Short Stories Books

This book is delicious!A favorite recipe.A dash of this, a pinch of that.
The right ingredients to make it smooth,perfect and tasteful with just the right consistency and texture to reel in the reader.
It's not just a keeper, but a treasure.
I will not lend my copy,but instead purchase copies for any gift occasion that may arise.
Life lessons for newly weds,memories to celebrate any and every event lie with-in these pages.
All of the characters have become good friends and family.
Dave Adams is one of the greats and in my opinion this book gets the highest rating possible.
Jan Coulbourne

Dave Adams' book "The Reason for the Rhyme A Matter of Time," is the most beautiful poetry book I have ever read in every way. Each poem is a treasure and the reader gets a rare glimpse into the story behind each poem in the book and what led to its creation. This is what makes this book so special, not to mention the rare beauty of the poems themselves. The poetry in this book touched me on many levels. These poems are magical, moving and awe-inspiring and you will want to share this book with everyone you know.
This book was clearly a work of love for the author and gives you a special glimpse into a man who has had the richest of lives and wants nothing more than to be able to pass the joy of his experiences onto others. I give it a 5-star review!

Dave Adams has given those of us who are not poets and, who often cannot understand it, a wonderful book as he explains the meaning of each poem with a story. So often poets do this when before an audiance, but few think to include it in their book of poems. Adams shares some emotional times with the reader describing how rhymes have been therpeudic for him throughout his life. A terrific read!

This book of poetry and the reason behind the poetry is so very interesting and down to Earth. I was able to idinfy with many of the stories. I found a time to both laugh and cry as I read through the book. You can open the book on any page and start reading. It's a great book and could be used as a text book for poetry classes.
David F. Crowther

The Reason for the Rhyme A Matter of Time: Poetry & Short Stories: A Collection, Volume 1This book of poetry has touched me deeply. I savored each and every story and thoroughly enjoyed reading the background on how each poem came to be written. It opened my eyes to so many things and helped me to understand that some feelings are truly universal. It's become my own personal treasure trove of emotions, experiences and points of view and I will read it over many times.

Having just returned from a three month trip to Russia and Ukraine this past spring, I was shocked and incredibly pleased to see how clearly the stories in Shonk's book mirrored my own experiences and impressions of the people I met. I immediately looked online to see if she'd written any others! The short stories cut right to the heart of a lot of the experiences that Russians are going through today, 17 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the interactions between Westerners and Russians are also still apt. Her writing is excellent and will pull you in, leaving you itching to hop on a train yourself and trek through the new, developing Russia...

These are beautifully written stories that stay with you. I was drawn to the characters in this book, both the Americans and Russians, and was really moved by the stories. The author captures characters dealing with life in a rapidly-changing Russian society and she does it with a sense of humor and understanding. This is a really, really excellent collection of short stories. I'd check it out.

As I've lived in Russia, the Red Passport rang a lot of bells. Apart from reflecting with considerable verisimilitude certain attitudes in Russia albeit from an American point of view, the difficulty of writing simple, successful prose while embodying complex truths is the main reason I wholeheartedly recommend this collection.

I usually read non-fiction and this was the first collection of contemporary short stories I've read for a long time but also one of the finest and I was transfixed throughout.

The Red Passport is gem of a book. On one level, Shonk is exploring Russian and American perceptions (and misperceptions) of each other. In that respect, it makes a fascinating cultural study. The stories are precise and melancholy comedies (or tragedies) of cross-cultural manners. But the book really sticks with you for another reason: Shonk gets under her characters' skin and reveals them in all their yearning and weakness. The sentences are lucid and beautiful, yet the writing is never showy. You get to the last page and long for more. Shonk, with her generosity and restraint, is a gift to contemporary American literature. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't love this book.

Bravo to Katherine Shonk--The Red Passport is a welcome and rare showcase for the classic craft of the American short story. Katherine's characters (sometimes bursting with youth and other times exhausted from life's trials) are both unique and universal. She shares an understanding of human experience and modern-day Russian that, along with her wonderful ear for language and eye for surroundings, draws her characters to life on the page. Her style is clear and captivating, each metaphor a little miracle. I look forward to more from this outstanding American author.

