2018 Reads: I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks

This is a short book. You can read it while in the act of sitting down to actually read the book.

But that's okay. It's such a delightful little diversion - quick, amusing, heartfelt. If you, like me, grew up loving trips to the local library - or if you're in need of some "good people" stories - consider this a must read. It'll bring back memories of the stacks, the town quietly mingling, picking books...or overhearing any of the bizarre requests made to librarians on a daily basis.

Author/editor Gina Sheridan culled these stories from her own work experience as a librarian, as well as submissions from her blog's readers. Most are short snippets of conversations, with a few lengthier anecdotes.

By and large, we meet a diverse group of wackadoos either looking for some measure of assistance, no matter how trivial or unfit a librarian is to realistically helping, or needed an outlet for their particular, eccentric opinions. The final chapter veers from the purely comical and insane to the heartwarming, letting us know that there are decent people still hiding out in the world.

Pick it up, read a chapter, let it sit until you need another giggle and the chuckleworthy inanity on display. When it's done, pop over to her website, where the magic began (and where stories are categorized by Dewey decimal system!).

4/5 on Goodreads for me.

-E

2018 Reads: Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf

An interesting spin on both the private eye novel and "post-Tolkien" fantasy kingdom tale (with a dash of steampunk), Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf (by Terry Newman) is a solid standalone whodunit, outside of the normal noir trappings.

Published in 2014, the book follows dwarf detective Nicely Strongoak as he tracks down a vanished surfer elf (no highfalooting willowy forest dweller, he!), is tied to a fresh elf murder, orc gangsters, and finds himself entangled in kingdom politicking...and perhaps a nefarious conspiracy. I don't want to mention too much, as the joy of discovery is half the fun.

I enjoyed this well enough to be a little upset that Newman hasn't put out a sequel in the last three years. That's a good thing. While the book does have a few meanders, as a first novel (by a veteran writer of stage, screen, and...stage again, but for stand-ups this time!), it's a firm success. Few firsts are absolutely perfect.

Strongoak has heavy lifting throughout beyond the norm: building this post-medieval, post-monarchist fantasy world (but it has cars, after a fashion, and some measure of tech; again, think steampunk), while maintaining the atmosphere of your Hammetts or Chandlers scene by scene. If you're used to fantasy, such as Tolkien, Jordan, Martin, Brooks, this isn't the familiar evergreen Middle Ages pastiche; it's centuries beyond that, in both appearance and make-up. Like Brust's Taltos stories, breaking free of the standard mold opens up dynamic storytelling options.

And fans of Vlad Taltos will find an entertaining diversion here - both in the mystery and the politics (because if there's one thing Steven Brust brings to the table in his Taltos books, its socio-economic commentary normally absent from this type of story).

Over on Goodreads, I rated this 4/5, but that's rounding up a touch. So to be as pedantic as possible, my actual rating is 3.75/5.

Recommended, and it's only $.99 on Kindle!. And Terry, if you stumble across this, kindly write another installment!

-E

2018 Reads: From the Borderlands (Borderlands #5)

From the Borderlands: Stories of Terror and Madness
Edited by Elizabeth and Thomas Monteleone


I picked this one up back when I worked at Books-A-Million (at their now-closed Hinsdale, IL store). I was on a major Stephen King kick (and, related, horror) and thought this a good intro to other others in the field.

It sat on my shelf for 12 loooong years. I finally started reading it on Halloween, 2017.

So after such a build-up, it must have been outstanding, right?

Eh. Ehhhh.

Some (few) of the 25 stories were great, but so many left me cool or just unhappy with the time spent reading them. And it certainly took me quite a while to plow thru this. I kept putting it down, lacking any driving motivation to finish or than to get it off my "currently reading" list (accomplished Jan. 1, 2018).

I think it's because many of the stories have a brand of "horror" that isn't something I like - somewhat real-world pervy "human horror" as opposed to the supernatural. In that sense, it was a great book; it helped me to further distill my preferences. After reading it, I can honestly say that there's a chunk of horror out there I just never need to try again, and authors who will remain unknown but for their story in this collection.

Given that this is the fifth volume of the Borderlands anthology series (edited by husband and wife team of Thomas & Elizabeth Monteleone), these writers and stories (and sub-genres of horror) have fans. The book holds an average rating of 4.01 on Goodreads - no mean feat!

And I did find some definite quality and new authors to check in on. Those that stood out as exceptional, aside from King's, had high concepts and/or an element beyond human understanding :

• one where your hands are magically swapped out for another person's - and this happens all over the world - every day, week, etc. - and you hope to one day get your own 
• a twisted prison "escape" 
• dealing with ghosts on the line as a profession 
• a 7-day, personal apocalypse 
• seeing inside the head a B-movie monster, with a surprising amount of empathy 

Again, eh. Largely forgettable. Not stories of terror and madness, except a few. No, these are tales of creeps and disturbing portraits of humanity.

A 2/5 for me on Goodreads, and that's rounding up some.


-E