Authors Books

One stormy night...well, it wasn't stormy, but six of us did stay up all night, taking turns reading these flashes of horror. Everyone had their own favorite. I fluctuated between 'Stretch' (which few people can read all in one breath) and 'Brain Candy' (which is so good it's used as a back cover blurb).

It's also great to read with a flashlight around a campfire.

Of course, now that some of these were made into the movie EXQUISITE CORPSE, you can see some of the images inspired by the book. (With the lights out, of course.)

The best thing about a book like this, 100 short stories in 145 pages (not counting the lengthy interview with the author at the end), is that everybody will have their own favorites. Mine were the "Nightmare Jobs" series and "A Donation," a macabre first person account of a man who plans to will his body to science. These stories are horror stories, complete with blood and viscera and body parts. But the most important thing a potential reader needs to know is that these stories are FUNNY.

In his introduction, author Michael Arnzen states that "Horror is the genre of the jolt, the shock, the spark." To prove his point, he then offers up one hundred short stories to his audience, the longest, "Five Mean Machines," only nine pages in length (many are only one paragraph long), each designed with the idea of creating an immediate, visceral reaction in readers. It's a measure of Arnzen's talent that he more often than not achieves this goal, all without losing sight of a couple basic tenets of storytelling, those being to grab and hold your reader, and maybe make him think in the bargain. Despite the limits he's imposed on himself, Arnzen still proves capable of doing just that in little gems like "Nightmare Job #1" through "Nightmare Job #5" (think of it as a mini miniseries), "The Curse of Fat Face," and "Her Daily Bread." One warning before you begin 100 Jolts, though--like the candy in a Whitman sampler, you'll find yourself gobbling up one tale after another. Not a big problem, until you abruptly come to the end, still craving more. You might consider exerting some willpower, and force yourself to sample these varied delights over several days, thus maximizing their impact.

horror n
1: intense and profound fear 2: something that inspires horror; something horrible; "the painting that others found so beautiful was a horror to him" 3: intense aversion
See: repugnance,
repulsion,
revulsion,

short story
n. A short piece of prose fiction, having few characters and aiming at unity of effect.


Michael Arnzen is master craftsman of the horror short story. Mixing elements of gore, humor, and horror, sometimes within the same sentence, he shocks and entertains with every bite. If you need proof just read a few stories in. Most of the stories here can be read in one paranoid insomnia driven night. He uses words like a scalpel, cutting open your head and dumping a bucket of psycho-babble right into your raw exposed brain. The stories will leave your head throbbing, you'll find yourself thinking of the stories relating to them in new ways weeks even months later.

But what really impressed me about 100 jolts is the balance. The blatant to the subtle, the humorous with the terrifying, the short with the long, flowing mercilessly one to another. It all balances out, and it's balance lends it to become an addictive read. You keep saying, just one more, oh just one more, and then it's dawn and you've read the book, and your head is throbbing. And you're not sure if it's with joy or if your brain is trying to escape from your skull. One way or another this book will get you.

Howl with the raw dog screaming.

Ever stick your tongue on a fresh 9-volt battery? This clever collection is appropriately titled. Each little story sends a shock straight into your literary central nervous system. Some pieces are disturbing. Some are funny. Some are heart-wrenching. But they're all short, and they're all frightening. If you want to be entertained, moved, jolted, this is a collection for you.

I sometimes try to decide which is my favourite Isak Dinesen book and always after a lengthy quandary settle on "Seven Gothic Tales". These long stories, constructed with the most unassuming virtuosity, leave behind the same feeling of mingled enchantment, wisdom and sadness as reading Shakespeare or her countryman Hans Christian Andersen.

The author was Karen Blixen, a coffee-planter in Kenya who wrote the wonderful "Out of Africa", (which has little in common with the movie.) But as Isak Dinesen, she moved through an imaginary but meticulously evoked late-18th century Europe, where the paradoxes of love and fate, innocence and disillusion, order and dream, are played out gracefully and remorselessly.

Where did she get her stories from? I feel as if I never had to read them, as if I have always known them. Artificial and stylised yet almost unbearably true, they linger like music and burn like ice.
I envy anyone who has yet to read them.

dinesen/blixen was a true, living Scheherazade. this is an astounding collection of stories within stories within stories within stories. beautifully, elegantly written and set in various european locales, starring wonderfully alive characters straight out of fairytales, dreams and myth. these are strange, magical narratives (novellas, to be a stickler) with a modern sensibility. brimming with metaphors that will make you pause. kind of a cross between e.t.a. hoffman and a.s. byatt. definitely going to read more of her stuff.

This is a demanding work of seven multilayered and esoteric stories in this, Dinesen's first book.

We know of Dinesen more commonly by way of Meryl Streep, who played Dinesen, or the Baroness Karen Blixen, in "Out of Africa." But the woman we find here as the author of these stories is no easily-understood, Hollywood character. Her stories within stories are rich in symbolism, imagination, and a "long ago and far away" feeling that is carefully, carefully, controlled by the author. Dinesen wrote some of these tales in Africa, and finished others along with ordering the book back home in Denmark, after her farm had failed. She wrote, interestingly, in English (and did her own translations back into Danish later on). Many books follow this one, including LAST TALES and, of course, OUT OF AFRICA. Dinesen, while the heroic, strong, individualist of Streep's portrayal, is also kind of strange, introspective, and fabulously bizarre. She uses her stories' plot lines as a means, one feels, to work out her life philosophies, reshape and recast ideas and symbolic imagery, and impart creative insights. After getting to about the fourth or fifth story, one can see that she uses the same imagery repeatedly and even the same turns of phrase.

