Short Stories Books

Narayan of Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE ARMS OF GOD as a sublimely beautiful & sedately stunning read about the quality of motherhood.

When Alice, abandoned as a child & now raising her own daughter, is confronted by the mother who left her, her life changes forever.

THE ARMS OF GOD is a lovely, deep look into the spirit of family values & motherhood. Any woman reading this book will empathize, & even men might too!

and a wonderful story as well. When Alice excavates the remainders of her dead mother's belongings, she discovers why she was abandoned at 4 years old and the terrible life her mother tried to leave behind. The writing is beautiful, the word choices are fantastic and the prose is artful and so full that you actually miss the characters after you read the final page. A must read!

I agree that this is by far Lynne Hinton's best novel to date. It is beautiful and inspiring. The writing is nothing less than art leaping from the pages. Long after the last page has been read, the characters will stay with you. I'd love to read a follow-up to this book!

This is my favorite of all of Ms. Hinton's novels, and I've loved them all. In this story, which repeats some of the themes her other novels addressed (the importance of friendship, the mother-daughter relationship, the ongoing struggles of racism), the emotional depth keeps the reader engrossed to the very end. While it is a very sad story, in the end the novel satisfies our need for redemption and reconciliation. I read this more than a week ago and can't stop thinking about it.

Lynne Hinton feeds my soul!

This IS Lynne Hinton's best novel yet. It almost doesn't read like she wrote it only because it is so different than her other books. THE ARMS OF GOD is a lookback into time and threads the mother-daughter relationship into the present. The characters were heartfelt ~ it was a story most touching.

If you've ever fantasized about murdering one (or all) of your ex-girlfriends or boyfriends, you'll enjoy this book. Reminded me of Ellis's "American Psycho" - sick, morbid, funny, an easy read. Like Grenert's previous book, Existential Exodus, I think this would make a great movie (definitely an "indie"!!) Recommended for the NON faint of heart.

ASHES OF X-GIRLFRIENDS AND OTHER STORIES is a black comedy about an unusual love affair. Despite some shocking scenes of violence, I really came to care about the two protagonists. The other short stories in this book are "spot-on" depictions of the gritty side of city life. And the author has a unique style which made me laugh, cry and shudder all at the same time.

ASHES OF X-GIRLFRIENDS AND OTHER STORIES is a modern revenge story and a black comedy. A young newlywed couple erases their past to start a new life with a clean slate. On their wedding night, the bride imposes one condition on the groom before she will consummate the marriage. Out of total devotion to his wife, he agrees.

Other stories depict slices of New York City life in all its complexity and grittiness. They expose the paranoia and underlying malaise of city life often in a humorous light. Some are twists on urban legends which will have you smacking your forehead at the surprise endings. You'll find it difficult to stop turning the pages...

I've never read anything like it. "Ashes" is viscerally raw, course and shocking, yet funny. The other stories in the volume create a mosaic of New York that I haven't always been tuned in to, but I certainly am now.

Ashes of X-Girlfriends begins innocently enough: a young couple in love planning a future. But what follows this brief introduction pulls the reader into a vortex of surprising, unsettling and often disturbingly funny scenarios. Have you ever thought about how far you'd go for a spouse? Not far enough according to Grenert's characters. Set amidst gritty Lower East Side sidewalks, scorching sun over the Central Park and other familiar American landscape, Grenert lets us peek into a relationship of two lovers who would sacrifice anything (or anyone) for each other. A fantastic read that will surely make you blush.

As a regular reader of speculative fiction, particularly of the progressive and surreal variety, somehow I have remained ignorant of Gregory Frost's unique work. Well, better late than never. Frost examines the dark side of the human condition with a sly surrealism that is so subtle that it becomes creepy and disarming. Even in his occasional comedy tales - like this volume's sly opener "The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray." This collection is a multi-genre powerhouse of Frost's best work, but keep in mind that genre exercises such as supernatural creatures, science fiction gadgets, and fantasy settings are just window dressing for Frost's main phenomena of interest. Great examples are "A Day in the Life of Justin Argento Morrel" in a which a stereotypical sci-fi spaceship is the setting for an incisive tale of madness and betrayal, "Collecting Dust" which looks at the disintegration of the American family via a family that is literally disintegrating, and "The Bus" which uses a rather cheeky evil vehicle to examine how society feeds off the unfortunate. Frost also deserves props for his unique takes on historical fiction, like "In the Sunken Museum" in which Edgar Allan Poe is driven to real madness in a museum based on own his tales of madness, and "From Hell Again" which is an offbeat look at the old mystery of Jack the Ripper. And finally, the apotheosis of Frost's mastery is the stupendous "Madonna of the Maquiladora" - a devastating critique of human suffering and exploitation - which combines science fiction, religion, and social commentary more effectively than any short story I've ever seen. [~doomsdayer520~]

