I'd never heard of michael blumlein before I read The Brains of Rats. I picked a copy up at a local library - and i've never been so fascinated. Blumlein has a wonderful writing style and his stories are some of the most bizarre pieces of fiction ever. This is one of the best authors of dark fiction that I've ever found.

The short stories in Michael Blumlein's "The Brains of Rats" are very difficult to classify by genre. In another sense, they're quite easy to identify; they're all very well written and fascinating. Though the book's spine identifies the collection as "horror," that label applies only to some of the stories. The title story, for example, deals with the questions of gender and gender identity. My personal favorite story is the second, a little opus entitled "Tissue Ablation and Variant Regeneration: A Case Report."

Written in a clinical manner, this story is heavy in medical terminology and describes an operation on a conscious albeit paralyzed man. Blumlein's style here is both complex and powerful. Though the writing seems to attempt to give maximum attention to the clinical nature of the operation, there is a subtext of the feelings of the man on the table; it is almost impossible not to empathize with the patient, to feel his agony to at least some degree.

The stories in "The Brains of Rats" are extraordinarily diverse, from relatively benign fantasy at times to the significantly darker aspects of "Tissue Ablation." Almost without exception, they are fascinating and engrossing. This book is highly recommended for those who enjoy well-written, short fiction of a speculative nature.

The opening is great. Right away the reader is thrown into confusion along with the main character as his consciousness is thrown into the body of a nubile stripper, and I love how Blumlein plays a bit with the methods of power women have over men. However, little is made of a real comparison of the processes and thoughts of men and women and how they differ. There is also an extreme lack of detail over the physical change. For example, I really wonder how this person dealt with their first period and if s/he ever had real attractions to men. If a person is biologically a woman, but mentally a man, does that make s/he gay if s/he has an attraction to men? More questions like these could have really elevated this book above what it is.

There are attempts at moving beyond the commercial novel form with some insertions of medical texts that explain the transformation by blending reality and fantasy. Read in the right light, it does illuminate slightly on the interpretation of the text, but really does not move the story and will probably bog down less adventurous readers.
As fresh and interesting as his short fiction is, I found Blumlein's novel a mild dissapointment.

The book has a great concept. After losing her memory, or maybe having switched bodies with a man, Frankie first has to gain her boyfriend's help in trying to get her back into the right body. The power dynamics of the relationship and how each tortures each other as they doubt each other is wonderful. But often the book gets bogged down with random medical documents in an attempt at grounding it and most of the emotional drive of the realtionship are underplayed or repeated over several chapters. An interesting try at a great concept though.