A review by nigellicus
Horse of a Different Color by Howard Waldrop

5.0

Getting a new Howard Waldrop collection is always a little bittersweet because it's been about seven years since the last one and it'll probably be another seven years or so until the next. I usually avoid reading Howard Waldrop stories until they're collected, just so I can have the whole fresh experience. This collection has the added poignancy of Waldrop's description of his rather serious and horrible medical misadventures from which I wish him a full and speedy recovery.

So, Howard Waldrop stories: they're not really like anything else out there. We have the waning days of an obscure B-movie actor, we have a, well, there's no point in paraphrasing it, a wolfman in Alacatraz, we have a secret history of vaudeville complete with a quest for the Holy Grail, a poignant tale of a boy whose sister catches polio, an account of the career of the actress from King Kong - no, not the actress who played the actress, the actress, Bob Howard and his best pal take a trip down south, pirates and pirates and other nautical legends, a Vancian tale set on the Vancian Dying Earth, and a trip to No Man's Land in any language. Each is a unique and subtle set of tastes and flavours for the mind, each is distinctly Waldropian.