Gregory Frost's riveting collection of short stories, Attack of the Jazz Giants, is one of those books that makes you feel like your're sneaking around in the shadowy little rooms inside the haunted house of his brain. Stories rage from darkly funny to darkly jolting, and along the way you get to wander down some extremely strange side-corridors (such as in the title story) and you wind up in wildly unexpected places.

It's the kind of book where you do one story at a time, rather than gallop cover to cover, because you want to chew the bark off these tales to get to the real heart of each one. They stay with you, and they work on you.

Frost is a great novelist, but he's a master of the short story.

Okay, I'm biased -- I've met him, and he's intelligent, funny, and socially engaged. This collection of stories has something for everyone: SF, fantasy, horror, comedy, and every possible combination of those elements. His wide range might not satisfy someone who wants a collection of stories restricted to only one universe, whether
Tolkein's or Frank Herbert's, but it insure that there's something for everyone, written in uniformly high quality. I'm going to read anything else he publishes.

Each of Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree, International Horror Guild, and World Fantasy Award finalist Gregory Frost's outstanding tales of fantasy is enhanced by the illustrations of Jason Van Hollander in Attack Of The Jazz Giants And Other Stories, a compendium of imaginative and entertaining short stories. Readers are treated to stories of an apocalyptic being that hides in a Ukrainian village; a horror that dwells in Jack the Ripper's pocket watch; a crossroads in which the Castle of Otranto connects with the Depression Era South, and more. Featuring a foreword by bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler and an afterword to each individual tale by award-winning author John Kessel, Attack Of The Jazz Giants And Other Stories is a dazzling compilation that takes the reader on a dizzying journey through fractured time and space.

There's never a dull moment in Attack of the Jazz Giants. No weak entries, no experimental drivel, nothing derivative, just good stories from start to finish.

The collection begins well with "The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray," the humorous story of a glutton who passes on the cost of sins to his dates, moves on to biting social satire and commentary with "The Madonna of the Maquiladora", "Collecting Dust" and "The Bus", segues into science fiction with "A Day in the Life of Justin Argento Morrel" and "Divertimento" before moving back into (admittedly black) humor in the title story "Attack of the Jazz Giants" at its midpoint.

The second half begins with three dark tales ("Some Things are Better Left", "Lizaveta", "In the Sunken Museum"), veers towards sarcasm on its way to slapstick comedy (the darkly funny "Touring Jesusworld" followed by the Hope-Crosby homage "The Road to Recovery"), briefly dips its toes into the murky waters of the Thames (with a Jack the Ripper story called "From Hell Again"), and ends with a fable ("How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes"). Throughout, Frost shows a mastery of the short form that other writers can only envy and readers can't help but enjoy.

Reviewing the story information at the very beginning of this volume is instructive, if only because it demonstrates to those sampling his short work for the first time that Gregory Frost has been quietly penning funny, tragic, thoughtful, and vividly imagined short stories and novellas for a quarter of a century. Further research indicates that he's written several novels and some three-dozen short stories during that period. Noting that there are only fourteen examples of his work contained in Attack, you're left wanting more.

Looking at that information also proves that the decision an editor or author makes regarding story arrangement is crucial. For instance, it would have been easy to merely present the stories in chronological order. Doing it that way would have been interesting if only to chart Frost's development as a writer. The collection, however, seems purposely designed to let you laugh a bit before making you think or giving you a chill; that decision proved very wise, as it adds to the reader's overall enjoyment of these stories, proving that, at least in this case, the whole can be more than just the mere sum of its parts. Enhance the stories with wonderful cover and interior art by the talented Jason Van Hollander, and you get a package which is sure to garner some well-deserved attention from the fantasy, science fiction, and horror communities.

