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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Private Life of Elder Things in Books

Aug 18, 2019 (Updated Aug 18, 2019)  
The Private Life of Elder Things
The Private Life of Elder Things
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adam Gauntlett, Keris McDonald | 2016 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
4.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Short story collection consisting of various riffs on elements from HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos; you probably have to be fairly familiar with Lovecraft and his acolytes to get the full effect, as this does almost turn into a game of Spot-the-Yithian in places. All the usual suspects appear, along with excursions into more obscure areas (there's some excellent Hastur-related wordplay in the story featuring that part of the mythos).

Of the three authors, Tchaikovsky is probably the best stylist, McDonald manages to find some humanity and depth in fairly unlikely places, while Gauntlett is the pulpiest. None of them attempt to actually copy Lovecraft's idiosyncratic prose style, which is probably a blessing. None of the stories are genuinely inspired, but they're usually very readable even if they sometimes get a touch bizarre.
  
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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Uparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall in Books

Nov 28, 2019  
The Uparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
The Uparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
Edgar Allen Poe | 1835 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This story is one of a number in a collection of Poe stories that I downloaded. I've always wanted to read Poe and this collection seemed like a good starting place.

The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall was written in 1835 and is a short story containing much that would later be labelled science fiction, The titular character lives in the Netherlands and disappears one day. Five years later a strange balloon-like craft appears and it's equally odd occupant hands the Mayor of Rotterdam a message from Hans Pfaall. The bulk of the story is the content of the message, where he describes constructing and flying a hot air balloon to the moon.

The adventure is told with a fantastic eye for detail and with a great deal of scientific descriptions of how the atmosphere thins, how much of the earth is visible and other such observations. He carries a cat and two birds (which don't fare well for various reasons). The ending and what it very strongly suggests probably won't come as a great surprise.

The language is sometimes a little obscure (it was written nearly 200 years ago, to put it in perspective) but the actual story is surprisingly modern, and some of the facts (such as the distance of the moon) must have been almost incredible to the audience at the time and perhaps education is as much the intention of the story as the entertainment value it contains.

This is a fairly straightforward tale for Poe but interesting because of the subject matter and the way it is dealt with. Perhaps one for science fiction fans rather than as an example of the author's work. Still a good read, and some of the of the hardships Pfaall describes and his solutions may well prompt a smile on the face of the reader.

Recommended? Maybe not. But still not a bad little short story.
  
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Karin Slaughter recommended Complete Stories in Books (curated)

 
Complete Stories
Complete Stories
Flannery O'Connor | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"A teacher gave me Flannery O’Connor’s short story collection in the ninth grade. I grew up in a small town where girls were taught to be polite and not laugh too loud or talk too much or show interest in anything that might scare away the boys. It was a revelation to read O’Connor’s work. Here was a woman from a small Georgia town (like me!) who in direct contravention to her sex and social class was writing the kinds of stories that I was not only interested in reading, but wanted to start writing myself. Her bravery and clarity of vision laid an early foundation for my own work."

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