I have read this volume at least once before, and wanted to go through it again knowing just that much more literature and biblical references. (It helps to be well read in the classics when reading Dinesen.) Anything is up for her use, and if you don't see it, something will be lost to you as you interpret the stories and what they meant, or even, what happened. She loves Shakespeare (OUT OF AFRICA was written in five sections, after the five-act structure of Shakespearian drama), and Don Giovanni, she has interesting ideas about femininity and independent women, and symbolizes these issues with women who are doll-like, women who seem as if they can fly, women who are witches in some way or another, etc. She likes to toy with the mind of God, as well, having characters pronounce his proclivities, likes and dislikes, etc., quite often. I found these to be some of the most interesting passages, after some of the gender-defining ones, that is. (She chose her pseudonym, "Isak," as it is Hebrew for "He who laughs" and she definitely plays with many ideas here, many humorously.)

Of the seven tales (The Old Chevalier, The Roads Round Pisa, The Monkey, The Supper at Elsinore, The Dreamers, The Poet, and The Deluge at Norderney), The Roads Round Pisa is my favorite, and I have studied it for a graduate class. In the book, a mistake is the central event, and we learn of it only at the end. Our main character, Count Augustus Von Schimmelmann, is writing a letter to a friend, when a carriage accident occurs in front of him. An old woman, who seemed at first to him to be a man, is injured and asks that he go and seek out her granddaughter so that she may forgive her for an estrangement before she dies, as she believes she will do shortly. Augustus sets out for Pisa and in an inn meets a young man, with whom he engages in an interesting conversation. Soon, however, he finds out that this man is a woman, and whereas before he had been asking "him" for help in finding his way into the city, now he offers her his assistance as a gentleman. Their subsequent conversation holds a particularly compelling passage I have never forgotten. In it, Dinesen explicates a concept of women's differences, physically, psychologically and societally, from men through the artful use of the host and guest metaphor.

This passage is a key to the story's mood when toward the end the mistake around which the characters swirl is revealed. But the passage is also an interesting philosophical and societal analogy that provokes thought and discussion. This is, then, quintessential Dinesen.

The other stories deal with identity and loss (The Dreamers), a ghost who is allowed to rise up from hell whenever the sound between Denmark and Sweden freezes over (Supper at Elsinore), the mirage of lost love (The Old Chevalier), poetry and power (The Poet), the societal roles of women (The Monkey), and identity (The Deluge at Norderney), but these are very brief and basic categorizations. One could safely say that all the stories deal with many of the others' main themes. The book as a whole is an excellent study of the power of fiction to suggest and manipulate, with beautiful, evocative writing and deep and stirring underlying meanings. I recommend it.

These are strangely compelling stories, all of which evoke a sense of mystery and poetry. Floods and monkeys, skulls and puppet shows, vie with each other and figure here in short works that are too realistic for fables but too bizarre to be mistaken for reality.

Gothic surrealism might be the best way to describe the tone achieved by the author, whose real name was Karen Blixen (made familiar to modern audiences by the film "Out of Africa"). This is a reissue of a volume that first appeared in 1934.

Borrowing the author's phrase, each story is "like an echo in the engulfing darkness." Atmospheric and brooding, these tales are part Poe and part Brothers Grimm. Exotic in characterization as well as setting, we are introduced to a polyglot collection of virgin nuns and wandering n'er do wells, who cling to rooftops and journey on rhino-horn laden dhows.

Escape from the ordinary world is promised and delivered, but somehow, the people in these stories also remind us of people we know and situations that might not be as straightforward as we have assumed. A scarf may not be a scarf. The wind may be more than the wind. A scarf blown in the wind recalls to one character the memory of a little white snake -- madness is hinted at, at every turn.

They are seven distinctive tales. Yet, the evocation of place, the depiction of eccentricity, the precariousness of life, suffuse them all. They are magnetic and memorable. Even so, some readers may find the tales a bit too weird for their tastes.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Why isn't I. Dinesen's work more widely known and accepted in the modernist pantheon? Her reputation seems to have settled into that of oddball literary personality and vehicle for Meryl Streep, however the work itself would have eluded me, despite a decent education in high school and university (for example, I was given Hesse and Camus to read in 10th grade, why not Isak?)had I not been attracted to this title in a dusty library. The work is about as anti-Hollywood as I could possibly imagine. Perhaps the answer is, she is not really a modernist but some sort of high baroque romanticist belonging more in the 19th century world of German prose; the "layering of stories" effect, especially in "Roads to Pisa", reads like she is channeling the world of Jan Potocki, enigmatic author of "The Saragossa Manuscript," who like Casanova moved in that incredible world of the international bohemian intellectual elite that Rexroth describes so well somewhere in one of his essays; that world of post-chaises and midnight rendezvous and military officers with seemingly endless resources of money, brains, education and cunning ... in fact "Saragossa" and Casanova's "Memoirs" were the books that came to my mind as I read her...reading this stuff is like eating a chocolate eclair with a brain more powerful than yours will ever be...why aren't there writers like this anymore? Was it all only a dream?

Simolke, Duane. "The Acorn Stories", iUniverse, 2003.