In his debut collection of short stories, "Banjo Grease," Dennis Must chronicles the daily grind, the familial relationships, and the dysfunction of life in a small blue-collar town. His characters are uneducated and often crass, his narrators are refreshingly straightfoward and honest, and the whole bunch of them are often humorous in a down-home sort of way. You just can't help but like them - most of them anyway.

The collection is loosely held together by the character of Westley Daugherty, a young man growing up in the town of Hebron, Pennsylvania, whose voice becomes the reader's comfort zone as we meet him again and again throughout the book. We follow him through ten of the sixteen stories, as he chronicles the experiences of his life, always focusing on various members of his family. Must's greatest strength lies in his talent for description and he uses it to define his characters and their surroundings in a way that gives us the truth of their lives before they utter a single word. In the title story, "Banjo Grease", young Westley tells us about his Aunt Min:

"Like the lid of a can, the trailer door slowly opened. A sweet and stale odor rose out of its aperture. Min suddenly appeared, her henna shoe-polished hair curled in scraps of toilet paper with metal rollers the size of silverdollar wrappers. Her rouged cheeks, splotched and smeared, sinking in towards her mouth - upper and lower dentures back in a jar at bedside, soaking."

With his sensitivity to detail, an inherent understanding of his characters, and a conversational style that is infused with the basic motions of every day existence, Must makes us intimate with this working-class society which he obviously has a great affection for. Here, we are introduced to Buddy Hart and his Uncle in "Say Hello to Stanley," arguably the best short story in the collection:

"Buddy Hart hauled the Hammond B-3 in a two-wheel trailer hitched to his father's Willys sedan. The family thought Uncle Stanley's talent as a barrel-house pianist had by some mysterious route passed down to Bud. And the miracle became even more fortuitous when Stanley lost two of his fingers in the cutting mill along with his gig."

Most of the stories are not feel-good pieces. These folks live difficult, confused lives. There are dreams unfulfilled, marriages in trouble, death to deal with, family members to be ashamed of. It's the stuff that life is made of, and yet, Must's characters are as unique as they are universal. That's part of what makes them so successful.

"Banjo Grease" is a hearty and satisfying glimpse into the heart of americana. Individually, these short stories are good; as a collection, they emerge as a fine artistic achievement.

From the opening line of the first story, "Escape," to the closing of "Oh Josephine," Dennis Must links together stories of the ordinary and not so ordinary among us, and does so in a manner that not only engages the reader, but creates a camaraderie between his delightfully eccentric characters and his audience.

This line, from "The Scar," was worth the entire book: "But this massive sliding soul was a sweetness at the edge of sour." A very satisfying line that, among countless others.

Along the journey, Must makes us laugh, empathize, gape in comic horror, and most important, keep reading.

Dennis Must displays an amazing richness of image of the poor and working class. He creates stories that embrace you and take you, altogether, to another time and place. He breathes unpredictable life into his characters and brilliantly constructs their rural roots. Through the sadness and irony there is poignancy. There we find humanity.

From the opening line of the first story, "Escape," to the closing of "Oh Josephine," Dennis Must links together stories of the ordinary and not so ordinary among us, and does so in a manner that not only engages the reader, but creates a camaraderie between his delightfully eccentric characters and his audience.

This line, from "The Scar," was worth the entire book: "But this massive sliding soul was a sweetness at the edge of sour." A very satisfying line that, among countless others.

Along the journey, Must makes us laugh, empathize, gape in comic horror, and most important, keep reading.

The characters in Dennis Must's delicious new collection of short stories are so realistic and eerily familiar that they seem to leap from the book and sit down next to the reader. Must has captured the essence of a strata of humanity who are almost perfect in their imperfections. These are fully three dimensional people who one hopes to meet again. How wonderful that we have this writer among us. I look forward eagerly to future work by Must.

I stumbled on The Banquet Bug by Geling Yan in my "local independent book store." I just spent two weeks in Hong Kong and two days in Macau, so I am fascinated with anything Chinese right now. I want to better understand this vast culture and how it currently manifests.

