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capellan's review
4.0
Full disclosure: I know Peter IRL and received a free copy of the Kindle edition.
If you like your short stories to come to tidy endings, this is not the collection for you. It was something I had to adjust to, myself: I was left very cold by the ambiguity of the opening tale and only gradually warmed to it with the hindsight of the larger collection. There's a definite air of ambiguity and melancholy across most of the work here, with many of the stories dealing with the ending of, or aftermath to, romantic relationships. Neat and tidy endings are not really on the menu.
Which is not to say that it is all misery all the time, because it isn't. There are more than a few stabs of humour sprinkled throughout, and Peter's got a wickedly inventive mind. Whether we're venturing into an undead bordello, climbing a (potentially) infinite staircase, or attempting to deduce the purpose behind inventing a clockwork goat, pretty much every story has some detail that made me say "what a cool idea!"
If you like your short stories to come to tidy endings, this is not the collection for you. It was something I had to adjust to, myself: I was left very cold by the ambiguity of the opening tale and only gradually warmed to it with the hindsight of the larger collection. There's a definite air of ambiguity and melancholy across most of the work here, with many of the stories dealing with the ending of, or aftermath to, romantic relationships. Neat and tidy endings are not really on the menu.
Which is not to say that it is all misery all the time, because it isn't. There are more than a few stabs of humour sprinkled throughout, and Peter's got a wickedly inventive mind. Whether we're venturing into an undead bordello, climbing a (potentially) infinite staircase, or attempting to deduce the purpose behind inventing a clockwork goat, pretty much every story has some detail that made me say "what a cool idea!"
daveversace's review
5.0
Peter M Ball's extraordinary first collection of short stories includes some true gems: "On the Arrival of the Paddle-Steamer on the Docks of V---" is a beautifully tragic romance about waiting to be carried away to the lands of the faery; "The Clockwork Goat and the Smokestack Magus" is a steampunk tale of escalating rivalry; and "The Seventeen Executions of Signore Don Vashta" is a sad reflection on immortality and forgiveness. (But they're all great weird fiction)
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