Living in a Small Town

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Acorn, Texas--population 21. 001 is the setting for Duane Simolke's wonderful "The Acorn Stories". The town of Acorn is full of stories and if you have lived in a small town you know exactly what I mean. Each of Simolke's stories lets us look into the lives of some of the most interesting characters I have ever read about. As you read each story, you seem to make new friends and when I closed the book I felt as if I actually knew many in the town. Just as the stories are all separate, they eventually tie together. There is just the right amount of detail to let the reader feel he knows the people of Acorn.
Even more interesting is that Simolke wrote this book in a very difficult style of writing--the stream of consciousness. This allows the reader to feel as if he is one of the characters and as the stories come together, we get a picture of Acorn, Texas in quite a unique way. The 16 stories in the book, although separate, are all related and this is not an easy way to write. As the characters merge, the imaginary (at least I think it is imaginary0 town seems to be very real.
The residents of Acorn are very real people--or so they seemed to me as I met them. And as the stores come together the town of Acorn is laid bare reminding me of what is left of a turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. As we meet the townsfolk, we dig below the outside appearance and go deep into the characters. The characters are quite a menagerie of folk all of whom have challenges and problem (just like we all do). It is the personalities and actions of the members of Acorn that make the stories live. In fact, I am not really sure that this is a collection of short stories because of the interactions between the stories and when they all come together it is like reading a novel.
Acorn is located in west Texas and there, under the Texas sun and the majestic oak trees (so unlike Texas) is a mixture of Hispanics and Anglos as well as a few Afro-Americans. Some were born in Acorn and some are hiding in Acorn. Newlyweds Becky and Kyle are very much in love and they are starting a life together. We meet the [...] art dealer and gallery owner who is being blackmailed by the [....] mayor of the town. There is also a famous writer hiding in Acorn because he stages his own fake suicide. There is the high school teacher who favors sports over academics and the young kid who is keeping a secret, a young man looking for a sugar momma to pay his rent, a widow ad her cat, Regina, an overbearing sister, a widow, Mae, who remembers how life was once and so on.
I must say that I loved this book and have reread several of the stories. It is a rare treat and one that will have you laughing, crying, commiserating and identifying. I have not had this much fun in a long time.

This book is just wonderful. I hate to say much about books here, because I hate spoilers. This one really hits home and if you have a heart you won't want to miss it!

Duane Simolke's, "The Acorn Stories," is set in the fictional West Texas town of Acorn, so named because it's the only town in the entire region that has trees, thanks to the foresight of its founders. The stories are a compilation of vignettes that give the reader a glimpse into the everyday happenings of a group of residents whose lives, we learn as the chapters unfold, interconnect in fascinating and unexpected ways. With each new story, or chapter, the reader is introduced to a new character. The stories and lives of the citizens of Acorn interweave, turning "The Acorn Stories" into what is essentially a novel...quite a feat for the author to accomplish in a relatively short book.

Simolke allows the reader peeks into the thoughts of diverse characters, from a policeman's recollection of his abusive childhood, to the befuddled thoughts of a senile old man. We see events from the points of view of a deaf man who manages to do a good job as the high school's English teacher, an esteemed best selling author desperately trying to escape life's travails, and a young couple who find love and, like it or not, become parents at a most unexpected time and place...the opening of an Art Gallery that happens to be owned by the teacher's boyfriend. A small example of how the stories go around.

"The Acorn Stories" allows the reader an understanding of the human condition. We learn what makes each individual's personality tick. Simolke's characters are male and female, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, handicapped and gifted, happy and sad, satisfied and searching, hypocritical and fair-minded. The ability to depict such a wide cross section of humanity, including details of each character's breadth of knowledge and experience, takes a talented, insightful author, and Duane Simolke is such a writer.

I dislike giving ratings to books...they are too subjective...but The Acorn Stories deserves 5 stars as a very intelligently written book. Don't miss it.

Duane Simolke's offering of his sixteen short stories, many with overlapping characters and plot-lines, all set within or around the fictitious west-Texas small town of Acorn, provides its readers an insightful and literate look at what goes on in the hinderlands beyond the boundaries of this country's big cities.

Not as salaciously rendered as was Peyton Place (which, if you remember, was a small town taken on by Grace Metalious), Simolke's Acorn, Texas, still turns out to be rife with some of the same angst-ridden problems, thereby, once again, exploding the myth that rural "out there" is actually more idyllic (even Edenesque), as compared to big-city "in here".

From the who-will-have-control-of-this-relationship "dueling" of Regina Thibodeaux and Dirk Palmer in Simolke's lead-off story "Acorn", to the not-always-that-pleasant reminisces of town maven Aragon Carsons in the book's concluding "Acorn Pie", Simolke puts rural America under a microscope to unveil all of its acne, sores, scars, and festering wounds.

THE ACORN STORIES isn't for any reader out to preserve his or her unrealistic nostaligic notion that rural-America is the place "to be" "to get away from it all". On the other hand, for those of us not put off by realism and always interested in a literate writer who can provide us a peek beneath the veneer, Simolke provides some very enjoyable reading moments.

The Acorn Stories
Duane Simolke

Review by Mountman

Picture a small town in West Texas. Acorn. The reason it's called Acorn is that it is the only town in West Texas that has a lot of trees. Yes, Acorn is a fictional town but after reading The Acorn Stories, I wanted to visit the place, just to check it out.

" "Welcome to Acorn, population 21,001, the Texas town with a little name and a big heart" - Sign marking city limits of Acorn" (taken from the book.)

Like the branches of the Main Street Oak tree, the town has just as many histories and legends. Each story gives you a glimpse into lives of the people of Acorn. Also how their lives are intertwined.

