Customer Reviews

The Ocean and All Its Devices

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Just wanted to say how happy I am to see that Mr. Spencer is still writing! I've loved all his other books with Irrational Fears being my favorite. Ordered this and once I read it will post an actual review.

Keep writing Mr. Spencer!


Update: Just finished reading this. Excellent collection! There were the usual Lovecraftian feel stories that never seem to get old or dusty in Mr. Spencer's hands and the stories that explored other themes that were just as good.

My favorites would be Your Faithful Servant, the title story, Halfway House, and Essayist (which I had read in F&SF Magazine).

This short story collection is a great way to be introduced to William Browning Spencer if you haven't read any of his books.

"The Ocean & All Its Devices" is a rich, lyrical exploration of William Browning Spencer's imagination. But, while the ocean of the title story provides a deep, dark setting for this collection's first story, Spencer's most remarkable explorations take place in the realms of future cyberspace.

This is Spencer's first collection of stories since 1993's "The Return of Count Electric & Other Stories," a collection I unfortunately have overlooked to date. Still, with just nine stories, The Ocean proves a splendid introduction to a writer whose short fiction encompasses more satisfying world-building and character development than many a novel. Spencer paints his stories with a subtle hue of horror that is often more unsettling than frightening, and that lingers in the back of your thoughts long after you've turned your attentions elsewhere.

Reading this collection left me wondering why Spencer has so selfishly deprived me of his writing over the years. These stories -- rich, deep and fully realized -- are the work of a writer who should, in a fairer world, be far better known and, we can only hope, far more prolific.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor