This anthology of short fiction from Austria consists of stories and novel excerpts from 22 writers published in German between 1963 and 1995. In that regard I suppose it's a fair sampling of postwar Austrian literature, but what I had not expected was that this sampling would be so numbingly boring. As the majority authors represented were born during or soon after WWII, I shouldn't have been so surprised that the war and guilt are recurring themes, even in stories written in the '90s. While understand that the Austrian collaboration (Anschluss) with the Nazis is a scar in the national psyche, I suspect that those with more intimate knowledge of Austria may be able to tease a little more meaning out of the stories than I was able to.

Meaning and theme aside, too many of the stories are just flat out boring. I did more or less like Heimito von Doderer's "Beneath Black Stars", narrated by a Luftwaffe officer. I very much enjoyed Hans Carl Artmann's "Blind Chance and Roast Duck", which is a brief comic farce about three gentlemen who have gambled their money away. Peter Henisch's "Brutal Curiosity" appears to be a somewhat autobiographical account of his dying father's experience as a combat photographer in WWII which reads rather well. Gert Jonke's "The Bridge" comes close to being something quite interesting, and Peter Handke's two page sketches aren't bad. The remainder of the stories utterly failed to connect with me, mostly for stylistic reasons. In many cases the writing seemed incredibly stiff, while in others, experimentation runs amok.

I had hoped to emerge from this anthology with a sense of Austria beyond the standard Vienna, Mozart, classical view, with a gritty glimpse into the more real modern Austria. These stories more or less try to do that in a variety of ways, but ultimately fail. Rather than show what's going on now, the authors are more interested in deconstructing myths of the past.

Deftly edited by Martin Chalmers, Beneath Black Stars is an outstanding selection of original short stories by a number of talented, twentieth century Austrian writers. Many of these stories appear in English for the first time, and subtly express such concerns as alarm over the degree to which Austria collaborated with Nazi leaders during the German occupation, among other dark corners of Austrian culture that are not so often discussed in the land of Mozart, Vienna, and The Blue Danube. A most impressive and compelling literary anthology, Beneath Black Stars is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Austrian Literature supplemental reading lists and reference collections.

The only thing I liked about this book was the pictures of Wegmans beautiful Wiems and the cartoons. There were a couple of nice stories but as a whole the book was unmoving. These are not touching stories of lifelong companionship.... This book was quite a disappointment. At least some of my money spent helped needy animals.

When most writing about dogs is of the sappy "Chicken Soup" variety, this collection provides a welcome alternative. It manages to move the reader without resorting to cheap sentimentalism. I read it 9 years ago an still remember several stories that touched me--beautiful pieces of fiction that showed the writers' knowledge of their craft, of humanity and of life in the company of dogs . I don't know if it's still the case, but when the book was first published, a portion of profits went to dog rescue programs. That's real dog care.

A mixture -- beautiful, sad, weird. But definitely worthwhile. I was disappointed not to be successful in finding books available by these authors.

The best two stories in the collection, in my opinion: You Never Can Tell by Gad Taub, and Idoletry by Yoram Kolerstein.

World War I, A Short History is one book that certainly can be judged by its cover, it is a no frills statement of all facts concerning World War I from its causes to its consequences, it is accurate, detailed and has a refreshing lack of personal opinion. Do to its overwhelming detail and lack of personal opinion Lyons's book is best suited not as a class room text but as a stand alone resource of the First World War. There is no doubt of Lyons in depth knowledge of his subject but the comprehensive manner in witch he presents it makes the book no light reading, careful note taking is required in order to make the most out of the information that Lyons presents, despite this inconvenience the book is still a valuable resource.

This is a clear, readable textbook that covers the background of the war, wartime developments on all fronts, and the aftermath of the war. The focus is almost entirely on Europe; there is one chapter on the war outside Europe, but little attention otherwise to the involvement of non-Europeans (primarily via colonial empires) in the war effort. The focus is political and military, with occasional discussion of economic matters. There is little social and no cultural history--for those topics, look elsewhere. The maps are clear (though I would prefer more of them), and there are some photos--though for the price of this book, I would have expected more illustrations. It has a list of recommended reading and takes account of a good deal of recent research. The writing isn't gripping--it is a textbook, after all--but it's clear. Section headings help readers keep track of major trends.

I RECENTLY TRIED TO 'GET THROUGH' VOLUME 1 OF LAWRENCES SHORT STORIES. I LOVE HIS WRITING. IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND FILLED WITH WILD SENSUAL IMAGES. HOWEVER, WHEN I FINISH EACH STORY, I WONDER: SO WHAT??? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT??? EACH STORY SEEMS TO BE SIMPLY A SLICE OF LIFE, MANY DEALING WITH MAN/WOMAN RELATIONSHIPS. BUT AT THE END OF EACH, I DID NOT FEEL THAT I HAD LEARNED OR GAINED ANYTHING FROM THE READING. ALSO, MOST DID NOT HOLD MY ATTENTION - EXCEPT FOR THE BEAUTIFUL USE OF LANGUAGE AND SENSE IMAGERY.

