tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84878230474145400362024-03-14T04:46:13.804-04:00Shared Universe ReviewsScience fiction, fantasy, and comic book reviews and commentary.
Regular updates once a week.
Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.comBlogger353125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-89083542695272017122023-02-12T20:30:00.009-05:002023-02-12T20:31:49.291-05:00Roccanon's World by Ursula K. LeGuin<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfEagfDZ4Kd6fp8iXgzMISNMfNyyDPH976b_68cMJAIKHvkaax1vgdE7-q5ztmB0r-zISbZNv4kwY9XauB4XepmyBEDd9I7OHvXhu59OYHqOo1guQm8L1q3tJIdgr3r-zY4i_qibjgO4Hhyw8U59gIwX1u5AiNa7_HkhOh68ULiXSY2ND3qit4dDE8g/s1062/Rocannon's%20World%20cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="649" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfEagfDZ4Kd6fp8iXgzMISNMfNyyDPH976b_68cMJAIKHvkaax1vgdE7-q5ztmB0r-zISbZNv4kwY9XauB4XepmyBEDd9I7OHvXhu59OYHqOo1guQm8L1q3tJIdgr3r-zY4i_qibjgO4Hhyw8U59gIwX1u5AiNa7_HkhOh68ULiXSY2ND3qit4dDE8g/s320/Rocannon's%20World%20cover.jpg" width="196"></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Another year, another reading and blogging project likely doomed to fail. I have a hard time keeping either up. I'm notorious for starting a book and jumping to another book before finishing. That isn't to say I don't finish books. I finish several books per year and yet I also seem to have a slowly growing pile of books that I have started and temporarily abandoned. I plan on finishing them, I swear, even if I have to start again from the first page. I don't hang on to books I started and intentionally didn't finish. Those books go back to the library or exchanged for credit on my next visit to the used book store.<br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br>As for any accompanying blogging meant to follow my reading, you need only look at the archives to see how well I've kept that up. <br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Past failures won't stop me from setting up new projects to fail. My reading project for 2023 is one that has been gestating for all of last year: Only read books by woman authors.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span></span><span></span></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2023/02/roccanons-world-by-ursula-k-leguin.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-67237925074831504072022-01-09T15:02:00.008-05:002022-01-09T15:03:22.400-05:00Short Story Sunday 29: R. Garcia y Robertson and Thomas Ligotti <div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ6DIudYbFcfmO1MVHLGjceF1LABqmh0ykNmM4zpapG1W9TltxT47cFULKjuHhlWH5Qi6oGxtUBHAiwMZDHuPHOJqoJdEUWUA9CH1ifiMPAVlHDnPIjh8j6MNbOUZUZ9ZvTr3bffsJyhkUhGu3w7A9irFFW-ls4D3D-hUkU2RAdgU7ABAhLRLdye4Xxw=s267" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="200" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ6DIudYbFcfmO1MVHLGjceF1LABqmh0ykNmM4zpapG1W9TltxT47cFULKjuHhlWH5Qi6oGxtUBHAiwMZDHuPHOJqoJdEUWUA9CH1ifiMPAVlHDnPIjh8j6MNbOUZUZ9ZvTr3bffsJyhkUhGu3w7A9irFFW-ls4D3D-hUkU2RAdgU7ABAhLRLdye4Xxw" width="200"></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">Another
year another doomed-to-fail attempt at blogging regularly here at Shared
Universe Reviews. Join me in the hopes of being present when I post the site’s
last entry of 2022 sometime later this month.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif""><br></span><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">As
is routine, I’m going back to </span><i>Year’s Best
Fantasy 2 </i><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">to read a couple of stories and write reviews. Let’s get on with
it.<br></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><b>“Firebird”
by R. Garcia y Robertson</b><br></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Read
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Year’s Best Fantasy 2</i> (2002),
edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (uncredited)<br></span><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Originally
published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction</i> (May 2001), edited by Gordon Van Gelder</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span></span></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2022/01/short-story-sunday-29-r-garcia-y.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-44246877452962001052021-04-11T19:35:00.007-04:002021-08-15T13:45:38.833-04:00Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming by Christie Golden - Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWodnz81gGZFdiaQCbHGDEPfUMifL19g6LL3O2f_JJc8B0AWU8GcZ89uZe6Qd0R24gQszjWsZESz7qIABv8ylWXoUNPFpvRXdSQjQDuE7DqL35cfcLSBVGByOj8M-KT4t-O_aI45_RtuQ6/s625/Star+Trek+-+Voyager+-+Homecoming+01.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="387" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWodnz81gGZFdiaQCbHGDEPfUMifL19g6LL3O2f_JJc8B0AWU8GcZ89uZe6Qd0R24gQszjWsZESz7qIABv8ylWXoUNPFpvRXdSQjQDuE7DqL35cfcLSBVGByOj8M-KT4t-O_aI45_RtuQ6/w248-h400/Star+Trek+-+Voyager+-+Homecoming+01.jpg" width="248"></a></div>One of the great ideas that you'll come across when exploring the world of <i>Star Trek</i> tie-in fiction is that of the relaunch novels. The concept is to continue telling the stories of your favourite Star Trek series; specifically the stories that take place after the series finale. What to know what happened to Picard and the Enterprise-D crew after the end credits of Star Trek Nemesis? There are plenty of books devoted to the idea. What happened to all the storylines that weren't wrapped up by DS9's "What We Leave Behind" and the new stories they teased? There's a novel series for that. <br><p></p><p>In fact, there are multiples novel series for that. Several dozen books, plenty of multi-series crossovers, stories taking place with a focus outside of the Federation and other stories focusing on characters that only appear in a handful of episodes and were significantly more fleshed out in the novels. Honestly, it's a treasure trove of Trek goodness. It's big, messy, and complicated. Take a look at <a href="https://www.thetrekcollective.com/p/trek-lit-reading-order.html">The Trek Collective's reading guide</a> if you need convincing about my last point.<span></span></p><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/04/star-trek-voyager-homecoming-by.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-48078561408647642082021-02-21T06:00:00.000-05:002021-02-21T09:14:03.732-05:00Short Story Sunday 28: “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories” by Gene Wolfe<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLIZwe7EkgZZKmPOYgkNHKrJMRkKuPOYTKaTgy2Tq8VFMVxq6_RaMRV8uUe-3XcAOUf1sHQ8K-zD2mdIeRJ-iYSz0Bo9lp_9wo0Q6yVxa2lujs1wbu533ZQD1UHzRcRrfpn9uT0ScNSNHv/s534/Gene+Wolfe.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="401" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLIZwe7EkgZZKmPOYgkNHKrJMRkKuPOYTKaTgy2Tq8VFMVxq6_RaMRV8uUe-3XcAOUf1sHQ8K-zD2mdIeRJ-iYSz0Bo9lp_9wo0Q6yVxa2lujs1wbu533ZQD1UHzRcRrfpn9uT0ScNSNHv/s320/Gene+Wolfe.jpg"></a></div>The ebook version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive
Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction </i>is on sale for the month of
February. A sale price of $2.99 for a book running a length of 224 thousand
words and collecting more than 30 short stories, it’s a hard deal to pass up.
