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isabellarobinson7's reviews
751 reviews
Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
3.5
Rating: 3.5 stars
In true Tolkien fashion, he just cannot stop himself from world building anything - even Santa gets his own mythos and lore. When his children started writing letters to Father Christmas (as every kid does) they started complaining that he wasn't responding, so Tolkien thought he could fill in. He started responding to them as Father Christmas, relaying to them all his adventures at the North Pole. There's a polar bear that likes to butt in on the letters, sometimes Santa's elf secretary has to step in because Santa is busy. All in all, it's a delightful read, especially (as one would expect) during the Christmas season.
I don't usually do seasonal reads, mostly because being in the southern hemisphere means I am in opposite seasons from virtually everyone else. But everyone's holidays are the same (if not severely mismatched for us. Who wants to roast literally anything when you yourselves are being cooked by the sun the minute your step outside) so I suppose I don't feel too out of place reading Letters from Father Christmas when it is 28° (celsius; 83° fahrenheit) outside.
In true Tolkien fashion, he just cannot stop himself from world building anything - even Santa gets his own mythos and lore. When his children started writing letters to Father Christmas (as every kid does) they started complaining that he wasn't responding, so Tolkien thought he could fill in. He started responding to them as Father Christmas, relaying to them all his adventures at the North Pole. There's a polar bear that likes to butt in on the letters, sometimes Santa's elf secretary has to step in because Santa is busy. All in all, it's a delightful read, especially (as one would expect) during the Christmas season.
I don't usually do seasonal reads, mostly because being in the southern hemisphere means I am in opposite seasons from virtually everyone else. But everyone's holidays are the same (if not severely mismatched for us. Who wants to roast literally anything when you yourselves are being cooked by the sun the minute your step outside) so I suppose I don't feel too out of place reading Letters from Father Christmas when it is 28° (celsius; 83° fahrenheit) outside.
The Hammer of God by Arthur C. Clarke
Rating: ?? stars
Book was good. Earth going to get destroyed by astroid. People try and stop astroid. Stuff happens. The end.
But what I want to show is this brilliant section from the afterword:
Book was good. Earth going to get destroyed by astroid. People try and stop astroid. Stuff happens. The end.
But what I want to show is this brilliant section from the afterword:
This incident reminds me of the movie Meteor, which I enjoyed more than most of the critics. (I have a very high threshold of tolerance for bad sf films. After I persuaded him to view one classic - Things to Come, I believe - Stanley Kubrick complained, 'What are you trying to do to me? I'll never see another movie you recommend!')
Airframe by Michael Crichton
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
As you would expect from Crichton, the author who made prehistoric reptiles technical, Airframe is full of facts and figures and numbers and information about planes, and how they fly (and of course how they don't). Some sections of the book you have to read multiple times, because there's a lot of jargon there that to the average lay person who doesn't work at the airport would not understand (i.e. me). The ending was good though, and I enjoyed proverbial mic drop moment, and the fact that the annoying journalists got their comeuppance.
Also, highly command the audiobook recording made by My Dreams Aloft on YouTube (link to playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqpTeu2Z3BU86lu3WS1-jnk6RM96biXQ), who I 1000% believe should be a professional audiobook narrator one day, if given the chance.
As you would expect from Crichton, the author who made prehistoric reptiles technical, Airframe is full of facts and figures and numbers and information about planes, and how they fly (and of course how they don't). Some sections of the book you have to read multiple times, because there's a lot of jargon there that to the average lay person who doesn't work at the airport would not understand (i.e. me). The ending was good though, and I enjoyed proverbial mic drop moment, and the fact that the annoying journalists got their comeuppance.
Also, highly command the audiobook recording made by My Dreams Aloft on YouTube (link to playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqpTeu2Z3BU86lu3WS1-jnk6RM96biXQ), who I 1000% believe should be a professional audiobook narrator one day, if given the chance.
Mr Bliss by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien just seems like the coolest man. It would be an honour to have my toe squashed by him as he zooms passed. Probably wouldn't think so in the moment, but sometime after I bet I would appreciate it. (Also, highly recommend the audio with the physical/ebook, because Derek Jacobi does a wonderful performance and Tolkien's illustrations as always are imperfect but precious none the less.)
3.5
Rating: 3.5 stars
Mr Bliss is about a man named Mr Bliss and he has lots of funny hats and a new bright yellow car, both inside and out (he specified). Mr Bliss loves his new car so much, and he decides to take it for a ride. This makes all his neighbours angry and hijinks ensue.
