Once again a bit late. Nevertheless Kailana and I are on Part 5 of our joint read of Charles de Lint’s latest short story collection.
The stories we read for this week were:
‘Winter was Hard’
‘The Conjure Man’
‘We Are Dead Together’
Two of these three were quite excellent. Examples of de Lint at his short story finest. As always I would encourage you to go read Kailana’s answers by clicking here.
And mine can be found after the jump.
1. What did you think of the supernatural species, the Gemmin, in ‘Winter was Hard’? How do they compare to other species?
Let me say right from the start that I loved this story. Not sure why I only vaguely remembered it from reading it before, but I’m glad that was the case because it felt like a first time experience. The story also reminded me of one of my favorite de Lint stories, ‘Sweet Forget-Me-Not’ from the Muse and Reverie collection. The gemmin and the fairy’s in that story seem to be kindred spirits.
I loved the gemmin. The idea of magical creatures who are the repositories for the good, positive memories of a place is such a wonderful one. There was such a bittersweet quality to this one that I found myself tearing up at the end. It is a story in which you are profoundly happy about some things–loved seeing Jilly and Geordie in the story together, loved the older gentleman, Frank and his friendship with Jilly–while at the same time you can tangibly feel the sense of melancholy that manifests itself through loss. I found myself wishing desperately that I could see Jilly’s paintings of them.
This is yet again an example of the kind of de Lint story that is enchanting and makes me want to push everyone to read it.
2. Another story with a tree connection, what did you think of the use of the tree in ‘The Conjure Man’?
Like you I’m not sure much can be said without ruining the story. I liked this one very much. I like not only the tree idea(s) but also so many other aspects of the story. I liked that it mentioned the gemmin (love it when de Lint’s Newford stories tie in together, even in just small details). I sincerely liked Wendy and all the other main characters of de Lint’s works mentioned in the story, those that Wendy could share her magical tales with. That group is a fascinating bunch. And of course any story dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien just gets that extra little thumbs up from me.
3. Do you think the character in ‘We are Dead Together’ was doing the right thing?
Perhaps, but like you this was not a story that gelled with me, especially after two whimsical, magical stories featuring favorites from Newford. This dead/undead type of story has certainly been done before and that is okay when a good story is being told. It might have been the late night, but the story was just kind of so-so to me and I don’t see why it was placed in this collection at all.
2 great stories out of this week’s 3 is pretty darn good, if you ask me. And I’m looking forward to this week’s stories because another one that I enjoy, ‘Mr Truepenny’s Book Emporium and Gallery’, a truly interesting tale.
Thanks for the questions this week, Kailana!
Thanks for continuing to read this book with me, Carl. I look forward to next week. 🙂
Well I read story number two this week, the coyote one, and thought it was a dud like the first two page story in this book. If it weren’t for you telling me to read one I would be puttng this book down at this point and never pick it up again. Since it’s got a wonderful Vess cover I will always love it for that. Hopefully I will have my first good DeLint story experience soon. I know I’m so hoping too. I just keep picking the wrong stories it seems. Sigh…
Jeff: Yes, I wasn’t thrilled with the second story either. The third is where I really got engaged in the book, and the next couple of stories feature the same characters so that is fun. Feels more like you are reading a novel made up of individual stories that way. I’ve pretty much enjoyed every story since this third one, so keep reading.
Kailana: Thank you as well, I am enjoying taking my time with this book and not rushing through it, and it has been fun these last few weeks to revisit some de Lint stories I have previously read and enjoyed.
I love the Gemmin, and I’ll have to read this soon. Are the stories in this collection all previously published, or are they new?
They are all previously published, and the first two are certainly not ones I would pick to be in a ‘best of’ collection, but I’ve enjoyed all the others, some of which I had previously read and others that are new to me. I am particularly thrilled because right now the book is in the midst of several stories featuring a few of my favorite de Lint characters, particularly Jilly and Sophie.
I just stopped in to say I hope you and your wife have a wonderful Sunday. It’s Spring here, our Lilacs are in bloom, we’ll go walking by the river (that would be the Willamette) later. Then this afternoon I have some reading to do…
I hope the same for the two of you as well. It is a little too humid out here these past few days and off and on between rain and sunshine, but it is sunny now and I’m about to go out and grill brats. Grilled hamburgers yesterday during a break in the rain. I’m hoping it will cool down enough tonight to take a walk. And I’m looking forward to doing some more reading myself today. I have two more de Lint stories to read for tomorrow’s post and have been enjoying Johnathan Strahan’s latest collection, Eclipse Four, and Scalzi’s newest book, Fuzzy Nation.
Hope you are feeling better today.
Yes, I’m feeling my old self. The wife and I went to a landscaper to talk about getting the back yard redone, but turn’s out Sunday is a bad day for that. They will call us tomorrow. It’s the last big-budget item on the punch list for the house. The only humidity here 54%, it’s cloudy and cool. We don’t have the grill set up yet, but did get a tank last weekend and burgers are on the horizon for this coming week.
I still need to read Charles de Lint. You’d think I’d have gotten around to it now, but the fifth Once Upon A Time Challenge!
I think you would enjoy his work for the way it weaves folk lore and other fantastical elements into our everyday world.