Despite having read only two books and a handful of his stories, Gene Wolfe
looms large in my pantheon of favourite writers. I find his work to be
difficult and frustrating (probably the reason I haven’t read many of his
works), but his mastery of prose sucks me in every time. It’s alluring and
hypnotic in the way good fiction can be, but what makes it great is that the
time I spend rereading large passages and sometimes entire chapters or stories
is greatly rewarded. It’s challenging, but worthwhile.<br> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br></span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">As I’ve been doing
with other anthologies, I’ll be writing about the stories I read here at SUR.
It’ll undoubtedly make my progress through the book laboriously slow. However,
I trust it will be a labour of love and like the strongest of loves will
require a lot of work and dedication. Pick up your copy and join along. Wolfe
writes the kind of fiction that generates discussion and interpretation, so do
not be shy about leaving comments.<br></span><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span></span></o:p></span></span></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/02/short-story-sunday-28-island-of-doctor.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-77776986680095304272021-02-07T20:20:00.001-05:002021-02-07T20:20:19.774-05:00Short Story Sunday 27: Johanna Sinisalo and H. G. Wells<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWVJM0Wepty6YaLxJgvsPBtQcjtyAYRvBe0PKiIFeU0fCUAmiAGEhxxNfy7OiYCvERQ4q9iGpBeVsM9sxXGbtrjJ-g-9YElgxlmG8s4StTTvMBjWoqemjceByYbeVG4_K1WkG1ZKOdJ_b/s516/Johanna+Sinisalo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWVJM0Wepty6YaLxJgvsPBtQcjtyAYRvBe0PKiIFeU0fCUAmiAGEhxxNfy7OiYCvERQ4q9iGpBeVsM9sxXGbtrjJ-g-9YElgxlmG8s4StTTvMBjWoqemjceByYbeVG4_K1WkG1ZKOdJ_b/s320/Johanna+Sinisalo.jpg"></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There was a fair
amount of hubbub in 2016 around the release of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Big Book of Science Fiction</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.
I knew of their reputation even though wasn’t very familiar with their work.
Still, a new collection of science fiction stories by dozens of authors
spanning roughly 100 years of publishing history carefully curated by two
knowledgeable editors and anthologist in the field does call for some
attention. That and its very reasonable price point and easy availability led
me to purchase a copy. The goal was to read each story and write about it here
on the blog. Five years lately, I’m finally starting.<br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ll be taking a
specific approach to these reviews. For starters, the VanderMeers wrote
wonderfully detailed introduction to each story. Part biography, part career
overview, sometimes structured like a miniature essay about an author’s work,
these text pieces are as much a draw of the book as the written contents. They
also have a great and lengthy introduction to the whole collection in which
they write about the difference phases of science fiction writing in the
English language while also making mention of non-English authors and their
work. They present their criteria in compiling the collection and it makes for
a compelling read as well as an excellent contextualization for the reader to
sample all of these stories.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span></span></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/02/short-story-sunday-27-johanna-sinisalo.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-14030848405567353542021-01-24T14:46:00.007-05:002021-01-24T14:48:06.310-05:00 Short Story Sunday 26: Fritz Leiber and Tanith Lee<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOW_lUrBpkyEOvOF0HPJCj7i6_NCTjGP1Ta7_oRR9UqP6QS_itTQaMMHbFfwWQDXbOQg-SPFbO3wNU9b5_qkH3nlepmpDYCxj0R4J-e2WsIScIEpF94qCDsd54Jjyt0uVaFvVtsozLnX3/s450/Fritz+Leiber.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOW_lUrBpkyEOvOF0HPJCj7i6_NCTjGP1Ta7_oRR9UqP6QS_itTQaMMHbFfwWQDXbOQg-SPFbO3wNU9b5_qkH3nlepmpDYCxj0R4J-e2WsIScIEpF94qCDsd54Jjyt0uVaFvVtsozLnX3/s320/Fritz+Leiber.jpg"></span></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">I’ve spent
more time reading and writing about short stories this month than I had reading
novel-length prose. That’s a little unusual for me as I tend to read comic and
novels much more frequently than I read short stories. Upon further reflection,
that surprises me as I tend to be like a variety in my fiction. More so variety
of authors and moods than in variety of genres, but there is some variety there
as well.<br><o:p> <br></o:p>This week’s
selection of stories offers some nice variety. The first author, Fritz Leiber, I’m
already familiar with form his work in fantasy. I’ve read a couple of
collections of his <a href="https://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-blog-fantastic-014-swords-against.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fafhrd and the Gray
Mouser</i> series</a>. I enjoy them, but I’m not quite swept away like some of his
fans or, in general, fans of sword of sorcery. His “A Pail of Air” is a science
fiction story and it was fun following him over into another mode of writing.