Doing a bit of research on this story, it seems that Mr Bliss is based on Tolkien's own experience getting his own motorcar. He got a car pretty soon after they became available, but by all accounts he was an absolutely TERRIBLE driver. I love this quote from Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien (a book I fully intend to read... at some point) which perfectly encapsulates both who Tolkien was as a person, and what kind of story you are in for with Mr Bliss:
Mr Bliss is about a man named Mr Bliss and he has lots of funny hats and a new bright yellow car, both inside and out (he specified). Mr Bliss loves his new car so much, and he decides to take it for a ride. This makes all his neighbours angry and hijinks ensue.
Doing a bit of research on this story, it seems that Mr Bliss is based on Tolkien's own experience getting his own motorcar. He got a car pretty soon after they became available, but by all accounts he was an absolutely TERRIBLE driver. I love this quote from Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien (a book I fully intend to read... at some point) which perfectly encapsulates both who Tolkien was as a person, and what kind of story you are in for with Mr Bliss:
There was the unforgettable occasion in 1932 when Tolkien bought his first car, a Morris Cowley that was nicknamed ‘Jo’ after the first two letters of its registration. After learning to drive he took the entire family by car to visit his brother Hilary at his Evesham fruit farm. At various times during the journey ‘Jo’ sustained two punctures and knocked down part of a dry-stone wall near Chipping Norton, with the result that Edith refused to travel in the car again until some months later – not entirely without justification, for Tolkien’s driving was daring rather than skilful. When accelerating headlong across a busy main road in Oxford in order to get into a side-street, he would ignore all other vehicles and cry ‘Charge ‘em and they scatter!’ – and scatter they did.
Tolkien just seems like the coolest man. It would be an honour to have my toe squashed by him as he zooms passed. Probably wouldn't think so in the moment, but sometime after I bet I would appreciate it. (Also, highly recommend the audio with the physical/ebook, because Derek Jacobi does a wonderful performance and Tolkien's illustrations as always are imperfect but precious none the less.)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo by J.R.R. Tolkien
Rating: ?? stars
Tolkien may have translated these poems for his “modern” reader, but I will translate it for the super modern reader, in that being the one with no attention span who gets bored of a video is longer than 15 seconds. (I find it humorous to retell ancient texts in a modern way, but if you find that sacrilegious, then please move on to the next review as the following content may offend.) So here we go:
All the people from Monty Python and the Holy Grail are having Christmas dinner. Then this dude comes in all in green (every suit of armour in this poem is rigorously described) and says to the table, "anyone can cut me anywhere with my axe, and then next year come and find me and I will do the same blow to you." No one immediately volunteers, so Gawain steps up and just lobs the guy's head off, probably thinking "yeah, try doing that to me in a year". But to everyone's surprise, the dude just picks his head back up and says "cool, see you next Christmas" and leaves.
Because of knight honour and chivalry and stuff, the next year Gawain goes to find the Green Knight as promised. On his way he stays at some other court, and the Lady there tries to seduce, but he says "no, I love Jesus" and so she leaves without sexy times, though does manage to kiss him. But then (plot twist) Gawain goes and kisses her husband the next day, so that somehow makes it better (because apparently that makes Jesus okay with it and it doesn't count as cheating). This seducing thing happens more times, and Gawain just keeps saying no to sex, before kissing the wife and then kissing the husband the next morning. They also go hunting and it is rather explicitly described, so maybe they should have a vegan edition where they cut out those scenes, or mow some grass instead or something.
Then Christmas comes and Gawain goes to get his head cut off, because he is still bound by knightly duty and things. He meets the Green Knight/Headless Horseman, but just as Gawain is about to lose his head, the knight stops and is like "yo, those were some mighty fine kisses, mate" because (dun dun dun) it is the Lord from the court! He is so impressed that Gawain didn't give in to his wife's advances, (which were his idea) that he generously sends Gawain back to Arthur in one peace. The end.
There are also two other poems in this collection, one is called Pearl and is about a dude who is so sad about losing his pearl that he falls asleep and has a fever dream where the pearl is alive and is talking to him (I'm pretty sure that's what happened, but reading that back it does sound a bit strange), and the other is called Sir Orfeo, which is kind of a Celtic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice were a king loses his wife to a fairy dude and is really sad about it (but I don't think he plays any music).
Tolkien may have translated these poems for his “modern” reader, but I will translate it for the super modern reader, in that being the one with no attention span who gets bored of a video is longer than 15 seconds. (I find it humorous to retell ancient texts in a modern way, but if you find that sacrilegious, then please move on to the next review as the following content may offend.) So here we go:
All the people from Monty Python and the Holy Grail are having Christmas dinner. Then this dude comes in all in green (every suit of armour in this poem is rigorously described) and says to the table, "anyone can cut me anywhere with my axe, and then next year come and find me and I will do the same blow to you." No one immediately volunteers, so Gawain steps up and just lobs the guy's head off, probably thinking "yeah, try doing that to me in a year". But to everyone's surprise, the dude just picks his head back up and says "cool, see you next Christmas" and leaves.