There are stories about the founding family, newcomers, the rich, the poor and in between. When I first started reading it I felt like I was left hanging. Just then, in Simolke unique clever style, things began to connect. Growing up in a small town I could relate to some of the characters. Duane gives you just enough details that you get a feel for where each of the characters are coming from. There are people that you like, some that you can't wait to see if they get theirs. Big cheers for when they do!

Ones that really grabbed me are Survival and Dead Enough. Survival is about a gay, deaf teacher. Dead Enough is about a writer of murder mysteries. I'm not going to give you any details because you will have to find out for yourself.

Whether you are an avid short story reader, or a novel reader this is a must read! So check it out.

I read this book in two days, dropping everything. I could relate to Yvette on so many levels, growing up in Southern California and being stuck in a dream about life and love on the heels of deep personal loss. This is a beautiful story in its hunger for an eternal love that cannot be in the way Yvette dreams it, but is there in the way it can be.

This story is as much about love as it is growing up and through it all I felt like Yvette is a friend. She reminds me so much of a best friend of mine who dated these larger than life men and found herself lonelier for it. But here Yvette is bigger than my friend for she sees the good in what she has with this man and gets past the pain and triumphs as a woman and an artist.

I was intoxicated by DeLaune's language and rhythm from the first page. Her characters kept me company to a beach resort last May. And when I got back to LA --- I was longing for them. Memorable!!!

This is a book written by a woman, about a woman, with a woman's occasionally grimace-inducing candor, but sorry, I don't see it as a "woman's book." (And what's with "chick lit"? Is it just me or does that phrase seem downright condescending?). This is simply a GOOD BOOK, a great story with a compelling lead character, a detailed sense of time and place, a smart way with words and attitudes, and a deeply compassionate view of...people, male and female. I don't know why men don't seem to read or like books like this; maybe because most men don't know about mercy-f**ks or compulsive caretaking or needing to be the good-girl or struggling to find your way in a world that uses words like "whiny" and "weepy" when talking about women's emotions, but whatever it is, men are missing out. This book is a heartfelt, passionate and bone-achingly truthful story, one that many, many women will identify with and men might find enlightening. Yvette is an arty, brave, and very human Every-Girl, with deeply felt flaws and oh-so-errant ways, but her slightly bent and very real journey is one we want to follow because...well, she's slightly bent and very real! Yay! No feminist proselytizing, no man bashing, no weepy, whiny carrying on, just a girl makin' jewelry, looking for love, and trying to get it right. So despite her personal chaos and dubious decision-making, we like her! She inspires us and makes us want to take her out for coffee. Ms. Michel has written a character we never fail to feel tenderly toward; a women who falls down many of the same flights of stairs others have known and hated, but who does so with such authenticity, we can't help but wish her well and hope for the best along with her. I closed this book feeling deeply satisfied, delighted that I had just read something chewy and worthy and clever and funny and touching and insightful. Congratulations, Ms. Michel...write on.

a beautifully written story that takes you through all the emotions. i was surprised to find myself enthralled by the main character and her experiences but quickly realized it was all due to Ms Michel's amazing way with words. i look forward to her next novel with baited breath.

The book pulls you in right away and you find yourself engrossed, unable to stop reading so you can find out what happens next. It is vivid, funny, and poignant as it details issues we all can relate to - growing up, letting go, and finding our path in an active way.

The book & reason for this essay is his autobiography All the Strange Hours. Its subtitle hints at both the man's existence & its aim: The Excavation Of A Life. Eiseley (henceforth LE) was a well-respected anthropologist, scientist, & essayist. In his spare time he was also a poet. Many years have passed since I had read his engaging essays. He mastered what might be called the Covert Inner Essay- i.e.- those which tie in the ostensible subject matter at hand with whatever the essayist really sought to speak of: personal axes, incidents, or other such muses. Think of this not then as much an essay nor an homage- per se- but rather as an experiment in persuasion. OK?
The book by LE is divided into 3 main sections: Days Of A Drifter, Days Of A Thinker, & Days Of A Doubter. The 1st of the 3- Drifter- concerns mostly LE's youth through college & mid-20s. It has some of the most beautiful & poetically heart-wrenching prose I have read. His detailed episodes as a rail-riding hobo, assorted illnesses, his call to the natural & an episode in Mexico with an ex-hood from Detroit are marvelous. LE resurrects the Great Depression & Dust Bowl iconism with an eye & ear greater than Steinbeck. This section's closest literary antecedent is Kenneth Rexroth's Kenneth Rexroth: An Autobiographical Novel, however- as good & even great as that book is in sections- as a whole it never coheres nor moves 1 to the totality of empathy that LE's work in this section does. It is this fidelity to the unnoticed conflated almost effortlessly with larger themes, & the utter Occam's Razor-like detailing, that draws me because it is so resonant with my own writing style- both prosaic & poetic. There are a number of passages & images that will be with me always. Not only that, but it is the very way he uses words to damn-near holographically duplicate the scientific process of inspecting & investigating things. In my aforementioned poetic struggles of late it has been a combination of lack of time plus an exhaustion of `ins'- or approaches to poetry as a craft & myriad subjects.
I was struck by time's distort during its reading. Not only did the craft of writing consciously do that upon the page, but within my cranial nook time ebbed & dashed in varied rhythms to such an extent that my both my emotions & intellect were disjuncted. So much so that I realize that I may have sinned. I have not excerpted pieces of LE's craft. Did I write an essay? Did I review & critique it? Did I merely effuse? Did I declaim more copiously on the book's apportive effect on my creativity than draw you to it? Did I put trust in you that yours in me & my words would kindle you to be where I am? Perhaps. But, maybe, I shall just content myself to reread it & you shall desire our company in some small resurrections. & if this experiment of mine has failed do not blame poor dead LE, or what was his life- the brunt is rightfully all mine. So, too, his book.

