Customer Reviews

More Tomorrow & Other Stories

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M.M. Smith is undoubtedly one of the best horror/fantasy writers in the short form genre. The way in which he crafts a first-person narrative that always ends with a gripping climax is unique and he rarely misses with his format. His characters are always fascinating if not tragically flawed. The best in the collection is "The Vaccinator," a hilarious, bizarre, MEN IN BLACK-tinged absurdist tale about a fixer who prevents kidnappings of the alien abduction variety. When a kidnapping that he is paid to prevent still happens, our hero is pissed and uncovers a mystery that is both amusing and chilling. "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself" is a close second. A long story that only really kicks in at the end, but truly worth the wait, "Hell" is about the relationships that form between three scientists and the virus that destroys their lives, unleashing a hell that none of them can escape. "More Tomorrow" is a lurid story about voyeurism and a guy who can only watch but can't help. "They Also Serve" is a gem in the vein of 2001 about a guy in space, escaping from the war that is being waged on his planet but unable to escape the schemes of his overprotective computer. "To Receive is Better" is, in fact, better than Smith's full-length version of the story, his book SPARES which lacks the tension and atmosphere and fear that permeates "To Receive." All these stories start with great protagonists and end with great climaxes that are often morally ambiguous and always chilling and tragic. A stellar collection that had me up late at night, wanting more.

Not having previously read this author, I picked this book up last year mainly because I got a great deal on an edition whose value has sky-rocketed. Also, I knew that this collection along with several of the individual stories had won Best of... awards. This hefty collection is imposing and I really only started reading it when I did to sample the first story "More Tomorrow" - however, I was very quickly hooked and it has now earned a spot on my list of all-time favorites.

I thoroughly enjoyed just about every single story in here. The stories pretty much fall into the category of horror and scifi, but I think that they would be accessible to everyone, not just genre fans. While I will not review every story, I will list some of my favorites: More Tomorrow, The Book of Irrational Numbers, The Man Who Drew Cats, The Dark Land, To See The Sea, They Also Serve, To Receive Is Better, A Long Walk For The Last Time, and Enough Pizza.

A handful of the stories are fairly tech-heavy, and I am not sure how a non-savvy reader might respond to them, but I think they would be fine. Also, while most of the stories are not much more than 10 years old or less, some of the stories can feel a bit dated due to the detailed descriptions of computer technology and terminology that has become obsolete. (As a computer geek, I found it kind of humorous to read about a man's excitement about the delivery of a state-of-the-art computer for which he paid top dollar. The computer, which probably became useless 5 or 6 years ago, was described in realistic detail in the story.)