Dark Highways by Megat Ishak

Dark Highways
Megat Ishak
2013, Fixi Novo, Malaysia
9789670374406
265p.

A collection of short stories set in Malaysia - I picked this up at a Borders on my recent trip to KL.  The main themes of these stories are horror, magic, violence, and betrayal.

I quite enjoyed reading these stories as an insight to Malay culture.  My favourite stories were 'Mr. Bolero', about two professional killers and set in the near future; and 'Cloud Sparkle', which is a horror story about killer clouds!

Overall I found the theme of betrayal, specifically female lover betrayal, to become a little tiresome but it's just a part of the collection.

Under the Garden by Graham Greene

Under the Garden
Graham Greene
1957, 1995, Penguin 60s, London
0146000579
87p.

A short story by Graham Greene published as a Penguin 60s.  A man named Wilditch learns he is dying and returns to his childhood home to revisit a dream he had as a boy.

This was a well crafted short story.  It had a mellow feel to it, a feeling of that faraway dreamland of childhood, where reality merges with fiction.  I'm not sure if it was supposed to be an allegory with the biblical holy trinity, but it sometimes seemed as though it was. 

Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls by Danielle Wood

Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls
Danielle Wood
2006, Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest
9781741149302
255p.

A loosely bound collection of short stories dealing with love and loss, growing up and learning life's lessons. 

I loved this book!  It is humorous and often made me smile.  And the words!  The words were beautiful.  Poignant.  Absorbing.  I am sad that it ended.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Tales of Long Ago retold by Enid Blyton

Tales of Long Ago
Enid Blyton
1965, Dean & Son, London
0603032613
184p.

Tales from Greek mythology and from the Arabian nights retold by children's author Enid Blyton.

I enjoyed reading these very much. I must say my Greek mythology knowledge is very poorly lacking, so to read the stories as written by Enid Blyton is a great introduction to some of the myths I have only ever heard about in passing. This book is a little un-PC and somewhat dated, but that's just how Blyton is.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

To Cut a Long Story Short by Jeffrey Archer

To Cut a Long Story Short
Jeffrey Archer
2000, HarperCollinsPublishers, London
0002261642
272p.

Short stories written by Jeffrey Archer. Most of these are based on actual true life events and follow themes such as betrayal, love and discontent.

I found this to be an interesting collection, especially the real life stories. My favourite story would be 'The Endgame' in which a wealthy widower pretends to be destitute in order to discover how he should split up his fortune.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

The Seeds of Time by John Wyndham

The Seeds of Time
John Wyndham
1956, 1969, Penguin, Middlesex
0140013857
222p.

A collection of science fiction short stories from John Wyndham written in the 1950s. They are stories of the future concerning space travel and the future of humanity.

These stories had some strong and interesting themes. Wyndham has a very smooth writing style.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

The Illustrated Man
Ray Bradbury
1952, 1991, Heinemann, London
0435123734
198p.

A man meets another man who has 'illustrations' all over his body - these illustrations move and tell stories of the future.

More great short stories from Bradbury. These were terrifying and horrifying stories of what's to come. My favourite was 'The Rocket'.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe
1841, 1995, Penguin, London
0146001915
56p.

A woman and her daughter are found murdered in a house in Paris. The daughter throttled and jammed up a chimney, the mother's throat slashed. As Paris reels from these horrific murders, an amateur detective and his friend go through the evidence to solve the crime.

A great little murder mystery from Edgar Allan Poe. I like reading these old mysteries, they give a feel for the time in which they were written. This story is quite clever and the solution unpredictable.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Home Truths by David Lodge

Home Truths
David Lodge
1999, 2000, Penguin, London
0140290133
135p.

Novella treatment of a screen-play written by David Lodge and set in 1997. Retired author Adrian Ludlow is convinced by his old friend screen-writer Sam Sharp to get back at a reporter who wrote a negative article about Sharp.