I just finished reading the book and I am stung by the hugeness of what Geling Yan reports, of the layers and complexity she exposes, in a book presented as a "comedy" and "entertaining." This book is a brutal commentary on life not only in China but in the United States. What is presented here could be written anywhere that the disparity between rich and poor continues to stretch, anywhere where the politicians and builders are corrupt, anywhere where some people have to sell their own blood to live.

This book ends with strong, gentle acclaim for Motherhood, for Little Plum, in her outspoken wisdom, nonjudgment, and innocence. The last word, "Good" is a knife to the soul. Has he compromised his principles, or does he continue to know that what matters can never be bartered, purchased, or sold?

"The Banquet Bug" by Geling Yan centered around Dan Dong, who was laid off as a factory worker and who accidentally stumbled a lucractive part-time job, as a "banquet bug." Dan was mistaken as a journalist at a conference and he was treated to a banquet and it was the best meal he had eaten. On top of that, at the end of the conference, he along with other journalists were given some money which were "a little something for their trouble." He printed fake business cards and thus, began his journey as a professional banquet bug. Soon, he discovered the world of journalism, corruption, and basically deception. His fake job as a journalist became "real" when he was commissioned by the unfortunate, such as peasants, massage girls, and laborers to expose injustice.

This was a interesting satirical novel. Even though the premise of the novel seemed to center on Dan's job as a banquet bug, but it was actually just a stage for the author to write about more serious issues, such as corruption and poverty. The characters in the novel were memorable; such as Dan's fellow assertive journalist, Happy and his quiet but fiery wife, Little Plum. This was somewhat different from the typical Chinese novels that I have read in the past. Highly recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed Banquet Bug. In this novel, we meet Dan Dong, a laid-off factory worker who is mistakenly ushered in to the world of corrupt journalism, decadent foods, and "money for your troubles". Highly observant of protocol and customs, Dan becomes adept at passing. Dan gradually begins to transform into that which he was pretending to be.

Geiling Yan has given us a treat. All of the characters are vividly created - from Dan's wife Little Plum, to the assertive journalist Happy, and the great artist Ocean Chen. Moreover, the descriptions of the food and locations are wonderful. The novel raises many questions - about identity, oppression, happiness, and authenticity - without sacrificing an enjoyable story. I highly recommend this book and look forward to more from Geiling Yan.

Russians have long been notorious for their satirical view of life under the Communist Party government and their willingness to invent jokes about it. For example: "After waiting five hours in line to buy meat, in the dead of winter, Igor begins to snap. He starts jumping up and down, yelling, "I can't stand it anymore! This developed socialism sucks! The system is totally corrupt!" After a couple of minutes, a grim-looking type in a black trenchcoat approaches Igor, shakes his head slowly, points his finger to Igor's temple mimicking a pistol, then walks off without saying a word. Igor comes home especially dejected. His wife asks, "What's the matter? Are they out of meat again?" "Worse," Igor says. "They're out of ammo."

The Chinese are not as well known for cynically humorous self-criticism, but Yan Geling's THE BANQUET BUG adds admirably to an emergent wave of such books from Ma Jian (THE NOODLE MAKER), Ha Jin (THE CRAZED, WAITING), Dai Sijie (MR. MUO'S TRAVELING COUCH), and Annie Wong (THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF DESIRE). Ms. Yan tells the story of Dan Dong, an emigrant from rural China into Beijing, where he has become a married but unemployed factory worker. Dan and his wife, Little Plum, live in an unused part of the factory, subsisting on canned goods that have passed their expiration date, electricity tapped from the nearly defunct factory, and industrial waste water of indeterminate but suspect quality. One day, Dan inadvertently gets invited to a media event that includes a sumptuous banquet of exotic dishes along with an envelope containing "money for your troubles," the Chinese way of buying good press coverage. Thus begins Dan's new career as a "banquet bug," a person who falsely represents himself as a journalist in order to enjoy the banquets and receive the money for his troubles.