I had the good fortune to get a signed copy of this book from the author back in '99. I live in the northeast now, and all I have to do is read a few snippets and I'm back on the coast again, soaking it all in. Thanks, B.J., for the memories your tales can conjure.

This is a fanscinating collection of adventure tales from a guy that we all know. He's the average American joe who's a bit fed up with "a world gone awry" and in his own way, shares a part of him with the rest of us. I laughed and laughed, mostly with him, but some times at him. I'm sure he'll forgive me. Gotta love the Teller!

This is the best book and eveyone needs to read it

~ CjTeller

BJ Teller is at his comedic best when he writes of his zany family and their exploits on the Gulf Coast. Even if you're not from the area, you can feel the sluggish breeze as you sit on the pier at Perdido Point, and fish the afternoon away with his characters.

B.J. Teller is a cross between Hunter Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, and Mark Twain! He can make you laugh out loud, cry, and say "why didn't I think of that?" all in the same story. And I know his real name!

I finished this book at 12:30 in the morning on January 2, and can think of no finer way to ease out of one year and greet the next. It's a brave and tender page turner and I could not put it down.

Sailing is a fairly rare thing: an honest book about living a spiritual life. It talks about how one writer entered Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion, without losing her skeptical eye, integrating a 21st-century woman's rationalism with a willingness to believe. Not many books show someone actually doing the work of embracing a personal spirituality--doubting, moving one step forward and two steps back, but moving. This is one of those books.

Sailing is also about remaking the mother-daughter bond, caring for a mother losing her short-term memory as she moves toward death. By now, you may be saying, "I get it. The woman found God, and God helped her deal with Mom." But spirituality didn't always help. Thompson's mother tried as hard as she could to push her daughter away, and Alzheimer's isn't pretty--one of Thompson's most rousing successes comes when she finally gives Stinky Mom a shower, a production that should make you laugh if you're not dead. Facing your mother's old age takes a sense of humor.

Looking back on her ancestors, as Santeria practitioners do, Thompson tells of the family that formed her mother, and braids in her love story with her husband. Thompson as a novelist has always been a superb stylist, and the voice as much as the story kept me reading through the night. When you marry her voice to this true and unusual tale, you get a book I can't recommend highly enough.

My book club read this book and we had the one of our most lively and interesting discussions. Joyce Thompson's candid story of dealing with her mother's mental decline and her family's history was both moving and funny. Thompson is a great storyteller. I didn't want the book to end. I wanted more details and more stories about her mother and father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, her children and husband. They all seemed to come alive as she tries to make sense of half told family lore. Thompson's neither sanctimonious nor condescending when she writes about the difficult journey she made with her mother. It's a great read.

This wonderful book overtook my life for 3 days as I savored each short, wise chapter. I was sorry when I reached the last page. A book about love, death, spirit, it is equally a funny down-to-earth account of a woman's everyday struggles with career, family and what to wear. Here's the bonus...Thompson's wordcraft is masterful. Her lovely meditation on the simple dance of a falling leaf is as lyrical as the passages about her working days at Microsoft are richly drawn. If you have an aged, impaired parent, you will find in Thompson a wise and witty guide on how to maneuver the tough, too-real moments. There is heartbreak here but also a sense of honor in helping a loved one transition into death. The vignette when she steals away from her abusive husband with her young children is told mostly though dialogue between her and her unsuspecting 6 year old daughter. A lovely and harrowing account where the mother protects the child but never quite tells a lie. Thompson's memoir challenges readers to find their own stories. The real treasure is her writing, an astonishing gift. If you're a fan of words, welcome to your new favorite writer, Joyce Thompson.

