Six Word Wonder is a book for people with little time to read and/or short attention spans. Only one person ahead of you in the grocery store line? You still have time to read one or two of these concise little stories. I have to admit I was skeptical. HowContinue Reading
Final Cuts is an anthology of eighteen “all new dark and strange fiction inspired by cinema and television.” As with all anthologies, the stories vary in skill-level. However, these tales also swing wildly in genre. All have horror settings or themes. But some are also thrillers, fantasy, and romances. MyContinue Reading
It’s the Mystery Writers of America’s seventy-fifth anniversary! To celebrate they are throwing a party and we’re all invited. Luckily, we readers get the present—an anthology of nineteen short stories by the best mystery writers around. All the stories have an anniversary theme. In fact, they are all Deadly Anniversaries.Continue Reading
I think I’m missing something here. Despite thinking the Mensa test was easy, I just don’t understand the stories within Something that may Shock and Discredit You. That may mean I am discredited, when I wanted to be shocked. I feel that there is probably a brilliantly funny undertow runningContinue Reading
As indicated, this book does contain the Best American Magazine Writing 2019. All seventeen stories are winners or finalists in prestigious writing competitions. The stories are all non-fiction. The subjects vary from porn presidents to life in prison to end of life choices. My personal favorite is “How to beContinue Reading
The Big Book of Reel Murders is chockful of well-known authors like Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming, and W. Somerset Maugham. Even better, it has some of my favorite silver-age short story writers from 1950-1989 Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines like Cornell Woolrich and Stanley Ellin.Continue Reading
Another great selection of eleven British golden-age mystery stories is found in the Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. From Blind Man’s Hood from the great John Dickson Carr to ‘Twist the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons, many of the authors will be familiar to those who loveContinue Reading
Talk about multi-tasking! Read a 500-page book in the time it takes to “use the facilities”, wait to be called in by your doctor, or get through the checkout line. John’s bathroom books are always a joy to read and Uncle John’s Truth, Trivia, and the Pursuit of Factiness BathroomContinue Reading
Twenty-six short tales make up the Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven. Ghosts and vampires are if course present in a compendium of horror tales. Surprisingly, there are also stories about thumb-suckers and a town where it really is raining men. Of course, with any short story anthology, thereContinue Reading
With 29 stories, 624 pages, and a recommended reading list, the Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 4 is definitely worth its $13.99 cost. This collection includes the gamut of subgenres within the field. Hard science, soft space opera, spacemen, aliens, and robots populate these pages. I’m positive thatContinue Reading
Mystery, romance, mythology and pathos. It is all here in the Best Microfiction 2019. In the time taken to watch another catheter ad on daytime tv, you could slip into a fully formed life. It may be the story of a dragon, a protective older brother, or a murder victim.Continue Reading
Professor Van Dusen, also known as the Great Thinking Machine, unravels puzzles that would stump a lesser man. The “Problem of Cell 13” is rather famous as an ingenious locked room mystery. The Professor is challenged by two colleagues to escape from a real prison cell within a week. TheContinue Reading
Loosely tied together by the theme of food, the sixteen stories contained in Take-Out vary from crime stories to humor. While I enjoyed reading all the stories, my favorite was “The Gift of the Wiseguy”. It’s the story of a Mafioso’s son who writes a memoir. His father had rattedContinue Reading
Wondering how to deal with an annoying baby brother? Think What Would Cleopatra Do? 18-year-old Cleopatra married her 12-year-old brother so she could rule Egypt. Once her subjects got used to the idea, she basically erased her brother’s name on all historical and legal documents and took all the powerContinue Reading
SHOCK Anthology is a collection of 21 completely different stories from Aftershock Comics. Fluctuating genres and art keep any one person from liking all the stories. However, there is something for everyone within: horror, sci-fi, memoir, adventure and some with apparently no plot at all. The new Neil Gaiman isContinue Reading
Only Sherlock Holmes unites the unique and disparate tales within Baker Street Irregulars The Game is Afoot. The 13 stories within this collection take wildly different approaches in their homages to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is a girl, a native American, a student, a teacher, a librarian, a rabbi and aContinue Reading