The bulk of Ms. Yan's novel follows Dan's misadventures as he gradually evolves into a poor man's journalist, inadequately educated for the role but instinctively honest in his desire to report truth and express outrage at corruption and injustice. No matter what Dan does or how uninformed he is, he miraculously manages to make the right decisions and say the right things, each time gaining more credibility and greater access to important people; in this, his character is reminiscent of Kosinski's Chauncey Gardiner in BEING THERE. Along the way, Dan Dong meets the renowned artist and fellow landsman Ocean Chen, the ruthlessly ambitious reporter Happy Gao, a foot massaging prostitute named Old Ten, and a small collection of oppressed individuals and rapacious businessmen who each want Dan to write news stories that will help them. Even as Dan practices his own form of banquet crashing deceit, he sees that those he meets simply want to use him for their own ends. In Ms. Yan's China, nearly everyone is both a user and a prostitute, living without principles and selling themselves for whatever gain it affords them. Truth is utterly relative, a product of each individual's particular motivations and objectives, further perverted by State censorship and editors' fears of government sanction.

As Dan becomes increasingly worldly from his journalistic experiences, his moral decline is contrasted with that of his oddly childlike wife, Little Plum. Throughout the book, Little Plum offers an almost saintly presence - uneducated, unassuming, undemanding, forbearing, and unwaveringly persevering. When confronted, she demonstrates flashes of anger and instinctive peasant savvy, but otherwise, she seems so devoid of affect and oblivious to her husband's unfaithfulness as to be almost robotic. In the end, however, it is Little Plum to whom Dan Dong will ultimately return after his two years' exposure to the workings of modern Chinese society - the unjust factory manager who has just upgraded to a Lexus even as he claims he is unable to pay his workers, the sleazy property developer Mr. Wu, the suffering peasants looking for justice in the capital city, even the self-serving guards at a car dealership who threaten to rape Little Plum.

Yan Geling's story is filled with trenchant observations about modern Chinese life, presented in a low key, satirical voice. Whether she is riffing on China's penchant for abstruse statistics and its materialistic perceptions about art (Happy Gao chooses as a gift from Ocean Chen one of his largest paintings based on her computations of the market value per square inch of the master's work), spoofing a saleslady's real estate pitch for an as yet unbuilt complex ("She is like an instructor of Marxism, teaching beautiful ideas of communism, helping you see things far beyond the way they appear now, so you can enjoy them in advance while they are still beautiful ideas."), or simply remarking the moral emptiness of modern Chinese life (Just tell him there's no right or wrong in China; it all depends on who you know."), Ms. Yan is an entertaining and spot-on observer. She wraps her commentary in a creative and engaging story line filled with memorable characters. The end result is a delightful read as well as education in the manners and mores of the "new China" - I heartily recommend THE BANQUET BUG to those interested in China and anyone who enjoys a well-told tale from a different culture. I recommend as well Ms. Yan's earlier novel, THE LOST DAUGHTER OF HAPPINESS, a stunning book that made me an instant fan.

Dan Dong was laid off by the cannery where he worked, so he and his wife Little Plum are forced to live on only noodles and out of date canned sardines. It's not the best fare in China, but it's better than the tree barky gruel with roasted grasshoppers they'd lived on in the past. Still, it's pretty awful, so when Dan is mistaken for a reporter while he's at a posh Bejing hotel looking for a job and is ushered into a press banquet, he goes with the flow and enjoys a fancy meal.

He quickly learns that with a business card saying he is a reporter, he can crash any number of press banquets, and there are a lot of those, banquets supporting causes and products and the press not only gets to eat haute cuisine for free, but they get paid (a small bribe actually) to write favorable stories. Dan goes on an internet site and gets himself a business card and thus he becomes a banquet bug, someone who pretends to be a reporter for the free meals and the cash.

However, much to Dan's chagrin, this banquet bug business isn't exactly on the up and up and the government has spies posing as, well as banquet bugs, trying to root out the phonies. Also, Dan would like his wife Little Plum to sample some of these very high class meals, and that could lead to his downfall. Plus, he begins to grow a conscious. He starts writing, but alas it's not the kind of stories the press wants.

Dan's deception is going to lead him on a roller coaster ride of corruption, greed, great food, an affair with a reporter and will even get him arrested, but through it all Dan's inner goodness shines through. He is a great character in a great book. It's been a couple years since I read THE LOST DAUGHTERS OF HAPPINESS which I adored and I liked BANQUET BUG even better. Perhaps, because BANQUET was written in English, so there wasn't a translator between me and the author, although Cathy Silbers translation of HAPPINESS flows very well. Actually these are both five star books, just wonderful, both of them.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

My daughter loved this book. Not only does she love cats, but she loved the stories as well. A very good book!

