Larry Niven’s latest book, The Draco Tavern, arrested my attention for the same reason most books do…it has a fantastic cover. In this case the cover art is by an artist I have featured on my site previously, Stephan Martiniere. Martiniere’s work has graced a number of science fiction and fantasy book covers lately and his modern techniques remind me so much of the classic science fiction illustrations on books that captured my attention as a child. Each time I see one of his covers I lovingly pick up the book wondering if the story is as good as the cover art. I had less to worry about in the case of Larry Niven. Niven is an award winning author of a series of books centered around a place called Ringworld…and I haven’t read a one. My one and only experience with Larry Niven is an excellent book called A World Out of Time, which has the distiniction of being the first book I ever bought as a kid from a used bookstore and is one I come back to every few years as I enjoy it so much.

The Draco Tavern is a series of short stories, 27 in number, that span the last three decades of Niven’s work. The stories center around, you guessed it, the Draco Tavern. Larry Niven points out in his introduction that the Mos Eisley Spaceport in Star Wars is part of a “hoary old tradition”, one that he felt he could put to use to discuss a number of topics in short story form. The tales told in The Draco Tavern are told by the bartender, Rick Schumann, who built the tavern on Mount Forel in Siberia after the appearance of the first aliens on earth. The stories are set in the 2030’s and Schumann is the only consistent character in each story. The Chirpsithra are a group of aliens who lay claim to having conquered all red dwarf systems in the universe and in discovering Earth they now shuttle various alien entities across the universe to visit this new planet and its race of interesting yet underdeveloped people. Rich Schumann does what any enterprising young man might do, he sets up a bar that serves all comers, maintaining a stock of food and drinkstuffs that defies explanation for an ever-growing number of aliens who defy description.

The Draco Tavern short stories are each individual, self contained tales and yet they build on each other in roughly the same way that episodes of shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation do. There is a definite progression of time and there are things that happen in previous stories that crop up in later tales. Larry Niven is a truly talented writer and this is very evident when you realize that there is almost no deep characterization in these tales and yet you find yourself really liking and connecting with Rick Schumann. As a bartender for the only interspecies tavern on earth Schumann is not only Earth’s ambassador to the alien races but he is the reader’s as well. Through these 27 stories you are allowed to meet any number of interesting alien races seen through the eyes of a man who is very much like you and me. There is not a great deal of action in these stories, they are tales told around the bar, but don’t let the lack of action turn you off, these stories are good. They are also very different. In reading the first two or three stories I was puzzled by how Niven seemed to end each one rather abruptly. I soon got used to this and ended up really enjoying the format, especially as I realized that the connectedness of each story make it read almost like a novel.

If you are a fan of the type of science fiction that does not have to center around explosions and interstellar wars then I really believe you’ll like this set of vignettes into the life of Rich Schumann and his most interesting watering hole. I found myself sadly disappointed when the book ended as I really felt a connection to Schumann and wanted his adventures to continue. Hopefully Larry Niven will revisit this world in future short stories. My only complaint about the book at all is that the last 3 or 4 stories were told out of chronological order (in the order he wrote them instead, I believe) and it felt odd to have them ordered that way as they were the most interconnected of all the short stories. That being said there wasn’t a disappointing story in the bunch and I am so glad that I have finally read my second Larry Niven book. Pull up a chair, order a beverage, and drink in the sights and sounds of the odd, yet somehow familiar, atmosphere of The Draco Tavern.

Thirteen Phantasms and Other Stories by James P. Blaylock is a book that jumped out at me last year as I was walking through my local Barnes and Noble bookstore; I recognized the cover art as a work by Greg Spalenka. As I picked up the book to examine the cover I felt like the proverbial fish being caught by the shiny worm…there on the front cover was a quote of recommendation from none other than Neil Gaiman. Flipping the book over was like biting down harder on the hook as there was an even longer quote from Patricia A. McKillip! Needless to say this little unassuming paperback book of short stories ended up coming home with me. And I am so glad that it did.

Patricia A. McKillip’s quote alone makes a perfect review of the book: “[James Blaylock’s] range is quite wonderful…He brings magic into urban fantasy…His characters are people who might occupy the house next door to us; they might be spooky or unkind or even dead, but they are always fully realized. His instinict for the quirky detail is unerring; he takes a clear look at the marvels in his world and makes us remember the marvels in ours.”

Herein Blaylock gives us 16 engrossing tales that find their home in no one set genre: within these pages lie modern fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, steampunk, comedy, and suspense. The titular story alone was worth the $6.99 cover price. Like any book of short stories there are some that make more of a connection than others, however each was worth reading at least once and several were so good that I turned around and immediately read them aloud to my wife. Two tales in the later half of the book, Two Views of a Cave Painting and The Idol’s Eye, featured a cast of early 20th century English scientific adventurers that read like a cross between P.G. Wodehouse, G.K. Chesterton, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. Needless to say I was thrilled to later find out that these characters are featured in two Blaylock novels, Homunculus and Lord Kelvin’s Machine: A Novel. Another favorite was the World Fantasy Award winning story, Paper Dragons. The language of Paper Dragons evoked reminiscences of the beautiful language found in Patricia A. McKillip’s work. There is even a story celebrating the wonder of doughnuts.

At the risk of sounding like Forrest Gump, reading a book of short stories is like eating a box of chocolates. If short stories are not to your taste I would venture to say that you have just cracked open too many coconut filled ones. The short stories of Neil Gaiman, Patricia McKillip, Roald Dahl, Gene Wolfe, P.G. Wodehouse (the list could go on and on) and now James P. Blaylock are like sitting down to a large assortment of the best Godiva truffles with each bite better than the last…where each is a favorite to be savored and treasured and the memory shared with friends. Take a bite…you won’t be disappointed.