Customer Reviews

Pleasure Vessels: The Winners of the 1995 Ian St. James Awards

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The stories in this anthology comprise some of the best contemporary short fiction in the world, since the book contains the winners of this prestigious award as well as the many runners-up.


What's unusual about this book is that there are rarely ever co-winners in any category. The co-winner of the prize was Kristina Amadeus' great story "Concerning The Eye of The Mask." "Eye of The Mask" is worth the effort of finding and purchasing 'Pleasure Vessels.'

I discovered the versatile Amadeus through a similar prize - the Bridport Award, which she won 2nd Place in 2001 for the hilarious and richly-textured short story "A Swan Called Love." On further research, I learned that the author is cousin to famed megalo-creative genius David Bowie (which perhaps explains her highly intelligent and quirky take on the world) and his exceptionally talented son Duncan Jones, rising-star director of "Moon" and "Source Code." This is clearly an interesting family, because all three cousins are also related to Simon Burns, the Conservative Party's Minister of State for the Department of Health.

I highly recommend taking a nice long afternoon in a hammock with this intriguing book.

An interesting mix of styles and subjects, something to appeal to a wide variety of readers. But all of these stories share one thing - they are beautifully written. If you love good writing, love literature, you will love these stories. Highly recommended.