Huckle Cat tries hard, but he makes a lot of mistakes. When his mother asks him to help with the chores he washes the dishes with too much soap and the dust really flies in his room when he dusts. Mom Cat gives him a list, which includes; butter, cream, apples, potatoes and oranges and sends Huckle to the store to do the shopping. However, Huckle forgets the list, but not worry, he has a good memory. So he picks up peanut butter instead of butter, ice cream instead of cream, apple pie instead of apples, potato chips instead of potatos and orange soda instead of oranges. Oh well, he kind of remembered didn't he? When he got home the cat family had a very interesting dinner and Mom Cat tells him that he made the best mistakes ever!

My son Devon really loves this story. Of course I've been making up words for the last year or so, but now that he's approaching three and knows all his letters and that letters form words, he is getting a new appreciation for this book. I am too.

This is a book for beginning readers. The words are simple, grammar too. Huckle's story is sure to keep your toddler interested, so much better than the "See Spot Run" kind of early readers. If you want your child reading before Kindergarten, and I do, then this book and books like it are very good additions to your toddlers reading arsenal.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

When I was a little guy, I loved books by Richard Scarry! Now as a daddy, I'm overjoyed that my little girl, Riley, gets into this book that she got by Scarry.

Welcome to Busytown! This book consists of 3 stories that basically have 1 thing in common. They have Huckle Cat, and they all had Lowly Worm as the main attraction in each story. Huckle and Lowly are best buds!

The first story, "The Best Mistake Ever" is simply about how Huckle Cat is sent to the grocery store. There's just one small problem: Huckle forgets the shopping list that Mother Cat wrote out. But Lowly Worm comes to the rescue!! Or does he? While Huckle thinks that his mother wants cream, Lowly's pretty certain that it's ice cream. And when the question of apples comes up, Lowly thinks that apple pie is just what Mother Cat ordered. Will Mother Cat be pleased?

Story #2 is "A Visit to Mr. Fixit". Huckle Cat gets his mother a cuckoo-cuckoo clock for Mother's Day. But with Lowly Worm riding on the back, he takes a corner too fast and crashes into Postman Pig, and breaks the clock. After being ordered to fix the bell on his bicycle by Officer Murphy, he makes a trip to Mr. Fixit to fix both the bell, and a broken cuckoo-cuckoo clock. What will Mr. Fixit do with the broken pieces?

Then finally you have "Best Friends" on Huckle Cat's birthday. But for some reason in school, Lowly Worm is hanging around the other kids, but not Huckle. This is quite unusual, but Huckle gets the surprise of his life!

And this is something great for your kids! Richard Scarry is always fun, and it's never a mistake to go with his books. Kids and Richard Scarry go hand in hand!

Huckle Cat tries hard, but he makes a lot of mistakes. When his mother asks him to help with the chores he washes the dishes with too much soap and the dust really flies in his room when he dusts. Mom Cat gives him a list, which includes; butter, cream, apples, potatoes and oranges and sends Huckle to the store to do the shopping. However, Huckle forgets the list, but not worry, he has a good memory. So he picks up peanut butter instead of butter, ice cream instead of cream, apple pie instead of apples, potato chips instead of potatos and orange soda instead of oranges. Oh well, he kind of remembered didn't he? When he got home the cat family had a very interesting dinner and Mom Cat tells him that he made the best mistakes ever!

My son Devon really loves this story. Of course I've been making up words for the last year or so, but now that he's approaching three and knows all his letters and that letters form words, he is getting a new appreciation for this book. I am too.

This is a book for beginning readers. The words are simple, grammar too. Huckle's story is sure to keep your toddler interested, so much better than the "See Spot Run" kind of early readers. If you want your child reading before Kindergarten, and I do, then this book and books like it are very good additions to your toddlers reading arsenal.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

Our nearly three-year old daughter simply loves this book. She first got Richard Scarry's "Biggest Word Book Ever" (which I ABSOLUTELY recommend!), and therefore already knew the characters. She cracks up at the clumsy Mr. Frumble, who is always having accidents, and she is attracted to the kindness and friendship between Lowly Worm and Huckle Cat. She recognizes emotions and personality traits in this book...Mommy Cat is angry, Huckle Cat is sad, poor Mr. Frumble is "accident prone". These emotions are displayed in an age appropriate way. This book is a compilation of 3 short stories, and is one of the first "big girl" books she consistently wants to read, morning and night. Definitely the best few bucks I ever spent!

