Customer Reviews

Aftershock & Others: 19 Oddities

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Wilson's third - and reportedly, last - collection of short fiction shows off both his talents and his weaknesses, but still makes for a great read. Wilson's talent isn't so much in his prose - it's serviceable, but nothing extraordinary - but in his characters and his plotting, and both are in great evidence here. From the title tale, which spins a ghost story of sorts into a haunting portrait of loss, to "Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong," a Yellow Peril homage, it's clear that Wilson writes for the love of his tales, and it's hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm. At worst, he still spins a fun tale; at his best, as in "Aryans and Absinthe," he evokes the mood and atmosphere of a time tastefully but horrifically. And when everything is firing - for instance, in a tale about a magical word (whose title is designed to be impossible to type) - you're in for a hell of a ride. And if that doesn't sell you, what about one of the best short Repairman Jack stories you'll ever get a chance to read? Definitely a must for fans, but a great place to start, too.

"Aftershock & Others|19 Oddities" is F. Paul Wilson's third and last (according to the Afterword) collection of short stories. Too bad! The stories are great - almost every one a home run. I am familiar with (and a great fan of) his Repairman Jack novels and the Adversary Cycle, but had not read either of his two previous collections of short stories, something that I intend to remedy quickly.

The stories in "Aftershock & Others|19 Oddities" are collected into "chapters" corresponding to the year in which they were written from 1990 through 2005. Each chapter/year, including several in which no short stories were written begins with a recap by Wilson of his literary activities during that year. These little vignettes are almost as entertaining as the stories themselves, and shed quite a bit of light on the author's personality and prodigious productivity and work ethic.

But the gold here is in the short fiction. There isn't a stinker in the bunch, and so many are so good that I can't pick a favorite. They run the gamut from SF (WHen He Was Fab) through SF- horror (Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Aftershock) to ghost stories (Anna) and many others impossible to genre-alize (e.g., Aryans and Abysinthe -a Nazi Germany tale set in 1923, Foet -a fashionista nightmare and one of my favorites whose title I cannot write. It all ends with a great Repairman Jack shorty in which the action is strictly on Jack sans the Secret History context (Interlude at Duane's).

The writing and plotting are simply outstanding. I was blown away. If you are already a fan of Wilson's novels, this is a no-brainer - buy it, you'll like it. If you have never read anything by F. Paul Wilson (who is far better known for his novels than his short stories) but like fantasy/SF/horror and/or short stories, buy it, you'll like it. And even if you're read some of his novels and are not particularly a fan, there is enough dry humor suffused though some of the stories and the wonderful year by year synopses that I still say, buy it, you'll like it. I sure did.

This is a great introduction to perhaps the best storyteller in the thriller genre today. The only disappointment was that the author says it is his last short story collection. I confess to being a very big F Paul Wilson fan. I buy all his Repairman Jack novels as soon as they appear in hardback. I enjoyed the running commentary on his writing career's ups and downs almost as much as the varied stories. The stories run the gamut from horror, to Hitler (!), to spooky (so I have a spider phobia, so what) to "fashionable" hypocrisy and all are immensely readable and entertaining. You won't want to put it down. I was so taken with the stories that I went back and re-read the complete Repairman Jack series (for the umpteenth time). If you like this collection, and I have not recommended it to anyone who didn't, you'll want to hunt up Wilson's other work. While I anxiously await each new book from him, the author will probably be surprised to find that to one of his biggest fans, the Lanague Chronicles consisting of "Healer"[ASIN:0976654415 Healer (The LaNague Federation, Book 3)], "Wheels Within Wheels" [ASIN:0976654431 Wheels within Wheels], and "An Enemy of the State" [ASIN:0976654423 An Enemy of the State (The LaNague Federation, Book 1)] with a few related short stories), written at the beginning of his career, is still my favorite. He went from SF (where we sorely miss him) to medical thrillers to the broader thriller genre. AFTERSHOCK gives you a sample of all his varied story telling skills. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy!

Imagine Marty Feldman's Igor hmm-ing and huh-ing to Gene Wilder's Dr. Franken-steen, about the ABNORMAL "Abbie Normal" brain that was now implanted into the monster's cranium. F. Paul Wilson takes you a few steps further and capitalizes on the hunchback's error...Abbie Normal, is a female brain implanted into the male monster's body! What a twist on Mary Shelley's original Frankenstein. This initial short story in Aftershock propels the reader through all sorts pseudo-historical moments and eras in time that I personally found intriguing. F. Paul prefaces each story with a bio-line that describes what was happening with his writing career as he penned the story...actually, I felt I was getting two types of books in one package. There was even a short Repairman Jack story, which was the main reason that I began reading Wilson novels. So from monsters to rogues, despots to heroes, sit back and enjoy this compilation of short literary works by truly one of the best modern day story-tellers...you won't be disappointed.