A fascinating look into the man behind such a creative literary & scientific mind! He is quite 'bare bones' about himself. Also suggested bio.: "The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eisley" ed. by Kenneth Heuer.

Thoughtful writing, and interesting, but Eiseley sure was a bitter and despairing fellow. He held grudges forever and never forgot a slighting, even from childhood. It appears that he wrote this at an advanced age, when his friends and associates were dieing off seemingly all around him, and he wasn't very happy about it and his own mortality. Interesting, but definitely a downer.

An excerpt from 'All the Strange Hours'

"...Oncoming age is to me a vast wild autumn country strewn with broken seed pods,hurrying cloud wrack,abondoned farm machinery,and circling crows..."
Frankly I lost my reference notes.But this is a wonderful read.You enter deep into the thinkings and passions from the heart of one man.Eiseley will invite you into his thoughts and observations about life and people like a quite and unassuming gentlemen.These stories bring you deep into the core of the Midwest cast of mind.
Great Read

There are few books written today that I don't want to rewrite. All the Strange Hours is one of them. This is the real thing- forget "Magical-Realism" and forget all other memoirs. This is unlike any memoir, or book I've ever read before, and should be getting out to a larger audience. You don't need to be into science, archeology, or even know who Eiseley is to appreciate this work. His writing is so good that it doesn't matter.
He also doesn't delve into the mundane things that most writers would- in fact, you go through the entire book, and you don't even know his wife's name. If I met Eiseley, I'd feel that I'd know little about what he likes to eat, or what kind of music he enjoys, or if he's a morning or night person. But none of that matters- because I feel like I know him on the inside. People who knew Eiseley say that those who read his works often knew him better than those who knew him in person. I'd list Eiseley easily as one of the greatest writers of all time, and at minimum I'd put him in the top 3 of great prose writers. Check him out, and you'll see. You won't be disappointed. Trust me- - I don't like most contemporary stuff, and if you don't either, this is great literature for you.

A lot of stories in here for a collection, 39 all told. When it says it is a collection of his short fiction, they really mean it. Most of the tales here are of around the ten page variety. The majority are done in a similar style and structure, barring his Mythos story to start.

He definitely goes in for succinct titles.

A lot of school stories and book industry related, as well, so obviously that is on his mind a lot. Apparently we can thank the horrors of those toffy pommie schools for some of this stuff.

Alone with the Horrors : The Room In the Castle - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Cold Print - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Scar - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Interloper - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Guy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The End of a Summer's Day - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Man in the Underpass - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Companion - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Call First - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Heading Home - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : In the Bag - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Baby - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Chimney - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Stages - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Brood - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Loveman's Comeback - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Gap - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Voice of the Beach - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Out of Copyright - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Above the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Mackintosh Willy - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Show Goes On - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Ferries - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Midnight Hobo - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Depths - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Down There - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Fit - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Hearing Is Believing - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Hands - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Again - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Just Waiting - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Seeing the World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Old Clothes - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Apples - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : The Other Side - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Where the Heart Is - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Boiled Alive - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : Another World - Ramsey Campbell
Alone with the Horrors : End of the Line - Ramsey Campbell


Byatis is bloody big.

3.5 out of 5


Whacker Revelations.

4 out of 5


Bricked.

3 out of 5


Poetry boy punishment.

3.5 out of 5


That's no dummy?

4 out of 5


Lost hubbie.

3.5 out of 5


Mouse sacrifice.

3.5 out of 5


Ghost train surprise.

3.5 out of 5


Skeletal nailer woman.

3 out of 5


Where's me noggin, then?

4 out of 5


Plastic stranger.

3.5 out of 5


Pram devil.

3 out of 5


Santa scare.

3.5 out of 5


It's a trip to not do it by myself.

3.5 out of 5


Moth problem.

3.5 out of 5


S3xual summoning.

4 out of 5


Blind alley.

3 out of 5


Transformation not looked forward to.

3.5 out of 5


Editorial summoning.

4 out of 5


Prefer indoors.

3 out of 5


No shelter left.

3.5 out of 5


Own advice no use.

3.5 out of 5


Very wet message in a bottle.

4 out of 5


Radio echo.

3 out of 5


True crime.

3 out of 5


Rattypuffs.

3.5 out of 5


Nekkid aunt will put you off for life.

3.5 out of 5


Greek daydream scare.

2.5 out of 5


Nun not handy.

3 out of 5


Flyblown Bungalow punishment.

4 out of 5


Wish the olds were gone.

3.5 out of 5


Sunken entertainment.

3 out of 5


Get jewellery with no appendages.

3.5 out of 5


Bobbing with the wrong crowd.

3.5 out of 5


Clown double axed.

4 out of 5


Home memories.

3 out of 5


Movie phone number pain.

3 out of 5


No Kingdom of God.

3 out of 5


Many voices.

2.5 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

This is my all time favorite book. It is an anthology of several stories written by Ramsey Campbell from the sixties up to 1991. All of the stories are good but ones like Down There, Just Waiting, The Voice of the Beach, The Scar, and The Brood are truly brilliant. Mr. Campbell writes with a very surrealistic dream-like quality that is unique and compelling. There are Lovecraftian tales, ghost stories, and many that can't be put into any category but there own. Ramsey Campbell should be considered amoung the all time greats in horror fiction history, along with the likes of M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood. You can't go wrong with this book if you like horror.

