Zombies, robots, and dragons, oh my! A collection of strange, surreal, and magical short fiction from Cate Gardner.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Dr.Vollin
Format:Paperback
Having heard a lot of good things about Cate Gardner, i decided to take the plunge and pick up this, her first collection of short stories. Little did i know what i was letting myself in for. Opening the cover is like lifting the lid on a box full of dreams. Some are beautiful, whilst others dark, yet each will leave you eager to return to the worlds and characters Cate has created.
Included in this volume are over twenty tales such as the disturbing 'Parasol dance with the chalkstripe man' and the wonderful 'Frog and the mail order bride'. I could name others but i find it very hard to pick favorites here, as I'm continually changing my mind on each re-read. And yes, you will re-read.
It's hard to put a on label on Cate's fiction as I don't think I've read anything of its like before. There are touches of Neil Gaiman, whispers of Lewis Carroll and sprinklings Stephen and Joe King but to put this collection into a box is unfair as Cate is one of those rarest of finds: A unique talent.
There are scares to be had here in abundance, magic in droves, and even some lighter moments to enjoy. Reading this was like falling down the rabbit hole with David Lynch as a guide, walking through the wardrobe as an adult, or grasping the Dr's hand as he pulled me to the tardis. It's been a long time since a collection has made such an impact upon me.
I'm glad I took the plunge in buying this and can't recommend it enough. I feel we maybe hearing a lot lot more of Cate in the future.
Included in this volume are over twenty tales such as the disturbing 'Parasol dance with the chalkstripe man' and the wonderful 'Frog and the mail order bride'. I could name others but i find it very hard to pick favorites here, as I'm continually changing my mind on each re-read. And yes, you will re-read.
It's hard to put a on label on Cate's fiction as I don't think I've read anything of its like before. There are touches of Neil Gaiman, whispers of Lewis Carroll and sprinklings Stephen and Joe King but to put this collection into a box is unfair as Cate is one of those rarest of finds: A unique talent.
There are scares to be had here in abundance, magic in droves, and even some lighter moments to enjoy. Reading this was like falling down the rabbit hole with David Lynch as a guide, walking through the wardrobe as an adult, or grasping the Dr's hand as he pulled me to the tardis. It's been a long time since a collection has made such an impact upon me.
I'm glad I took the plunge in buying this and can't recommend it enough. I feel we maybe hearing a lot lot more of Cate in the future.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twisted, twisted, twisted.
7 Mar 2011
By J. Brooks
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a great collection of twisted little tales...Cate has an incredible, seemingly limitless imagination, and a talent for building the most bizarre, surreal worlds and drawing you into a day-in-the-life of the often broken inhabitants. The unique storytelling makes you want to go back and re-read right away, just to get the full "what the **** did I just read" effect. Imagine Tim Burton doing lime jello shots with Aesop, and Cate was there to transcribe the discussions. Good, mind-bending read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grotesque Dreams of the Very Best Sort
26 Aug 2012
By Oddity Specs
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The stories in this book are like a succession of grotesque dreams of the very best sort, the sort where you wake up and wonder if they might not be untrue and perhaps await somewhere in some twist of the day; they haunt long after being read.
They are stories whose each peculiar flavour is not only worth savouring, but to which I feel that tearing through them would be a disservice to both their twisted brilliance and to oneself.
Miss Gardner's style is one of a kind, of a weird, fantastic, grotesque, surreal, brilliant kind, and if that description sounds at all intriguing you would render yourself a great boon to read anything she's written.
They are stories whose each peculiar flavour is not only worth savouring, but to which I feel that tearing through them would be a disservice to both their twisted brilliance and to oneself.
Miss Gardner's style is one of a kind, of a weird, fantastic, grotesque, surreal, brilliant kind, and if that description sounds at all intriguing you would render yourself a great boon to read anything she's written.
4.0 out of 5 stars
When you are strange ...
20 May 2011
By Wag The Fox
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
If you're unfamiliar with Cate's work, I guess you could say she specializes in the weird, because many of her stories are told in such a way as if you're seeing them through a funhouse mirror. "Fantasy" is a broad brush that might not do her work justice, so I'll stick with "weird."
There's over twenty stories in this collection, of varying lengths and styles. After a nice introduction from Nathaniel Lambert, the book kicks off with a one page story called "Dandelion Fluff" that works well to set the tone for the rest of the book.
A few of the standout stories for me were "The Forest of Discarded Hearts", "The Sulphurous Clouds of Lucifer Matches", "Frog and the Mail Order Bride", "The Moth Brigade", and "Trench Foot". Some stories have been published before, like "Trench Foot", which I first read online at Fantasy Magazine, while others are brand new, appearing for the first time in this collection's pages. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd likely go with "The Moth Brigade" for its blend of science-fiction and fantasy--and I'm a sucker for a good robot story.
So many of the stories have a whimsical feel to them, they border on the surreal. And what stories don't start off with a feeling of falling down the proverbial rabbit hole, carry the sensation of having already face-planted into Wonderland with a resounding thwap. Cate's stories are invariably fun to read and I look forward to when she starts cranking out the longer works, as well.
There's over twenty stories in this collection, of varying lengths and styles. After a nice introduction from Nathaniel Lambert, the book kicks off with a one page story called "Dandelion Fluff" that works well to set the tone for the rest of the book.
A few of the standout stories for me were "The Forest of Discarded Hearts", "The Sulphurous Clouds of Lucifer Matches", "Frog and the Mail Order Bride", "The Moth Brigade", and "Trench Foot". Some stories have been published before, like "Trench Foot", which I first read online at Fantasy Magazine, while others are brand new, appearing for the first time in this collection's pages. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd likely go with "The Moth Brigade" for its blend of science-fiction and fantasy--and I'm a sucker for a good robot story.
So many of the stories have a whimsical feel to them, they border on the surreal. And what stories don't start off with a feeling of falling down the proverbial rabbit hole, carry the sensation of having already face-planted into Wonderland with a resounding thwap. Cate's stories are invariably fun to read and I look forward to when she starts cranking out the longer works, as well.
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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