by Maureen F. McHugh
(#60 - 2014#). Published in 2011. This kind of book epitomizes the reason why I prefer SF above anything else, reading-wise. In my last book review ("The Burning Room" by Michael Connelly), I ranted about the likeness of (some) novels in the SF field. Most of the novels of today are dull, unin...
The stories in this collection range from good to really, really good.
I held off on reading this collection, knowing that eventually it would undoubtedly be a selection for my post-apocalyptic book club. And it came up this month… now I’m back to having read all of McHugh’s published books."The Naturalist" – This was a second-read – it’s included in Strahan’s ‘Best SF...
I normally don’t read short stories. I feel that the characters just don’t have enough time to develop in a short story compared to a full length novel. But this weekend, as I was reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, I had a sudden urge to read something that doesn’t have to be 1000 pages...
Most stories about disaster have heroic battles of one sort or another. These nine short stories are instead about dealing with the individual and idiosyncratic difficulties of everyday life after some sort of calamity—including dirty bombs in Baltimore that separate a family, a bird flu epidemic in...
As seen on Stumptown Books.I have a love/hate relationship with short stories. I love how much originality it requires to write a really good short story. Character development, scene development, all of it has to take place so quickly, and just when you get comfortable, the story is over. Unfortuna...
This book managed to hit all of my sweet spots for a short story collection: a meta-subject that I have more than just a passing interest in; an album-like exploration of related themes that has a casual, unshowy mastery of narrative voice; an emphasis on character over more precious concerns like m...
On my to-read list thanks to io9's review
As the publisher's weekly (or somebody) wrote, fierce, wry, start, beautiful stories. This was my first foray into Ms. McHugh's writing, but I promise, it won't be my last. This book is a collection of several stories, unrelated to each other other than that many (but not all) have some kind of cala...
There's a subset of sci-fi labeled mundane by author (and sort of apostle) Geoff Ryman: eschewing the hyperboles of operatic interstellar shenanigans, far-future (and -flung) technowizardry, and the widescreen scope of global Event, these fictions think local, concentrating on fine-grained character...
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