Ramsey Campbell has produced some of the greatest short horror stories ever written. Most of them are in this volumn.
Mostly Campbell is influenced by H P Lovecraft rather than explicit gore or gratuitous violence - although there are always exceptions! So his writing style is completely different from say Stephen King, but both are masters of short horror fiction in their different ways.

The stories within are as scary as horror fiction can get. Amongst my favourites are "In the Bag", and perhaps best of all "The Companion". You know how with some novels (King on occasions is an example) after reading through hundreds of pages you get to the end and think - is that it? I.e. the ending never quite leaves you satisfied despite the brilliance of the story telling before (again King). Well you won't get this with Campbell's short stories, his end with a punch, metaphorically a knock-out one to your head...

Another splendid volumn to get if this one becomes unavailable is Dark Companions which contains many of the same stories. You'll probably only get this 2nd hand but its worth searching out.

I love these types of horrors, this book is wonderfully written and provides page after page of chilling accounts. a horror I could really get into from first page to the last. I found to be very chilling and creepy and in likness to "12345 Are You Dead Or Still Alive?"

I bought this book on a whim, never having read anything by Ramsey Campbell before, and I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY with his writing style.

Campbell has a way of penning each of his stories in such a way that you literally feel like you're trapped in the story--trapped in a terrible nightmare that you can't wake up from! There is not a bad story in this book, and I soon found that I preferred Campbell over King and other hack-and-slash writers for two reasons: 1) There is not a lot of blood-and-guts gore in any of these stories, in most cases none at all, and 2) Campbell does not use a lot of four-letter words in his writings, something I found very appealing and refreshing. And yet every story is absolutely terrifying!

This collection is an absolute must for any serious horror fan. I highly recommend it to anyone who has never read Campbell before.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh: First Lady of the Air by Kathleen C. Winters is a beautifully written biography of the wife of Charles Lindbergh, the world famous pilot. She also was a pilot, one of the early female pilots, and was co-pilot and navigator for her husband, who could have chosen any other for important job. Anne has been revered as an author for years for her well-loved books, the most famous being the timeless Gift From The Sea, still a best seller after over half a century. But her life as a pilot and a pioneer in aviation history had not been explored, and Winters does a fine job with this part of Anne's early life, which she left behind when she became a mother. The new biography is excellent and sure to become a mainstay of aviation history.

I am not a typical non-fiction reader, but after reading the book, First Lady of the Air, I could see myself reading more non-fiction. Kathleen Winters creates an easy to read non-fiction account of the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Throughout the book, I could really identify with Anne as a woman and fellow aviator. Winters portrays many sides of Anne, from her days as a young woman, to a woman aviator, and finally to a wife and mother. She makes it easy for any reader to identify with the struggles that Anne faced in each of those times in her life.

Winters describes the historical significance of what Anne and Charles were accomplishing with their many long distance flights in uncharted areas; setting up air routes and paving the way for what future commercial jet liners would utilize on a daily basis. Anne was an active participant in an adventurous situation, which was not typical for women of her time. Very inspirational story showing that women can do the same things that men can do. A good read for anyone interested in aviation history.

This book is a gem. Well written. Informative. It is Anne's story -- the woman who loved to fly and who often was the first to explore some new phase. Because she is such an ethereal writer -- and because she was Charles' wife -- we tend to lose track of her actual aviation accomplishments. Author Kathleen C. Winters has nicely remedied that. Originally in hardback, the book is due out in paperback spring 2008.

Sarah Byrn Rickman, author of the newly released Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II (University of North Texas Press).

I thought Anne Morrow Lindbergh-First Lady of the Air was going to be a historical documentary, which would have been interesting. It was much, much more. It is exciting reading that covers the gamut from insight into the personal life of an aviation icon to a unique look into the early days of the flying machines. Kathleen Winters' writing style made me feel like I knew the Lindbergh family personally. Her research is impeccable. I was awed by the challenges of mixing high society and celebrity with the rigors of exploratory flying. We all know about Charles Lindbergh. Now learn about the shy, but brave wife who made him what he was.

There was a time when Charles Lindbergh was the most famous man on Earth. His 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic caught the world's imagination and the public couldn't get enough of him. When he decided to get married he made looking for a wife into a project. Anne Morrow was the daughter of a wealthy and prestigious family and while Anne didn't quite take to Charles at first, it wasn't long until she was caught up in his charisma and the thrill of flying, and they were soon married.

Kathleen Winters has given us a very interesting biography of Anne that necessarily includes material on Charles, but usually from Anne's perspective. The subtitle of the book is "first lady of the air" and most of the book is about Anne's achievements as a pioneering woman in powered flight and gliding. The majority of the book focuses on two major expeditions Charles and Anne made to Asia in 1931 and all around the North and South Atlantic in 1933. Anne was not just along for the ride on these long and dangerous trips to open flying routes around the globe. As Charles noted when asked about taking his wife along on these hazardous flights, "she is crew". Anne operated the radio, used Morse code, and much more. The radio in those days was much more art than the standard technology it has become.

Winters provides great maps of these great journeys along with some terrific photographs. The revolutionary nature of these flights is made clear by the medal Anne was given by the National Geographic Society for her part in opening air routes around the globe.

While the book does cover the major biographical details including the kidnapping and murder of their firstborn with the subsequent trial of Hauptmann, everything but the flying is covered in short form, but all the major points are touched on.

