3.0 out of 5 stars
Average Plots First Half, Betters Adventures in the Second, April 4, 2010
This collection of Gallagher short stories does the opposite to his former collection
Out of His Mind. In that volume the high quality stories came first with a few average ones ending out the collection. In Plots and Misadventures we start out with some very average and boring stories. If you weren't familiar with how good a story Gallagher can write no doubt you'd stop giving the stories a go after the first few. However about half way through good usual Gallagher quality stories start to appear. We go downhill a bit at the end again but fans of Gallagher will still probably want to get this for the middle stories. These are the stories within.
1) Little Dead Girl Singing - Plots and Misadventures starts of with this incredibly boring story. Maybe if you also used to get dragged to child talent contests as a parent you might get some reminiscing feelings from this but that's all it offers. A father goes on a recital tour to watch his daughter and sees a much more talented girl being psychologically abused by her parents.
2) Back of his Hand - Not a bad tale, although you can see what's going to happen as soon as the character walks into the tattoo parlour. An armed robber after days of travelling goes into a small town tattoo parlour to have a dragon tattoo removed from his hand as footage of his hand was seen in CCTV footage during and broadcast on a Most Wanted type TV program.
3) Restraint, It's okay but again predictable - Woman awakens in hospital after a car ran her vehicle off the road. She hopes the police haven't checked the boot (trunk) of her crashed vehicle as her husband's corpse is inside.
4) The Plot - So boring you'll struggle to stay awake. Unwed mother wants to have her child baptised. Problem though, since it's ten days dead there's no chance of this happening. The mother was turned away from the church when the child was alive by an old hag who thinks the mother's type is beneath her and the church. The priest wants to fix the problem but all the mother wants to do is avenge the child's soul.
5) Doctor Hood - If you fell asleep in the last story this ones not worth waking up for as it will put you back to sleep. Old man (Dr Hood) isn't answering his phone so his concerned daughter travels to his house to check on him. He's been feeling his dead wife's presence and been studying it.
6) Jailbird for Jesus - The first higher quality tale within, although it's nowhere near great will seem like a masterpiece if you pushed yourself through the former two stories. An undercover cop pretends to be an ex con and gets a job in a 24hr service station that hires parolees.
7) Hunter Killer - Not a bad tale. A weird object crashed into a new printing press building. What emerged from the object has killed anyone who has gone inside. Swat teams, even army men have all died trying to kill it. Authorities have put up a barbed wire fence around the perimeter and made it a crime to try and go inside. However a reward of millions of dollars for anyone who killed it and produces its head means many have tried. The latest is a loser named Frank who sees killing the thing as a way to make him rich and get the respect of women and others.
8) My Repeater - Average tale about time travel. When time travel was invented many thought buying a franchise would make them rich. However it seems only losers are attracted to travel in an effort to fix up their mistakes of the past. An employee is grateful for a job at a franchise but soon realises no matter how many times his clients keep coming back, they can never fix their pasts. He battles with if he should tell the younger versions of his repeat clients that they will be unsuccessful.
9) The Wishing Ball - An average tale for the most part, but has one of the greatest young female characters ever written. Could have been a great novel if the short story was just the beginning and Gillian's plans for the future were undertaken by her and the reader went along for the ride. A loser gets out of jail and decided to torment and get even with his ex. She now has married and has a young daughter.
10) Like Clockwork - Interesting tale about fighting wars to have markets for the victors products. After going to war with aliens, we lose. However, although the humans do have to do whatever they are ordered to, the aliens seem to be providing a better quality of life to those who fought them then they achieved themselves before the war.
11) The Blackwood Oak - Boring tale - Park rangers have for generations hidden the truth of the existence of sprites and other fairy type fantasy creatures who live in the forests. Years ago a valley was flooded to make a dam trapping many of these creatures. Now that dam is being drained.
12) Tailpiece Nine Horrors and a Dream - Not sure if this is a fiction story or a true story of the authors childhood but he (or the character) recounts the first horror story he ever read. Either way it's a few minutes of your life you'll never get back. He imagined a statue in his room came alive after reading the book.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Top notch!, January 24, 2008
Summing up the stories contained within the two covers of this book in a few lines would do great injustice to the author as well as the prospective readers of this book. Although the book can be categorised under any of the 'head'-s: horror, science-fiction and fantasy, these stories often go beyond the limitations of such genres by developing a dark & strange colouration that is the hallmark of Gallagher's work. My humble suggestion to the future readers is to read one story at a time, otherwise the world might appear a little "different" to you. Subterranean Press has done a wonderful job with respect to this book, but my copy, despite being signed, is devoid of the number. Neverthless, this is a quality book with quality stories, and hence is recommended.
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