This is a difficult book to catagorize. Do you wish the enjoyment of graceful prose by an author at the top of her game? Would you follow the highlights of a life story as memory works, with short chapters based on recurring themes but no straightforward timeline--interweaving people, events, family history, spiritual quest, finding a soul mate in middle age and making it work, raising children alone? There are poems written from the point of view of the author's aging mother (and they are good poems, a poet's poems, not the usual chopped prose of a fiction writer). There is humor in situations which were extremely difficult to live through. There is joy in introspection. There is personal growth after the achievement of success as a writer, sought after by movie producers. One might give this book to a friend for inspiration. One might accept the gently proffered challenges to try a different approach to attaining goals in life, and even rethink which goals really matter. Something for everyone? Perhaps.

The book shipped fast and in great, new condition. It is a required reading for my son at his school and he was able to get it and read it by the due date.

Say What?
By Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sukie Rose Robinson ran through the house with tubs of glitter in both hands, when she ran into her father. She waited for him to scold her for running in the house, and spilling glitter. Instead, her father told her to stop picking her nose and asked, "If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?"

When Sukie ate peas with her hands, instead of saying "Don't eat with your fingers," Mom said, "You'll put an eye out with that thing!"

Suki and her brothers called an emergency kid meeting to discuss their weird parents.

They decided to test their parents. Reed put hand prints all over the walls, and his dad said, "Eat your vegetables." When Brian bounced the basketball in the family room, his dad said, "Use your words."

When Brian spilled orange juice all over the kitchen floor, instead of saying, "Clean it up!" Mom said, "Shut the door. You think we can afford to air-condition the whole outdoors?"

Have their parents been replaced by aliens? Are they really robots? The thought had Suki worried. She really wanted her parents back, she would even be glad to be scolded.

I really enjoyed this cleaver book. It made me anxious to see what their parents were going to say, next. And would the kids run amok? Would the house ever be the same?

I reccomend "Say What", it's fun for kids and parents.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood, Author
Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)

These are fun read-together books.

I love this book and so did my 5 yr old. It's a chapter book that starts off with the parents saying the wrong things every time they catch the children doing something wrong... like eat your peas when Suki was running in the living room while carrying glitter. They do this because they don't think the kids are listening to them. Then the kids figure out what the parents are up to and serve up their own wrong phrases until finally there is a truce.

I think this is a great easy book for young readers.I love it.
xoooxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

This review is for the Grades 3-5 Sunshine State Readers Award:
After a lot of research I have found that there are only 4 books on the list that are appropriate for the younger 3rd grade reader. They are Say What?, Drita My Homegirl, Christopher Mouse and Wildfire. The rest of the list is simply to difficult for the younger readers. My daughter reads at a 3.7 level and even these books have higher vocabulary and more mature subject content then what she usually reads.

I have enjoyed several of Endo's novels, including The Girl I Left Behind, Deep River, and Silence. My feeling is that he was worthy of the Nobel Prize, and I am disappointed he didn't win it. He works at the edge. His characters encounter the unusual in the midst of ordinary life, and they are changed by the encounter. In Scandal the unusual is embodied in masochism, the love of the pleasure in pain and self-annihilation. In parallel with the out of body joy of masochism, the protagonist has his own epiphany. This is all served up in a stylish and enjoyable confection. As always, the author hints that God is hiding in the interstices, waiting to appear in refracted light, darkly.

A wonderful novel. A great novel. A very enjoyable read.

Just when you think you have Endo Shusaku pegged, he comes out with a king-hitter like "Scandal". I have been reading Endo for a couple of years now, being a big fan, and "Scandal" has been one that has just further confirmed Endo's versatility and insight.

"Scandal" is very much full of self-references to Endo's own life. The main character, Suguro, is a Christian author, who has written novels called "The Life of Christ", "The Voice of Silence" and so on. Fans will recognise the echos to Endo's other works. Additionally, the characters often share names with other Endo novels. Suguro also appears in "The Sea and Poison", the highschool girl Morita Mitsu comes from "The Girl I Left Behind" and Naruse comes from the pages of "Deep River", (though with a changed given name, but life details are similar).

The similarity to Endo's other works ends there, however, and "Scandal" takes a no-holds-barred look at the depravity of the human heart and the urges that lie suppressed by the individual. As Suguro hears repeated rumours that he visits some extremely questionably places in Tokyo, he begins a hunt for the presumed imposter. Along the way, he encounters much that is disturbing about himself.

