- Hardcover: 488 pages
- Publisher: Earthling Pubns; Signed edition (October 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0974420301
- ISBN-13: 978-0974420301
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 4.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 930 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,726,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this stellar retrospective collection, Smith (Spares, etc.) proves that effective horror fiction depends as much on solid grounding in the ordinary as on the evocation of the extraordinary. Most of the 30 stories (including four original to the volume) feature characters so believably common and unassuming-"emotionally homeless, culturally pointless" is the way one describes himself-that the nightmares that overtake them hit with the unexpected force of a sucker punch. In the title story, a friendly infotech type finds his tediously clinical work on computers slowly drawing him into a voyeuristic hell of Internet pornography. "A Place to Stay" conveys the strange experience of a man's vampirization through the disorienting fragmentation of his daily routines. The protagonist of "Being Right" leads a life so seemingly humdrum that the reader is disarmed to discover it's the manifestation of a repellent psychopathology. Smith's skill at presenting emotionally credible characters gives him easy access to a wide range of themes, from "To See the Sea," a Lovecraftian tale with a flesh-creeping surprise, to "To Receive Is Better," an O. Henryesque shocker. Most of these stories have been available only in the author's native U.K., and this omnibus gathering will introduce American readers to one of the best writers of short horror fiction to emerge in the 1990s.
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
Reprinted or new, Smith's hauntingly nasty stories are laced with an odd sort of beauty. In one of the new stories, "Being Right," a man dissatisfied with his marriage finds a book, Hopes of a Lesser Demon, Part II, that allows him to summon up an angel to prove, in any given dispute, whether or not he is correct (lacking such proof is the cause of much of his marital frustration). "When God Lived in Kentish Town," another little gem, depicts God's junk shop in the center of Kentish Town. Following in a fine horror tradition is the murky, Lovecraftian "To See the Sea," in which a town is populated by Lovecraft's favorite sort of vile things from under the sea, the kind that crawled through H. P.'s classic "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The volume is framed by horror specialist editor Stephen Jones' introduction and Smith's afterword, "On Not Writing," which reviews the trials, tribulations, and processes of a writer's work. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent collection by a master of his craft,
This review is from: More Tomorrow & Other Stories (Hardcover)
M.M. Smith is undoubtedly one of the best horror/fantasy writers in the short form genre. The way in which he crafts a first-person narrative that always ends with a gripping climax is unique and he rarely misses with his format. His characters are always fascinating if not tragically flawed. The best in the collection is "The Vaccinator," a hilarious, bizarre, MEN IN BLACK-tinged absurdist tale about a fixer who prevents kidnappings of the alien abduction variety. When a kidnapping that he is paid to prevent still happens, our hero is pissed and uncovers a mystery that is both amusing and chilling. "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself" is a close second. A long story that only really kicks in at the end, but truly worth the wait, "Hell" is about the relationships that form between three scientists and the virus that destroys their lives, unleashing a hell that none of them can escape. "More Tomorrow" is a lurid story about voyeurism and a guy who can only watch but can't help. "They Also Serve" is a gem in the vein of 2001 about a guy in space, escaping from the war that is being waged on his planet but unable to escape the schemes of his overprotective computer. "To Receive is Better" is, in fact, better than Smith's full-length version of the story, his book SPARES which lacks the tension and atmosphere and fear that permeates "To Receive." All these stories start with great protagonists and end with great climaxes that are often morally ambiguous and always chilling and tragic. A stellar collection that had me up late at night, wanting more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent collection by a master of his craft,
By BookLover "Cinephile" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: More Tomorrow & Other Stories (Hardcover)
M.M. Smith is undoubtedly one of the best horror/fantasy writers in the short form genre. The way in which he crafts a first-person narrative that always ends with a gripping climax is unique and he rarely misses with his format. His characters are always fascinating if not tragically flawed. The best in the collection is "The Vaccinator," a hilarious, bizarre, MEN IN BLACK-tinged absurdist tale about a fixer who prevents kidnappings of the alien abduction variety. When a kidnapping that he is paid to prevent still happens, our hero is pissed and uncovers a mystery that is both amusing and chilling. "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself" is a close second. A long story that only really kicks in at the end, but truly worth the wait, "Hell" is about the relationships that form between three scientists and the virus that destroys their lives, unleashing a hell that none of them can escape. "More Tomorrow" is a lurid story about voyeurism and a guy who can only watch but can't help. "They Also Serve" is a gem in the vein of 2001 about a guy in space, escaping from the war that is being waged on his planet but unable to escape the schemes of his overprotective computer. "To Receive is Better" is, in fact, better than Smith's full-length version of the story, his book SPARES which lacks the tension and atmosphere and fear that permeates "To Receive." All these stories start with great protagonists and end with great climaxes that are often morally ambiguous and always chilling and tragic. A stellar collection that had me up late at night, wanting more.
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best!,
By Brian Tomkinson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: More Tomorrow & Other Stories (Hardcover)
Not having previously read this author, I picked this book up last year mainly because I got a great deal on an edition whose value has sky-rocketed. Also, I knew that this collection along with several of the individual stories had won Best of... awards. This hefty collection is imposing and I really only started reading it when I did to sample the first story "More Tomorrow" - however, I was very quickly hooked and it has now earned a spot on my list of all-time favorites.
I thoroughly enjoyed just about every single story in here. The stories pretty much fall into the category of horror and scifi, but I think that they would be accessible to everyone, not just genre fans. While I will not review every story, I will list some of my favorites: More Tomorrow, The Book of Irrational Numbers, The Man Who Drew Cats, The Dark Land, To See The Sea, They Also Serve, To Receive Is Better, A Long Walk For The Last Time, and Enough Pizza. A handful of the stories are fairly tech-heavy, and I am not sure how a non-savvy reader might respond to them, but I think they would be fine. Also, while most of the stories are not much more than 10 years old or less, some of the stories can feel a bit dated due to the detailed descriptions of computer technology and terminology that has become obsolete. (As a computer geek, I found it kind of humorous to read about a man's excitement about the delivery of a state-of-the-art computer for which he paid top dollar. The computer, which probably became useless 5 or 6 years ago, was described in realistic detail in the story.) |
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