Stranger Things Happen: Stories (2001)

I get goosebumps on page one. A man writes to his wife from the land of the dead. He cannot seem to remember her name, and only fragments of what their life together was like, but he dutifully goes to the postbox on the seashore to post his letters. The land of the dead is a completely deserted holiday resort under a grey sky, where he stays in a completely empty hotel. Until he finds footprints in the sand one morning.

But of course she doesn’t stop there. Here you’ll also meet a Girl Detective out to solve the mystery of the underground tap dancers, the weirdest Miss America competition you’ll ever encounter, instructions on how to go to Hell via the London Underground and blondes gradually taking over the world. Not to mention "The specialist’s hat”, in it’s own peculiar way the creepiest little short story I’ve ever read, I think.

This her debut collection (of the meager three she’s published, the third of which is mostly reprints) has a one or two stories where Link’s brand of core-less, meandering story, revolving around recurring images seems not to be completely in place yet. They are therefore harder to get a grip on than in her later books. But these are very minor complaints indeed.

I feel like my Kelly Link reviews always are more or less the same. I gush over how there’s no one like her, how her imagination and blend of funny and scary / cryptic and crystal clear is utterly unique. So go read her already. ( )

Christopher Rowe, The Force Acting on the Displaced Body

Ed Park, Well-Moistened with Cheap Wine, the Sailor and the Wayfarer Sing of Their Absent Sweethearts

Shelley Jackson, Angel

John Gonzalez, Impala

Samantha Hunt, Famous Men (Three Stories)

Alex Irvine, Stories Gus Dreams of Biting the Mailman


Greer Gilman, A Crowd of Bone

Alan DeNiro, Fuming Woman

Maureen McHugh, Eight-Legged Story

Dave Shaw, King of Spain

Susan Mosser, Bump Ship

Vandana Singh, The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet

Glen Hirshberg, Shipwreck Beach

Jeffrey Ford, The Yellow Chamber

Beth Adele Long, Destroyer

Carol Emshwiller, Gods and Three Wishes

Christopher Barzak, Dead Boy Found

Rosalind Palermo Stevenson, Insect Dreams

Richard Butner, Ash City Stomp

Karen Joy Fowler, King Rat

( )

These stories are amazing. Read them.
"Travels With the Snow Queen" was my favorite. ( )

E' una raccolta di racconti particolare, sul genere fantasy e un punto di horror soprannaturale ma anche molti aspetti decisamente strani.
La fantasia e le idee ci sono, però c'è anche una certa inconsistenza che caratterizza tutti i racconti e che porta a finali troppo aperti e indeterminati che alla lunga stancano.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ★★★
La ricostruzione dei ricordi di un uomo mediante le lettere che scrive alla moglie dall'albergo in cui si trova.
L'uomo è morto e della moglie non ricorda il nome.

Water Off a Black Dog's Back ★★
Carroll, bibliotecario, incontrerà la strana famiglia della sua ragazza Rachel e i loro cani.
Nella prima parte il racconto è interessante, anche perchè si ha la sensazione che ci sia qualcosa di misterioso in Rachel e nella sua famiglia, purtroppo il finale risulta confuso.

The Specialist's Hat ★★★
Racconto centrato sulla morte e sulla Morte con protagoniste due gemelle di dieci anni. Anche in questo caso gran parte vago e l'interpetazione è lasciata al lettore.

Flying lessons ★★★.5
Un misto di mitologia e modernità; interessante anche la struttura della storia in punti non consecutivi.

Travels with the Snow Queen ★★★
Misto di fiabe e modernità, il finale è simpatico.

Vanishing act

Survivor’S ball, or, the donner party

Shoe and marriage ★★★.5
Alcuni racconti brevi che uniscono fiabe, parodia del moderno e matrimoni, molto carino.

Most of my friends are two-thirds water ★★★.5
Una storia malinconica di amori non corrisposti e alieni.

Louise’s Ghost ★★★.5
Louise e Louise amiche di infanzia, il fantasma di Louise, la figlia di Louise e violoncellisti, una -strana- storia di amicizia.

The girl detective ★★★.5
Reportage sulla ragazza detective, le sue abitudini e la ricerca della madre.


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It's a peculiar collection of short stories, mainly fantasy with a bit of paranormal horror and lots of weird details.
There is a lot of imagination and ideas, unfortunately it seems that each story lacks something, in particular the endings are too much undetermined and this quite tired me.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ★★★
The reconstruction of a man memories by the letters he sends to his wife from the hotel he staying at.
The man is dead and he does not remember even his wife's name.

Water Off a Black Dog's Back ★★
The librarian Carroll meet the strange parents of his girlfriend Rachel and their black dogs.
In the beginning the story is intriguing, and it is due to the mistery about Rachel and her parents, unfortunately the conclusion is quite confusing.

The Specialist's Hat ★★★
A story focused on death and Death with protagonists two twin sisters of ten years old. Also in this story the conclusion is quite vague and the reader has to understand/interpret it

Flying lessons ★★★.5
A mixture of mithology and modernity; I appreciated the story structured in non consequential steps.

Travels with the Snow Queen ★★★
Mixture of fairytales and modernity, the ending is quite nice.

Vanishing act

Survivor’S ball, or, the donner party

Shoe and marriage ★★★.5
Some short stories telling about fairy tales, modern times parody and marriages, very nice.

Most of my friends are two-thirds water ★★★.5
A malinconic short story about one sided loves and aliens.

Louise’s Ghost ★★★.5
The two best friend Louise and Louise, Louise's ghost, Louise's daughter and cellists, a -strange- story about friendship.

The girl detective ★★★.5
The girl detective reportage about her habits and her search for her mother. ( )

Meh.
Weird sf short stories. OK ish but nothing special. Few of them worked well, although a couple were creepy ish. Mostly they just stopped without any form of resolution. There appeared to be nothing linking the stories together other than that the author had written them.

Not memorable after a couple of days, other than that I wasn't impressed and kept putting the book down mid story to find something esle to do. Which for a short story collection is quite bad. ( )