Tag: books

Review: Greatest Hits by Harlan Ellison

I did not know Harlan Ellison until some time ago. I had read some his work in anthologies or magazines, but I never really pay attention to names.

But then I noticed this collection of short stories, and I realized he’s the author of “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, and thought I’d give it a chance.

Mostly, I’m convinced short stories are the format for speculative fiction.

Sure, I enjoyed the whole saga of Herbert’s Dune, or Asimov’s Foundation cycle. but I mostly like ideas, and a short story gives you that in a few pages instead of hundreds.

Anyway, this is an interesting collection; Ellison is an author of his time, and he perfectly embeds the New Wave style of science fiction (experimental writing, social critique, a penchant for shocking the reader). You may like this or not, but I think it’s worth reading it just to get yourself acquainted.

The Stories

I forgot to write this review soon after the book, so by this point I’ve already forgotten some of them… so these are some I do remember.

“Repent, Harlequin,” Said the Ticktockman (1966)

A classic tale of The Fool fighting against the establishment, the broken cog in the perfect machine, the rebel, the joker. I think this is written in an interesting way, but not particularly interesting plot-wise. Stephen King recycled the Ticktockman in his Dark Tower saga (book 3, “Wastelands”), and I think he did it mostly cause it’s just a cool name.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967)

One of the most famoys SF short stories, probably in the top 5 of most memorable ones (I’ll let you pick the others, but I have my choices, if you ask).

It’s harsh, and depressing, and everybody should read it.

The Deathbird

I think the author wanted to tell me something and I didn’t understand it. This one won a ton of awards, but for me it was “meh”.

Jeffty Is Five

Without too many spoilers, the story follows a kid who’s friend with Jeffty, and, well, Jeffty is always five years old. I cannot express how good this story is. It’s deeply moving and by far the better in the collection IMO, even tho the idea is so simple it is completely contained in the title. A masterpiece.

Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes

A great short “amazing stories” kind of tale, palate cleanser.

Mefisto in Onyx

This one also won some awards, also a fun “amazing stories” kind of tale. Follows a telepath who goes to visit a mean on death row, to actually confirm whether he’s guilty or not. Good story.

The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World

Look, the title is better than the story. It’s a deeply experimental composition with no linear narrative, and while I can agree it’s good literature, I’m not convinced it’s good SF. Wikipedia has the whole plot so you can go read it.

How Interesting: A Tiny Man

Another wonderful simple idea: a scientist creates a tiny man, which is initially considered a fun novelty, and then a target of hate. Very good story, very good writing.

Conclusion

I listened to this in audio form, and Harlan Ellison himself narrates most of it. Ellison was an odd person, and he reads the stories with so much emphasis as to almost be distracting. which in some ways compounds the effect of the stories, and in some others is just, well, annoying.

Still, he’s the author, so that’s how they should be read, perhaps.

I feel some of the stories have lost their power over time, and on the other side some may seem uncouth to modern readers, but I think anyone who claims to like SF should read them.

Also, again, the Jeffty story is wonderful and worth the price of the book by itself.

Vote: 7.5/10, Solid book, plenty of good stories, some iconic ones.

Micro Review: The Grocery

I read the Italian version of this book, the first in the Cherry Bomb book collection by Bao. The collection is curated by Zerocalcare who’s the most successful comic book writer in Italy in recent years, and there’s an interview with the authors on Bao’s youtube channel.

The Grocery cover

The original is French, so I’m happy to read a translated version (compared to e.g. english comics which I can read in the original), and it was published in multiple volumes, so this book is pretty massive, at 400+ pages. It feels like ~20€ well spent, and as ZC mentioned, you can also use the book to clobber someone if you ever need to.

The story starts as what one might feel as comic pastiche of The Wire, with drug dealers and gangs fighting for control in a generic Philadelphian neighborhood.

Still, this is done nicely, the cutesy art style and the contrast between sweet naïf characters and raw ultra-violent ones is a good idea.

Then, about half-way through the book, the story spins out in a completely unexpected direction and turns into a near future dystopia a-la Black Mirror.

