Fiction spook-stories set around real 'haunted' places!!!So cool!I have only read one of the stories in this book and it is fabulous!

Though this science fiction book is written about Japan by a Japanese author, an interest in Japan is not necessary to enjoy it. It is a well-written story about a cataclysmic natural disaster; the story is plausible and the disaster possible. It seems strange to me that so many Western reviewers of Japanese novels and films feel concerned about how well a book or movie "reveal Japanese character," as if Japanese character was so difficult to understand. I am not sure whether Americans would react differently from the Japanese if faced with a similar national disaster. I believe that any good book or movie will reveal something about human character. I give it four stars rather than five partly because the English translation could have been a little better. Anyway, just enjoy the book.

This is a related group of stories about the Von Bek family, and its various branches. They are a family who move very easily between the realms of the normal and everyday to the strange and fantastic. The Von Bek's seem to have done it all, including standing at the gates of Heaven and Hell. These tales, which span the twentieth century, are about people looking for some kind of fulfillment in their lives, a Holy Grail. A roadie drives around late 1960s England with a reincarnated Jimi Hendrix, who is not yet ready to reveal himself in public. Another story involves North Africa and a piece of human skin sent through the mail with a full color tattoo of a Tarot card, the Wheel of Fortune, on it. In Depression-era London, the vicar of a shabby London parish suddenly becomes an urgent orator and proselytizer. Saying things of which the Church does not approve, he is branded the Clapham Antichrist. He becomes a sort of traveling preacher after being defrocked as a priest, and after the war, becomes a regular on TV intellectual shows, after which he disappears from public life. In present-day Aswan, Egypt, a man goes to rescue his archaeologist sister, whose letters home got increasingly strange. Depending on who he talks to, she has become either a junior Mother Teresa or a member of a UFO cult. The truth is actually much more fantastic. These are first-rate contemporary stories with just enough weird in them, and they are well worth the reader's time.

Fantasy collections tend to be like the genre itself: a few gems among the dross. This collection is a refreshing exception, with many good stories and only a few that I didn't enjoy. Mike Ashley displays a great deal of knowledge about the genre and about what makes a good fantasy story.

"Mammoth Book" kicks off with an intriguing story by Theodore R. Cogswell, "The Wall Around the World," a HP-esque story of a wizard boy who yearns to cross an incredibly high wall that blocks off another part of the world. "Darkrose and Diamond" is one of Ursula Le Guin's returns to Earthsea, a touching little love story. Robert E. Howard's "Valley of the Worm" is a relatively dry piece of work about a warrior reliving a battle against a monster. Ashley then digs back to the very beginning of fantasy for George MacDonald's "Golden Key," a story about a young boy who finds a strange golden key. Another pre-Tolkien master is Lord Dunsany, whose chilling "Hoard of the Gibbelins" tells about a man's run-in with the goblin-like Gibbelins, who eat "nothing less good than man." Clark Ashton Smith's "The Last Hieroglyph" is a vaguely Dunsanian story taking place on a future time when the world is dying. Jack Vance's "Sorcerer Pharesm" is an intriguing story about the naive thief Cugel and the creature TOTALITY.

Darrell Schweitzer's "King Yvorian's Wager" is a very traditional-feeling fable about a proud king who makes a wager with Rada Vatu, a very sinister god. Fritz Leiber's "Howling Tower" is a story about a barbarian and his sidekick Gray Mouser, who find a strange tower in a wasteland, and a man who has been afraid for many years. Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn bring back Moorcock's classic anti-hero Elric of Melnibone for an adventure with a love interest, ghouls, and a mad minstrel. Robert Zelazny brings Dilvish the Damned from Hell for a new battle in "Bells of Shoredan." Tanith Lee produces an intriguing, beautifully-written short story in "Hero at the Gates," where a strange man arrives to help a desert city escape an evil scourge. Patricia McKillip's beautiful "Lady of the Skulls" has a group of men arriving at the home of the mysterious Lady. Louisa Cooper's "Sunlight on the Water" is an excellent story, in which a man mourning his beloved late wife finds out a few things he hadn't noticed about her personality. Harlan Ellison's "Paladin of the Lost Hour" is about young Billy's friendship with the strange old Gaspar, who hides a secret side to his personality.

