionate ‘Love’ referred to in the title is 100% based on sex. There isn’t a single conversation between the characters prior to ‘the love.’ Guess even in Eden a woman’s worth still boiled down to her willingness to open her knees.
I also thought that the writing was rough and overly dramatic. I don’t think it was originally in English. Too many adjectives are used in the dialogue tags. As and example, in about a page I found “answered shortly,” “confessed honestly,” “sighed desperately,” “responded abruptly” and “cried out maliciously.” As well as “sneered the man smugly,” which isn’t a dialogue tag, but just felt like one more of the same. The dialogue itself was also really stiff, the POV was inconsistent and the whole thing felt as if it moved ahead in jolts instead of a smooth progression.
I’ll admit that a devoutly Christian reader might really enjoy this. But I’m not that reader and was less than impressed.
Description from Goodreads:
It all begins when fate starts to play a twisted game with a young female thief, Ulian, destroying her calm life in the capital and sending her to the island of Vrisiok – the most dangerous place in the kingdom of Remmiak, where human and orks are in constant war for its rich gold mines.
While Srevtiur and Ulian cannot read this book and unveil their uncertain future and each other’s past, you have the Arasak blessing to do so!
Review:
This could have been a good story, if it was a complete anything. It’s not. It is, in fact, apparently the first five chapters of a much larger work. Why do authors do this, publish part of a book? A full quarter of it is a flashback and nothing in it concludes. What’s the point of reading it then?
The writing itself is fine, if a bit stiff. It suffers from a painful dearth of contractions, as is common in a certain sort of sword and sorcery book. The story seems really interesting and I was falling in love with the characters. Too bad I didn’t get to see them accomplish anything. All in all, disappointing, but only in it’s incompleteness.
Description from Goodreads:
A Skydive goes wrong and the participants share an experience that on the one hand gives them a definitive explanation for a controversial phenomenon, but on the other, sets before them a myriad of questions they decide to investigate. They go their separate ways and back to their normal lives, yet things aren’t quite the same and for some, life seems to have taken a twist towards the surreal.
Review:
Um….um….I’m sure something interesting was going on in this story somewhere. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it is…something about crop circles and a convoluted interweaving series of events. But it was all so confusing I never did catch on. What’s worse, by about 75% I was so bored with all the telling and not being sure what the point was and some of the painfully mundane events that I started skimming instead of reading. (That couldn’t have been helping my understanding any.) I gave serious thought to just not finishing it. It’s also another short story that doesn’t actually conclude. I seriously don’t understand the point of short stories that don’t end! Wouldn’t it be better just to write a novella that does?
Description from Goodreads:
The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife
A cutesy tale of romance and domestic bliss? Step inside this suburban home to find out what happens when the couple decide to have an extension added. What could possibly go wrong?
The Debt
Meet Del. Meet Tel. Two men from the wrong side of the tracks. Del stayed straight. Tel, well, he didn’t. Now Del is in debt up to his eyeballs, facing ruin. Only Tel can help. Will he though? And if he does, can Del afford the terms?
Two dark tales of fear, paranoia, and good intentions, set in situations where grey bleeds into black, and where there are no easy answers. Kit Power invites you to see the world through the eyes of the faces that pass you every day. Discover how it feels to really know someone.
Review:
The first story started out well and then tapered off into mundane predictability. It was well written and all, but after a certain point you just knew where it was going to go. Though, I do have to admit that the final dénouement pulled everything together nicely. The second was better and I really appreciated the interpretable ending. Both stories show a real talent for placing the reader in the characters’ heads and they all felt real to me. I’d be well up for reading more of Power’s books.
Sadie, what lovely and useful reviews here. Who published these stories? The authors? A publishing corp? I ask because even in today’s ‘anyone can publish’ world I tend to gravitate towards non-self published works due to the plethora of poorly written self published works that are out there. In fact, this month I had my first good experience with a book that appears to have been initially self published and then later rolled into an author owned publishing company (I’m referring to Erec Stebbins’ Reader ‘novella/novel’).
Anyway, I noticed that the publishers in this article are missing. That’s not to say self published = garbage. But I do believe self published books are mostly garbage.
So, readers like me rely on known publishers (ie. Tor comes to mind) to filter through the garbage.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my comments and I’ll check back for a reply if you have time.
Additionally, its because of the recent good read of Erec’s book Reader that I’ve started looking to people like you who have a bunch of reviews on Goodreads to help me sift through what’s out there and find something good to read. Sadly I have more on my ‘to read’ shelf than I can get through this lifetime.
Yeah, Alexander, these are all self/Indie Published (most SP). I read a ton of SP/Indie books, including Erec Stebbin’s, which I also have the sequel in my TBR. My experience has been predominantly good with them. I’ve found a lot of really great books.
I make little distinction between SP or Indie, but A.J. Aalto, Alexis Hall, Marjorie F. Baldwin, Vaughn R. Demont, Leigh Parker, Tom Bruno, Lindsay Buroker, Rebekah Turner, Guy Portman, J.L. Murray and Mary Holland all come to mind as SP/Indie authors, across a variety of genres, that have prompted me to seek out more of their work.
But I also find that when a book is done badly, which happens in traditionally pubs too, but when it’s done badly SP/Indie tend to be far worse bad books than trads. If that makes sense.