- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (Aug 11 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0765314142
- ISBN-13: 978-0765314147
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,339,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Reed (Thinner Than Thou) transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary in this impressive story collection. A nonagenarian Salman Rushdie finally meets his fatwah in "Grand Opening." A determined fan and a little technology control megahit television in "Focus Group." Teenagers in super-secure "High Rise High" rebel and run amok without bothering parents. Toddlers ("Playmate") and infants ("The Shop of Little Horrors") are threats to sanity, while old age ("Old Soldier") is insanity itself. Life ("Incursions") crumbles before we notice, and even if we mastermind our escapes, as in "Into the Jungle" and "No Two Alike," things never go anything at all as expected. Even "The Zombie Prince" isn't what one anticipates. As "Captive Kong" reminds us: "Because things like disease and Armageddon happen to other people, never to us because we are special, what really happens always comes as a surprise." No matter how absurd, these horror stories still sting with truth and ring with humor, often ending with an odd happiness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Reed's stories sometimes have happy endings despite bleak subjects. She says the high-school story has to end well, so in "High School High," the kids take over a maximum-security high school and wreak havoc until they lose interest; then equilibrium is mostly restored. TV proves to be more than just a show in "Focus Group," two sisters can't escape their father even after he dies in "Yard Sale," and bed sharing goes to terrible extremes in "Escape from Shark Island." Not every story is all fun and games, though. "Precautions" considers germphobia taken past the breaking point, and "Captive Kong" is a charming apocalyptic tale of a boy and the bodybuilder in his basement. There's even a story, the almost-sweet creepy "The Zombie Prince," in which zombies get to be something other than moaning hulks out to eat brains. OK, this isn't cheery, upbeat stuff. Instead, it is a set of marvelous glimpses of the darker side of everything from megamalls to family bonding. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon Canada
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Horror with a Twist, April 13 2007
By Frank "Blaupanzer" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dogs of Truth: New and Uncollected Stories (Paperback)
Ordinarily, when reading a book of short stories in the horror genre, the more normal the lead-in and middle of the story, the more horrible the ending. The reader comes to expect this, anticipate it, and therefore, discount it. Not so with these stories. Ms. Reed still manages to surprise the reader with the twists at the end, or the way in which the "normal" part draws you in, only to shock in the wrap up. Based on her short stories, Ms. Reed is an excellent author, and this is a much better than "normal" book of short stories.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too Cute, Jan 12 2007
By MWA "MWA" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dogs of Truth: New and Uncollected Stories (Paperback)
A few in this book are gems but most are a little too cute and contrived.
Keep this as a "C" List selection.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
