Uncovering Writing

This new book, "Listen, Listen" was better than The Clone, but not her best work. Still, a good book by Wilhelm is worth more than a great book by a lesser craftswoman. It contains three novellas, one novellete, and a speech she gave on writing science fiction.

The first novella, "The Winter Beach" (1981), is the Kate Wilhelm I know and love. A hint of science fiction but an abundance of psychology, philosophy and simply beautiful writing. "Julian" (1978) is a shorter novellete that's a great story for the most part, even with its weird ending. Still, wonderful craft at work. 

The novella from 1981, "With Thimbles, with Forks, and Hope", didn't do anything for me. I didn't enjoy it and ended up skimming it. I think the next novella, "Moongate" from 1978, was even worse.

The concluding essay "The Uncertain Edge of Reality" from a talk she gave at a convention in 1980, was good. Nothing spectacular like Joanna Russ's essay collection "To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction" from 1995, but still an interesting read.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An afternoon of reading, an investment of pure joy. The topic is still fresh 64 years later. But, more importantly, the writing, the storytelling, and the translator’s fluidity are what make this worth the effort. It’s a very short novel (127 pages in my edition) and not all the characters aren’t fully developed, but there is enough to entice you, to hear things “on the wind” or in the background. There is enough structure to hold you and the story together through to the end.

This reminds me a little of Sándor Márai’s Embers novel, in how it makes you feel on the inside. There is just a mood that pervades, the envelops you while you read it. I heartily recommend this translatiopn by Anne Milano Appel of Dino Buzzati’s The Singularity.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fantastic collection of SF from Chinese authors. I found a recommendation for this work and picked it up end of 2021 and finally started reading it in January 2023. The introduction by Xueting Christine Ni was very good, setting up the stories and process for the book. I liked many of the stories and only a few left me wanting, hence the 5 star rating overall. A good choice for my first five star of the year.

“The Tide of Moon City”, by Regina Kanyu Wang, was one of the best stories in the collection. It reminds me of 70s New Wave in all its best attributes: love, science, politics, friendship, and inner thoughts. All beautifully woven here. A Que’s “Flower of the Other Shore” was also a standout in this volume. At times I grimaced with the parody or fourth wall breaking, but it was a great story well told. I also loved “Starship: Library” by Jiang Bo, and not just because libraries are dear to my heart. So well done.

I really liked Gu Shi’s “The Last Save”, with its cool time travel idea approached from unique perspective. Han Song’s haunting, philosophical “Tombs of the Universe” was excellent and nicely written to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed the very short “Qiankun and Alex” by Hao Jingfang, which explored a fun approach to AI between a machine and a child. A perfect nibble of a story. A more provocative story on AI that is growing more relevant in our age today was Nian Yu’s “Cat’s Chance in Hell”. I also really enjoyed Anna Wu’s “Meisje met de Parel”, a thought provoking piece.

“Rendezvous: 1937”, by Zhao Haihong was an important that was hard to follow at the beginning. But, as the story progressed, it made great, and sad, sense. This is the style of work that many on the right would seek to ban today, that explores truth and hard realities.

Of the other stories, “The Return of Adam” by Wang Jinkang was an interesting idea but it had too much exposition. It was an early work by the author and one of the oldest in the collection as a whole, so that might partly contribute to why I didn’t like it is as much as the other stories. I thought Tang Fei’s “The Heart of the Museum” was just a little “too clever”. Ma Boyong’s “The Great Migration” was just okay too. “The Absolution Experiment” by Bao Shu was also an interesting idea but it was too short to work effectively. Immortality stories are very good but they need time to grow and develop.

Overall, I highly recommend this collection of stories.

3 of 5 stars

An interesting collection of Leiber’s short stories. I came to him due to a Night Gallery adaptation of his short story “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (included in this collection). If I hadn’t seen this episode of that TV series, I don’t think I’d have liked the story too much. It’s not as developed, although the kernel of the story is 100% there, and I enjoyed finally reading it.

“Mariana” is a beautifully done story in just 5½ pages. Perfection. “The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity” was also a perfect little horror/SF story. No wasted words, no wasted feelings. I really liked it.

There were three post-apocalyptic stories, “Coming Attraction", “The Moon Is Green” and A Pail of Air". The first was interesting with a slight exploration of toxic masculinity. The second, “The Moon is Green” was a much better story. It blew me away. “A Pail of Air” was interesting but felt rushed at end.

Of the other stories, I liked “The Winter Flies”. It started slowly, but in a weird way, I liked how it speed up and careened into the end. I didn’t like “Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee”, “Smoke Ghost”, “No Great Magic”, or “The Secret Songs”.

