My second Margo Lanagan's collection of short stories. While enjoyable, it is less compelling than Red Spikes.
I had read one of the short stories in this book at a library, and after puchasing it and reading the rest, I am very glad I did; Margo Lanagan really outdoes herself here. The stories carefully balance science fiction and dark surrealism in a way that guarantees each story leaves the reader a little bit haunted by the ending.
For anyone who loves well-written, thought-provoking science fiction, this is the book for you. I loved "The Boy Who Didn't Yearn.
I read Black Juice by this author and loved it, so I was excited to discover another collection of her short stories. It's good, but none of the stories stuck with me the way a few of the stories from Black Juice did.
I have a copy of Lanagan's multiple award-winning first collection Black Juice somewhere in the house; I began reading it when it first came out, but for some reason I was interrupted and I never got back to it. On the strength of this second collection I should make a bit of an effort to dig Black Juice out.
My thoughts so far:
White Time - Complex, meaningful, imaginative... a wonderful opening.
These stories have a lot of ideas packed into them. My favorite is the title story.
This just goes to show that I have no interest in short stories. Especially ones that are trying too hard.
I really liked some of these stories, but others weren't interesting to me. Not as great as her other books (Black Juice and Tender Morsels) that I've read.
One thing Lanagan does do very well in these stories is "show don't tell". In most of the stories, the narrator speaks as if we already know the rules of their world, rather than explaining, and the reader must figure things out through context.
