Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen is her debut collection of short stories, and the second one I read. And I think I liked the other one better, because–wait for it–stranger things happened. Not that this one doesn’t have its qualities. Far from it. It’s just … well, I don’t really know just what it is,… Read more »
Posts Tagged: humble bundle
First Lines: The Last Unicorn
The last unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and it lived all alone. Because all other unicorns had disappeared. At least, no one had seen them for a long time. She went out to find them, and, aided by Schmendrick the Magician (who happens to be the world’s most incompetent magician) and Molly Grue, adventures… Read more »
First Lines: Magic for Beginners
Most of the stories in Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners worked for me. Two didn’t. But the ones that did, mostly, made it work really well. Thing is, probably, that with a title like that, you automatically thing “Oh, she’s doing fantasy!” when actually, it’s a little bit more surrealistic. I mean, a story about… Read more »
First Lines: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories
Included in the second Humble eBook Bundle, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories is a damn fine collection of stories by Holly Black. I knew that Black had co-written the Spiderwick Chronicles series–and the movie they made out of that was enjoyable enough. Black can turn out a fine tale. There’s vampires, faeries, werewolves, enchanted… Read more »
First Lines: Machine of Death
Once upon a time a dinosaur had a pretty rad idea for a story: imagine a machine that will take a sample of your blood, analyses it, and spit out a card telling you how you will die. No dates, no details, just the cause. It’s just that the machine delights in ironically vague deaths…. Read more »