I found Winters' treatment of Charles being given Service Cross of the German Eagle by Goering most interesting. It has become usual to bash Lindbergh for accepting this award, but the accusers rarely put the event in context. It happened only a few weeks after the "peace in our time" four-way pact signing between Britain, France, Germany, and Italy and weeks before Kristallnacht. The Lindbergh's had stopped in Germany for eighteen days after a trip to Russia. The presentation was made without warning or announcement at a men's only dinner at the American Embassy and at the time neither Charles nor the other men at the dinner thought much about it. Afterwards, Anne expressed her concern that the white cross would become an albatross around his neck. After Kristallnacht occurred, Charles wrote in his journal, "My admiration for the Germans is constantly being dashed against some rock such as this."

Winters also provides very interesting information about Anne's efforts and success as an author. I have not yet read any of Anne's writings, but this book has piqued my interest in seeking them out.

This is a most interesting book about a talented an intrepid women who held her own in a marriage to one of the great historic characters of the 20th Century. Her life is instructive, inspiring, and very much worth knowing. Winters' has written an honest and interesting look at her life and accomplishments. I recommend that you get a copy and enjoy it.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

I learned a lot about publicity, things I never even heard of. If you have a book to promote, this is your best investment.It more than pays for itself.

As an author, I'm always on the lookout for books that can help with publicity, marketing, and promoting. This book was a pure gem.

This book is worth the purchase price just for Chapter 11 (E-mail Blasts) alone. With tips for propelling your book to the top of the bestseller lists by e-mail marketing, this chapter takes you by the hand and leads you through the process step by step in a quick and painless way.

This book doesn't just tell you how to promote and publicize your book; it shows you with sample letters and action steps.

If you're ready to pump up your promotion and get your book noticed, then this book should be on your list of must-haves!

Author 101 Bestselling Book Publicity is what every author needs to promote themselves and their book. This is a very practical, easy to follow and affordable handbook. Get it now! You're missing sales!

While I own all four of the "Author 101" books by Rick Frishman and Robyn Spizman, I feel this one is the most valuable. In fact, I wish I had it BEFORE I started writing my first book. The information and helpful tips included from these industry insiders is worth a hundred-times the price of the book. I have met and spoken with both Rick and Robyn, and I will attest that what they tell you in this book is gospel truth.
After you read this book, you will gain insight into how best to plan the marketing and publicity of your book even before you write it. This is key information whether you are using a traditional publisher, or if you are self-publishing. In fact, if you are self-publishing, READ and MEMORIZE chapter 8 on Interviews -- this will be the primary source of your income.
I highly recommend this and the other three books in the "Author 101" series.

Happy reading and successful writing,

Stuart Gustafson, Author
www.stuartgustafson.com

As a fellow book publicist it's imperative for me to keep up with all of the great books and magazine articles being published about the book business. I've read dozens and dozens of such books and can recommend this book without hesitation.

One thing about the book marketing and book promotion business is that there are so many nice people in the business. I rank Rick Frishman as one of the top publicists in the U.S. not to mention he's a nice guy too!

His book, co-authored by Robyn Freedman Spizman and Mark Steisel, offers advice and insight about every stage of the publishing world. Using testimonials and commentary, this book lets authors, agents, and publishers alike show you the things you should and shouldn't do in promoting your book.

Scott Lorenz
President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that specializes in book marketing and author publicity.
[...]

I'm not sure what the publishers were thinking when they chose a picture of a white horse and a cowboy as the cover illustration for this great poem about the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great. It sets the wrong mood for the story.

Anne Perry, the enormously popular writer of historical fiction, just recommended this ballad by G. K. Chesterton as one of five must read tales of historical fiction. (See the Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Page for April 21, 2007 in an article entitled "Past Tense.") Here's part of what she said:

"This is the story of the English King Alfred's desperate stand against invading Danes in 878. England is conquered, and Alfred is a fugitive when he sees a vision of the Virgin Mary that bids him call together the remnants of his people for a final battle. "The Ballad of the White Horse" is an epic poem of courage, passion and unsurpassable beauty."

If you'd like to read other tales and poems by Chesterton, you might want to get "The Ballad of the White Horse" as part of a collection of his poetry that I edited for not much more money. It's called G. K. Chesterton's Early Poetry and has "The Ballad of the White Horse," along with two other books of Chesterton poetry under one cover. That means you'll also get his best humorous poetry, "Greybeards at Play." No less a writer than George Orwell ranked Chesterton as one of the three best writers of funny poetry in twentieth century England. The poems are a riot of the ridiculous and are accompanied with equally funny sketches he did.

And although Anne Perry and I have the same last name, as far as I know we're not related. Her's is a pen name. Mine is a real name. I guess I'm not creative enough to invent a name for myself.

G. K. Chesterton's Early Poetry: Greybeards At Play, The Wild Knight And Other Poems, The Ballad Of The White Horse

Mr. Chesterton has a masterful skill with the pen; _Orthodoxy_ and _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_ are wonderful books--but _The Ballad of the White Horse_ is heartbreaking in its power, beauty, and nobility. With a stunning use of alliteration, rhythm, and imagery, Mr. Chesterton teaches the reader about true hearts, true faith, and true sacrifice. I have bought a few copies of this book to give as gifts to friends, and I eagerly recommend it to anyone who will listen. This book is a must-have for any individual interested in expanding their knowledge of great poetry!

Out of the thousand or so books I have read in my life, if I were to put the Bible aside (since the Bible speaks with a special authority to believers and cannot really be compared to other books), I have read no more than five or six books that I would call truly great. That means there are only five or six books I would rate at five stars. This is one. Yes, it is that good.

