Customer Reviews

Impossible Places

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Impossible Places is a collection of works that Foster has written from the start of the ninties to 2002 - most were originally published in magazines or other collections.

They all have two things in common: they are fantasy/SF "Outer Limits" type of stuff, and are located in far-flung places (hence "Impossible Places") from invented worlds to places that Foster has visited on holiday, like South America and outback Australia. I found the first story to be a little dull but the rest are quite enjoyable, and there is a Pip and Flinx story written just for the anthology.

There is also a comment from the author at the start of the book about why he writes short fiction, and a brief note at the start of each story explaining where the idea came from, where he was at the time of writing it, or just an insight into his personality.

Impossible Places

Sometimes I don't like short stories a lot. By the time you are interested in the story it is over. Most of these stories are actually very good

Lay your head on my Pilose-Just a creepy story, full of murder and subtlty I wish this one had been longer

Diesel Dream-This is one my two favorite stories it tells the tale of a trucker on his way to fullfill one of his runs (at least on the surface).

Leathel Prespective-My other favorite story tells the story of monsters and their invisible war against human kind, it is very short but very good.

Fitting Time-A dearly departed friend of Elvis asks a tabloid editor to stop running stories about the rock star, it was O.K

We Three Kings-Monsters of legend learn the true meaning of Christmas, very funny

Empowered-Also very good ask the fundimental question "What if the Lawyers got the better of the Super Hero's

Sideshow-I had never read any of the Pip and Flinx adventures before I will have to now, this is really interesting

The only story I didn't like was "The Kiss" just a stupid and pointless story. The other stories I haven't mentioned I didn't read because they didn't capture my interest. Whoever most of the stories in this book were really good and I highly recommend

I enjoyed this book very much. The stories are inventive and read well. The only disappointment was the cover statement "Featuring a new Pip and Flinx Adventure". Because I have been enjoying the F & P stories I purchased this collection in part because of the cover statement. While the statement was technically true, I have a difficult time reconciling that statement with a couple of page episode of Flinx sleeping and having his dream influenced by plants. The influence of the plants was presented in previous novels, so not only did the vignette not reveal anything new, but was hardly an adventure.

Eh. Anthologies are usually a mix of mediocre and good, and this one was mostly mediocre. The Pip & Flinx story of course was the best, but for the most part the ones that tried to be humorous tried too hard and I found my eyes rolling quite a bit. Nothing here packs a punch, which was disappointing as I like Foster's writing. Guess he's better at novels than shorts.

I read a lot of Alan Dean Foster's books and usually enjoy them. This is a collection of very short stories, all with a common structure and feel. Build to the "trick" at the end. Some were a lot of fun with real surprises at the end. However, many had nothing new to say. Felt like they were written to fill space.

This book did give me something to do while waiting for the next Finx and Pip book to be released.

Every story is creative and well written. Alan Dean Foster uses short stories to explore off the wall or small topics. I liked most of the stories, a couple were very good because of the twist at the end. Others were too predictable or uninteresting subject to me.

just a great book, many a different kind of Alan dean Foster style story, a pleasent diversion

I found the service I received from the seller to be prompt and accurate. If the seller were to offer other merchandise that I wanted I would certainly be inclined to purchase from them.