Because of knight honour and chivalry and stuff, the next year Gawain goes to find the Green Knight as promised. On his way he stays at some other court, and the Lady there tries to seduce, but he says "no, I love Jesus" and so she leaves without sexy times, though does manage to kiss him. But then (plot twist) Gawain goes and kisses her husband the next day, so that somehow makes it better (because apparently that makes Jesus okay with it and it doesn't count as cheating). This seducing thing happens more times, and Gawain just keeps saying no to sex, before kissing the wife and then kissing the husband the next morning. They also go hunting and it is rather explicitly described, so maybe they should have a vegan edition where they cut out those scenes, or mow some grass instead or something.
Then Christmas comes and Gawain goes to get his head cut off, because he is still bound by knightly duty and things. He meets the Green Knight/Headless Horseman, but just as Gawain is about to lose his head, the knight stops and is like "yo, those were some mighty fine kisses, mate" because (dun dun dun) it is the Lord from the court! He is so impressed that Gawain didn't give in to his wife's advances, (which were his idea) that he generously sends Gawain back to Arthur in one peace. The end.
There are also two other poems in this collection, one is called Pearl and is about a dude who is so sad about losing his pearl that he falls asleep and has a fever dream where the pearl is alive and is talking to him (I'm pretty sure that's what happened, but reading that back it does sound a bit strange), and the other is called Sir Orfeo, which is kind of a Celtic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice were a king loses his wife to a fairy dude and is really sad about it (but I don't think he plays any music).
All Clear by Connie Willis
4.0
Rating: 4 stars
I finally got to this book. I know it technically hasn’t been that long, but I really should have started it as soon as finishing Blackout (book/part one; review here), because it was a good hundred or so pages in All Clear before I really started to remember what happened in part one. That being said, All Clear is very good and VERY addictive. I binged this book so hard, I started it one afternoon and the next morning I was done. While Blackout was made up mostly of set up, exposition and banal activities, All Clear is balls to the wall, timey whimey shenanigans, with just so much happening at all times, that I really wanted to know the end.
And the end was also very good. I liked the resolution in regards to what was going on with the slippage, where it was actually about (ok who cares. Spoiler time:)putting the people in the exact time in history they needed to be, rather than out of the places they shouldn’t, as was previously believed. It wasn’t the time stream correcting itself, it was the time stream making sure history happened, which the time travellers were needed for. That was one of my favourite aspects of the whole ending, because it wasn’t too contrived, and it seemed a very reasonable explanation for why everything was going wrong.
I do have some criticisms. Like Blackout, All Clear was probably too long, and needed a bit of editing. Willis got a bit overindulgent with her WWII fact sharing (but to be honest, so do I). It got a bit repetitive, especially in the middle, and parts of it could have easily been condensed or taken out altogether (like one character not remembering the name of a place that is literally one of the most important locations in the entire freaking war). The characters, while mostly enjoyable, were not the strongest, and could have used more in terms of backstory to flesh out who they were as people and why they were reacting this way to circumstances. These kinds of things didn’t really affect my personal enjoyment (especially with All Clear, because I read it so fast so didn’t notice any lull in pacing) but I can acknowledge they might be a deal breaker for some people when it comes to liking this or other Connie Willis books.
My opinions on the characters stayed more or less the same as Blackout, and I did like how there were consequences for the time travel. Ah, whatever, I’ll just go into more spoilers.I could kind of tell that Merope/Eileen would stay in the past, a trope which is a staple of time travel stories that Willis has not yet used in this series. Those kids started getting very annoying at the end there. Any longer with them I might have exploded. Other people might not be able to handle them at all, but for me I could tell their purpose was to be irritating and that seemed to be enough for me to get past their continual nuisance. So Merope/Eileen being able to handle them for decades?! That takes some dedication, and I take my proverbial hat off to her and all other caregivers who have to deal with the little blighters- ah, I mean, darling children.
I was sad thatMichael/Mike/Ernest died, but his ending was really good, and satisfying in that bittersweet way. It’s that unfulfilled personal potential/objective that hurts the most in his story. (Especially when you have Polly, but I’ll get to that). I liked how he kept working at sending coded messages to the future to help him and the others get rescued. And it was structured really well so you didn’t know Michael was Ernest at first, but when you realise what exactly he is doing, you start to understand that it is in fact the same character. Though, I was a bit confused as to why he had to fake his death and not tell the other characters. Wouldn’t his plan work just the same if they knew? I don’t know, maybe I missed something. It was really sad then that after all that work, all he got to do was briefly see the future before dying. At least he got his normal accent back and didn’t have to die sounding like an American. Bleh, who wants that. (I also liked how Alan Turing almost ran him over, that was funny.)