The second author, Tanith Lee, is new to me. I first heard of her upon her
passing in 2015. Reading appreciations of her body of work and her
contributions to literature in the wake of her death made an impression on me
and I’ve been keeping my eye out for her work ever since. I remember searching
for her work at my local bookstore, but I couldn’t find any volumes that
started a series or any short story collection that wasn’t part of a larger
series. I didn’t buy anything. Finally, I got my chance this week and I was not
disappointed.<br><o:p><span></span></o:p></span></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/01/short-story-sunday-26-fritz-leiber-and.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-84139097724086045322021-01-10T14:05:00.006-05:002021-01-10T14:06:35.768-05:00Short Story Sunday 25: Robert Reed and N. K. Jemisin<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPecHGP4v8iT1HCPvR7soSJNzK2sRx2DJ_XmqF-ii3da8r6Q3zr4czqbsLbFlvxMcuZtGzGC2ogV_6n77knLta8Wf-PzzJuBm6QPy0o9w1Cl889tB8N1TsYkO6KUXLdryH1mWHlcTQxvaq/s1024/Year%2527s+Best+SF+16+Cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="635" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPecHGP4v8iT1HCPvR7soSJNzK2sRx2DJ_XmqF-ii3da8r6Q3zr4czqbsLbFlvxMcuZtGzGC2ogV_6n77knLta8Wf-PzzJuBm6QPy0o9w1Cl889tB8N1TsYkO6KUXLdryH1mWHlcTQxvaq/s320/Year%2527s+Best+SF+16+Cover.jpg"></a></div><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The year’s first
week back to work is done and I’m trying to keep the ball rolling here on the
blog. I have specific reading and blogging goals for the year that I’m
intentionally not making public on the site. I tend to get fired up each
January about making Shared Universe Reviews a place full of content and I
inevitably fail to meet any of those goals. So, for now, all I’ll be sharing is
that I will try and post new reviews regularly in the hopes of striking up
interesting conversation with others who enjoy a good book. This week, I went
back to the well that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Year’s Best SF
16</i> and I also had a wonderful time listening to LeVar Burton’s podcast
while shovelling the driveway.<br><br></span><br></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">“The Good
Hand” by Robert Reed<br></span></b>Read in <i>Year’s
Best SF 16 </i>(2011), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer<br>Originally
published in <i>Asimov's Science Fiction </i>(January 2010), edited by Sheila
Williams<br><span></span></div></div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/01/short-storysunday-25-robert-reed-and-n.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-41382309703018152532021-01-03T14:30:00.005-05:002021-01-03T14:32:32.376-05:00Short Story Sunday 24: Brenda Cooper and Gregory Benford<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBy2FS2RbhOef-4xkgq4-zJZYftNFEV8gOSJyQ5IThQGgRbMWJe1_9OjhrcAV86UyD2ojxLukAN0kq7JsVyUHhWv3_7Plxv0xK2FOchfAzvg72ttoT_eID_7tIj89XGMP4RAEd5xpe1L3O/s1024/Year%2527s+Best+SF+16+Cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="635" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBy2FS2RbhOef-4xkgq4-zJZYftNFEV8gOSJyQ5IThQGgRbMWJe1_9OjhrcAV86UyD2ojxLukAN0kq7JsVyUHhWv3_7Plxv0xK2FOchfAzvg72ttoT_eID_7tIj89XGMP4RAEd5xpe1L3O/s320/Year%2527s+Best+SF+16+Cover.jpg"></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let's try to start the New Year with reviews of stories
originally published in 2010. The key to making this little blog a popular
place to hangout online is keeping it relevant to the times. What better way to
do that than to continue my review, one story at a time, of <i>Year's Best SF
16</i>?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>“The Hebras and the Demons and the Damned” by Brenda Cooper</b><br>Read in <i>Year’s Best SF 16 </i>(2011), edited by David
G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer<br>Originally published in <i>Analog </i>(December 2010),
edited by Stanley Schmidt</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br>As is usually the case when reviewing stories in either
of Hartwell and Cramer's long running Science Fiction and Fantasy anthologies,
Brenda Cooper is an author I was not familiar with until picking up this book.
Discovering new authors is one of the pleasures of reading these annual
anthologies. Cooper's "The Hebras and the Demons and the Damned" has
made it very clear to me that I need to seek out more of her work as it's topic
is right up my alley: colonization of alien planets.<br><br></div><span></span><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2021/01/short-story-sunday-24-brenda-cooper-and.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-80844090313177783882020-07-05T14:44:00.008-04:002021-02-20T13:13:00.341-05:00Short Story Sunday 23: The Frost-Giant’s Daughter (Reading Conan 08)<p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; line-height: 1.15;"><tbody style="line-height: 1.15;"><tr style="line-height: 1.15;"><td style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvSQnaywJDLIqpL9-7t3AbfBfqxYtNtUsVA18xDwNKZ6uYDCnPR637onnXkuxN1O43jkgZ4q3MYVsEVUNIxIhkhSBe7u4XpUUiJJzlzg1aiDoc3Ma5ZAswZJinGy2DWhTemh6ozRgGbn7/s480/Robert+E.+Howard.jpg" style="clear: right; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="371" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvSQnaywJDLIqpL9-7t3AbfBfqxYtNtUsVA18xDwNKZ6uYDCnPR637onnXkuxN1O43jkgZ4q3MYVsEVUNIxIhkhSBe7u4XpUUiJJzlzg1aiDoc3Ma5ZAswZJinGy2DWhTemh6ozRgGbn7/w248-h320/Robert+E.+Howard.jpg" width="248"></a></td></tr><tr style="line-height: 1.15;"><td class="tr-caption" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: center;">Robert E. Howard</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">Two weeks in a row
of Conan? Yes! Somebody give me a medal and a cookie.</font></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;"><br></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><b style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">“Rogues in the House” by Robert E. Howard<o:p></o:p></font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">Last Conan version
of the story published in 1976.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">We begin on a windy
plain high up in the north. Two warrior are fighting. They are the last two
standing after a fierce battle. One of them is Heimdul, the other is Conan.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">After defeating his
opponent, Conan is now exhausted with the exertion of battle. He is visited by
a nearly nude woman of great beauty. She teases and taunts the tired warrior,
causing him to lust and hurry after her.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><font face="inherit" style="line-height: 1.15;">She leads him on a
chase and soon draws him into an ambush. Conan stands face-to-face with the
woman’s giant twin brothers. Roused by his passion for Atali, the beautiful
woman, he defeats the giants and the pursuit continues. While Atali grows
tired, Conan continues to be stirred on by her alluring figure and provocative words.</font></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.15;"><span></span></span></p><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/short-story-sunday-23-frost-giants.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-8620069576663169652020-06-28T14:58:00.001-04:002020-06-28T14:59:25.285-04:00Short Story Sunday 22: Rogues in the House (Reading Conan 07)<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdD3SvhDCs1NR_Fp62SK0Ox1BH27GxaYcVqxvBYbZbm_tvtyEue1uxGnrtorsP2RDv18gPFExl0gQ8RfU_e5UQEzY0f_b2m33_UQ45pvtwPZrWfH_PS0RJ7tYPF6nfzuXZxSbUBnyFPAw/s1600/Robert+E.+Howard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="371" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdD3SvhDCs1NR_Fp62SK0Ox1BH27GxaYcVqxvBYbZbm_tvtyEue1uxGnrtorsP2RDv18gPFExl0gQ8RfU_e5UQEzY0f_b2m33_UQ45pvtwPZrWfH_PS0RJ7tYPF6nfzuXZxSbUBnyFPAw/s320/Robert+E.+Howard.jpg" width="247"></a>It has been a long
time since I wrote about Robert E. Howard’s Conan. I’ve been meaning to write
stuff for the blog more often this year. If you’re reading this in 2020 you
know the kind of year we’ve had. If you’re reading this from sometime in the future,
then I would like to apologize from bringing up the horrors we went through.</div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Suffice to say that
it’s been too long since my last time hanging out with the Cimmerian. Long ago
my goal was to read all of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Conan</i>
stories written by Howard and write something about each one as I go along.
