Customer Reviews

In the Stone House

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I was browsing through Amazon's listings and noticed that this fantastic collection had only one solitary, lonely review. One review. Blows my mind. Malzberg is a powerful writer. I love his sardonic and arrogant style. It's been several months since I read the collection so my comments may or may not be relevant, but I felt that I had to write a review to draw a small bit of attention to this overlooked collection.

The stories in this collection are, like the majority of Malzberg's hundreds of stories, short. They're short but they make the reader think. Malzberg packs a tremendous amount of force into a few short pages. My favorite stories in the volume are: 'Ship Full of Jews' (in which Christopher Columbus sails to the New World with a hold full of Jewish slaves), 'Hitler at Nuremberg' (in which Hitler does not commit suicide, is tried at Nuremberg, and revealed to be Goering's patsy), 'In the Stone House' (Twisted Kennedy politics, Dad Kennedy survives and rules his family with an iron hand) and 'Standards & Practices' (Emily Dickinson as a modern day college professor).

I love Malzberg's alternate history stories. He puts neat, totally implausible twists on history. Fantastic stuff. In addition to the stories mentioned above there are stories about Lee Harvey Oswald, a couple more Kennedy stories, a story about Raymond Chandler & Dashiell Hammett, an aging Tchaikovsky, and on and on.

I've just made up my mind that I have to reread this collection ASAP. Malzberg's exploration of the human psyche are priceless. I love reading him. A recent perusal of his bibliography revealed that he has an enormous number of uncollected stories. I see that he's recently released an E-collection, but I can't wait for the day when some enterprising company releases 'The Complete Malzberg'. I'll be first in line to buy a copy. _In the Stone House_ is Highly Recommended. One of the finest collections of 2000.

This set of short stories reflects the bizarre and compelling twists of Malzberg's plots and characters, ranging from alternative realities and hard science fiction to subtler blends of history and science fiction. Famous personalities - such as Emily Dickson and Tchaikovsky - often feature in these tales, which will intrigue any with a fascination for twists and turns of character and story.

A fine collection of stories from Malzberg, who is one of the most under-appreciated writers, not just in the SF world, but in the entire literary world. His vision of life, and especially the writing life, and especially the SF writer's life, is unique. Almost all his books are out of print. Somebody should re-release his novels such as HEROVIT'S WORLD, BEYOND APOLLO, TACTICS OF CONQUEST, GATHER IN THE HALL OF THE PLANETS, etc., and, publish a big volume of his collected stories. This selection of newer stories will do for a start.

In The Stone House is a compelling anthology of short stories master fantasy and science fiction writer Barry Malzberg. These superbly crafted, enthusiastically recommended and memorable tales include Heavy Metal, Turpentine, Quartermain, The Prince of the Steppes, Andante Lugubre, Standards & Practices, Darwinian Facts, Allegro Marcato, Something from the Seventies, The High Purpose, All Assassins, Understanding Entropy, Ship Full of Jews, Amos, Improvident Excess, Hitler At Nuremberg, Concerto Accademico, The Intransigents, Hieratic Realignment, The Only Thing You Learn, Police Actions, Fugato, Major League Triceratops, and the title piece, In The Stone House.

I hate to say this, but it is the most boring Arkham House book I have ever read. Ideas behind some of the stories are mildly interesting, but the book kept putting me to sleep no matter how hard I tried to get through it.