And then it ends. I mean, it’s not like it doesn’t have a good ending, it does, it’s just sudden and somewhat unexpected.

I feel this is somewhat common in modern french comics (but please correct me), the stories seem put together perfectly for 60% of the story and then the authors.. give up? Still, I liked this book.

Vote: 7/10, I felt this was two different books, but I enjoyed both.

Micro Review: Gideon Falls

I’ve seen Gideon Falls mentioned often, but to be honest I kept confusing it with Gravity Falls.

The difference is: Gravity Falls is a rather entertaining cartoon with a bit of mystery that may entertain small kids, while Gideon Falls is a horror comic series that may traumatise them for life.

Read more for my opinion of it, but beware the mild spoilers.

cover for Gideon Falls Deluxe Edition (Book 1)

Gideon Falls is a comic written by Jeff Lemire and penciled by Andrea Sorrentino, centred around a group of people that enter in contact with a mysterious black barn.

It’s partly Lovecraft cosmic horror stuff, partly Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and a sprinkle of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

The story touches on multiverses and time travel, which these days brings to mind the horrible way the Marvel Cinematic Universe does this, but it’s done with talent, so it does not suffer from the devaluation of any action done by the characters. On the contrary things have gravity and piece fall in place as they should. In spite of this, the plot is somewhat linear (but not without twists!).

The art is quite good. The style per-se is not my favourite, but the composition of the scenes and pages is beautiful, and you feel a lot of effort went into this.

I read this over a few days, and I probably didn’t pay enough attention to it, I think a re-read might reveal a lot of hidden gems and hints that I missed on the first read.

The series won 2 Eisner Awards (best new series and best colouring), when it came out a few years ago, make of that what you will.

I liked it enough that I’m going to try and read more of the Lemire/Sorrentino duo, since they seem to have been quite productive.

Vote: 7/10, I will read more by the same authors.

Micro Review: Dodger

Dodger is a non-Discworld novel of the late Sir Terry Pratchett, set in Victorian London, following the adventures of a “tosher”, AKA someone who looks for valuables in the sewers. A few “known faces” appear in the book such as Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Sweeney Todd, Robert Peel, etc.

But, I gifted this book to my wife a few years back, and it took me a long, long time to actually read it. I loved Pratchett, I literally learned English on his books but getting through this was a bit of a slog.

There’s some funny bits, but it’s not nearly as brilliant as your average Discworld novel. It’s also very lengthy for no obvious reason, there are just a lot of things that happen which do not seem to add anything to the story.

I enjoyed the depiction of old London, learned a few things (did you ever imagine the Romans had a Goddess of sewers? Just the kind of trivia Terry would put in a book), but still not enough to cover for the rest.

Perhaps this was just the author trying something new. Perhaps it was his disease advancing. Perhaps it’s just me being angry at him for getting an incurable degenerative disease and dying. People should be more sensible than that.

The end result is I didn’t like this book., but it’s not bad, so consider giving it a try if you’re a Pratchett completionist, or perhaps a Dickens one.

Vote: 6/10, meh.

Micro Review: Fragile Things

I started listening to this audiobook around the time Vulture’s article about Neil Gaiman came out.

This book contains some of my favourite stories, not just by the author, but among all stories I’ve read and I remember, such as A Study in Emerald, which is probably my favorite fanfiction of both Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu mythos.

But the behaviour described in the article is so fowl I cannot in good honesty recommend the experience of listening to the author’s voice reading his own words after knowing of the accusations.

I’m no prude, I’m no judge, I’ve got my own opinions and I’ll bite my tongue and keep them to myself.

But I can say this felt like a punch in the gut. The folks over at Fumettologica (in Italian, use some translation service) have a very nice article on why this is so upsetting. We thought Gaiman was one of the good ones, this feels like betrayal (and I am in no way trying to say the fans’ feelings are comparable to the victims’).

Anyways, I’d suggest if you want to experience the stories, maybe get the Dark Horse collection via Humble Bundle, or pick the book at a library.

He’s rich enough and won’t suffer from this either way, but it may make your soul feel a bit better.

