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Things That Never Happen (Paperback)

by M. John Harrison (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (11 Nov 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575075937
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575075931
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 204,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

EDGE magazine

"Short stories from an author whose tales create a resonance that is very real"


Review

"Short stories from an author whose tales create a resonance that is very real" (EDGE magazine )

"Replete with the sort of oblique and uncanny imagery that turns the fantastic conceits of his best stories into something altogether more unsettling" (Brian Dillon TLS )

"One constant is Harrison's precise way of capturing the textures of real life and places - while evoking the bizarre otherness waiting to burst out of it. If you've never read Harrison at all before, this treasure trove of a book is a very fitting introduction" (Interzone )

"He is one of the essential writers of British fantastic literature; anyone who does not know his work cannot know what the genre is capable of." (Paul Kincaid Vector )
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Things That Never Happen
66% buy the item featured on this page:
Things That Never Happen 3.7 out of 5 stars (3)
£6.99
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10% buy
Viriconium: "Pastel City", "Storm of Wings", "In Viriconium", "Viriconium Nights" (Fantasy Masterworks) 4.2 out of 5 stars (17)
£6.99
Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.)
10% buy
Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.) 4.2 out of 5 stars (4)
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Light (Gollancz S.F.)
9% buy
Light (Gollancz S.F.) 3.1 out of 5 stars (35)
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought, 3 Nov 2005
By A Customer
This collection is your chance to catch up with one of the best short story writers now writing in English. Those are tales that take genre tropes and shakes them until all the clutter falls away. Here are ghost stories, sword and sorcery and science fiction tales that have become something new, odd and different.
It is the sheer pity at the way human beings suffer without trying, or even wanting, to draw a moral lesson from it that makes the short stories noteworthy.Harrison is capable to shine a bright, hard light in the dark spots on the back of our souls. They are not about comforting the reader or providing a map of the world. Harrison respects the reader too much for that.
It is not the technique (even thought it is dazzling) but the humanity of this tales that will make them lodge in the back of your skull like a splinter of ice that refuses to melt...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Things That Never Happen, 14 April 2008
By David Brookes (Sheffield, UK) - See all my reviews

I picked up this collection of short stories expecting primarily the "new weird" that M J Harrison occasionally writes under, or perhaps some speculative fiction to accompany his popular novels. In truth there are as many mainstream stories here as there are weird, and although this wasn't what I'd hoped for it didn't spoil my enjoyment in the slightest.

The author is a master of people, able to decipher individuals to the point where he can construct characters that are real and fully rounded to the reader. It's astonishing that anybody can assemble characters so believable and place them in situations from the banal to the extraordinary, but keep them accessible and emotive.

The stories that stick out in my mind are mainly the ones with a touch of surreality to them: the first story in the collection is a wonderful piece reminiscent of P.K. Dick in which God returns; another is about a man who is crumbling apart so thoroughly that the environment begins to crumble with him; and there is a fantastic yet unhappy tale of a woman who wants nothing but to fly.

Throughout the whole collection is an aura of melancholy and quiet despair, although there is a lot of humour as well. The emotive content of the stories is what drive them and it's the uncanny ability of Harrison to charge every line with feeling is what makes this book unmissable.

It's difficult to judge a collection of short stories, but on the whole:

9/10
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4 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Drearyness, 1 Sep 2005
By Ventura Angelo (Brescia, Lombardia Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is the book that would suit the tastes of Marvin, the depressed robot of Douglas Adams' The hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy. If you'll feel dejected,depressed, gloomy, read this book and you'll know new bottoms of despair. All tales are grimy, settled in some hideous, hopeless world. Not only that, but they are dull, boring, and often you'll wonder if you've missed the point of the story, if indeed there is one. But even if there's one, it's not worth it. A total waste of time.
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