"Scandal" is a book that looks unflinchingly into the darkest recesses of the human heart. Endo seems unafraid to address those issues some would prefer to be hidden away, and he makes us look at them in ways that might make us feel uncomfortable. While not shocking in the explicit sense, the book does succeed in making one feel a touch uncomfortable with the matters dealt with. Endo shows a great deal of understanding for the nature of sexuality.

Although I would not recommend the book for everyone, I would recommend it for fans of Endo and those interested in the secret desires of people and the concealed corners of our own souls. This is an excellent book.

Scandal is the story of an acclaimed Japanese Christian novelist in old age named Suguro. At an awards ceremony honoring his distinguished career, Suguro hears disquieting rumors that he has been seen carousing in the red-light district. He enters the district to investigate the rumors and safeguard his reputation, but is unprepared for what, and who, he finds there.

Shusaku Endo uses this story as a kind of autobiography, accurate in depth of feeling, if not character and circumstance. He said in his A Life of Jesus that he thought of the Gospels as collectively forming a true portrait of Jesus, even where he saw them as fuzzy on the details. That is a good way to read Scandal, as a portrait of Endo.

Suguro struggles with old age, oncoming death, and the dissonance between his private self and his public reputation as an upstanding Christian. In many ways, Suguro is forced to confront himself; he learns that the foundations he has built his life upon are unsound, even his work, his marriage, and his religion. Endo's unflinching portrayal of himself in the figure of Suguro is thus poignant and, at times, tragic.

Scandal is about, among other things, a man going to a dangerous, uncertain place with his religion. Some religious people will not want to follow him there. On the other hand, this is not an exclusively Christian novel, and readers of any religion, or none, would have much to gain from it.

It is helpful, but not necessary, to have read some of Endo's other work to put Scandal in context. Silence and A Life of Jesus are classics. At least ten other works are in English translation.

Scandal is so rich and complex, and finally, so human, that it practically requires a second reading. But I am beginning to find that each time I read it, I demand another reading myself. I doubt that I will ever come to the end of it.

I just finished "Scandal" by Shusaku Endo which makes it the third book I've read by this author. All of the books have been excellent with "Silence" being my favorite. Endo is a Christian Japanese author and "Scandal", like "Silence" give an insight to the theological questions that go through his mind. The basic issue in Scandal is the relationship between good and evil in all of us. The main character in the story is a Japanese Christian writer (this whole book is pretty autobiographical with little attempt to hide that fact). At an awards ceremony he is confronted by the possibility that he has a double and that double has been spending a lot of time on the seedier side of life. The actions of his double threaten his reputation and he searches out this "doppleganger" to resolve that threat. Along the way he becomes interested in the nature and motives of the underworld people he comes in contact with.

Mr. Endo poses a variety of questions for the reader. As I previously mentioned, the main question is the level of good and evil in all of us. He seems to suggest that those of us who worship Jesus have within us the potential to have been one of those who stoned Jesus on His way to the Cross. While this is a shocking proposition to many, Endo's tale leaves one pondering the issue.

This book, like the other two I've read (including "The Sea and Poison"), is written in a compelling style that moves the reader along without any literary roadblocks. Even though you may quess correctly at some of the outcome, you want to see how the author gets you there. I rated this a "4" instead of a "5" because it fell a bit short of "Silence" so I knew he could do better.

Endo doesn't give you easy answers. This book explores the darker side of human nature, the side behind easy domestic life, beyond common decency, beneath worldly success. It may not be a pleasant book to read, as it doesn't gloss over the capacity for evil in a human being, but it is a book that will leave you thinking about just how authentic you are. If you're not ready to face brutal honesty, don't read this book. But if you're prepared for some deep insights into the nature of man, you shouldn't let this one pass you by.