Micro Review: Something Wicked This Way Comes

I was reminded of this book while reading the short story The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury, by Neil Gaiman, which was reprinted in Trigger Warning.

I realized I’ve read very little of Ray Bradbury, the greatest sci-fi writer in history, and I thought I should fill this void a bit.

Given the crazy amount of stuff he wrote, I would have been troubled to choose. Likely, this one has the catchiest title.

In some ways, it was exactly the story I expected: Small Town America gets in touch with capital case Evil. A Carnival is involved, which seem to be a scary thing in US pop culture, like clowns. Or perhaps they started being scary with this story, it’s hard to tell.

The story has kids in it, so, to me, it felt like going home. How many stories I’ve enjoyed, of kids dealing with the supernatural in small american towns? From King’s “IT” to Netflix’s “Stranger Things”, I’ve visited this topos a hundred times.

And as usual, I enjoyed it. I didn’t find this book particularly original (could be a case of Once Original, Now Common), but it is certainly well written and entertaining, the characters are lively and the dialogs feel real. I also feel I missed some sub-text and meanings, so I welcome anyone who’d like to point me to some literary analysis of the work.

It did not leave me wanting for more tho, so I think it’ll be a while before I move on to other Bradbury works.

Vote: 6.5/10, good, just not as good as I expected.

Micro Review: un po’ di fumetti

(post in Italian)

Nel 2024 ho letto un bel po’ di fumetti, questa è una lista del penultimo carico

Nero 1-8 (Bonelli Audace)

Ottima l’idea: il medio oriente durante le crociate, ma in versione magica dove gli esseri umani si confrontano con forze soprannaturali, con buoni e cattivi sia tra i musulmani che tra i cristiani. Belli i disegni, storia ok. I personaggi mi sono sembrati tutti abbastanza stereotipati. Per qualche ragione piace un sacco a mio figlio.

Non sono un fan del formato (e del prezzo!) ma è una bella edizione.

Voto: 7/10, continuerò a comprarlo.

L’ignobile Shermann (Saldapress)

Un vecchio pirata che tutti odiano muore e lascia un’eredità a un gruppo di eredi sconclusionati. Per qualche ragione mi aspettavo Shermann come Barney nel libro eponimo (La versione d Barney). Ma no, effettivamente Shermann è un personaggio 100% negativo. E all’inizio sembra lo siano anche gli eredi, ma poi d’un tratto cambiano. Cambiamenti un po’ immotivati a mio avviso.

Disegni belli, ma non il mio stile.

Voto: 6/10, la copertina è meglio del libro.

Nathan Never: Il Giorno del Giudizio

Vent’anni fa compravo ogni uscita di Nathan Never, poi ho smesso. Ne ricompro qualcuna ogni tanto quando vado in Italia, ma mediamente le trovo deludenti.

Il giorno del giudizio è la ristampa di tre fumetti pubblicati una decina d’anni fa (vedi la recensione del primo numero su Spazio Bianco). È una buona storia con bei disegni, ma sempre più spesso mi capita di trovare i dialoghi dei fumetti italiani macchinosi e finti. Un po’ come succede con il doppiaggio nei film, dove attori bravissimi si trovano a parlare un doppiaggese che non esiste (“ehy amico stai attento, o quel fottuto bastardo ti farà fuori” e giù di lì).

Voto: 6.5/10, forse non sono più il pubblico di Nathan Never

Quando muori resta a me

Ennesimo capolavoro di Zerocalcare. Commovente a tratti, divertente per la maggior parte. Piaciuto anche a mia moglie che è cresciuta lontana dal GRA.

Forse un po’ troppi temi, ma è un libro molto intimo dato che tratta del rapporto dell’autore col padre e della sua famiglia, quindi chi sono io per criticarlo?

Voto: 8/10, Zerocalcare non delude quasi mai.

Docteur Mystère – L’integrale

Esiste (?) un personaggio creato da Paul d’Ivoi alla fine del 1800. Nel 1998 Alfredo Castelli e Lucio Filippucci hanno deciso di mischiarne la storia con Martin Mystère, e poi han finito per scrivere alcune storie dedicate solo a lui.