Theodore Sturgeon provides the slightly disturbing "Yesterday Was Monday," in which it is found that the world is only illusion. Charles de Lint's "Pixel Pixies" is a light fantasy about irritating little pixies and industrious hobs. Another classic fantasy is A. Merrit's "Moon Pool," a bizarre fantasy about strange and beautiful things along the moon path. Lucius Shepard's "Man Who Painted the Dragom Griaule" includes many of the usual trappings of fantasy, but thankfully does not fit into the ordinary mold. James P. Blaylock's "Nets of Silver and Gold" is an intriguing story about two childhood friends, one of whom definitely has an unusual outlook. Lisa Goldstein's "Phantasma of Q____" takes place in a world quite like ours, except slightly different in its fantasy elements, in which a phantasma has shown up in front of the author. James Womack earns an "Audience," a poignant story in which a curator tells a saddening story to the narrator. And the collection rounds out with Michael Swanwick's "Edge of the World," a slightly bizarre but very snappy story.

With a gorgeous, intricate cover and a foreword by Ashley before every story, this is obviously not a quick-and-dirty collection. Rather, it shows a great deal of thought. Only a few of the stories left me unaffected; I wasn't really impressed by Moorcock's, Howard's, or Sturgeon's. On the other hand, most of the others were ones I had not read before, and I enjoyed the introduction to underrated fantasy authors.

Fantasy fans searching for good, original, non-derivative reads should check out this book, for stories ranging from earliest fantasy to modern-day twists and turns. Good work, Mr. Ashley.

This is one of the books written every year to commemorate the nominees and award recipients for the Nebula awards, essentially the Oscars of science fiction. These awards which are chosen every year by the Science Fiction Writers of America seem to do a pretty good job of recognizing the most outstanding contributions of that year. This series was put together to publish some of the shorter fiction that won each year and to also mention some outstanding things that happened that year. For awhile this series was edited by Michael Bishop, and this is one of them, published to recognize the 1988 awards.

I bought this book several years back on a bargain table at Borders or Barnes & Nobles. I really love short fiction and I love science fiction, so this is a great combination. I actually had several of these stories already ("Last of the Winnebagos" was printed in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and I had a subscription for awhile), but I decided it would still be interesting to read what others had to say about the works. Anyway, I finally got around to reading it.

The anthology starts out with an introduction by Michael Bishop where he essentially explains his philosophy and how he wants to try and recognize all of the works that won awards but also just to emphasize major accomplishments from that year. He also lists the winners and nominees, the winners were:

Novel-Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (some controversey surrounded this selection since many considered it a juvenile) Novella-"The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis Novelette-"Schrodinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger Short Story-"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James Morrow

Ian Watson continues the anthology with a piece that basically summarizes and analyzes each of the pieces nominated, and he mentions his disapproval with the choice of a juvenile for novel. Since the full novel can't be reproduced, Lois McMaster Bujold then talks about Falling Free, and responds to Ian's allegations, basically stating that the novel deals with universal themes and therefore whether or not it is a juvenile is irrelevant. Both of these are interesting in there discussion of science fiction themes but of course somewhat dated and don't seem very relevant nowadays.

Ray Bradbury was also immortalized with a Grand Master award (essentially a lifetime achievement award). Greg Bear talks about Ray Bradbury's contributions to the field. This is a very personal look at Ray and not very in-depth but provides a side we usually don't see. Ray himself contributes an original poem, "The Collector Speaks" which is interesting and definitely an example of Ray's style of art. There is also a reprint of Ray's nonfiction piece, "More Than One Way To Burn A Book" which warns about the dangers of censorship in any form. It's something everyone should read at least once.

