5 of 5 stars

Another Kate Wilhelm gem! This one I found at the Book Barn up in Niantic, Connecticut (a fantastic used book shop!). I stumbled across this and was just so pleased with my choice. Her writing is psychological, sometimes venturing into speculative fiction areas, sometimes that’s just way in the background. But, her work is haunting, you feel you are right there in the moment, joyous or terrified, happy or depressed. Such talent to write so much in the little space provided by the short story format. I savored this book and hope to return to several of the stories in the future.

My favorite stories in the book were Somerset Dreams and Symbiosis, followed closely by The Encounter and The Hounds.

“Somerset Dreams” was full of beautiful prose as well as pointed feminist jabs at the establishment. The story builds with perfect pacing and perfect pitch delivery. This is one of her best short stories ever. Kate Wilhelm could have taught the Muses a few tricks.

“Symbiosis” was a dark, psychological, beautifully written tale of the closeness of family, or portions of it. I grew up with this cast of characters, recognizing them instantly, and this story treads on some of the themes in my own writing.

Turning to “The Encounter”. I hate to be repetitive but Wilhelm’s skill with the written word is excellent. The perfect word choice, amount of words, and storytelling path are spot on in this short story. Such beautiful prose and even as the story began to reveal itself, it held me fast to the very last word, the very last punctuation mark. We all were in that bus station that cold, snowy night.

“The Hounds” was true horror, in the late 1950s/early 1960s. It reminded be of things they used to do on Boris Karloff’s Thriller show. This story could have been scripted for an episode there and it would have been fabulous.

“Ladies And Gentlement: This Is Your Crisis” is a reality-tv story on purpose-built big screen TVs. While written in 1976, it could easily have been written in 2022. The utter sadness of Lottie & Butcher’s life and the horror of the crisis “reality tv game” are something we see too often (back then and now).

“Mrs. Bagley Goes To Mars” is a short short story that deftly explores how wives and women are treated and the lengths they may go to to deal with this cognitive dissonance between inner value and external modes of worth.

“Planet Story” was just a short piece that helps illustrate the value of short stories. They can be like a photograph that stirs up fleeting, powerful, untethered feelings inside your heart and mind, but then once you put the picture aside, it’s all gone from your mind. I liked the story but it went quickly.

The last story, “State of Grace”, was my least favorite. Kind of meh. Not bad but not her usual perfection.