And then there’s Polly. Bloody Polly. She was my least favourite of the threeso it made me mad that she got the happiest ending. Why couldn't she get her foot mauled at Dunkirk and get blown up by a bomb, or be stuck with two annoying children without reprieve from the internet? Why did she have to get back virtually spotless? Yeah, I get she was a nurse and did some good stuff under the name Mary, but Michael was literally in her arms saying her name as he was frickin dying and she was like “don’t worry sir you’ll be fine” and then he DIED. And he did all that work to get back home and he didn't even get to see it! Okay, well, really, I didn’t hate Polly that much, and her being there in no way affected my overall enjoyment of the book. Just comparatively, her ending being so happy made me the most annoyed when her character deserved it the least.
AND PLUSshe technically “got the guy” because it is kind of implied that she gets with Colin (now aged up, because of his various time jumps) after the novel ends. I don’t think I mentioned it in my review of book one, but Colin is younger than Polly, like 17 to her 25, and has a huge crush on her, so he wants her to pass through time normally, but him to go time travelling so he can age faster, and come back to a time when they are the same age and he can date her. It is treated in Blackout like the fantasies of a teenage boy, and Polly rebuffs him (the smartest thing she has done) but in All Clear when he does get older (more through necessity rather than according to his original plans), Polly is like “ooh he’s a big strong man now and doesn’t he kind of look like one of those guys that was hitting on me in 1944?” Because this is after at least three dudes are interested in her over the course of the two books! WHY DID SHE GET LITERALLY EVERYTHING THE OTHER GUYS DESERVED???!!!
(This review was supposed to only be a couple of paragraphs at the most, but I keep finding more stuff I want to say/remember for future reference, and now it has become this long drawn out thesis, most of which is hidden in the spoiler tags because I can’t contain myself. At least I am not leaving it for months after finishing, like last time.)
At leastMr. Dunworthy is ok. I thought for a second Willis was going to kill him, and I was ready to be really mad, but he survived, so that is fortunate. (It’s also kind of weird to think that technically he was born around the same time as me.) He should now get a promotion or something at Oxford and get a nice retirement before dying while looking at St. Paul’s and going up to join Mary in heaven. I will not be accepting any constructive criticism at this time. That is absolutely how his story should end and I won’t hear of anything else.
Man, I just love Connie Willis and everything she touches, and with every book I fall in love with her again. I haven’t really had any duds with her, just a couple of short stories that I enjoyed but didn’t love as much as others. All Clear is perhaps one of the best endings I have read from her, and that’s not to say any of the others were particularly bad, it just shows how good this ending truly was. It proves to me once again why she is my newest favourite author, deservedly up there with the greats like Tolkien, Jordan, Riordan and Sanderson.
I finally got to this book. I know it technically hasn’t been that long, but I really should have started it as soon as finishing Blackout (book/part one; review here), because it was a good hundred or so pages in All Clear before I really started to remember what happened in part one. That being said, All Clear is very good and VERY addictive. I binged this book so hard, I started it one afternoon and the next morning I was done. While Blackout was made up mostly of set up, exposition and banal activities, All Clear is balls to the wall, timey whimey shenanigans, with just so much happening at all times, that I really wanted to know the end.
And the end was also very good. I liked the resolution in regards to what was going on with the slippage, where it was actually about (ok who cares. Spoiler time:)
I do have some criticisms. Like Blackout, All Clear was probably too long, and needed a bit of editing. Willis got a bit overindulgent with her WWII fact sharing (but to be honest, so do I). It got a bit repetitive, especially in the middle, and parts of it could have easily been condensed or taken out altogether (like one character not remembering the name of a place that is literally one of the most important locations in the entire freaking war). The characters, while mostly enjoyable, were not the strongest, and could have used more in terms of backstory to flesh out who they were as people and why they were reacting this way to circumstances. These kinds of things didn’t really affect my personal enjoyment (especially with All Clear, because I read it so fast so didn’t notice any lull in pacing) but I can acknowledge they might be a deal breaker for some people when it comes to liking this or other Connie Willis books.
My opinions on the characters stayed more or less the same as Blackout, and I did like how there were consequences for the time travel. Ah, whatever, I’ll just go into more spoilers.
I was sad that
And then there’s Polly. Bloody Polly. She was my least favourite of the three
AND PLUS
(This review was supposed to only be a couple of paragraphs at the most, but I keep finding more stuff I want to say/remember for future reference, and now it has become this long drawn out thesis, most of which is hidden in the spoiler tags because I can’t contain myself. At least I am not leaving it for months after finishing, like last time.)