I knew the ending was coming from nearly the beginning of the story, and it made me not want to read it. I got very upset on page 5 when I saw what was coming, but I did continue on. This was very well written, I can see it as a play. It has a great depth of character, and the exploration of the themes of media and celebrity was brilliantly conceived. And knowing what was coming in the end just heightened this.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

City in Love: The New York Metamorphoses by Alex Shakar

City in Love: The New York Metamorphoses
Alex Shakar
1996, 2002, Perennial, New York
0060508838
164p.

Book of short stories set in the city of New York. Included stories are The Sky Inside; A Million Year from Now; Waxman's Sun; Maximum Carnage; On Morpheus, Relating to Orpheus ...; A Change of Heart; City in Love.

This is a whimsical collection of stories, showcasing a vast imagination and true understanding of the human beast. The characters were very real, and I found myself not wanting to leave them. Waxman's Sun was especially poignant.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood

Wilderness Tips
Margaret Atwood
1991, 1992, Virago, London
1853813958
247p.

A collection of short stories written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. This collection tackles themes of relationships and human behaviour.

This is classic Atwood. Her characters are so fragile and beautiful, and I love the intellectualism of her writing. I felt this collection was a little too repetitive, it could have been more rounded.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Away and Beyond by AE van Vogt

Away and Beyond
AE van Vogt
1963, 1968, Panther Books, London
no isbn
219p.

Eight short stories from one of the masters of the classic science fiction genre, AE van Vogt.

This is an interesting collection, consisting of mainly technology driven stories. It captures all the wonder and hope of the 1960s science and space dreams. My favourite story was The Great Engine about an engineer who discovers a fantastically advanced drive for a ship. I felt the last story in the collection, Asylum, really let it down as the story was vague and confusing.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Dancing Girls and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood

Dancing Girls and Other Stories
Margaret Atwood
1977, 1989, Seal Books, Toronto
0770423329
245p.

A collection of short stories by Canadian author Margaret Atwood.

Most of the stories are excellent, the rest are pretty damn good. And all of them are about us. None of the characters are particularly strong or brave in a traditional sense - they are normal people the reader can identify with. The collection is by turns melancholy and intense, light and amusing. By the end you are left with a feeling of honest optimism.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

The Labrador Fiasco by Margaret Atwood

The Labrador Fiasco
Margaret Atwood
1996, Bloomsbury, London
0747528896
41p.

Short story from Margaret Atwood about a woman visiting her father who has had a stroke and reading an adventure story together.

This was a great short story, and I love that it's in a little book format, all to itself. The adventure story about the ill-fated white men exploring the northern wilderness was very interesting and apparently true. And I liked the way it tied in with the story of the father.

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 8 edited by Dean Wesley Smith

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 8
edited by Dean Wesley Smith
Pocket Books, New York, 2005
1416503455
371p.

Twenty-two short stories set in the Trek Universe written by fans. These are the published entries of the 'Strange New Worlds' writing competition. There are stories using characters from The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise as well as Speculative Fiction which is not set in any specific universe.

I enjoyed most of these stories, all fan fiction I have read has an innate understanding of the characters and their motives, the technology, settings and historical events. My favourites were 'Morning Bells are Ringing' from Next Generation and 'Gumbo' from Deep Space 9. I found is odd (or maybe not!) that all the Voyager stories focussed on (or mentioned in passing) the relationship between Tom Paris and B'elana Torres! Must have been a very popular relationship!

Link to journal at bookcrossing

Doctor Who: Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury edited by Paul Cornell

Doctor Who: Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury
Paul Cornell (Editor)
2004, Big Finish, Maidenhead
1844351122
239p.

Most of these stories were really good - I liked the recipes and the story of Poor Tom. Very festive, and very Dr. Who.

There are 35 items in total, including recipes, poetry and micro-fiction. It would have been handy to have pictures of all (or the first eight, rather) Doctors handy, so I could picture who was Who in the stories (pun intended).

Link to journal at bookcrossing