This is an interesting and unusual book which gives a unique and very personal look at the Korean War through the eyes of survivors of that conflict while serving in the "Indian Head" Second Infantry Division. Author Derksen has taken 54 individual stories, some previously printed in The Bulletin, published by the 2nd ID, Korean War Alliance, and other stories provided to her by these veterans, and has woven them into a compelling narrative. What makes this book different from most of this genre is the intimate and personal quality of each individual story. Each narration focuses on one or two specific events of combat or related events and is told in the first-person without embellishment. In fact, the self deprecating humor and complete honesty of these soldiers as they tell their often horrific stories gives richness to the text that is refreshing and extremely interesting to read. These brave men, like most of those who have been in deadly combat, do not exaggerate; rather they reveal their own hopes and fears as they face almost certain death in a number of instances. While necessarily limited to those who fought with the 2nd ID, this book gives the reader significant insight into how the Korean War was fought by those at the very sharp end of the spear. While not a definitive history of the Korean War or even the 2nd ID, this is a very emotional and revealing composition by warriors whose story needs to be told and is here told well.

Author Barbara Ann Derksen has captured the heart and heroism of America's military in her excellent compilation of stories about the U.S. Army's Second Infantry Division. At a time when our country desperately needs to be reminded to stand behind the valiant individuals who put their lives on the line to protect our precious freedoms, Derksen has published the right book at the right time.

Second to None is an excellent book showcasing the integrity, the sacrifice, and the emotions of our soldiers as they served and defended the rights of the USA in the war in Korea. As one who only reads by getting 'into' the book, my heart was touched and my emotions stirred as I came to know the men who came home as survivors and those who did not. If you like/love history, if you know a soldier, if you are indifferent to our soldiers who are giving their lives for our freedom, you need to read this book.

As a daughter of a Korea veteran I have to say this book is a must for every bookshelf. Gripping stories of the men who fought for our country and our freedom. It makes you want to get on your knees and thank God for these regular men who did extrordinary things for the sake of the American people. Thank you Barbara for putting this together so beautifully.

Heroes. We hear the word every day, but the word has new meaning in Barbara Ann Derksen's book, "Second to None: Warrior Voices." We remember, along with American warriors who fought in Korea, the sacrifices of men who struggled in brutal situations...some survived; some did not. But we remember. Their stories touched me. Everyone needs to read this book about our heroes...and read about the South Korean doctor who recently treated a Korean veteran; after surgery, the doctor bowed to his patient when he learned he'd served in Korea, and said, "I thank you." You will be moved by these stories; you will learn about their sacrifices; and you, too, will be grateful.

This book, third in a set of five from Citadel Press (who are doing similar definitive collections of Robert Bloch & Theodore Sturgeon), collects all of Dick's short stories, the vast majority of them from the 50s - not coincidentally, the high-water mark of the sf pulps. All are introduced by later-era sf writers like Tom Disch, Norman Spinrad & this volume's John Brunner; unfortunately, all take pains to point out that the true value of these stories was in their raw wealth of ideas, which Dick later cannibalized and expanded upon in his novels. During his short-story tyro period, Dick wrote fast and furious (how does a story a week sound?) and the conventional wisdom states that these tales are too one-dimensional, formulaic and crudely-written to have much artistic quality on their own merits. I strongly disagree. While Dick's later novels are of course worth reading, these early stories literally SEETHE with fevered imagination: it's important to note that he does not employ recurring characters or settings here. He literally starts each story with a blank canvas, which only makes his prolific output that much more astounding. All of his obsessions and central themes are already present, but emerging as they did against the backdrop of the American 50s, the oft-noted 'flaws' in these small gems lend an eerily authentic surrealism and subversive power that his 60s and 70s work (when the world he lived in was already waist-deep in 'science fiction time', to use a Spinrad phrase) somewhat lack. Actually, Dick's COLLECTED STORIES, like much of the most resonant 50s sf, can be savored as much for their horror-story frissons, or their mythic and allegorical properties, as they can as pure speculative fiction. (And one could make the argument that such work, produced under the spectres of McCarthyism, The Bomb, flying-saucer sightings, a growing militarism and the incipient gray-flannelled paranoia festering in the newly-minted utopia of suburbia, was much more daring and revolutionary than similar Dick-inspired work published in the far-less-restrictive, anything-goes 60s). Sure, many of the characters in COLLECTED STORIES read like print versions of Kenneth Tobey and Morris Ankrum, but therein lies their power; they're true to the era in a way that 'better-written', more fully developed protagonists probably couldn't be. Anyway, to cut a long-winded sermon short, readers drawn to either sf or horror, as well as those who nominally detest both genres but do enjoy a touch of strangeness and obsessiveness in their fiction, should run out and buy SECOND VARIETY and the other four books in this series. You may be surprised to find many of these 'one-dimensional' stories, written hastily for money, clinging like burrs to your subconscious long after the work of Great Authors have slid noiselessly from memory. Mandatory reading.