2 of 5 stars

Some very good stories, some okay ones and some I couldn’t even finish. Most of these year anthologies are like this, so this is par for the course.

I really liked Christopher Priest’s “Real-Time World” and Arthur C. Clarke’s “Transit of Earth”. I thought Alan Dean Foster’s “With Friends Like These…”, Barry Malzberg’s “Gehenna” and Harlan Ellison’s “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty” were good stories. Malzberg’s wasn’t his best but it was pure Malzberg, so fun to read. I thought Poul Anderson’s “A Little Knowledge” was cute.

Of the others, mostly they were meh, ugh, or I couldn’t finish them.

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.

4 of 5 stars

An evocative read that only could come from the mind of a poet. Beautifully constructed and a quick read. It reminded me of a more philosophical, stripped down version of Robert Silverberg’s Tower of Glass in that it deals with humanoids and humans interacting or not and how each defines itself internally and against its world. I can see why it’s been on many a shortlist for awards since it came out.

5 of 5 stars

I stumbled upon this book because of something I read on LitHub or saw on on the SF feeds I follow on Twitter. It is perhaps one of the best illustrations of the power of speculative fiction I’ve ever encountered. It is one of the best books in general that I’ve read. Easy to read, hard to swallow sometimes, while looking at the world reflected through the beautiful writing.

A simple (no pun intended) science/medical hook brings the reader into Charlie Gordon’s mind and his lived experience. To view how he experienced the world before the operation that increased his intelligence, through his ascendency and then his decline, is powerful. As a reader, I was excited, depressed, angry, and humbled through the entire experience. The writing is easy to read, fast-paced, and never felt contrived or didactic.

There’s also a little icing on the cake for me in that it’s almost a epistolary novel, one of my favorite styles. The story is told through progress reports that Charlie makes from the beginning to the end of his experience with intelligence.

5 of 5 stars

So nice to return to Kate Wilhelm. I’ve saved her books that I haven’t read yet on my shelf to savor sparingly since they’re so wonderful and I will be so sad when I’ve read through them all. I say it each time I read her: I so wish I’d known about her when she was still alive and I could relish a new book coming out. :-( This collection of short stories has some amazing entries, a few okay ones and two that I didn’t like at all.

“The Infinity Box” is still excellent upon a second reading. I first saw it in Tor Double Novel #12. It’s a dark story of male arrogance and assault, a woman fighting back and the very fabric of time and reality shattering. A strong, timeless piece that lets Wilhelm show her best work in her best milieu (psychological and interior).

I’d also read “The Funeral” before as part of Ellison’s anthology “Again, Dangerous Visions”. I was blown away by its haunting prose and story that first time. A second time reading it has not diminished it at all. It is just beautiful, strong, and sad.

“The Red Canary” tears at your heart. It is so dark and I felt trapped in David’s situation. What can you do? It is pure Wilhelm at her best, again.

“April Fool’s Day Forever” is one of her most powerful stories. It’s one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. When she turns to our inner selfs and psychology, she has no peer, she is amazing. She investigates immortality robbing us of our humanity. This is certainly a topic explored by many SF writers, but here it is done with such a deft touch. This story is sublime, like one of Julia’s sculptures.

As for the rest, “The Time Piece” was an interesting idea but it never got moving for me. “The Fusion Bomb” was similar, I kind of skimmed it and felt like “meh” at the end. I didn’t like “Man of Letters”, it kind of felt like an MFA practice piece before MFAs. And, I thought “Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?” was just awful.

4 of 5 stars

A fun read I picked up at Autumn Leaves Used Books in Ithaca, NY. There are highs and lows in this collection of eight stories. The best story, hands down, was Damon Knight’s “Ticket to Anywhere.” Wow, just a fantastic novelette with nice buildup, good inner dialogue and a nice ending. It was like eating a fine meal, I was so satisfied when I finished it. I need to read more of his work. (Aside: His second wife, Kate Wilhelm, is one of my favorite SF writers of all time.)

I enjoyed Terry Carr’s experimental story “The Dance of the Changer and the Three.” It is definitely part of the New Wave movement in SF. I also liked Gordon R. Dickson’s “Lulungomeena” novelette. It was a fun read though I thought a bit of a cop out at the end. Still, up until that moment, I enjoyed it.

A. E. van Vogt’s story “Far Centaurus” started out strong but then fell with a weak ending, though perhaps I should be a little less harsh as it was written in the 40s. The psychology of the sleeper ship part of the story reminded me of some of the New Wave’s focus on inner thoughts & the emotionally/psychological difficulties encountered. It reminded me a little, though without the grander scope, of Michael Moorcock’s 1969 novel, The Black Corridor.