I have never read any author who could make the English language sing the way Chesterton does in this poem -- for over a hundred pages. In contrast to contemporary "poets" whose "poems" consist of a bunch of strange words scattered apparently at random on a page, whose meaning, if there is one, is far beyond obscurity, Chesterton had apparently unlimited ability to create rhyme and alliteration, and then he bound it all tightly in the sing-song ballad style that carries it all swiftly along. The words of this poem are glorious to hear, and really, this book should be read aloud, so that one might hear the music of the words.

And few have ever been able to match the way Chesterton paints pictures with words. I will quote one passage, and hope it is not to long, to illustrate this. The scene here is Alfred's army making one final charge against the Danish camp:

Then bursting all and blasting
Came Christendom like death,
Kicked of such catapults of will,
The staves shiver, the barrels spill,
The waggons waver and crash and kill
The waggoners beneath.

Barriers go backward, banners rend,
Great shields groan like a gong,
Horses like horns of nightmare
Neigh horribly and long.

Horses ramp and rock and boil
And break their golden reins,
And slide on carnage clamorously,
Down where the bitter blood doth lie,
Where Ogier went on foot to die
In the old way of the Danes.

It would be hard to imagine anyone anyone describing such a violent scene in so few words any better than Chesterton does in that passage. And this passage is but one of dozens of glorious word-pictures that Chesterton's poetry paints in this book.

Beyond its magnificent use of the English language, this book also contains much philosophical insight -- insight that, although first published in 1911, is directly and clearly applicable today. Chesterton expresses very clearly the way that Christianity has formed the heart of Western culture over the ages, and the way that Christian faith -- which seems all about self-denial and thus sadness -- leads to unconquerable joy.

The book, of course, is not perfect; no work of literature can be. There are places where it gets a bit too preachy for my taste. But the book's flaws are few and minor, while its good points are many and glorious.

How good is this book? I have read it at least 50 times in my life, and I still enjoy reading it. In my opinion it is one of the truly greatest works written in the English language. It is one of the few books I have read that truly deserves five stars.

I had read some of Chesterton's fictional books, most of which contain poems which he has written, and I very much enjoyed his poems, so I decided to get a book of his poetry. This too I really enjoyed, so I decided to get another book of his poetry, this time it was The Ballad of the White Horse, and this book simply blew away all of the rest of Chesterton's poems. In fact, it simply blows away most poems by anyone. I have read Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton' Paradise Lost, Eliot's Wasteland, Chaucer's Canturbury Tales, etc., but I can honestly say that I enjoyed this epic far more than any of them. I am not saying that it is a better written poem or that it should be ranked above these classics, but I am saying that it is much more exciting to read than the others. Somehow Chesterton makes his poem involving: you are drawn into it and cannot put the book down until you have finished the chapter. He wrote it in such a way that the verses beg to be read quickly, and as I read I found myself reading faster and faster, until I was stumbling over the words and had to slow down again. Chesterton, like no other poet whom I know of, paints a picture of glory, honor, bravery, and captures the true spirit of an idealized Medieval War. The poem resounds with the drums of doom, the cries of angels, the hordes of invading barbarians and great deeds of heroes of old. If I were to recommend owning one epic poem, this would be the one.

Overall grade: A+

. . . this would have to be it. I actually started getting jealous that HE was the one who wrote to all these players, and HE was the one who got letters back from them. But I got over it quickly and just shared in the joy and the fascinating discoveries. What a treasure trove, made even better by the author's showing us copies of the actual handwritten letters from the players! Also it's gutsy how he shares with us the story of how this project resulted from a period of emotional difficulty that he went through. The style is casual yet flawless -- as easy to read as anything you'll ever find.

Having my own collection of "baseball letters" similar to Swirsky's thoroughly enjoyed this book. I even envied a few of his responses that I was never able to receive and was relieve to find that I was not the only baseball fan to journey into letter writing.

It is a collection of responses to letter's Swirsky sent to baseball players in a varied range of topics. Some answers are short and simple while others provide a more interserting response. Either way, if you are a baseball fans or have even written to a baseball player, past or present, you should enjoy this simple and enjoyable book.

I *love* this book. It's a great compilation of some of the most interesting questions one can ask his heroes. Mr. Swirsky doesn't just stick to the basics, he asks players who played in the 1930s what baseball was like in that era, he asks legends to put together their all time All-Star team, and asks players their impressions of up and coming (soon to be legendary) rookies! I was very impressed by Mr. Swirsky's knowledge of the game, and his ability to ask questions we wouldn't have thought of.

What's also interesting is that 99% of the responses are handwritten! In this day and age of email, it makes the book more intimate and personal!

This is a great coffee table book, too, as it's great for reading in small portions--when you want a slice of baseball history! The companion book, Every Pitcher Tells a Story, is also wonderful and features more great letters. I highly recommend!

This book is rich and full of exciting baseball history, as Swirsky writes to professional baseball players of all decades and teams and poses questions to them on their careers and reflections of America's Pastime. Not only is this book interesting in a historical prospective, but it's very fun to read and analzye. The work that went into this book is noticeable, and both the letter to the player and the response from the player (as well as many great pictures) make this book a timeless classic. Bravo to Seth Swirsky for such a job well-done.

I bought Mr. Swirsky's new book "Every Pitcher Tells A Story" and was so taken by its originality that I bought his first one "Baseball Letters". They are quite different and it's hard to tell which one I enjoyed more. I was glad he didn't write to the same players--every letter was a new 'experience'.Great reads.