Unfortunately, since writing about each story requires time and effort, the
project stalled a few years ago. Recently, I’ve been taken by the Conan bug
again (lucky for me it wasn’t another altogether dangerous bug, yes more
dangerous than Conan) and decided it was a good idea to give this another go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Another reason to
pick up this project again is that I’m looking forward to reading Conan in
physical medium. The edition I’ve been reading so far is an ebook compendium of
all of Howard’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Conan</i> stories. I also
have the three-volume set edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It found it randomly in
my local used bookstore and, liking the covers and having always wanted to read
these stories, I picked it up. I didn’t find out about how well-regarded they
are by fans of Howard and Wagner until after I have purchased them. They do not
collect all of the stories, mostly the later ones. I’ve got a three or four
more to read as ebooks before I start reading the Wagner edited volumes. That’s
extra enticement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/06/short-story-sunday-22-rogues-in-house.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-51092838749491298042020-02-09T13:11:00.003-05:002020-02-09T13:11:54.242-05:00Short Story Sunday 21: Jo Walton and Ted Chiang<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga5CZgwFj4ASY3s5WjDEj9nhorUMTqcm7IQvP7AG0OYuYF4F7i8NfBxx_CK53uYXsbBs326_AA_Vnd3xfq541Nfxx7oM0a8RdImiIIa2CxyFhyphenhyphendD_HxmOMnJWAqTyXXGm4kJ36cEQS3Ti_/s1600/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga5CZgwFj4ASY3s5WjDEj9nhorUMTqcm7IQvP7AG0OYuYF4F7i8NfBxx_CK53uYXsbBs326_AA_Vnd3xfq541Nfxx7oM0a8RdImiIIa2CxyFhyphenhyphendD_HxmOMnJWAqTyXXGm4kJ36cEQS3Ti_/s320/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" width="198"></a>I’ve been reading stories in <i>Year’s Best Fantasy 2 </i>for three weeks. I’m starting to get a bit tired of them, not because of the content necessarily as I’ve enjoyed these last six stories, but of their length. The very short length of these stories has limited their scope and depth. That changes today as one of the stories is technically the length of a novelette and it has the kind of deep storytelling that I was looking for and it’s tremendous. </div>
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<b><span lang="EN-CA">“On the Wall” by Jo Walton<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Read in <i>Year’s Best Fantasy 2 </i>(2002), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (uncredited)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Originally published in <i>Strange Horizons</i> (September 2001), edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">This is my first time reading something by Walton but I’m already a big fan of her through her various non-fiction writing at Tor.com. I’ve been meaning to explore her body of work, but I simply seem to never get around to it. Because of that I welcomed the opportunity to get my first taste with this anthology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/02/short-story-sunday-21-jo-walton-and-ted.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-20555817880786520012020-02-02T14:41:00.001-05:002020-02-02T14:41:32.127-05:00Short Story Sunday 20: Gene Wolfe and Patrick O’Leary<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUEOxrWdgNVtvYoNOfQaCKJjhcQagLP5yhGOq3WY1f_vjx0lnATDFfKQDgYoLPb8vtTHL5_4F6Mo2Ku_DxxHtGejk2TckoVd6W3UJTlssha1JdBvQEWYPJeHADWjF_33ApTVPU3zmKP3P/s1600/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUEOxrWdgNVtvYoNOfQaCKJjhcQagLP5yhGOq3WY1f_vjx0lnATDFfKQDgYoLPb8vtTHL5_4F6Mo2Ku_DxxHtGejk2TckoVd6W3UJTlssha1JdBvQEWYPJeHADWjF_33ApTVPU3zmKP3P/s320/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" width="198"></a>I had a
good time reading short stories last weekend so I decided to do the same again
this week. I was hoping for some better stories. One of these confused me and I’m
still not sure what to think of it. The other certainly delivered the goods.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">“Queen” by Gene Wolfe<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Read in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Year’s Best Fantasy 2 </i>(2002), edited by David
G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (uncredited)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Originally
published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Realms of Fantasy</i> (December
2001), edited by Shawna McCarthy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">I
haven’t read much by Wolfe, but what I have read has blown me away. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth Head of Cerberus</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peace</i> are worth your time and will
certainly stay with you for weeks after finishing them. That’s the effect they
had on me. I’ve read a handful of his short stories and all of them read like
they’ important and worth reading, even if they often leave me questioning what
actually happened. That’s standard fare for a Wolfe story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/02/short-story-sunday-20-gene-wolfe-and.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-33252736834573818302020-01-26T22:12:00.001-05:002020-01-26T22:14:11.490-05:00Short Story Sunday 19: Ashok Banker, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzXAJ4DLJM3rZrV4gVIcj-g8OINRjCdE2nm1eVl4kKvUk6deM3VwxZate01JjvQvJxnsRo-t-eQUNXAPxpPphCNUikPF_Tunky3izdDxCKCLGgZSOd1Hpc44zXDNdXxLqWRmEnK2k3ORT/s1600/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzXAJ4DLJM3rZrV4gVIcj-g8OINRjCdE2nm1eVl4kKvUk6deM3VwxZate01JjvQvJxnsRo-t-eQUNXAPxpPphCNUikPF_Tunky3izdDxCKCLGgZSOd1Hpc44zXDNdXxLqWRmEnK2k3ORT/s320/Year%2527s+Best+Fantasy+2+Cover.jpg" width="198"></a>I’m
making a serious effort to return to blogging this year. I’ve shared a couple
of projects designed to help me work through my pile of unread books and encourage
me to write more at SUR. I have no specific projects outside of those which is
a good thing since they’re plenty ambitious as they are. <i>Year’s Best Fantasy 2</i> is included on my Currently Reading list at
Goodreads which ties into one of my <a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/2020-blogging-projects-1-currently.html">2020 blogging projects</a>. I figured a
good way to break that down into bite size pieces is to revive Short Story
Sunday. This originally started with a Science Fiction anthology by David G.