At this point we start to look at some of the winners and nominees. "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen is actually a nominee for the novella category, and is not reprinted in its full version but a significant portion is present. This piece which has a young girl being transported back to Nazi Germany, is definitely a juvenile, and not all that original. "Bible Stories For Adults..." the short story winner is a unique rewriting of the flood story and it will obviously be considered sacrilegious by some but it is funny and fairly innovative.

The three winners of the Rhysling award for 1987 are also reprinted. This is essentially science fiction's poetry award, and though the pieces are very good, I didn't find any of the really outstanding.

"Schrodinger's Kitten" is about a woman trapped to repeat a certain set of events in life until they work out correctly. This is extremely original and very interesting, since it combines quantum theory and traditional laws (a Muslim code of ethics) in a very unique and well told story. "The Fort Moxie Branch" is another short story nominee and is perhaps one of the better non-winners present in this collection. This story about a weird library that appears in a small town, asks questions about what it means to be good, and makes us wonder how much we've lost in the last 2000 years simply because no one thought it was worth preserving.

Clifford Simak and Robert Heinlein also died the year this book was put to press and hence there are memoriams to them by Gordon Dickinson and Frank Robinson respectively. I'm not a big Simak fan, but was a huge Heinlein fan and the memoriam to Heinlein I thought was particularly well done. I knew most of what was contained in it, but for those interested in Heinlein's life it is a very well done summary.

There are then several more stories reprinted. There is also a discussion of movies from the year 1988. The most notable of all the reprints in my opinion is "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis. This novella is set in the not too distant future, and conjures up a world where dogs are extinct. The world it envisions is interesting in its own right, but Connie does a great job as well of developing great characters who really have to go through some emotional trials and growth in just the short span of a novella, and she pulls it all off quite successfully.

The second to last piece in this collection is perhaps my favorite. It is called "My Alphabet Starts Where Your Alphabet Ends" and essentially is a work by Paul Di Fillipo that tries to argue that Dr. Seuss is perhaps the best and most visionary science fiction writer of the last century. Written in a very witty style Paul does a very good job of convincing me by the end.

This is a great collection all around and if it weren't so dated by now I'd give it five stars. I highly recommend this as well as the whole Nebula series to anyone who likes to read short science fiction, or who is interested in science fiction as a whole. A remarkable combination of pieces and very well edited.

Meyrink excels with this off-the-wall collection of dark humour. In "The Violet Death," a secret Tibetan mantra transforms half the world's population into purple jelly, because folks around the globe are too stupid not to refrain from saying it. Only the deaf survive. "The Ardent Soldier" makes fun of physicians and the military (two of Meyrink's favourite scapegoats). A young Austrian trumpeteer is taken ill with a temperature of 49 degress Celsius! His temperature continues to rise until the physicians, in bafflement, try to find a way to keep him from burning up everything. In "What's the Use of White Dog S***?" Meyrink sharply satirizes the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a military quest for dried-up dog turds. With his brilliant humour, it's a wonder Meyrink wasn't put to death by the Emperor, or later, the Nazis. Well worth a read.

Includes some of the best SF short stories ever written stories, like the award-winning "The 43 Antarean Dynasties", "Seven Views Of Olduvai Gorge", and "A little Knowledge". Also includes many of Mike Resnick's infamous funny short stories. My only complaint, it was too short.

The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896)(Sarah Orne Jewett 1849-1909)

Okay, the time has finally come for me to make a horrible personal admission. I've had a secret for years now, one that strikes right to the core of my manhood : of an evening, I enjoy a nice cup of tea. Actually, it's an enormous mug and I steep the tea until it looks like coffee, but I still acknowledge how sketchy it all appears. Nor do I imagine my case will be helped if I state that I most often enjoy said beverage on Sunday nights during Booknotes on CSPAN, though as a general matter I do occasionally partake when I sit down to read, after we get the kids to bed. There--I've said it--that monkey's off my back. Why here? Why now? Because, this book may be the sine qua non of tea-sipping books.