At least
Man, I just love Connie Willis and everything she touches, and with every book I fall in love with her again. I haven’t really had any duds with her, just a couple of short stories that I enjoyed but didn’t love as much as others. All Clear is perhaps one of the best endings I have read from her, and that’s not to say any of the others were particularly bad, it just shows how good this ending truly was. It proves to me once again why she is my newest favourite author, deservedly up there with the greats like Tolkien, Jordan, Riordan and Sanderson.
The Winds of Marble Arch And Other Stories by Connie Willis
(Yes, those words mean what you think they mean.) This one line perfectly encapsulates both character's personalities, and their relationship to one another. And it gives you an idea as to the tone of this story. Octavia is a bit rough around the edges and rather crass, which is quite different from typical Connie Willis protagonists. I believe there's even the first f bomb I’ve seen Willis drop (of which this story has multiple) and the first (almost) sex scene I have read from her (although there may have been one at the end of Crosstalk now that I think about it).
The actual narrative of All My Darling Daughters surrounds two main points: some of the students in the dorm getting these little furry pet things (to my knowledge they were never distinctly described, but I imagined them looking like tribbles but with the proportions of a ferret), and also the boys seemingly inexplicably not wanting to have sex anymore. And at the risk of giving too much away, as the story progresses you find out these two things are somewhat... related.
In terms of story type, this one is a mixture. It started out and I was thinking it was definitely a Type B, but as the story went on, I was surprised by how serious it got. So I would say first half Type B, second half Type A.
In the Late Cretaceous:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for In the Late Cretaceous can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
The Curse of Kings:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This story is about a newspaper journalist writing an article on a curse that is rumoured to exist, and he is trying to find out if it indeed is real or not. He goes and visits places where the supposed cursed things have happened, asks the same questions repeatedly despite getting no answer the first time (as reporters tend to do) and always wants to know about someone called the Sandalman. I would probably call it a soft Type A. In all honesty though, this story didn’t really work for me. Maybe it's because I couldn't quite tell if it was all supposed to be literal or figurative, so I struggled to grasp the authorial intent behind certain narrative decisions and therefore wasn't super invested in the story. Ah, well, you can't win them all.
Even the Queen:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula winner
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for Even the Queen can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Inn:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Inn can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Samaritan:
Just like in Cats Paw, another Willis story, Samaritan surrounds smart monkeys. It is set in a near future where we have learned to communicate with the primates via sign language, and monkeys are rented out by zoos to do jobs and help around the town, basically like a temp agency. The monkey this short story is centred around is called Esau, and while working at a church he has befriended one of the assistants to the Reverend, and she claims Esau wants to be baptised. The reverend then has to figure out whether he can legitimately do this. (To no one's surprise, there is nothing in the Bible about baptising monkeys.) The story makes some really good comments on free will, particularly in regards to religion and religious practices. It highlights how some people do things in the church not because they personally want to, but because they want to please others, or they think it is what they "should do" and if they don't they are somehow "failing". From that description, you would think it was more of a Type A story, and I suppose it is, but far from the heaviest one.
Cash Crop:
This story is set in a future where the world’s plants are all dead or dying, and its people are slowly falling victim to sickness caused by the lack of vegetation (think the Earth portions of Interstellar movie). Humanity's only provision is the Magassar, a huge ship that carries a bunch of healthy plants and medicines around to those who need it most. But of course, this ship and its precious cargo are owned by the state. Effectively, the government controls who lives and who dies.
The people on the ground therefore have to rely of their favour if they want to survive. Unless they can grow something sellable on their own (which is nearly impossible in the current climate) and make money off of it, namely a “cash crop”. The story follows a young girl named Haze and her family who are in desperate need of a cash crop, because as Haze is preparing for her high school graduation, illness starts spreading around her community. As people start succumbing to their ailments, the what once was thought of as imminent arrival of the Magassar is looking to be all too distant.
This story was so well executed, I can't believe it wasn't even nominated for any major awards. It is so relevant to the issues we are facing today, that the fact it was written in 1984 - LITERALLY 40 YEARS AGO - is one of the most astounding things I have heard lately. A Type A story for sure, but a very important one.
Jack:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Jack can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
The Last of the Winnebagos:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Last of the Winnebagos can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Service For the Burial of the Dead:
This lady was (almost definitely) having a relationship with an engaged man, so when he ends up dead, she is naturally everyone's prime suspect - all except the fiancée, who seems to be lacking a few brain cells. So to the chagrin of all, not least herself, she is invited to the funeral… where she meets the man. Yes, the dead one. What follows is a lot of internal flip-flopping on the part of the reader as to whether the events are actually taking place or if they are all just figments of a bereaved mind. And as ambiguous as it is, the ending is just perfect. A Type A topic, but wryly treated like a Type B.