Quando ho scoperto che esisteva un’edizione integrale pubblicata dieci anni fa, ho deciso di leggerla, pur non essendo un lettore di MM. Non è stato facile procurarsela, ma alla fine ce l’ho fatta.

Il Docteur è geniale, atletico, onorabile e strapieno di sé. Una specie di Capitano Nemo + Batman + Poirot. Le storie so scritte in modo ironico e auto-caricaturale e hanno continui rimandi alla lettura di inizio secolo scorso, nonché a eventi e persone del periodo (il maresciallo Radetzky ke parla kome uno tetesko di Sturmtruppen è stato esilarante per i miei figli).

È un divertissement surreale e a tratti demenziale, con storie che non hanno granché senso, ma a me ha divertito molto, e questa specifica edizione è molto bella e ricca di contenuti extra.

Voto: 8/10, lo rileggerò.

Micro Review: Way Station

I don’t have proof, but I think the ’60s had the best sci-fi. Looking at the list of Hugo Award for best novel there’s not a book in the ’60s which isn’t absolutely great. But I have not read them all, so I decided to pick up the missing ones.

I think this one is free if you have an audible subscription, so if audiobooks are your thing give it a go.

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak is one I missed. The premise is quite original: Enoch Wallace is an American civil war veteran who ends up managing an interstellar traveling station in his house, apparently made immortal, and being more in touch with aliens who pass by than with his own world.

I won’t give spoilers, but the book seems to have a few ideas that may have deserved a better exposition, and some things seem just a bit forced. Enoch is a wonderful character, but there’s basically little else.

Still it’s a an original and optimistic piece from 80 years ago, and I enjoyed it.

Vote: 6.5/10, you can’t go wrong with the ’60s sci-fi

Micro Review: You Like It Darker

Following up on my summer trend of reading short stories, I got this recent collection of Stephen King’s short fiction.

I remember reading Night Shift when I was a kid (my dad loved King, and we had plenty of his books around) and it’s probably one of the things that stayed with me the most from that era.

I mostly forget everything I read, but I can still remember most of the stories in tt. I like to think it’s because they were really, really, good.1

Quitters, Inc may be my favorite short story after Asimov’s The Last Question and Brown’s Sentry, it’s just so powerful.

Anyway, when I noticed there was a new short story collection I decided to give it a go. And well, Stephen delivers.

If you haven’t read a lot of King and you’re only familiar with It or Cujo, you may think he’s mostly an horror writer. But he’s not, in fact his best fiction (see Quitters, Inc) is speculative fiction at it’s best.

It’s our world but a little off . A little something that makes it uncomfortable, scary, or just makes you think harder. Just like in Night Shift, some stories have zero paranormal and are just unsettling. Unlike Night Shift, many (most?) stories seem to have a positive ending.

I guess Stephen got softer with age, just like me.

Vote: 7-/10, not all stories are great, and overall this is not as good as some of his older collections, but it’s still good.

  1. . Rather than think my memory was better 20+ years ago. ↩︎

Micro Review: Trigger Warning

Some time ago I listened to Neil Gaiman’s short story collection Smoke and Mirrors and I liked it and thought I should read more like it. So I did, and I listened to Trigger Warning.

This collection is just as good as the other one: a few stories are fantastic, most are good, some are meh. It’s been a few months since I went through this, and like for most short story collections I have since forgotten most of them.

Still, I recommend it. There are occasional poems in it. Many stories refer or happen in worlds by other authors, so you may enjoy them more, or less, if you are familiar with the source material. But this is just normal for Gaiman stuff.

There’s also a short story where we meet again Shadow Moon, the protagonist of the (wonderful) novel “American Gods”. But somehow stuff happened to him between that novel and this short story. That’s cause there was another collection between this and the other one I read, and for some reason I skipped it.

It is one of the blessed rights of readers, to read books out of order.

Vote: 7/10, I need to get more of his other short story collections, possibly in order.