Hartwell and I thought it would be a nice little call back to revive the series
by reading a couple stories in another Hartwell anthology.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">“In the Shadow of Her Wings” by Ashok Banker<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Read in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Year’s Best Fantasy 2</i> (2002), edited by
David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (uncredited)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Originally
published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Interzone </i>(April 2001),
edited by David Pringle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/short-story-sunday-19-ashok-banker.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-39691191529118843142020-01-24T20:04:00.001-05:002020-01-24T20:08:53.619-05:00 L’École des Robinsons (Godfrey Morgan) by Jules Verne Review<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgYIFZZwuFyGzZojjz9kYwtAkspC4WjiFCceIa6PdWOFyeUL_CgHxT-8eiFNttiPC9CTIedBAVrRhKjpSnph4hZ1vEUYZBlZR-76V8BJRB0KuCsw1flXv1fd_TxUCGTe45U35iyCY2eMn/s1600/%2527School_for_Robinsons%2527_by_L%25C3%25A9on_Benett_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="469" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgYIFZZwuFyGzZojjz9kYwtAkspC4WjiFCceIa6PdWOFyeUL_CgHxT-8eiFNttiPC9CTIedBAVrRhKjpSnph4hZ1vEUYZBlZR-76V8BJRB0KuCsw1flXv1fd_TxUCGTe45U35iyCY2eMn/s400/%2527School_for_Robinsons%2527_by_L%25C3%25A9on_Benett_01.jpg" width="263"></a>I’ve
been a fan of Jules Verne since my youth. My dad has a collection of several of
his works in French. It’s nearly an entire shelf of matching little red
hardcovers, about the same size as mass market paperbacks. I believe it’s the
entire The Extraordinary Voyages series, but I’m not entirely sure. I read a
few of them between the ages 10 to 12 and enjoyed them a bunch. I’ve reread a
couple as an adult and I can confirm that <i>20,000
Leagues Under the Sea</i> holds up. It’s one of only two Verne books in my
personal collection. Itching to read another of his works I borrowed a couple
of my dad’s books when I visited at Christmas. One of them is <i>L’École des Robinsons </i>(often titled <i>Godfrey Morgan</i> in English after the
protagonist). As you can probably guess form the French title, it’s an island
survival story in the same vein as Daniel Defoe’s <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. Having finished it recently, I can attest that
some of Verne’s books are better suited for the audience of a 10 to 12 year old
than to an adult.<br>
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</div>
</div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/lecole-des-robinsons-godfrey-morgan-by.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-58891081255631660552020-01-16T19:54:00.002-05:002020-01-16T20:17:31.010-05:002020 Blogging Projects #2: Unread Comics<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJuKqR-kRllZyOij-V4xVOva1tORwM2Q8ixsPrZY4SC1zSwev2-Uo14TtjrXdwZ2xd8qweFXGKHP4gaUiwZkQkWAuFcQIgC-w2HQkJBcbsWSXpXV79-zGzdPGpPWeDLjUCJ030AK_8uRY0/s1600/Wasteland+vol.+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJuKqR-kRllZyOij-V4xVOva1tORwM2Q8ixsPrZY4SC1zSwev2-Uo14TtjrXdwZ2xd8qweFXGKHP4gaUiwZkQkWAuFcQIgC-w2HQkJBcbsWSXpXV79-zGzdPGpPWeDLjUCJ030AK_8uRY0/s320/Wasteland+vol.+4.jpg" width="208"></a><br>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">I own a
lot of books. Most of them I’ve read. Many still that I haven’t. This second
year long project to help me work through my TBR shelf and to encourage me to
write stuff for SUR will focus on comics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">I’ve put
together a list of comics I’d like to read this year. I was going pick a number
and use that as my goal. Instead, I’ve made a list of all the comics I own that
I have yet to read and pick some from there. Here are the lists, sorted into
four categories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Multi
Volume Series:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">This
list is made up of series, mostly. Not necessarily complete series or complete
runs by a single creative team on a series, though many on this list will fit
that description. All I mean by series for the context of this project is any
comic that I own that has two or more volumes of it that are unread. Here is
that list, in no particular order:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/2020-blogging-projects-1-unread-comics.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-91953263355461697962020-01-05T19:00:00.004-05:002020-01-05T19:01:24.838-05:002020 Blogging Projects #1: Currently Reading List<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg953S-r8Om5pSyE3dlqqdgTGkVTaUtuY5Z-RtwB7QnEiTxAaj4rnK04aTah-1If7o6vQERsC5NsqF4axovdS46SVoDAjCQ1ufwV7FaXM1jOjoVvTW4D1BjnW6Yna60MLxl1UG1ar2ga9lR/s1600/00-Crime+and+Punishment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg953S-r8Om5pSyE3dlqqdgTGkVTaUtuY5Z-RtwB7QnEiTxAaj4rnK04aTah-1If7o6vQERsC5NsqF4axovdS46SVoDAjCQ1ufwV7FaXM1jOjoVvTW4D1BjnW6Yna60MLxl1UG1ar2ga9lR/s320/00-Crime+and+Punishment.jpg" width="208"></a><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">One of
my resolutions for the New Year is to start writing regularly at Shared
Universe Reviews. In order to help me stay focused and to help accomplish my
goals, I’ve thought up three projects. This is the first. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">I have a
secret shame that isn’t so secret, since it’s broadcasted on the internet.