The Soul Selects Her own Society:
Awards and nominations: Hugo winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Soul Selects Her own Society can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Chance:
Awards and nominations: World Fantasy Award nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Chance can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
At the Rialto:
Awards and nominations: Nebula winner; Hugo and Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for At the Rialto can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Epiphany:
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Epiphany can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
So now I am one step closer to reading Connie Willis's entire bibliography! Since I last checked my progress against a list of her work, Willis has actually released a new novel, The Road to Roswell, so while before I was semi-near to finishing all her most popular (and accessible) works, I have a couple more to go before I really have to start digging. (Damn you Passage, I can't find you anywhere.)
4.0
Rating: 4 stars
Connie Willis is a master of both the sublime and ridiculous, and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories is probably one of the most accurate representations of this - and I didn't even know it existed until a few months ago. In my quest to read (and subsequently review) everything Willis has ever touched, somehow this omnibus collection never crossed my path, including eight whole stories I had yet to read!
To reflect these dual literary personalities of Willis, I decided early on to categorise each story in this collection as a Type A representing the "sublime", or Type B for the "ridiculous". Basically, if the story is serious, it's A and if it's silly it is B. I very quickly regretted this choice because it meant I had to make a definitive decision on each new story, and that is precisely the reason I don't individually rate each story. Sigh, well, I'm committed to it now.
The Winds of Marble Arch:
Awards and nominations: Hugo winner; Locus and World Fantasy Award nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Winds of Marble Arch can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Blued Moon:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
This one has a simple premise: what if we shoot hydrocarbons into space to fix the ozone? But there is an unintended side effect: the chemicals start turning the Moon another colour, namely, blue. And taking the saying "once in a blue moon" literally, this change in the Moon's colour causes a dramatic increase in the number of coincidences happening on Earth.
And as you can imagine from Connie Willis, these coincidences feed straight into the screwball comedy part: this guy called Ulric works at the place where the Moon shooting happens and is roommates with a dude named Brad who has a lot of girlfriends and fiancées, usually all at the same time. But the girl Brad really wants is the boss guy's daughter Sally, (so he can get rich or something) and he keeps coming up with elaborate schemes to woo her, much to Ulric's chagrin. But of course Ulric doesn't know what Sally looks like, and the very woman he has been repeatedly bumping into over several weeks just so happens to be the only person Brad cannot seem to find. A quintessential Type B Connie Willis, with all the fun and shenanigans you would expect from the stories in that category.
Just Like the Ones We Used to Know:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Just Like the Ones We Used to Know can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Daisy, in the Sun:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
In the same way that Blued Moon was a perfect example of her Type B stories, Daisy, in the Sun is Connie Willis at her most sombre. The background to the story is that the sun is going go nova, and a family worrying about and preparing for the inevitable end of the world. This young girl named Daisy is not super concerned about the heat death of Earth, she is more so bothered by the fact that her menstrual cycles will be starting soon and she thinks that means she will have to start growing up.
It is one of those stories that unravels slowly as you go along, so there is not much more I can say without spoiling the ending. But even then, the story ends with this kind of ambiguity that you are still left feeling unsure as to what actually happened. I will say (mild) trigger warnings for sexual assault, because certain events are implied if not directly shown. Daisy, in the Sun is very clearly a Type A story, probably up there in intensity with the ending of Doomsday Book.
A Letter from the Clearys:
Awards and nominations: Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for A Letter from the Clearys can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Newsletter:
Awards and nominations: Locus winner
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Newsletter can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Fire Watch:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story separately from any story collection. My review for Fire Watch can be found here
Nonstop to Portales:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This one is about a super boring town that has nothing interesting to do in it (we have one of those: it’s called Hamilton). This dude gets a job there, and before he accepts it, he decides to arrive a few days early to see the (nonexistent) sights. There are no museums, no heritage sites, no memorials, no guided tours, and especially no tourist traps because there are no other tourists in the town to trap. Eventually, the dude ends up on a bus tour of some famous guy’s house and stuff. The catch being he has no idea who the person is, and the tour and its participants are not quite what you would call normal...
This story was just fun the whole way through. It was light hearted, but not silly. Definitely a Type B Connie Willis.
Ado:
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Ado can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
All My Darling Daughters:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This story is about this girl called Octavia who... well, to be honest, she’s the kind of girl that would absolutely bully me if I was at her school. She would see me coming from a mile away and take me down with just one look. (I was going to describe her properly, but I think that sums her up pretty well.) Anyway, Octavia gets a new roommate in her university dorm, and this new girl is rather soft and naive - which is a perfect for our main character because it means she can insult her all she wants without worrying about any kind of retort. Just listen to how Octavia describes her on the very first page:
Connie Willis is a master of both the sublime and ridiculous, and The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories is probably one of the most accurate representations of this - and I didn't even know it existed until a few months ago. In my quest to read (and subsequently review) everything Willis has ever touched, somehow this omnibus collection never crossed my path, including eight whole stories I had yet to read!