In May of 1987 Underwood-Miller published a five volume set titled "The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick". The third volume of the collection was subtitled "The Father-Thing". In April of 1991 the Carroll Group republished the third volume changing the subtitle to "Second Variety". In addition to the change of title this volume now contains the story "Second Variety" which was originally in the second volume of the Underwood-Miller set. It seems clear that they made these changes in order to take advantage of the release of "Total Recall", which was around the time of the Carroll Group's re-release of the second volume of the series, and that did have the cascading effect of destroying the chronological approach that the original set of books used, but that doesn't change the fact that this is an excellent series of books and well worth owning by anyone who loves science fiction. Ultimately, this book contains the same stories as volume 3 in the original set, with the addition of "Second Variety" as the last story in the book.

There are 24 stories in this book, with a greater number of longer stories than were in the first two volumes of the series. While Dick's short stories are excellent, the novelette length gives him a bit more room to really explore some of his ideas, something which he uses to great effect in several of this book's stories. One theme which appears in several of the stories here is that of mutation. Dick clearly rejected John W. Campbell Jr.'s idea that mutations should always be viewed as good and leading humanity into the future. This idea is central to stories like "The Golden Man" , "A World of Talent", and "Psi-man Heal My Child", though that is not to say that Dick viewed mutations as bad either, simply that he used a more balanced and realistic approach to the subject.

Another theme which appears in several stories in this volume is that of humanity losing control of their technology, and we see this in such stories as "The Last of the Masters",
"To Serve the Master", and the title story "Second Variety", which was the basis for the 1996 film "Screamers". Along the same lines, we see mankind on the brink of elimination in stories like "Tony and the Beetles", and "Pay for the Printer" along with several of the stories which I had already mentioned. It is not surprising that Dick revisited many of these ideas over and over, as most authors do. Dick also had an incredible output of stories during the early fifties was incredible, with nearly all of the stories in the first three volumes were written between 1952 and 1954, so again one would expect a fair amount of repeated themes. What is surprising is that he manages to make the stories fresh by taking the reader in different directions each time.

This is a great volume in a great collection of Philip K. Dick's work. While changed slightly from the original collection, which was ranked 3rd on the Locus poll for collections in 1988, the completeness of the collection is still in tact. Outside of the stories I have already listed, there are other very good ones as well, such as "The Father-Thing", "Foster, You're Dead", and "Shell Game". The longer stories in this volume put it in front of the first two volumes in terms of the overall quality, but the whole series is certainly worthwhile.

The man is good. If you have not read any of Philip K. Dick I would highly recommend any of his books. He is by far the best Sci-Fi writer ever. Some of my favorite short stories from this book are "The Father-Thing, The Golden Man, The Hanging Stranger." Heck, they are all good. They remind me more of episodes of "The Twilight Zone" then just Sci-Fi.

Although not on quite the same level of Volumes One and Two in this five book set of all of Philip K. Dick's short fiction, Second Variety and Other Classic Stories is a worthwhile read for any PKD fan.

Dick cranked out stories very quickly in his early years, and some of these tales do have a certain sense of being rushed, but others, including the title story are nothing short of brilliant. As usual, Dick focuses on dystopic futures that are politically and/or environmentally ravaged; usually these stories have a level of humor too, but others in this collection are more purely downbeat.

While some stories are just okay, I particularly enjoyed "The Golden Man," "Second Variety" and "Foster, You're Dead." There are some other great ones, too. I would recommend this to any science fiction fan who wants to read some truly original fiction; this is another good collection of Dick's short stories.