However, the internet is so full of publically shared secrets that I’m sure
this particular guilt trip of mine is flying so low under the radar that I’m
certainly the only one that knows about it. Yes, you guessed it, it’s my To Be
Read pile of books. Specifically, the number of books I’m currently reading
which easily surpasses a dozen books. As you can guess, I’m not actually
reading over a dozen books with any kind of regularity. They’re mostly books
that have been abandoned that I still want to finish reading (as opposed to
books that have been deliberately abandoned, a rare event thought it does
happen).</span></div>
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</div>
<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/2020-blogging-projects-1-currently.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-40760416895463959082016-10-28T16:59:00.001-04:002016-10-29T19:17:43.327-04:00Horror Week 2016: The Birth of the Modern Vampire: Lord Byron, John Polidori, and The Vampyre<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxALfL17qtZpIx4OHFwG3cLz7WyaHrwo29d8eMz701kIr2KLgK45xQ-ucN0Pr-xA0jTCjrCbFBwvgZiGIXxN5m46g2VxoigPqdlxhumIxkYeKrK_CPRXkbPgPiqu15iBI9n1SG1-ad7J0/s1600/John+Polidori.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxALfL17qtZpIx4OHFwG3cLz7WyaHrwo29d8eMz701kIr2KLgK45xQ-ucN0Pr-xA0jTCjrCbFBwvgZiGIXxN5m46g2VxoigPqdlxhumIxkYeKrK_CPRXkbPgPiqu15iBI9n1SG1-ad7J0/s320/John+Polidori.jpg" width="259"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Polidori.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Everyone knows the scene. On a stormy Transylvanian night
lit by a full moon and serenaded by the howling of a wolf, a mysterious coach
pulls up to a dilapidated castle. Timidly, the coach’s passenger makes his way
to the castle door. As the door slowly creaks open, we finally see the lord of
the manor—a formally dressed nobleman with regal bearing—a creepy and ironic image
of a proper European aristocrat.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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At which point, Count Dracula bids us welcome.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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Dracula is not like other traditional monsters. His
elegance and sophistication set him apart. Much like a Bond villain, Dracula
could almost pass as a head of state or a captain of industry. The horror comes
from our knowledge that underneath that polished exterior lurks a creature
ripped out of nightmares and campfire stories. And that contrast between the
outer and inner character provides the complexity that separates not only
Dracula, but most modern vampires from all those more interchangeable creatures
that go bump in the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/horror-week-2016-birth-of-modern.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-65387873342943794472016-10-28T16:49:00.007-04:002016-10-28T16:53:08.222-04:00Horror Week 2016: “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQl1NsUpWUHbDsJEVgg1sOsuWycBqawluYG71vjrdGFbTImYUKmdiQtxz7PXktHWyX-3MdTHUgTUQISwKkNQlzbkND7AZNVT0VZp4p1bAIu9Oc0X4v_a6mh8fdDwyd4rEgfqY-DaLlpCy/s1600/Edgar+Allen+Poe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQl1NsUpWUHbDsJEVgg1sOsuWycBqawluYG71vjrdGFbTImYUKmdiQtxz7PXktHWyX-3MdTHUgTUQISwKkNQlzbkND7AZNVT0VZp4p1bAIu9Oc0X4v_a6mh8fdDwyd4rEgfqY-DaLlpCy/s320/Edgar+Allen+Poe.jpg" width="260"></a>You don’t have
to look any further than kids’ campfire stories to realize that the best scary
stories are timeless. Good horror can seize you by the throat no matter how
much time has passed since its inscription. Perhaps that’s why, autumn after
autumn, year after year, readers return to the works of Edgar Allen Poe, a 19th
century master of the macabre.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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When Mario asked
me to be part of this project, I knew I wanted to revisit “The Masque of the
Red Death.” Even though this story was written in 1842, it continues to be
hauntingly timeless, touching on the same horror themes that scare readers
still today. Better yet, enough time has passed that it’s now in the public
domain, and <a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/masque.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">anybody can read it for free</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2016, it may
often feel like the world is ending, and that’s a theme we visit often in
contemporary fiction. I can think of at least two modern bestsellers that
explore the idea of a plague that eradicates society, prompting an apocalypse: <i>The
Stand</i> by Stephen King, and <i>Station Eleven</i> by Emily St. John Mandel.
Poe’s “Masque,” however, is one of the earliest. In this story, the Red Death’s
excruciating pain is matched in terror only by its guarantee of death. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
</div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/horror-week-2016-masque-of-red-death-by_28.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-45060221341440685402016-10-27T19:56:00.002-04:002016-10-27T21:34:07.490-04:00Horror Week 2016: Turn of the Screw by Henry James <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8AiAHB63yvWk7AjT8Xm5POdG_EquIV4uZTw50zzr1m1xVT8VfaZABYIhUBbV-grxUGHnQPPZVjNApr4beJhWJSAws9NxKPQ-bBGq8kaUBm0DbCXK5KerVaeogSwbVcPZobrFQmOHeksQ/s1600/turnofthescrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8AiAHB63yvWk7AjT8Xm5POdG_EquIV4uZTw50zzr1m1xVT8VfaZABYIhUBbV-grxUGHnQPPZVjNApr4beJhWJSAws9NxKPQ-bBGq8kaUBm0DbCXK5KerVaeogSwbVcPZobrFQmOHeksQ/s320/turnofthescrew.jpg" width="212"></a></div>
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<i><span style="background: white;">Turn of the Screw</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">is a novella penned by nineteenth century British
author Henry James. Considered to be part of the literary ghost story genre,
the novella was originally published serially between January and April of 1898
in</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><i><span style="background: white;">Collier’s
Weekly Magazine</span></i><span style="background: white;">, being later compiled
into a single volume the following October.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white;">The novella provides a
ghost story that is unlike many of the ghost stories being produced during the
nineteenth century, which is what makes it so fascinating to me. Rather than
having a purely supernatural gothic story, James’ tale creates a sense of
anxiety through eerie realities. Its unnamed narrator is a young woman who is
hired as governess to two children at Bly, a remote English country house belonging
to the children’s family. What begins as a pleasant summer in the country soon
turns distressing and traumatic as the governess becomes convinced that
the children are consorting with a pair of malevolent ghosts. The ghosts you
see are of two former employees of Bly: a valet, one Peter Quint, and a
previous governess, Miss Jessel. In life the two of them had been scandalously
discharged for their forbidden sexual transgressions with one another, and
