...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

I have been a little too anxiously waiting for Film February and have been watching a lot of movies, so I have the feeling that I didn't read as much as I want to. Still, here are some short reviews, I hope you enjoy!

Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Nothing short of amazing.

Two government agents, one death cult, a lot of back and forth in time and place and a very, very unsettling vision of the future.

I have read many short stories by Kiernan in various anthologies and I kow she can write Lovecraftian like no one can. I had never enjoyed a longer work by her but it paid off and I have to say I'm smitten. Due to the puzzle structure of this novella it's only after having finished it that a certain awareness of the plot and its scope can be gained and it definitely requires a re-reading to savor.

This book has been waiting for me on my bookshelf  for years now and I just can't believe it. I took it down from my shelf for the Mount TBR challenge and now I'm curious what other treasures I have in my own home that I'm not aware of.

The Autodidacts by Thomas Kendall

The Autodidacts just might be one of the most original works I've read, honestly I don't think I've ever read anything similar. The story, which starts off with a traumatic event, is broken off in two by a further loss, and the remaining bigger chunks of texts constitute the time before and the aftermath. Much like a theater company which operates with the same actors but in different roles, I had the cast of characters of The Autodidacts switching places in my head, moving in time towards the end and beginning again.

It's a slow-paced piece of writing of high intensity and beautiful prose. My only criticism would be, and that's a highly personal point, that it is written in the present tense – that is for some reason something that throws me off and slows my reading pace.

I thank the author Thomas Kendall for reaching out to me, sending me a review copy and for his infinite patience, because I really took my time reading this.

Your Utopia: Stories by Bora Chung

Having discovered Bora Chung only last year through her fantasy/horror collection Cursed Bunny, I'm happy to be able to read her second English short story collection, Your Utopia, so soon. The stories all have a science fictional basis; like research for eternal life, a spaceship looking for a new planet for humanity to settle after a cannibalistic virus pandemic, aliens not only among us, but closer to us than we ever could have imagined, a post-apocalyptic world in which only robots with solar panels survived, the internet of things becoming emotional and much more. So the stories do the title justice.

My highlights were A Very Ordinary Marriage in which a husband catches his wife making phone calls in a strange language and discovers a wild side to her and A Song for Sleep where a smart Lift falls in love with a resident of the home for elderly it is in, and tries to make her feel at ease and comfortable when everyone in her life ignores her. Very touching.

It's great to have a Korean author so popular in the English speaking community so we get to read her stories a lot.

The Creeper by A.M. Shine

Dr. Sparling seeks the help of historical researchers Ben and Chloe for his project about the folklore of a remote Irish village. They are thrilled to say the least, until they arrive in this forgotten village. The locals are hostile, the houses are locked down at sundown. Because he is out there - The Creeper. You see him three times on three nights. And each time he comes closer.

Unfortunately, this wasn't really mine, a little too formulaic, no characters I care about, dragged a lot. This is basically the story of two people running around in a town where people keep on telling them to go away. That's it. I hear the author's other book is much better so I just might try that one some day. (After publishing this review on Goodreads many many people said that his other book The Watchers was really good, so it's now a little more likely for me to give that one a try.)

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

Male employees had to pretend to be capable of doing things they couldn't do, while female employees had to pretend to be incapable of doing things they actually could do.

This mortal mentality was yesterday! In the spirit world a strange and mysterious ghost company recruits women exactly for their apparent weaknesses which are very useful for ghosts – raging jealousy, insistence, hair power, hairlessness power, zombie love, they don't have to pretend anything here!

Even though I wasn't familiar with the source material the stories are based on, these stories were still FUN to read with their unusual approach to the female experience. My favorites were The Peony Lanterns in which two ghost saleswomen try to stubbornly sell said lanterns; Smartening Up which is about an aunt who raises from the dead to give her niece, who thinks her perceived unattractiveness is the reason she was left by her boyfriend, a lesson; the most savage story I read The Jealous Type and the absolute winner of the collection, Having A Blast.

Anyway, from that point in, I've been a skinhead.

I adored Having A Blast - a young bride dies and according to the traditional story, she can't keep her promise to her husband of coming back, because her head has been shaven for the burial and she couldn't possibly be attractive to her husband like that, so she needs to wait three years. Three years in which her husband finds another wife with whom he makes children. In Matsuda's version the bride actually thinks she looks cute and owns her new buzz cut, and decides to become a punk. It's all so easy in this spirit world, without social restrictions around.

My one nuisance was that I've read the digital version and the list of names of the original stories was in the back, unlinked. So I think the physical copy could be more practical for this one.
I can't believe I've waited so long to read this book, very highly recommended!