All posts by Carl V. Anderson

Short Stories

Summer Morning, Summer Night ~Ray Bradbury

22 Comments

Summer Morning, Summer Night ~Ray Bradbury

2008, Subterranean Press
176 pages

REVIEW SUMMARY: The nostalgia of springs and summers long past awaits the reader who walks along with Ray Bradbury down the streets of Green Town, Illinois. There is a magic in the remembrance that makes this the perfect book to read with the scents of spring in the air.

MY RATING: 4.75/5 stars

BRIEF SUMMARY: Ray Bradbury returns the reader to the fictional Green Town, Illinois, a small town reportedly based on his childhood home town, Waukegan. Green Town has been the setting for some of Bradbury’s most beloved works, including Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine. This recently release collection contains twenty-seven stories, seventeen of which are new to this collection. Within these brief reflections on life in a small town during times that we would refer to today as ‘the good ol’ days’, Bradbury conjures up memories from our own lives that are echoed in the lives of his characters. Regardless of the setting one grew up in, there is the magic of the shared life experience that all readers can relate to. It is this ability that sets Bradbury apart as a master of the nostalgic short story.

MY REVIEW:

PROS:

-Stories are short, easy to get in to and digest and yet many of them contain material that make you want to sit back, close your eyes, and just ruminate on them.
-Tales are varied enough in theme to maintain interest and yet have a common thread of the experience of summer that tie these loose threads together.
-Bradbury is a masterful at this type of short story.
-Makes you feel good about your past, your present, and your future.
-High quality book, as Subterranean Press books always are.
-Fantastic Vincent Chong cover.

CONS:

-A couple of stories are weak because of how brief they are. Of course a ‘weak’ Bradbury short story proves to still be very good.
-Those unfamiliar with Dandelion Wine may not enjoy this collection as much as I did, having read Dandelion Wine last year.
-This version appears to be sold out at Subterranean Press and is “temporarily out of stock” at Amazon.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking for fiction to light that spark of spring/summer fever, you could do no better than to find a copy of Dandelion Wine and then follow it up with a read of Summer Morning, Summer Night. There is a familiar enchantment in each of these vignettes and reading these books makes one feel that they are a part of the shared experience of living. Some of Bradbury’s characters get it, they understand what the mystery of life is all about. Others truly do not. But in them we are able to examine ourselves in a way that is both powerful and transformative.

Continue reading Summer Morning, Summer Night ~Ray Bradbury →

book news

Once Upon a Time III

244 Comments


(Photo courtesy of Polly Atkin*)

“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
~Albert Einstein

fan⋅ta⋅sy: a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting.(Wiki)

fairy tale: a fictional story that may feature folkloric characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and talking animals, and usually enchantments, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. (Wiki)

folk⋅lore: the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people; The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. (Dictionary dot com)

my⋅thol⋅o⋅gy: a body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person; a set of stories, traditions, or beliefs associated with a particular group or the history of an event, arising naturally or deliberately fostered. (Dictionary dot com)

Fantasy, fairy tale, folklore and mythology. The definitions above are a jumping off point, but those of us who have unabashedly reveled in between the pages of these genres know that each is so much more.

Continue reading Once Upon a Time III →

Book Reviews, Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: Tara McPherson, part two

8 Comments


(photo of cover by Carl V.)

Lost Constellations: The Art of Tara McPherson, Volume II*

-2009, Dark Horse Books
-112 pages
-4.75/5 stars

3 years ago, on St. Patty’s Day, I did a Friday Favorites post which included a brief overview of the work of Tara McPherson. You can find that post here. How apropos that Tara McPherson’s latest art collection, Lost Constellations: The Art of Tara McPherson, Volume II, should come out mere days before St. Patty’s Day. Having perused this wonderful collection twice now, I felt it was only appropriate to combine the book review with Friday Favorites and share it with you today.

From the back cover:

Loss, love, and loneliness. Altered forms and transfigured ideas. Power and vulnerability. Parallel universes of the heart and mind. Space and Time. In a few brief years, the stunning visual oeuvre of Tara McPherson has grown and evolved at thrilling speed. Expanding beyond the limits of rock poster art into the worlds of commercial illustration and fine art, her paintings, drawings, toys, sculptures, and installations have pushed her influence and authority across the breadth of creative expression and helped redefine the boundaries of pop surrealism.

Continue reading Friday Favorites: Tara McPherson, part two →

Home

Take Comfort

40 Comments


(photo by Carl V.)

“It may serve as a comfort to us, in all our calamities and afflictions, that he that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss”
~L. Estrange

Comfort. It is a word, and idea, that has been foremost in my mind for several weeks now. As much as I believe that life is about joy and love and living, it is also about calamity and pain and struggle and loss. Life has been a real struggle for me of late, primarily due to work related issues. A job that was always difficult has become more so with company layoffs and an ever-increasing work load. Sure, I’ve had bad weeks before, but I’ve never experienced such a sustained period of nearly overwhelming stress in my entire existence. I know it will get better, I truly believe that. But what do I do now, in the midst of the storm, to find comfort and peace?

Death has touched us, as it touches people everywhere, every day, whether we personally are cognizant of it or not. The end of 2008 saw the death of a much beloved community builder in the book blog world. Deslily, one of my dear internet friends, has seen the loss of her brother and a dear friend in fairly rapid succession. Neil Gaiman just lost his father. And recently my elementary school teacher lost her husband. He was only in his 50s. He was driving along the road and someone ran a stop sign and killed him. Every Christmas I think of writing this teacher. She gave me an ornament in the 3rd grade that I cherish and each year as I put it up I swear that I am going to sit down and write her a letter. And every year passes and I do not get to it. It has taken death to move me to reach out.

Continue reading Take Comfort →