their spectral visitations with the children hint at Satanism and possible
sexual abuse. Clearly, as the governess sees it, ten-year-old Miles and
eight-year-old Flora must be protected. But her attempts to protect the
children from hazards that are possibly immaterial, she instead winds up
traumatizing the little girl and killing the little boy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br></div>
<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/horror-week-2016-turn-of-screw-by-henry.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-60102861881512294322016-10-26T16:35:00.004-04:002016-10-26T16:38:01.847-04:00Horror Week 2016: “The Boogeyman” by Stephen King<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVoK-LDNXSHzPIsBgJQpgRwKr8gJKL1hhxizgnBzCDK9S5bJS6VxvMoDjseSRcyH66e1l1F_8D5frJ6tGPDoXG5wS6qJ7waHXcsrS4ZxbQz-5DmH2TwmuUj0dnIwMmJwSJZRE_QI6qovM/s1600/Night+Shift+cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVoK-LDNXSHzPIsBgJQpgRwKr8gJKL1hhxizgnBzCDK9S5bJS6VxvMoDjseSRcyH66e1l1F_8D5frJ6tGPDoXG5wS6qJ7waHXcsrS4ZxbQz-5DmH2TwmuUj0dnIwMmJwSJZRE_QI6qovM/s320/Night+Shift+cover.jpeg" width="193"></a><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">While I'm
not a huge horror or scary-movie fan, as in a fanatic, I did love watching the </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nightmare in Elm Street</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> series, </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">American Werewolf in London</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">, and a
number of other movies back in the 80s and 90s. The scariest movie I've
experienced was 1979's </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Alien</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">. I
watched that movie, ill-advisedly in hindsight, with my younger siblings back
in 1985 in my basement bedroom. That night, after my siblings went upstairs to
go to bed, I found myself alone in my room. I then realized what a stupid thing
I had just done. Needless to say, I didn't sleep the whole night because of the
sheer terror I experienced watching </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Alien</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">.
To this day I remember that night and how terrified I was and how impossible it
was for me to sleep in the basement, alone, with the darkness in the room and just
beyond my bedroom door. The slightest sound would jolt me from the bed so I ended
up cowering in a corner of my room just praying for the sun to come up.</span></div>
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<br></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">I haven't
watched a proper horror movie in many, many years. As I've gotten older the
genre just doesn't appeal to me anymore. The most recent "horror"
movie I saw was <i>Tucker & Dale vs Evil</i>.
It was just enough to remind me of the experiences I was missing out on -- watching
horror movies -- but not too much to keep me awake at night. These days I need
only to look at my bank account statements or bills, but I digress. <i>Tucker & Dale vs Evil</i> was a
beautifully well-executed movie that is a perfect example of its genre, i.e., horror-comedy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/horror-week-2016-boogeyman-by-stephen.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-1048421764279947122016-10-25T20:45:00.003-04:002016-10-25T20:50:16.645-04:00Horror Week 2016: “Children of the Kingdom” by T.E.D. Klein<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP7GjPuszivTRrGWZSyhZFPah2QQaOXmVl0SG_Vc5tp9iCWhPYMVD2MXFckfwOSr791RTxJ69-wr_216Lotv9Aaq9UJDRYBftIDajYoxTUl_Rzn5GnnbPoyh7LkXRRn1nS99ovuZmlR7u/s1600/T.E.D.+Klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP7GjPuszivTRrGWZSyhZFPah2QQaOXmVl0SG_Vc5tp9iCWhPYMVD2MXFckfwOSr791RTxJ69-wr_216Lotv9Aaq9UJDRYBftIDajYoxTUl_Rzn5GnnbPoyh7LkXRRn1nS99ovuZmlR7u/s1600/T.E.D.+Klein.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">T.E.D. Klein</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._E._D._Klein">T.E.D. Klein</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> is one of the great could-have-beens. He wrote some of the best and most memorable </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">horror stories of the seventies and early eighties. Derived from his first </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">published story, “The Events at Poroth Farm”, he wrote the masterful, if </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">lengthy, novel, </span><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ceremonies </i><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">(1984). His 1985 novella, “Nadelman's God” won the </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">1986 World Fantasy Award for best novella. It, along with three other novellas, </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">was published in the 1985 collection, </span><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Dark </i><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Gods</i><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">. And then he started to fall </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">silent.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to his </span><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2391">entry</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, he only published a few more stories. Wikipedia credits him with co-writing the screenplay for Dario Argento's 1993 <i>Trauma</i>. A second collection of stories, <i>Reassuring Tales</i>, finally appeared in 2006 to little fanfare. Over the years, it was reported he was working on a second novel, but writer's block kept it from ever materializing. Despite considerable acclaim over the years from writers like S.T. Joshi and Thomas Monteleone, he's just faded away, someone known to horror connoisseurs but little beyond their circle.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/horror-week-2016-children-of-kingdom-by.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-6272651960200333492016-10-24T16:15:00.004-04:002016-10-25T20:47:23.498-04:00Horror Week 2016: Exorcising the Shame and Guilt – How I Learned to Love Horror<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Regular readers of the blog (if there is such a thing
here at SUR) will know that I’m not a huge horror fan. It’s something I’ve
actively avoided in my fiction for years. There are a few reasons for this. I’m
generally not too keen on the esthetics of the genre. Slasher films as a whole
and specific film series of the “torture porn” variety like <i>Saw</i> and <i>Hostel</i> where the examples of the genre that popped up in my head
when I thought of horror. The biggest reason for my dismissal of the whole
thing is that I came to it with preconceived notions of what any given book or
movie would be when it’s labelled as horror. I watched those movies and
attempted to read those books with the intent of finding those things I didn’t
like as a way to prove that yes, indeed, horror as a genre is a piece of shit
and it is best avoided.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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I’ve reconciled with a lot of that thanks to Stephen
