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A timely collection, from "The Man Who Drew Cats" right up to "More Tomorrow". It's Michael Marshall Smith, how can you go wrong?
I don't usually read short stories but some of these are outstanding and really powerful.The first story in the book "More Tomorrow" is probably good test of whether you will enjoy the rest of the stories. It's sinister, dark and creates a real impact on the reader. There are three or four other stand out stories in the collection - many of them dark - but it's this opening story that will probably make me pick up the book again sometime.I wouldn't say any of it is fun to read - although 'Always...
This set of short stories was generally pretty entertaining - the author focuses mainly on modern urban life with the occasional twist (generally sci-fi in nature) and writes well. There's humour and drama, and it reminded me a little of Dan Rhodes' stuff, which I also have enjoyed.The best three or four ones were thought provoking insights about men and relationships - hitting the mindset perfectly, though none were disappointing. Quite shocking and challenging of subject at times.
It's always difficult to comment on short story collection because it's such a mixed bag of experiences. in addition, reading this book has been the filter between novels offer the last few months, so it's hard to pick out a theme.but here's the thing, Michael Marshall Smith is one hell of a short story writer, so you know you're going to be in for a great ride. Even if this first collection is not as awe inspiring as some of his later work, it's still well worth the entry fee.
There's an extra star here just for The Man Who Drew Cats and Hell Hath Enlarged Herself. There are many good stories in here, but those two are tremendous.
The man is a genius, what more can I say?
I love the novels I've read by Michael Marshall Smith and this collection, though a little up and down, had more hits than misses and struck many of the chords I've come to expect from him. 'More Tomorrow' has a chill that's only heightened by the entertaining period descriptions of the early-nineties internet. 'Hell Hath Enlarged Herself', though it starts off similarly to Greg Bear's godawful novel Blood Music, takes the same conceit to a creepiness and a lovely sustained note of sadness that
Some interesting dark and humourous stories.
A couple of these stories are good but overall I got tired of the wacky switchbacks and turnarounds. Didn't feel they earned them, sometimes real emotional impact was sacrificed for the sake of weirdness. Some stories also went on too long. Felt like a lot of scripts for short films, and the layers of irony dates this to the 90s even more than the digressions about that new internet thing.
I've been reading this for a while and there are lots of stories in this collection.I have it downloaded to my phone so it's the one I read when I don't have my Kindle.
I probably should have read this twenty years ago around the time when I read “Only Forward”, one of my favourite novels of all time. There is gold herein, and when Smith hits his stride it’s delicious. Unfortunately the good stuff is so few and far between and a lot of it feels like filler.
Brilliant collection of short stories many of them dealing with the subject of bereavement or perhaps those were the ones that stuck in my mind more. Several stories will stay with me for a long time.
The main male characters were the same dude recycled into different names, places and scenarios. They were inwardly sarcastic, outwardly ineffectual. Heavy smokers, regular drinkers, computer nerds with desk jobs, dodgy past entanglements of love. Almost always presented in the first person perspective.Out of seventeen stories only two featured women, both of them dour and lacking real characterization. Most of the lady characters were throw aways, which bummed me the fuck out. At first I was di...
I found this book really hit or miss. The occasional short story was good, but the majority of them were just disappointing. I can't say I'm a fan of short stories in general, they tend to go nowhere, just as they're gaining momentum the author slams on the emergency break in the form of a 'shock ending' that brings the story to an abrupt ending. Unfortunately, this book was no exception.
The collection features short stories which are both very different and very similar. Most of them are either predictable or downright clichés, but the author possesses the skill to make them interesting and gripping nonetheless. Almost all the stories are narrated in the first person by similar male protagonists, yet each of them manages to feel different to the reader. Insanity is a prominent theme, as is violence (and tea). The best piece for me was undoubtedly Everybody Goes which contains a...
As in almost all collections of short stories, the quality is not uniform. However most of these tales are quite good. It is not (with a couple of exceptions) a book of horror tales, but of disturbing tales. What this collection reminds me is of E.A. Poe. A londoner Poe, in the current time, and using computers, but with the same mix of mormality and the extraordinary.My favorites are "Later" and "The man who drew cats", and as they are in the beginning it may have lowered a bit the total score....
Whenever I try to push Michael Marshall Smith on people (and I do, frequently), I always say he's what you'd get if you threw Philip K Dick, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and Clive Barker into a blender. Not literally,because that would be a waste of great talent. And also, you know, murder. But I digress. The comparison is probably unfair to MMS, who is very much his own voice. This was just as enjoyably terrifying as it was first time around, and if some of the technology in the stories has dated...
I have been dipping in and out of this book for a long time and recently finished it. Some of the stories are quite dated now with regards to the mentioned technology but that doesn't diminish their impact too much. There was one story that I absolutely hated, 'The Dark Land' it irritated the shit out of me and I was glad when it was over. Of the other stories I particularly liked 'Hell hath enlarged herself', very creepy. A fair few of the stories are creepy or disturbing in some way but very g...
I've been reading this in parallel with other books. It's a collection of short stories in classic marshall smith style. Some great stories, some a bit mediocre. Most of them involve a twist or an ambiguous ending. Some are fairly thought provoking.Sadly, the story i liked the least was the one which titled the book. Ah well.If you like MMS, worth a shot.
Occasionally twisted, always mindcatching, Michael Marshall Smith had a lot of fun with this one. Stories set in a dark alter-Disneyland(when murderers are loose, who better to hunt them down than the Mouse and his pals?), or featuring sidewalk artists whose work comes to life in their defense, these are short but very memorable.