Heart of Whitenesse [Hardcover]

Howard Waldrop (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

World Fantasy Award–winner Waldrop (Custer's Last Jump) offers 10 quirky, sometimes outrageous speculative stories in this wise and funny collection, each with a lively and informative afterword. If J.D. Salinger had written SF, Holden Caulfield would have been one of the gang in "The Other Real World," a teenage view of the Cuban missile crisis with a more somber outcome than the actual one. "The Dynasters" imagines an unusual scenario in which the phony Piltdown Man (and Piltdown Woman) are real. A three-headed robot in the offbeat "Our Mortal Span" runs into trouble in a theme park called Story Book Land when he takes fairy tales too seriously. In the marvelous title story, about playwright Christopher Marlowe, "Will Shaxper" is only a bit player. "Us," a gripping tale of alternative history, explores the possibilities had Charles Lindbergh Jr. lived. Waldrop is a razzle-dazzle hoot. (Apr. 25)

From Booklist

The inimitable Waldrop, an authentic master of gonzo sf and fantasy, returns with some of his most recent short fiction, along with notes that enlighten about the transformation in sf markets as they move from paper to the Web, and imply that Waldrop has traveled extensively, at least if the number of places he movingly portrays accurately suggests personal knowledge. The collection-opening "Dynasters" takes its departure from the idea that Piltdown Man really existed. The title story features Christopher Marlowe and ice festivals on the Thames. "Winter Quarters" delves deeply into the extinction of the mammoth. "The Other Real World" is such a rich exploration of 1950s popular culture that it needs many pages of footnotes, and "D=R X T" may be the only sf story about pedal cars. There is only one Howard Waldrop, and he is quite as irresistible as ever, at least in small doses (it is probably just as well for his reputation that he isn't a novelist). Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean Press; 1st,Sgd Ltd edition (May 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596060182
• ISBN-13: 978-1596060180
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,597,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Howard Waldrop, born in Mississippi and now living in Austin, Texas, is an American iconoclast. His highly original books include Them Bones and A Dozen Tough Jobs, and the collections All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, Night of the Cooters, and Going Home Again. He won the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for his novelette "The Ugly Chickens." George R.R. Martin is the author of the bestselling Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. His fiction has won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy Award, Stoker, and Locus Awards. He worked on the TV shows The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Short Story Writer, June 4, 2005

By 

J Reston - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heart of Whitenesse (Hardcover)

Howard Waldrop has been called "a national treasure" and after reading this collection of 10 stories it's not hard to see why. He has a fascination (perhaps an obsession) with twentieth century pop culture, obsolete technologies, and arcane ephemera that permeates his stories and makes for a unique reading experience. He is also a meticulous craftsman, and it shows in these finely written tales.

Waldrop creates stories out of seemingly absurd connections that no one else could imagine. The excellent title story conflates Christopher Marlowe, the Shakespearean era playwright who wrote "Dr. Faustus", and Marlowe the narrator of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", as CM takes a journey on the frozen Thames river in search of the real Dr. Faustus at the behest of Queen Elizabeth (in reality, CM actually did serve as a spy). Waldrop even manages to throw in a riff on Philip Marlowe, the detective in Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep! No one else could have conceived this idea or made it work, yet in Waldrop's hands it becomes a classic story. "US" is a moving alternate history story that shows three possible lives that might have been led by Charles Lindbergh Jr (who in real history died as a baby during the infamous botched kidnapping). No other story I've read captured so well the loss of human potential when a life is ended prematurely. "Mr. Goober's Show" centers around a brother and sister who, in the early 1950s, accidentally view on an obsolete TV set a children's show that no one else may have witnessed, a viewing that changes the course of their lives. "Major Spacer in the 21st Century" begins with the downfall of the creator of a 1950 children's science fiction TV show as the McCarthy hearings begin, and picks up in the year 2000 in a world where Y2K really did lead to a technological disaster. As a result, "Major Spacer" is given a second chance to change the world for the better. These are just a few highlights in a collection with no weak stories.

This is Waldrop's sixth collection of stories, and my favorite by just a hair. I hope this book will be reprinted by a mass-market publisher so that more people get to read it. If you like this book, I would recommend that you search for his other collections, all of which are excellent.

If you like Waldrop's writing, I would also recommend short story collections by Avram Davidson (The Avram Davidson Treasury, The Other Nineteenth Century, Limekiller), Andy Duncan (Beluthahatchie), Terry Bisson (Bears Discover Fire), and Neal Barrett jr (Perpetuity Blues).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the coolest short stories (sci fi or otherwise) you'll read., September 13, 2005

By 

N.J.W. (Stuck in the Middle, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heart of Whitenesse (Hardcover)

If you're not already a Howard Waldrop fan, here's what you need to know: Waldrop's a master of the short fiction form. His great--often very funny--writing shouldn't (and doesn't) just appeal to science fiction fans. He's a flat-out genius at connecting completely disparate fields of interest and finding just the right weird little connection to make them fit together perfectly in a short story.

This book is the perfect gift for those show-off friends who think they know a little about everything. Because odds are Waldrop knows more than they do. And he can twist and shape that knowledge into some darned amusing tales that are accessible to anyone. If you love pop culture and history, Waldrop is your go-to guy.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I know the man..., September 20, 2005

By 

David G. Cercone Jr. "Dandy" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heart of Whitenesse (Hardcover)

...and a finer writer there couldn't be, a finer fellow too.

If I could give it 6 stars, oh how I would. "The Heart of Whiteness" is my new favourite story and I think dear old Kit Marlowe would entirely agree. I have not been as delighted and chilled simultaneouslly as I have been by "The Other Real World"....if only "The Wolfman of Alcatraz" was also contained herein, but I am being picky again aren't I?

Howard is unique and SO very important. His books should be famous, but maybe the fact that his work is almost a secret thing testifies to how good it is? Or how dull American publshing might be?...Both perhaps.

Treat yourself to a whole new way of realizing just how good, sad, hilarious, intelligent and important science-fiction, alternate history and short stories can be, and all at once too. ;)