There would be little point in giving a synopsis of each of the 24 stories in this book. That would give a false sense of repetition since many feature images of ash and overturned bathtubs -- the aftermath of nuclear war -- or struggles between mutants and normal humans, each fearing their extinction. But they don't seem any more repetitious than a skilled musician working variations on a theme for that is what many are. These stories, written in 1953 and 1954 -- with one exception, are arranged chronologically, so the student of Dick can see him play with an idea for two or three stories in a row.

Along the way we get the humor, intricate plotting, and sudden reversals in our moral sympathies characteristic of Dick. And there are the machines that so often are a force of death in Dick though they behave more and more like life. Such is the case with the title story, one of Dick's most paranoid and basis for the movie _Screamers_. When sophisticated weapons take on human guise and began to stalk man, what Dick calls his grand theme, knowing who is human and who only pretends to be, is starkly exhibited.

Other famous stories are "The Golden Man" with its purging of mutants before they infect the human gene pool, "The Father-Thing" which is what a boy realizes has replaced his real father, and "Sales Pitch", a story which anticipates, with its all purpose android advertising its virtues through rather thuggish means, the work of Ron Goulart.

There are some memorable stories not so well known. "Foster, You're Dead" was originally conceived as a protest against a remark by President Eisenhower that citizens should be responsible for their own bomb shelters. Its young hero lives terrified in a world where making knives from scratch and digging underground shelters are parts of the school curriculum and each new year brings the newest model of bomb shelter, terrified because his father can't afford to buy one for the family. "War Veteran" reads like a futuristic _Mission Impossible_ episode. The spirit of Charles Fort may be at work in "Null-O", a satire on the absurd philosophy that no distinctions between things are valid, a philosophy practiced by "perfect paranoids". (Fort may have inspired the weakest and first story in the collection, "Fair Game", with its van Vogtian plotting giving way at the end to a silly twist.)

Dick fans will see "Shell Game", with its colony of paranoids, as sort of a test run for Dick's _Clans of the Alphane Moon_, and the time jumping child of "A World of Talent" is reminiscent of Manfred Steiner in Dick's _Martian Time-Slip_. This collection also features one of Dick's occasional fantasies, "Upon the Dull Earth".

Any admirer of Dick will want to read this collection, and those needing an introduction to his work will find no bad stories in this exhibit of 14 months in Dick's career.

This woman is AMAZING! Not your run-of-the-mill housewife fantasy type... The only thing hotter would be if she was reading to me in bed. A work of truthful art.

i dont usually buy erotica, but a friend got me this for my birthday, and i've been converted! reading these stories is fun enough that you want to share them with your friends but racy enough that you'll want to keep your own fantasies private! buy them now!

these stories are hot*hot*hot. i cant decide if it's more fun to read them to someone else or to read them alone...

I'm glad I bought this book. I think this the best erotic book I've read so far and what a shame I've only just begun. The stories are wonderful, well written and very descriptive as they should be to help coax your imagination along the way. Even while coaxing and playing with my imagination, the book creates a definite hum, a spine tingling thrill within my body. It's worth whatever you pay for it. I suggest you purchase it now and share it with someone you love, want and need.

I am thoroughly loving these short stories, as is my beau! Great outloud reading. My favorite is "At Work". The author has a savvy bent on both the male and female point of view on sex and what turns us on. This is my first official introduction to erotica literature and I'm hooked. Looking forward to reading the next book from Dahlia Schweiter.

I purchased this for my grandaughter for her birthday, and since she is really into Tolkein, I'm very pleased with the purchase, tho I have not opened the package, and will just send it on to her. Service was good.

`The Shaping of Middle-Earth' is the fourth volume of Christopher Tolkien's exegesis of his father, J.R.R. Tolkien's unpublished writings which were done before, during, and after the writing of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings'. It is important to realize that beginning with Volume III, `The Lays of Beleriand', these volumes are prepared according to the date on which the elder Tolkien wrote the documents. That this `real world' chronology is roughly parallel to the great ages of middle earth is simply a happy coincidence.