This book "Proves that good things come in small packages." This book has "emotion and the unexpected turns will put tears in your eyes". Buy it today!

A Better Place Literary Fiction/Short Stories written by K.J. Stevens These thoughtfully written and arranged stories have a tough, no non-sense feel to them. At the same time they present beautifully sad revelations that are easy to identify with. The stories carry the reader up then bring the reader down with care and intelligence rarely found in young writers (at 29 Stevens is younger than most of his contemporaries). A good, solid read.

KJ Stevens very ambititious work, loved the spirited characters, and how all the stories are brought together. This book stays with you long after you turn the final page.

K.J. Stevens sets himself apart from other modern day writers with this collection of short stories that shows the deeper meaning of the little things in life. His superb prose and intense descriptions puts you in the life of his characters and reminds you that being alive is a wonderful thing. With this kind of brilliant storytelling capability, we are sure to see more of K.J. Stevens in the future.

Written in simple, evocative prose, I was reminded of my youth growing up in Vermont. Steven's examines, love, family, and life in his collection of short stories. Perhaps the worst part of living, is knowing you cannot retrace the past. Once a moment passes, it is gone - whether good or bad, that moment will never occur again. Steven's looks beyond the sophisticated life dwellers with a telling eye of detail, and captures those moments in time that should be appreciated. Unlike David Sedaris, who likes to laugh at life, this author embraces life and spiritiality. A must read for those of us wandering through life worshiping the wrong things.

Brilliant.Takes the reader to another place of wonder. Too bad the publisher went out of business.

These stories are so different. The author succeeds at making the reader believe entire imaginary worlds. A very interesting, different, read.

Jim Krusoe sits on the weathered edge of reality to describe the view from both sides beautifully. His writing is sharp, original and entertaining. He captured a jaded reader's belief in the surreal tales layed out here, and left me wanting more. Fantastic.

This is a strange, rich, memorable book; by the end of it I had that feeling of being moved to another place, and wanted to reread to understand more. It is full of texture, layers, ideas; anyone who likes unconventional fiction should check it out. Jim Krusoe guides his stories with a masterful hand.

Jim Krusoe's Blood Lake and Other Stories is the wittiest collection of tales I've ever read, and more. For on top of and above the wit is a style and voice, and occasional whopping metaphor, that make for dizzying satire. Krusoe's fictional worlds compare to those of Kafka, Donald Barthelme, and Raymond Roussel, his reviewers observe. Some of his characters resemble the posturing, fraudulent whackos found in Woody Allen. Then there's the morphine addict pharmacist who buys at zoo auction a female gorilla that becomes his lover; and the unlucky night nurse who confesses, "I like hospitals and I like the sick, and of all the times that I can be with them, my favorite is the night shift, those hours from eleven to seven, when everyone's asleep." "Another Life" is a story whose narrator, an elderly bear, resides at the National Institute of animal Narrative, where he was "... trained by well-meaning scientists to operate a typewriter." In these tales there is thundering satire that smacks of the saturation bombing carried out over 200 years ago by Swift, yet has been terribly silent since. Simultaneously erudite, sobering, and farcical, Blood Lake and Other Stories will make you laugh, cringe, and cry, as Krusoe the writer does so many things so maddenlingy well.

There is something about the prose of Tanith Lee. You are swept into what ever world she feels like showing you. THe narrators and/or central characters seem alive. So much so, you can feel there is something they are keeping back, some vital clue, some revelation of soul. It's nearly palatable.
She sets depth of place, there is a real sense of being there. I felt like I was in Florence, in the midst of some twisted Carnivall. Or maybe in the mirror of one of the great European Palaces, seeing it from inside the flame of a candle.
The stories warrant being read several times, to absorb the majesty.

Much better than the first book, this one is coherent and riveting. Told out of sequence, yet in perfect logical order, this is the tale of a family haunted by a tragic demonic curse. There are enough shivers and surprises to satisfy even a long time fantasy/horror fan.

