Customer Reviews

The Book with the Missing First Page

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I've never much cared for the short story as a literary form. Just as you're starting to like the characters or get into the plot, it's all over. But Alex Andronov's new volume may force me to reconsider.

The book is a smorgasbord of genres and styles, just as enjoyable to dip into at random as to read cover to cover. There is something for everyone - fantasy, sci-fi, mystery and Gothic horror, as well as more earthbound but no less striking vignettes of fragile relationships in domestic settings.

The collection hosts a cavalcade of unforgettably outlandish characters, from conniving elderly pirates and amorous nanobots to asthmatic cockney beagles, but there's more going on than just absurdist silliness (although there is plenty of that). 'Moon miners' is a stunning environmental fable about a moon made of cheese being slowly devoured by its population of indolent mice. It's the sort of thing I'd want my children to read (but be warned - there are some adult themes in this book).

There's so much to admire in these stories - they show intelligence, Woody Allen-esque wit and a bubbling imagination, but also a great love of language. 'Cross words to say' is a tale of romance between two cryptic crossword fans, while 'Soup' will change the way you look at the alphabet forever.

The genuine highlights for me, though, were the less flamboyant moments. The title story, with its depiction of an old man recalling childhood traumas at the sight of a mutilated book, is painfully raw and moving. And 'Left out in the cold', which depicts a teacher freezing outside a door he mistakenly believes to be locked, is so rich in potential meanings that it's haunted me for weeks.

You'll finish this book thinking of just two words: more please.

I really enjoyed this book. Really easy to pick up and put down as it's full of stories of varying length. When's the next one out?

I thoroughly enjoyed the stories. Some happy, some sad, all thought-provoking, entertaining and wonderfully imaginative.
I asked myself which was my favourite story, and I thought it was the Crosswords one but then I liked The Expedition to the Brain and Sarah and Shrugger, so I decided I could have more than one "favourite". I am full of admiration,Alex,well done. Looking forward to your second book.

A great mix of stories, some of them incredibly short, others a little longer. Some of them serious, some of them silly. Some about mice, some about relationships. I found them a great length for reading on my commute too. Buy it, you may like it!

This is a handy book to have when you need to fill in a bit of time between doing other things; with it's short stories and, in some cases, leave it to the imagination endings. The good thing is that you are never far from the end of a story and therefore a conclusion to you period of reading. The stories are short but of high quality created from a very original imagination. At no point do you think the ideas in the book are copied or influenced from other peoples stories. There does seem to be some sort of reflection or input in this book which has come from the authors experiences in his own life, and this is a good thing.
Alex Andronov is the sort of author that will worry the old hands in this industry. He is like a gunfighter, perfecting his technique, wandering round the woods taking pot shots at tin cans...until one one day a successful mainstream author meets him face to face...and gets leveled with a single shot...pow!

S.