Of the others, I thought Chad Oliver’s “Blood’s a Rover” and Harlan Ellison’s “Life Hutch” were good. I thought Robert Silverberg’s “The Sixth Palace” was interesting and a good short story. I wasn’t overly excited about Jack Vance’s story “Noise”, but maybe because it just never caught on in my head.

4 of 5 stars

What a great book I picked up at my local used bookshop. I love the Scholastic imprint, reminds me of grade school book fairs growing up. And collections are always fun to read.

This is my second time reading Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” I liked it the first time but I enjoyed it more this time. Not sure why, but it is a great story that spawned all the Thing movie adaptations.

I’ve enjoyed some of Robert Silverberg’s works but this one wasn’t his best work. “Collecting Team” is a great idea but kind of a weakly implemented. I’m no fan of zoos and liked his take on them but I wonder if he’d worked on it more it might have been better.

Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Haunted Space Suit” was a cute story but too obvious too quickly.

Clifford D. Simak’s “Condition of Employment” was wonderful and chilling at the end. I really enjoyed it.

“After The Sirens” (1960) by Hugh Hood is like a version of the beginning of The Day After from the 1980s. A very good short story that just nails the emotions in the minutes before and hours after a nuclear attack. It is terrifying that we had to live under those conditions (and still do).

Henry Gregor Felsen’s “The Spaceman Cometh” was pretty bad. It felt like someone said “I can write SF, it’s easy" and then penned this weak piece. It is bad even by 1950s SF standards.

Clarke’s second piece in this collection, “The Nine Billion Names of God” was an intriguing idea. I think I read this once before, years ago. It had a great ending but I didn’t think the set up was enough. It felt too thin or luke warm. The bang is the ending, and I bet that might have been the initial idea and the rest was added to pad the beginning. Still, worth the very short read.

Robert Abernathy’s “The Rotifers” is amazing and surprising for a 1953 story. Nicely written, nicely paced, a little horror mixed with SF and growing up. I really enjoyed it.

The collection ended with Isaac Asimov’s “Does A Bee Care?” I can only say “meh”.

Overall, 4 stars for this collection, based on Campbell, Simak, Hood & Abernathy’s contributions.

4 of 5 stars

A beautifully written novel. Characters slowly developed and unveiled tantalizingly across the story. I really enjoyed this book, savoring only about a chapter a night as the writing was so dense … as in packed with ideas, not difficult. So glad I picked this up and read it.

5 of 5 stars

Another great SF read that contains both hope and darkness, confusion, social commentary (from the early 70s that is even more so relevant in today’s gun & violence culture) and just solid writing. I absolutely love this addition to my 70s New Wave SF collection. (Plus, you can’t beat a John Berkey cover!)

5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing collection of originally short stories that was joined together into one volume. Written from 1955 through 1961, they tell of a world that is different than ours but also terrifyingly similar. It is disheartening that a series of stories written almost 60 years ago still resonates with the problems of wealth, poverty, illness, and access to health care today. The Medic story touches on antibiotic resistance, insane prices of health care, the poor being used, economically and at times physically, to rejuvenate the rich. At one point, the author Gunn talks about how health care has become increasingly specialized and used to eke out an additional year, month, day or only an hour for a dying patient. regardless of the cost or ethics. He also touches on how health care has started to become wasted on specialty causes of small or fancied ills.

The stories are fast paced, tied together nicely, and written beautifully. I really enjoyed my time with this book and author.

5 of 5 stars

‘Japanese noir meets 1970s New Wave SF’. As in Natsuo Kirino crossed with Joanna Russ or Kate Wilhelm. Suzuki was an excellent writer and we lost her way too soon.

3 of 5 stars

This kind of read like Kafka on acid. By the end of the book, the writing was getting a bit better, but I still struggled with it. It is experimental, and I used to like that when I was younger, but I think it was too much stream of consciousness/experimental writing without enough under-structure to keep it up. In another year, I might have given it 2 stars, but my 2 star books this year were much worse than this book.

So as not to totally leave a negative feeling, I think there were some cool snippets. One sentence that was absolutely stunning in its potency was “An insane impatience for death was driving mankind to a second suicide, even before the full effect of the first had been felt” (p. 164).

5 of 5 stars

Another amazing New Wave SF novel. It flowed well, and even when I was wondering if I would drop to 4 stars after a late reveal, the author went on to wipe away my concerns, or show me my concerns were not warranted.