Customer Reviews

Things Will Never Be the Same: A Howard Waldrop Reader: Selected Short Fiction 1980-2005

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

 

 

Things Will Never Be the Same: Selected Short Fiction 1980-2005 is the first career-retrospective anthology of Howard Waldrop's short stories, including the Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning tale "The Ugly Chickens" and the Hugo-nominated "The King of Where-I-Go". Sometimes mundane, sometimes dazzling, always peering into an ever-so-slightly askew "Waldropian" universe, these tales are crafted not only to entertain the reader, but also to expand the reader's worldview. Distinguishing this retrospective are brief afterwords to each tale, written by Waldrop himself, offering insights into the genesis of the story and comments on what affected its creative process. Enthusiastically recommended for science fiction and fantasy buffs everywhere.

This is not science fiction. These are tales of an alternate universe which
is occasionally tangential to one I inhabit. I am proud to have read all [I
think] of Waldrop's oeuvre. I have met Howard. No one writes like him. No
one thinks like him. Once you've read "The Ugly Chickens," you'll never think of zoology in the same way; you'll recall the rock-n-roll of the 50s
and 60s. Drive-ins. DQ girls on roller skates. This is a fine selection.
There are many things I love (of Howard's) that aren't here. Like Marxism
in the 19th Century. Like "Custer's Last Jump." Like the Labours of
Hercules. That's OK. You'll want them once you've read this. As they
useta say "collect 'em all."

Howard, I love you.

Pro:
The author: Lots of very good (if not always great) stories in here. Waldrop is always imaginative, and he researches the heck out of the backgrounds.
The book: This is as well constructed a book as I ever find anymore. Sewn in signatures, not something you often see, even in hardcover. It even has a ribbon bookmark! You never see that.

Con:
The book: Did I really pay $45.00 for this book? Don't drink and order from Amazon at the same time.

This is the first career retrospective of Howard Waldrop.

"If Philip K. Dick is our homegrown Borges (as Ursula K. Le Guin once said), then Waldrop is our own very American magic-realist, as imaginative and playful as early Garcia Marquez or, better yet, Italo Calvino" so wrote Michael Dirda in the March 18th Washington Post Book World.

Your life is not complete until you own this book!

Being so wonderfully reviewed, I thought I would give his work a try. I'm glad I did, but only because now I don't really wonder what I'm missing. It's just OK, not "great" or "the best ever" or anything approaching that. The comments by the author after each story tell about when it was written, perhaps why or what inspired it. Those are moderately interesting, and tell a lot about the author. I have a feeling he's kind of a difficult person.

The stories themselves are more "fiction" than "science fiction," and while I'm not a fanatic about categories and the like, I was a little disappointed in the science content of the stories. I like to read about alternate realities, imagined technologies, speculative fiction about future technology, etc. and there wasn't a lot of that in these stories.

I guess the title says it all. It's decent science fiction, light on the science.