Homecalling and Other Stories: The Complete Solo Short SF of Judith Merril (NESFA's Choice) (Nesfa's Chocie) [Hardcover]

Judith Merril (Author), Elisabeth Carey (Editor), James Warhola (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 558 pages
• Publisher: NESFA Press; First Edition edition (February 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188677854X
• ISBN-13: 978-1886778542
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,225,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good writing, but not for every classic Sci Fi fan, February 23, 2011

By 

Jack Of Alltrades "Just another soul" (Loth Ethtadoth Unidoth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Homecalling and Other Stories: The Complete Solo Short SF of Judith Merril (NESFA's Choice) (Nesfa's Chocie) (Hardcover)

Merril was a good writer, but though I am a big fan of classic SF and of James Triptree, Jr.---another incredible female writer---her writing is not for this reader. Why?

Merril's exposition is needlessly verbose and burdened with an overly intellectual style, a style that detracts from her stories' impact on the reader. She uses big words when small ones would do as well or better.

Her stories are focused on what happens inside the protagonist's mind, rather than what goes on without.

Examples:
A woman has a deformed child.
A mother misplaces her child who is killed.
Men and women form unconventional mating pairs.
Psi adepts meet at last.

Most describe strong women, their thoughts and emotions. Some are moving, some are entertaining, but all are in microcosm.

They're about gender, about relationships, feelings and about women who are as intelligent as Merril considers herself to be. She said she'd never known another woman as intelligent as she---a revealing statement, and one perceptible in her writing.

If you enjoy SF well crafted and fraught with danger, if you enjoy action deciding life and death, if you like alien contact, exploration and stories that span generations, galaxies and eons, if you like stories about men and how men must live, then you may want to try the work of James Schmitz The Witches of Karres, Jack Vance Tales of the Dying Earth or Chad Oliver Far from This Earth and Other Stories (Nesfa's Choice).