I enjoyed this book not onlt for the stories, which held true to his previous work, but as each one wound down I was looking forward almost as much to the interludes between the stories as to the stories themselves. Eash year from 1990 to 2005 is described as to the behind the scenes work that goes into each of his projects. Every time he talked about a repairman jack movie getting rejectedit made me realize that a good portrayal of this character will probably never be seen on film. Ryan Reynolds, I shudder at the thought.

Here is another great offering from F. Paul Wilson. 19 stories that will have you turning pages well into the night. Some I had read before, in other collections through the years, and some I had never seen before. All were very interesting, and vintage Wilson. He says this is his last collection of short stories that he'll do, so grab it up and ENJOY!

As always, Wilson's writing is brilliant. He never ceases to entertain and surprise . . . every story is worthwhile, as are the introductions he has written for each.

Except . . .why is it called "19 Oddities" when there are only 16 stories?

Wilson has always been one of my favorite short story writers, his stories often have a dramatic and powerful punch to them that makes it difficult to forget a story even when one wants to (and oh how I wish I could forget 'Slasher' from 'Barrens and Others' and 'Cuts' from 'Soft and Others'). Many of the stories in this collection also have a punch or a twist to them, sometimes you can see it ahead of time ('Anna'), but other times, no ('Part of the Game').

Here's a very brief description of the sixteen (not nineteen) stories in this collection:

Dreams, a variation on Frankenstein in which the brain of the monster is that of a woman

The November Game, a terrifying and gruesome tale about what happens to a man who brutally killed his daughter, a sequel to Ray Bradbury's 'The October Game'

When He Was Fab, an unusual story of friendship between a building supervisor and an alien gelatin substance

Foet, the latest must have fashion

Please Don't Hurt Me, I thought this was the weakest story in the book, but still it was good, a story of a girl you definitely should not hurt.

Aryans and Absinthe,

Offshore, a futuristic healthcare (or lack of) story

Itsy Bitsy Spider, what happens when spiders aren't itsy bitsy anymore

?????, what if a single word was all you needed to know

Lysing Toward Bethlehem, the story of an assassination from the viewpoint of a killer virus

Aftershock, winner of the Bram Stoker award, why would a woman deliberately seek out storms in a quest to be be struck by lightening, again and again

Anna, a story of revenge from the grave

Sole Custody, a son tells his father he's going to die tomorrow

Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong, Little Orphan Annie is kidnapped, actually there's a more to it than that, old fashioned pulp fiction story

Part of the Game, takes place shortly before 'Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong', very good story about being careful what you ask for

Interlude at Duane's, a Repairman Jack story

In addition to the stories Wilson also provides background on how each story came to be and what was going on in his life at the time, which is almost as enjoyable to read as the stories themselves.

Overall, this collection isn't as good as his two earlier story collections ('Soft and Others' and "The Barrens and Others'), but it is good and I enjoyed it. My favorite stories in this collection are 'Foet', 'The November Game', 'Part of the Game', and 'Interlude at Duane's'.

Wilson states that this will be his last short fiction collection, that he is pretty much done with short fiction. I am saddened about his decision, but I am grateful that he wrote enough stories to fill this and two other collections, stories that have scared me, made me think, laugh and cry. Thank you Mr. Wilson for all the many stories through the years.

As the Contents and the subsequent "The Secret History of the World" shows there are two ways to catalog AFTER SHOCKS AND OTHERS: 19 ODDITIES. First the Contents uses the standard to break down the entries by the year they were published with the earliest in 1990 and the latest in 2005. The Secret History uses the F. Paul; Wilson's classification system, which separates the tales by "The Past", three distinct years before Year Zero, and of course "Year Zero" the "end of civilization as we know it". The compilation is terrific with Repairman jack having an "Interlude at Duane's" where he deals his style (mindful of MacGyver) with a robbery. "Aftershock" is a Bram Stoker Award winner; yet, all the entries are super due to the key characters even in short form feeling developed to the point of understanding them as each deals with twisting plots. Fans will enjoy tales like "Offshore" in which Mr. Wilson extrapolates a segment of our current health system to a rationing of medical services in which money buys health and Frankenstein's "Dreams" as he remembers his pre-monster life and personality. This is another winner as this great author displays his skills in short form with this super compilation.

Harriet Klausner

A very solid collection of stories from Dr. Wilson, which makes me sad that it is apparently the last of said new collections as he intimates his wrapping up of the book that he is leaving the form.

Having said that, I will also say that only a few of the stories will likely stay with me for any period of time; the only one that really connected was the one that was concerned with healthcare, and that's only because it has become such a point of contention in current politics (and sadly seems to to support views that I myself do not).

What was really interesting was Wilson's description of the sort of behind-the-scenes events that involved his works - both those he was directly and indirectly involved with.

And I think that Ryan Reynolds might make for an alright RJ, but surely there could be someone that is a little more "plain" that might fit the bill better.