Honestly, I've never been an avid reader of DH Lawrence. This is not to say, I dislike him as a writer. Not true. The literature that I have read by him, most I've found interesting and good. It had been a while since I read any DH, until I picked up SELECTED SHORT STORIES. I picked it up primarily for the story "The Prussian Officer." I wasn't disappointed with the short story at all. It's quite a homoerotic story about a Captain and his subordinate, telling of DH and his other work in many ways. The story is compelling, yet tragic, which I liked. The other stories that followed didn't quite compare. I found the other's dry and verbose (especially "Daughters of the Vicar"). I'd recommend this collection just for the "The Prussian Officer."

D.H. Lawrence was a superb short story writer, and The Rocking Horse Winner is perhaps one of the greatest short stories ever written. The only other short story that is its equal is The Bet by Anton Chekhov. I would say more but that would be spoiling it for you. Let it suffice to say that Lawrence is now a much overlooked writer, however, his message of how modern industry is destroying all that is vital and natural in mankind is as poignant today as when he first wrote about it almost 100 years ago! So what's new?

What is with these British anthologizers? How perverse a talent it is to find short, comedic stories which are not funny. Sweet merciful heavens this guy found a John Cleese story that was tedious. Imagine how hard you must work to find a tedious John Cleese anything. At least in this volume you can tell that most of the authors were trying to be at least a little funny.

Genuinely humorous books just don't pop up like they used to, so it's a breath of fresh air to finally find one that does it all right. Instead of overwhelming you with a novel claiming to be funny, but only supported by spots of humor tossed in at random, few and far between, intervals, this book simply tosses you a wide range of diverse, yet equally hilarious stories to read as you please. A perfect book for the most casual up to most die hard reader of both humor as well as fantasy. Doused in clever, quick witted humor ranging from dark to bold; this book is perfect whenever you need a good laugh!

Nothing interesting here at all. Very mundane, predicatble monologues. No interesting stories at all. Even the Dan Quayle stories fall flat. As boring as a Midwestern landscape.

"Seeing Eye" is a pleasant and provocative series of snapshot short stories from the perspective of many different people, all sharing the common thread of living among the corn fields and conservative urbanity of Indiana. For Fort Wayne natives, Michael chooses such familiar points of reference as Brateman's, Grand Leader, WOWO Radio, Bob Sievers, and even riding the Broadway Limited through Warsaw on the old Pennsy line. To prove Martone's popularity, I have the unique experience of meeting a woman on a train in New York State in 1994 who asked me what town in Indiana I was from. When she discovered I was from Fort Wayne, she asked me if I knew of an author named Martone. I calmly produced my autographed copy of "Fort Wayne is 7th on Hitler's List" and she exclaimed, "How did you get this? I don't even have this yet!" I had obtained it at the very first author signing party in Fort Wayne only 14 days before. The woman turned out to be Martone's self-proclaimed fan club founder from New York City! I had the priviledge of witnessing Michael's dramatic performances on stage at North Side High School 25 years ago. He was brilliant then. We both learned much from the same 9th grade English teacher, Margaret "Mom" Wiggs, to whom "Seeing Eye" is partly dedicated. My daughter just qualified for Honors English at North Side High. Here's hoping Michael left some of his aura in the "Dirty Dome" to be absorbed by her and other lucky readers of "Seeing Eye" -Charles F. Willer trolleycholley@yahoo.co

Were the police truly interested in catching the murderer of Candy Short? BURIED MISTAKES, the true-crime account of the slaying of an unrenowned small-town girl, asks that crushing, rhetorical question. Ultimately a hard-working detective, coming out of retirement, reviewed the "unsolved" case and proceeded to nab the culprit, the victim's husband. Was it that detective's own family-violence childhood that drove him to catch a wife-beating killer? BURIED MISTAKES author Michael Kaplan seems to ask: Is justice enough cause to motivate us to do the right thing, or must there be a personal stake in the issue?

COUNTRY OF THE BLIND is a collection of 33 short stories hand picked by H.G. Wells as his best. The stories were written first published between 1894 and 1906 in both magazines and other Wells' anthologies. Most of the stories are science fiction, though a few are not. Among my favorites were "The Stolen Bacillus," "The Lord of the Dynamos," "Under the Knife," "The Sea Raiders," "The Crystal Egg," "The Man Who Could Work Miracles," "The New Accelerator," "The Truth About Pyecraft," "The Magic Shop," "Empire of the Ants," and "Country of the Blind." "The Crystal Egg" and "The Magic Shop" both appear to have influenced Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. Other stories were uninspired sleepers.

Although I have always loved Moorcock's work, and these are fine stories, I believe that a buyer's warning should be attached. The only Aubec story is one that was already in a previous Elric book,and is about 12 pages long, and the rest of the volume is filled with other old short stories. All good, but nothing new, as I was hoping when I bought the book.