To reflect these dual literary personalities of Willis, I decided early on to categorise each story in this collection as a Type A representing the "sublime", or Type B for the "ridiculous". Basically, if the story is serious, it's A and if it's silly it is B. I very quickly regretted this choice because it meant I had to make a definitive decision on each new story, and that is precisely the reason I don't individually rate each story. Sigh, well, I'm committed to it now.
The Winds of Marble Arch:
Awards and nominations: Hugo winner; Locus and World Fantasy Award nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Winds of Marble Arch can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Blued Moon:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
This one has a simple premise: what if we shoot hydrocarbons into space to fix the ozone? But there is an unintended side effect: the chemicals start turning the Moon another colour, namely, blue. And taking the saying "once in a blue moon" literally, this change in the Moon's colour causes a dramatic increase in the number of coincidences happening on Earth.
And as you can imagine from Connie Willis, these coincidences feed straight into the screwball comedy part: this guy called Ulric works at the place where the Moon shooting happens and is roommates with a dude named Brad who has a lot of girlfriends and fiancées, usually all at the same time. But the girl Brad really wants is the boss guy's daughter Sally, (so he can get rich or something) and he keeps coming up with elaborate schemes to woo her, much to Ulric's chagrin. But of course Ulric doesn't know what Sally looks like, and the very woman he has been repeatedly bumping into over several weeks just so happens to be the only person Brad cannot seem to find. A quintessential Type B Connie Willis, with all the fun and shenanigans you would expect from the stories in that category.
Just Like the Ones We Used to Know:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Just Like the Ones We Used to Know can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Daisy, in the Sun:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
In the same way that Blued Moon was a perfect example of her Type B stories, Daisy, in the Sun is Connie Willis at her most sombre. The background to the story is that the sun is going go nova, and a family worrying about and preparing for the inevitable end of the world. This young girl named Daisy is not super concerned about the heat death of Earth, she is more so bothered by the fact that her menstrual cycles will be starting soon and she thinks that means she will have to start growing up.
It is one of those stories that unravels slowly as you go along, so there is not much more I can say without spoiling the ending. But even then, the story ends with this kind of ambiguity that you are still left feeling unsure as to what actually happened. I will say (mild) trigger warnings for sexual assault, because certain events are implied if not directly shown. Daisy, in the Sun is very clearly a Type A story, probably up there in intensity with the ending of Doomsday Book.
A Letter from the Clearys:
Awards and nominations: Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for A Letter from the Clearys can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Newsletter:
Awards and nominations: Locus winner
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Newsletter can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Fire Watch:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story separately from any story collection. My review for Fire Watch can be found here
Nonstop to Portales:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This one is about a super boring town that has nothing interesting to do in it (we have one of those: it’s called Hamilton). This dude gets a job there, and before he accepts it, he decides to arrive a few days early to see the (nonexistent) sights. There are no museums, no heritage sites, no memorials, no guided tours, and especially no tourist traps because there are no other tourists in the town to trap. Eventually, the dude ends up on a bus tour of some famous guy’s house and stuff. The catch being he has no idea who the person is, and the tour and its participants are not quite what you would call normal...
This story was just fun the whole way through. It was light hearted, but not silly. Definitely a Type B Connie Willis.
Ado:
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Ado can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
All My Darling Daughters:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This story is about this girl called Octavia who... well, to be honest, she’s the kind of girl that would absolutely bully me if I was at her school. She would see me coming from a mile away and take me down with just one look. (I was going to describe her properly, but I think that sums her up pretty well.) Anyway, Octavia gets a new roommate in her university dorm, and this new girl is rather soft and naive - which is a perfect for our main character because it means she can insult her all she wants without worrying about any kind of retort. Just listen to how Octavia describes her on the very first page:
"She wouldn't know a bone from a vaj, and wouldn't know what went into which either."
(Yes, those words mean what you think they mean.) This one line perfectly encapsulates both character's personalities, and their relationship to one another. And it gives you an idea as to the tone of this story. Octavia is a bit rough around the edges and rather crass, which is quite different from typical Connie Willis protagonists. I believe there's even the first f bomb I’ve seen Willis drop (of which this story has multiple) and the first (almost) sex scene I have read from her (although there may have been one at the end of Crosstalk now that I think about it).