Tanith Lee has found a theme in the twisting of sex and horror, so the book not for the innocent or prudish, but there's less emphasis on shock value than the previous book in the series (The Book of the Damned). What is emphasized is good storytelling - few can touch her when she's at her best.

Moving back and forth in time and yet appearing timeless, this chapter in the world of Paradys has Jewish exorcism, sex-incarnate beasts, Romans and doomed lovers. Every element is precise and every part connects to the other parts with a beautiful serendipity.

If you noticed that the other reviews of this book are brimming with fantastic prose and wonderous metaphors, it is because the fairy-tale inspired style of Tanith Lee inspires her readers to greater heights of passion than other novelists.

I also like the fact that the Jewish scholar saves the day. Why should the priests have all the fun in exorcisms? Jewish mysticism is much more fun than Catholic mysticism any day.

The story begins with Raolin Darksbane. He is staying in a haunted house, and he meets the ghost and learns her story and then becomes infected himself with the curse. The story then follows the exploits of a jewish exorcist and goes back to Roman Paradys where the curse begins. The story goes forward and then it goes back. I liked the story of the "doomed" Heloise and her strange destiny, intricately linked with the story of cupid and Physche and what happens if you look closer at things that you are not supposed to look at. I also liked the story of the roman soldier, his dilemma between looking life and destroying the curse once and for all. Great descriptions, you could almost hear the trumpets at the roman fort as the Roman soldier stayed up and awake to await the beast. The ending seemed rushed to me, the exorcism seemed like the easy way out and the spirituality of it left me tired and lost. But a good story.

Raoulin, a young student in 18-century Paradys, the Paris of an alterate world full of complex and twilight mystery, has a flexible mind. When he discovers that his lodgings are haunted by a beautiful, green-eyed woman claiming the name of a girl ten years dead, he is hardly surprised. The surprise comes later, when a tryst with green-eyed Helise leaves him infected with the curse of a monstrous beast, half bird and half lizard, whose possession turns his eyes green and drives him mad. Thus begins the second book of the Paradys Tetralogy, a tale as intricate and dark as its predecessor, and fully as excellent. Unlike others in the tetralogy, "The Book of the Beast" is a full novel unfolding in nine linked story-chapters, further subdivided into "The Green Book: Eyes Like Emerald" and "The Purple Book: From the Amethyst." (Readers who have completed the entire tetralogy may notice that the entire color wheel, primary and secondary colors as well as black and white, are represented in the titles and themes of the stories.) "Eyes Like Emerald" deals with the characters of the present time, including Raoulin's dilemma, Helise's own tragic history, and the efforts of a Jewish scholar and his sorcerous daughter to defeat the beast and save Raoulin. "From The Amethyst" looks back to Paradys' origins as the Roman town of Par Dis, where the centurion Retullus Vusca received from a mysterious courtesan a talisman that would change his life and the lives of his descendants forever. Present in all times is the beast, bird-headed and lizard-scaled, a malevolent demon whom neither steel nor sorcery can destroy.

"The Book of the Beast" deals with the full range of darkness, both personal and atmospheric, and thus much of its story merits the name of true horror. Yet it is never repelling-or, if it is, it is a repulsion that intrigues the reader to look closer. The method in which Tanith Lee chooses to tell her story is involved and works extremely well; she frames the past in the present, almost in flashback style, allowing each chapter to focus on a different character until the various stories coalesce in the final pages. Thus the reader learns of the shadowy origins of the beast before doomed Retullus Vusca does, and knows stories of fruitless defenses against its power before Haninuh the Scholar and his daughter Ruquel attempt to combat it. What makes this style work is that nothing is given away; the stories are braided so tightly that all of the various pieces of information interlock perfectly, finishing in a surprising and stunningly executed conclusion. Although Tanith Lee creates her characters from the outside, allowing them to reveal more about themselves through speech and action than she does by transcribing their thoughts, there is little difficulty in identifying or sympathizing with any of them. Altogether, "The Book of the Beast" is a fascinating read, tantalizing the reader into this tangled world of darkness, and carrying the narrative unflinchingly through the darkness and into the light. Do not let the world of Paradys slip through your fingers. The darkness beckons with emerald in its eyes and amethyst in its hands. Do you answer?