Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination

Golding's alt-history was difficult for me. I understand the themes, the punch, the portrait of an aging Caesar, but what was all that banter (?) and detail that filled at least 2/3 the pages? The dialogue wasn't credited; I often could not tell who was talking. But I requested this from Uni. archives for Wyndham, who I usually enjoy much, and Peake, who I've heard of but don't recall reading. Onward:

Wyndham's was good, but I've read it elsewhere and I'm not sure it was worth the reread. The most notable thing about it is that it is still relevant... the "historian" is correct about the power of advertising, no matter how emancipated women have become we still feel pressure to buy the right clothing, makeup, home appliances & décor, show more etc., to a much greater degree than men feel.

Peake was too Lovecraftian to me, I think. Too much describing the horrors but not really doing anything with them, or convincing me of them either. After several pages I skipped to the end and it looked like there had been no developments, so this makes a dnf.

Overall I cannot rate, both because I did dnf but also because of my mixed approaches & understandings. But I can say, read the middle story in [b:Consider Her Ways and Others|163906|Consider Her Ways and Others|John Wyndham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387746770l/163906._SY75_.jpg|1793895], and imo don't bother with the others.

January 2022 show less

I guess you could call this an anthology even though it only has 3 stories. That said, this is the first anthology that I really loved all the stories.

Boy In Darkness by Mervyn Peake - Read this one years ago. Here are my notes. Very bleak world, freaky like Dr. Moreau but better. Not as boring, better writing, full of horrific images.

Envoy Extraordinary by William Golding - Read this one in 2015. Often funny, sometimes extremely witty and also interesting.

Consider Her Ways by John Wyndham - Read this one in 2015. Other than being a little repetitious, this was great. The ending was especially satisfying but the philosophical debate was great. I wonder if Brian K. Vaughan got his inspiration for Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned from show more this story. show less

Heard about this and was intrigued, but found none of these three stories particularly interesting or compelling. Worth a miss.

John Wyndham - Consider Her Ways: A woman wakes up in a future where men have died out due to a virus. She is trapped in the body of a "Mother" in a sterile, regimented society, which she finds horrifying despite its supposed utopian status.

William Golding - Envoy Extraordinary: Phanocles, a Greek inventor, presents the Emperor with advanced inventions—a steam-powered boat, gunpowder/tormentum, and a printing press—which disrupt the court, fail hilariously, and create chaos

Mervyn Peake - Boy in Darkness: a teenage Titus Groan escapes his stifling life in Gormenghast. Lost, he is captured by the grotesque Hyena and Goat, who intend to sacrifice him to their master, the malformed Lamb, a sinister, childlike being, forcing a fight for show more survival. show less