King, particularly thanks to one of his most famous books <i>Salem’s Lot</i>. I mentioned some of that <a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.ca/2014/09/salems-lot-readers-confession.html">in my review</a> of the book and
there was certainly something cathartic bout the whole admission of guilt and
wrongdoing towards the genre. It’s still occasionally difficult to admit that I
was so dismissive. I dismissed it all, regardless of when or where a piece of
horror fiction came from, it all ended up in the same space in my brain: the
trash bin. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br>
</div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/10/exorcising-shame-and-guilt-how-i.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-7974277421504568622016-09-18T15:16:00.001-04:002016-09-18T15:16:55.299-04:00Short Story Sunday 18: Reading Neil Gaiman’s Trigger Warning, Part One<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pXOoIZXcAoKayI2wGvaZdorLH1SQQ_xGRy31BvyoEmMfBH-CU7qVtFoeX6MBc1tfXBRTkjkWXwfWREkA7NE7NT4SfQgyLJtWK3tGocCfr1WHW4WVeXleb8-jNJ4rQl6qVRWth4VOH3nU/s1600/Trigger+Warning+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pXOoIZXcAoKayI2wGvaZdorLH1SQQ_xGRy31BvyoEmMfBH-CU7qVtFoeX6MBc1tfXBRTkjkWXwfWREkA7NE7NT4SfQgyLJtWK3tGocCfr1WHW4WVeXleb8-jNJ4rQl6qVRWth4VOH3nU/s320/Trigger+Warning+Cover.jpg" width="212"></a>I’ve been a fan of
Neil Gaiman’s writing since my early teens. Surprisingly, I discovered him
through his novels and not his comic book work. I say it’s surprising since I
fell into the world of American comics in just a couple years later. No matter,
I’ve followed him across genres since I first finished <i>American Gods</i> and I’ll continue to read anything I come across that
has his name on it. I’ve rarely been disappointed by this decision.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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Sadly, as life
takes it course you sometimes find yourself with a shortage of spare time. When
that happens, things like picking up any new book by a favourite author don’t
always happen as planned. It’s for that reason that I’m only reading <i>Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and
Disturbances </i>now. I’ll be reviewing each story and poem here as a series of
post for Short Story Sunday. This is the first one of these posts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br></div>
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<br></div>
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<b>“Making a Chair” by Neil Gaiman <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Read in <i>Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and
Disturbances </i>(2015)<o:p></o:p></div>
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First appeared in
print in <i>Trigger Warning </i>(2015), but
previously appeared on the CD <i>An Evening
With Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer </i>(2011)<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div><a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/09/short-story-sunday-18-reading-neil.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-3314009742268355242016-04-17T10:00:00.000-04:002016-04-18T08:43:26.449-04:00Short Story Sunday 17: John Moore and Harry Turtledove<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79bXNcIUCZp0Z1oysz90xeR3WW7ZD11QA80y0tD7tdKQYQVuI2adrbZl7hdehEV5bZhQI1yzJsLBXWuBopRlSXPe-NPsWl19E3bJG7BF5cNPNK0ygxlSy6hgsFRq4eG8szwbPLFm_byv3/s1600/New+Destinies+VI+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79bXNcIUCZp0Z1oysz90xeR3WW7ZD11QA80y0tD7tdKQYQVuI2adrbZl7hdehEV5bZhQI1yzJsLBXWuBopRlSXPe-NPsWl19E3bJG7BF5cNPNK0ygxlSy6hgsFRq4eG8szwbPLFm_byv3/s320/New+Destinies+VI+cover.jpg" width="194"></a>This is an exciting
installment of Short Story Sunday. Well, maybe not for you, but it is for me.
This marks the first collection that I’ve reviewed in its entirety (except for
all of the non-fiction articles). I hope to review many more science fiction and
fantasy stories and I hope you stick around and get inspired to read a few of
your own.</div>
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For a long time I
completely ignored short fiction, but in recent years it’s become an important
part of my life. Due to an increasingly busier schedule and new responsibilities,
I’ve got less time to read novels. I was sad about that at first (and I still
kind of am) but I decided to view this as an opportunity to explore another
part of literature I didn’t pay much attention to before. Like everything else,
not all of the short stories I read are good. Some, even with their short
length, aren’t even worth my time. Still, I’ve read plenty of good-to-great
stories to remind me of how satisfying short fiction can be. Below are just a
couple of good examples.</div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/04/short-story-sunday-17-john-moore-and.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8487823047414540036.post-65959310509363275872016-03-20T11:08:00.001-04:002016-03-20T11:09:01.958-04:00Short Story Sunday 16: “The Blabber” by Vernor Vinge<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlceE8q8Ws2E5zif4cCEvfdGxJAZllu8RCyK8OOvRrx93uuEaHj0nCidAkySk6u8jhMvskEWcLKZfD1kJofPWG9IyBCtLeNNcjHlZUnH1rxBwJaVJZfykML2prCzJ1INJkltmhLaHULn8M/s1600/New+Destinies+VI+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlceE8q8Ws2E5zif4cCEvfdGxJAZllu8RCyK8OOvRrx93uuEaHj0nCidAkySk6u8jhMvskEWcLKZfD1kJofPWG9IyBCtLeNNcjHlZUnH1rxBwJaVJZfykML2prCzJ1INJkltmhLaHULn8M/s320/New+Destinies+VI+cover.jpg" width="194"></a>This is our first
Short Story Sunday edition where I write about only a single story. I’ve tried
to avoid that as I’d prefer to showcase more than a single author by post (special
editions notwithstanding) and more than a single story. Variety is nice and so
are posts that are longer than just two hundred words. This post is different
because the story being reviewed is quite long. It’s a novella, really. Still,
it’s science fiction, it’s short, and it’s really quite good.</div>
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<b>“The Blabber” by Vernor Vinge</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Read in <i>New
Destinies Volume VI/Winter 1988 </i>(1988), edited by Jim Baen<o:p></o:p></div>
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Originally
published in <i>Threats … and Other Promises</i>
(1988), editor unknown (but might also be Jim Baen)<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The Blabber” is
part of Vinge’s <i>Zones of Thought</i>
series which include a trilogy of novels that begin with the award winning <i>A Fire Upon the Deep</i>. Not only is that
an excellent title, but it’s said to be an excellent read. I wouldn’t know as
my copy remains unread. I’ll get around to it one day and likely sooner now
that I’ve read this novella which takes place just after the events of the
first book. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2016/03/short-story-sunday-16-blabber-by-vernor.html#more">Read more »</a>Mario Lebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278678223884882396noreply@blogger.com0