Very interesting, almost Shirley Jacksonesque, in her own kind of way ( )

stories: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose / Water Off a Black Dog's Back / The Specialist's Hat / Flying Lessons / Travels with the Snow Queen / Vanishing Act / Survivor's Ball, or, The Donner Party / Shoe and Marriage / Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water / Louise's Ghost / The Girl Detective

This would be the third collection of Link's stories that I've read...though I believe it's the first she published. "Shoe and Marriage" and "Louise's Ghost" were among my favorites from this book, but I enjoyed the distinctive Linkian quirkiness of the whole collection. ( )

I adored these stories, they are like crazy fairy tales on crack. Not crack, actually, more like some sort of odd hallucinogen. ( )

Loved it. It is a somewhat uneven collection, but the stories that I initially found to be weaker have grown on me, and the best stories just get better. Some of the stories were more goal-oriented than others, and I think I generally preferred the former type; but with the latter, if I was left a bit unsatisfied at the end, I at least enjoyed the dreamy, slightly unsettling atmospheres and the imaginative settings.

I saved "Travels With the Snow Queen" for last, and I was glad that I did: that story alone is worth the price of admission. Brilliantly conceived, funny, and oddly touching. I particularly love Link's use of fairy tale material--these stories come complete with lopped-off pinkies, trifold objects/characters/tales, talking animals, and musings on just how hard fairy tales are on females' feet. Sleeping Beauty is in there, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, the twelve dancing princesses, Orpheus and Eurydice, and more, all wonderfully reinvented and/or subverted.

So, for the stand-out stories, "Travels With the Snow Queen" was great (playing off of the Hans Christian Andersen tale as well as other well-known fairy tales);

"Vanishing Act" (a young girl's missionary parents leave her with her aunt, uncle and cousins, so the homesick girl learns how to "disappear herself" back with them, as her female cousin watches her household fall apart);

"Shoe and Marriage" (a three-part tale--a reworking of Cinderella, a honeymooning couple watches a surreal beauty pageant that includes Dorothy and her ruby red shoes as Miss Kansas (the beauty pageant scene is unforgettable), and the reluctant wife of a dictator saves the shoes of all the people that he has had murdered);

and "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" (a dead man in a strange beach hotel writes letters to his still-living wife, whose name he cannot remember). ( )

http://www.lcrw.net/kellylink/sth/smp...

This is not really my thing it appears, and as such, this is a 3 average for me, pretty much. What is cool though is the Creative Commons release, as the chance I would have seen it otherwise is zero. That being said, there are a few worthwhile stories here, but a lot of light and fluffy and very missable, and way too long when they get to part 18 of doing the same thing.

Stranger Things Happen : Carnation Lily Lily Rose - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Water Off a Black Dog's Back - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : The Specialist's Hat - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Flying Lessons - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Travels with the Snow Queen - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Vanishing Act - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Survivor's Ball or The Donner Party - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Shoe and Marriage - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : Louise's Ghost - Kelly Link
Stranger Things Happen : The Girl Detective - Kelly Link

Dead man story.

3.5 out of 5

Evil parents and pooches.

3 out of 5

Noisy munching millinery.

3.5 out of 5

Instructions not very useful.

2.5 out of 5

The geese should complain.

3 out of 5

Insubstantial Ping-Pongers.

2.5 out of 5

Just the leftover people for dinner, I think.

3.5 out of 5

Unrelated pairs in quadruple.

2.5 out of 5

Blonde, smooth and scary.

3 out of 5

Less one Louise.

3 out of 5

Better than reminding you of the mother-in-law, I suppose.

2.5 out of 5

http://freesf.blogspot.com/2008/01/st... ( )