Perhaps the central theme that we've been developing over the course of these reviews is the existence of a fundamental tension in human affairs, between the basically feminine desire for security and the basically masculine desire for freedom. We've examined many examples of the latter--everything from Huckleberry Finn to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--but good examples of the former have been rarer, presumably because I just read fewer women authors. (Though we have found some good examples, try particularly the review of The House of Gentle Men) Now we come to Sarah Orne Jewett's lovely short novel, The Country of Pointed Firs, and the very essence of the book is the value of friendship (particularly female friendship), community, and continuity in providing an atmosphere of security and a bulwark against the encroachments of a changing world.

The semiautobiographical novel tells of a young woman writer spending a summer in the fictional town of Dunnett Landing on the coast of Maine. There she is adopted into a loose knit group of women who weave a web of stories about the town, the surrounding islands and the folks who live, or lived, there. This narrative tradition and the time spent in each others company take on the quality of ritual, and in light of their dismissal of the local pastor, a nearly religious ritual. In addition, Jewett's comparisons of the women to figures out of Greek drama and classical myth gives them a timeless quality. Most of all, there is her portrayal of the women as a phenomenon of Nature, arising organically from, and blending into, the rugged landscape.

The effect of all of this is that as the women speak they seem to be tapping into an eternal tradition. Their voices and stories summoning echoes from the past, not just of Dunnett Landing, but of similar communities across time and space. The term that has apparently been adopted to describe this kind of novel is "fiction of community," and that's a perfect description. There's something wonderfully comforting about the togetherness, shared sense of experience and the act of communal memory that Jewett's stories summon.

The flip side of this however is that the novel, not surprisingly since it is so clearly a response to classic masculine fiction, suffers from some inevitable weaknesses when judged by those standards. It is almost totally formless and plotless, being little more than a collection of reminiscences. It celebrates stasis rather than progress and at some level reflects a genuine and unhealthy fear of human development in general, and of industrialization specifically. Though relentlessly good natured, there is a marked indifference or even hostility to traditional religion. Politics and economics are completely, and unrealistically, absent from the scene.

Just as the "action" of the novel occurs at the very edge of the nation, figuratively outside the bounds of late 19th Century America, so the community it describes is a utopian one that is an alternative to our actual Western culture. Ultimately, that utopia, like most, seems like it might be a nice place to visit but like it would prove stultifying to the human spirit, the longing to discover and to achieve, the desire of the young to create their own place in the world rather than to simply assume a bequeathed place in their parent's. There's always something comforting about maternal unconditional love, but we prefer it in smaller doses; too much becomes cloying and suffocating.

The Country of the Pointed Firs is a comforting place to visit--try it with a big mug of tea by your side--but it's not a place you'd want to live.

GRADE: B

Sarah Orne Jewett writes with simplicity and sweetness. She writes of her beloved New England. She presents a world of time past, a world in which the people are good, and life is a pleasant journey with meaningful relationships and good days alongside sorrowful days. Her style is pleasant yet literary. I recommend this book as a refreshing break from the cares of year 2000!

In roughly 150 pages, author Jose Orlandis presents to readers a neatly compacted history of the Catholic Church up to the early years of the collapse of the Communist bloc. Published originally in Spanish as "Historia breve del Cristianismo" ('Brief History of Christianity'), this English translation by one Michael Adams is quite brief as well, even cursory to some. But, as Orlandis points out in his Preface to this work, he made the book short "in order to make it accessible to a wide readership, to people who might not be inclined to read a more elaborate book." This being said, the author does manage to effectively profile the main events and theological developments which molded the Church to its present form. "A Short History of the Catholic Church" is orthodox in its outlook and does not neglect to mention unfavorable events and characters in Church history. Orlandis dedicates a curiously laudatory paragraph in the final chapter to Opus Dei, the lay organization which is considered controversial in some circles but enjoys at the same time the support of conservative Catholics including Pope John Paul II himself. In a more conventional vein, the author supplemented his text with a fine chronological table divided by centuries, but unfortunately did not insert a bibliography.