Unvarnished Reviews

I haven’t done one of these in awhile even though I’ve been poring through short story collections, as any survey of my goodreads account will show. But I just had to say something about…

M. Rickert, “Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account” — The Oct/Nov issue of F&SF couldn’t come fast enough because I’ll buy anything with M. Rickert’s name on it. Such is my cultish devotion to her writing. This one didn’t disappoint. I’ve enjoyed some of her other stories more, but this one has some jaw-dropping craftsmanship. I can’t think, off the top of my head, of a story she’s written that this blatantly political. It’s got the tropes of the sort of story I usually can’t stand–a near-future world where certain partisan values have run amok and the citizenry has become generally inured. Even the protagonist. But even though the protag doesn’t rail against the system, she’s not blind. She’s fully aware of the effect the system is having on her and hers. Until she decides that she’s finally going to cope with it all in a way–and this is the best part–that most of us would probably cope. 5 out of 5!

Tweets for Today

  • 09:49 Plan C: Go to the classroom and drop some names (sanctioned by the person whose name I’m going to drop)! #
  • 10:14 Because–and I’m being non-snarky, here–this is all about working the system! #
  • 10:14 I’m all about working the system. Guess that makes me part of The Problem :). #
  • 10:29 Unrelated Lesson of the Day: Honesty can get you a 20% discount at the campus bookstore! #
  • 13:14 Unrelated Lesson of the Day 2: The discount doesn’t apply to textbooks, clothing, or computer stuff. Motherf… #
  • 22:19 Trying to remember the last time I paid over $100 for a book… #

Via LoudTwitter

Kmart Magical Realism

This term, literally, popped into my head the other day. I Googled this and found that Lisa Zeidner, from Washington Post Book World, had used it in a blurb for story collection The Jew of Home Depot by Max Apple.

I know nothing about Apple or Zeidner, but the term intrigues seems to fit the stuff I’m working on.

Eh, or not…