The actual narrative of All My Darling Daughters surrounds two main points: some of the students in the dorm getting these little furry pet things (to my knowledge they were never distinctly described, but I imagined them looking like tribbles but with the proportions of a ferret), and also the boys seemingly inexplicably not wanting to have sex anymore. And at the risk of giving too much away, as the story progresses you find out these two things are somewhat... related.
In terms of story type, this one is a mixture. It started out and I was thinking it was definitely a Type B, but as the story went on, I was surprised by how serious it got. So I would say first half Type B, second half Type A.
In the Late Cretaceous:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for In the Late Cretaceous can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
The Curse of Kings:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
This story is about a newspaper journalist writing an article on a curse that is rumoured to exist, and he is trying to find out if it indeed is real or not. He goes and visits places where the supposed cursed things have happened, asks the same questions repeatedly despite getting no answer the first time (as reporters tend to do) and always wants to know about someone called the Sandalman. I would probably call it a soft Type A. In all honesty though, this story didn’t really work for me. Maybe it's because I couldn't quite tell if it was all supposed to be literal or figurative, so I struggled to grasp the authorial intent behind certain narrative decisions and therefore wasn't super invested in the story. Ah, well, you can't win them all.
Even the Queen:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula winner
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for Even the Queen can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Inn:
Awards and nominations: Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Inn can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Samaritan:
Just like in Cats Paw, another Willis story, Samaritan surrounds smart monkeys. It is set in a near future where we have learned to communicate with the primates via sign language, and monkeys are rented out by zoos to do jobs and help around the town, basically like a temp agency. The monkey this short story is centred around is called Esau, and while working at a church he has befriended one of the assistants to the Reverend, and she claims Esau wants to be baptised. The reverend then has to figure out whether he can legitimately do this. (To no one's surprise, there is nothing in the Bible about baptising monkeys.) The story makes some really good comments on free will, particularly in regards to religion and religious practices. It highlights how some people do things in the church not because they personally want to, but because they want to please others, or they think it is what they "should do" and if they don't they are somehow "failing". From that description, you would think it was more of a Type A story, and I suppose it is, but far from the heaviest one.
Cash Crop:
This story is set in a future where the world’s plants are all dead or dying, and its people are slowly falling victim to sickness caused by the lack of vegetation (think the Earth portions of Interstellar movie). Humanity's only provision is the Magassar, a huge ship that carries a bunch of healthy plants and medicines around to those who need it most. But of course, this ship and its precious cargo are owned by the state. Effectively, the government controls who lives and who dies.
The people on the ground therefore have to rely of their favour if they want to survive. Unless they can grow something sellable on their own (which is nearly impossible in the current climate) and make money off of it, namely a “cash crop”. The story follows a young girl named Haze and her family who are in desperate need of a cash crop, because as Haze is preparing for her high school graduation, illness starts spreading around her community. As people start succumbing to their ailments, the what once was thought of as imminent arrival of the Magassar is looking to be all too distant.
This story was so well executed, I can't believe it wasn't even nominated for any major awards. It is so relevant to the issues we are facing today, that the fact it was written in 1984 - LITERALLY 40 YEARS AGO - is one of the most astounding things I have heard lately. A Type A story for sure, but a very important one.
Jack:
Awards and nominations: Hugo, Locus and Nebula nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Jack can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
The Last of the Winnebagos:
Awards and nominations: Hugo and Nebula winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Last of the Winnebagos can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Service For the Burial of the Dead:
This lady was (almost definitely) having a relationship with an engaged man, so when he ends up dead, she is naturally everyone's prime suspect - all except the fiancée, who seems to be lacking a few brain cells. So to the chagrin of all, not least herself, she is invited to the funeral… where she meets the man. Yes, the dead one. What follows is a lot of internal flip-flopping on the part of the reader as to whether the events are actually taking place or if they are all just figments of a bereaved mind. And as ambiguous as it is, the ending is just perfect. A Type A topic, but wryly treated like a Type B.
The Soul Selects Her own Society:
Awards and nominations: Hugo winner; Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for The Soul Selects Her own Society can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Chance:
Awards and nominations: World Fantasy Award nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Impossible Things. My review for Chance can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
At the Rialto:
Awards and nominations: Nebula winner; Hugo and Locus nominee
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, Time is the Fire. My review for At the Rialto can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
Epiphany:
I have already read this story in another Connie Willis short story collection, A Lot Like Christmas. My review for Epiphany can be found as a part of my larger review for that collection here.
So now I am one step closer to reading Connie Willis's entire bibliography! Since I last checked my progress against a list of her work, Willis has actually released a new novel, The Road to Roswell, so while before I was semi-near to finishing all her most popular (and accessible) works, I have a couple more to go before I really have to start digging. (Damn you Passage, I can't find you anywhere.)