Dark Mondays [Hardcover]

Kage Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2006

Kage Baker (author of the popular Company series) delivers a collection that explores the dark and fantastic sides of her writing. This collection is anchored by an original novella involving pirates.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this enchanting, if melancholy, story collection from Hugo– and Nebula Award–nominee Baker (Mother Aegypt), the supernatural matter-of-factly touches the shabby lives of people in small, isolated towns, providing resolution and revelation. In "Calamari Curls," a legless war veteran who owns a divey chowder house sees his clientele dwindle with the opening of the titular upscale restaurant until a supernatural solution eliminates the competition and forestalls gentrification of his run-down coastal California town. "Events are only as real as we make them," realizes a Catholic priest in "Monkey Day" (also set in California), which pits him and an imaginative boy against an elementary school teacher whose nonbelief protects her from fantastical violence. In "The Maid on the Shore," a sprawling novella set in the 17th-century West Indies, English pirates are helped to bloody victory against the Spanish by a beautiful girl who embodies the fury of war. Though Baker's uncanny plot-turns often feel inorganic to her stories, she grapples vigorously with moral and philosophical conundrums. (July)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597800511
• ISBN-13: 978-1597800518
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The novella alone is worth the read, May 3, 2010

By 

Steven Warfield (Scotia, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Mondays (Hardcover)

Having read and liked one of Baker's stories in one of the 'New Space Opera' collections, I was most interested to see what else she had written that I might enjoy. Imagine my dismay in then walking through the library the following week and seeing that she was one of the authors that we had already lost this year; the only positive was that her books were all out on display for easy access.

Thus I began my foray into Baker's short fiction, and I have to say that I was wholly impressed. Of particular note was the piratey novella that comprised the better portion of the book ("The Maid on the Shore") which stayed reasonably true to history (more or less, accounting for humorous coincidence) until the climax of the story, at which point it diverges wildly.

None of the stories really stood out to me as being any worse than the rest, while quite a few made lasting impressions for their humor and unpredictability.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent collection of stories by Kage Baker, April 24, 2008

By 

David L. Luckhardt "thornezilla" (East SF Bay, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dark Mondays (Hardcover)

A fascinating mix of fiction, Kage really pulls out the stops on this set of stories. Well worth the price of admission!

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book, November 3, 2006

By 

Catherine Jacobs "bobcat" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Mondays (Hardcover)

Often dark, always intriguing. Great use of language and description. You will be there.