One little niggle I have about the emphasis of `Middle Earth' in the title of both this volume and the series as a whole is that the land, middle earth, is just one part of the whole world in which this mythology is played out. It is basically a great continent, roughly similar to Eurasia in size, surrounded by a single great ocean which is, in turn, bounded by the undying lands. This fact is eminantly clear in the crude maps by Tolkien senior presented in this volume.

What is also eminantly clear in most of these fragments is the great difference in both geography and physics between our world and the world in which middle earth is embedded. There is no sun and no stars, until the stars are created by some of the `gods', the Valar, who are in turn created by `the one', Iluvatar.

The fragments in this volume are mostly early versions of the mythology which was to become the postumously published `The Silmarillion'. As such, it deals with my very favorite character outside of `The Lord of the Rings', the elven lord Feanor who, in a rough parallel to both Adam and Prometheus, disobeys the Valar based on the promptings of the ultimate bad guy in these stories, Morgoth.

Even if one buys the unique physics, cosmology, and pantheon of gods and demigods, the hardest part of this and similar writings is how to deal with Tolkien's handling of evil. How, one wonders, are eight `good' Valar duped by the ninth evil one, who is left to subvert the Valar's most favored creations, the elves, and create all sorts of mayhem in Middle Earth. Even if one introduces the arguments about `free will', one wonders how, if you posit a very real supreme being, Iluvatar (Eru), plus eight comparably powerful beings, such beings would let Morgoth get away with being the cause of all this suffering.

On a ligher note, I find this book an amazing source of poetic inspiration, even more poetic, sometimes than the overtly poetic `The Lays of Beleriand'. There are phrases and paragraphs here and there which sound like they are straight out of a song by Donoven Leitch or The Incredible String Band.

Like almost all the twelve volumes in this series, this is much more a study of fragments than a complete work. Many of the fragments rework the same material, so you find yourself reading the same story over again, in slightly different words. And yet, the power of the created world holds up through the scholarly framework. As with other volumes, there is an excellent index of names at the end of the book and the aforementioned maps are invaluable in understanding the very odd geography of this invented world.

. . . continues in this, the fourth volume of "The History of Middle-Earth" series.

Christopher Tolkien, in his 12-volume "History of Middle-Earth" series presents the notes, stories, fragments, and legends of what was to eventually become "The Silmarillion" in two stages. This book is the final stage of what scholars would consider "The Early Silmarillion"; continuing on the work presented in the two volumes of "The Book of Lost Tales".

If the Tolkien fan is interested in seeing how the mind of the Master developed and progressed his stories, this volume is absolutely indispensable. It is especially interesting to compare "The Shaping of Middle-Earth" with "Morgoth's Ring" and the other volumes of what Christopher calls "The Later Silmarillion".

Once again, thanks is due to Christopher for his labor of love so that we can delve more deeply into Middle-Earth.

I feel like giving this a four for the maps and explaining of the shaping of the earth. I guess I didn't really care much about that cause I liked the evolution of the characters a lot more, but did always like to look at the maps just too get a quick visual to help picture the world that I love. The reason I did give it five stars is because I know most people like this aspect of the whole history, and you will get PLENTY OF INFO on how this world was created.

Now the part that I really liked was all of the globe type drawings, and even more I liked all of the early compressed writings in this. It's kind of funny to watch the evolution of these writings because tolkien would always start out very compessed, then when he rewrote it, it ALWAYS became longer. Then if he did manage to compress it, he would always add something new to the story, or make the tale go from stationery to grim. Then when he tried to add his new idea in like his third rewriting, it never got compressed. So what this means is that he could never completely finish these writings, but on the posotive side we could have anywhere from 3-8 versions of a single writing.

Once again, thank you christopher tolkien for taking the time to publish all of your father's writings, and equal thanks for taking the time to explain these and leave notes.

The Shaping of Middle-Earth concentrates some part of it to actually physically describing the layout of Arda (the World) with some interesting maps drawn by Tolkien in the middle of the book. The book also includes information behind the fall of Morgoth at the end of the First Age.