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Title: Impossible Things by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553564366 Publisher: Spectra Pub. Date: 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.16
Rating: 5
Summary: Off the wall, except you never know where the wall is
Comment: Too many science fiction authors focus on novels. Admittedly they have to make a living. However, the length is artificial, and far too many authors become bogged down in the middle of a writing that is beyond its natural length. Connie Willis' short stories are as long as the story needs to be. So you don't feel she is writing to maintain an artificial length and thus damaging the story. I have yet to read any of her novels, but hope she found topics that would naturally carry that length. Connie is able to carry a dozen threads of possible stories through a single short story. Often you don't know where the real story lies until close to the end. Her writing is unpredictible. Whereas many science fiction writers wind up with long boring sections of "must be book length" stories, Connie does not. I would describe her writing as off the wall, but you never know where the wall is in her stories. The word "wonderful" comes to mind. Dave Clary
Rating: 5
Summary: Connie Willis is one of the most surprising voices in SF
Comment: This will always be one of my favorite books, if only because of the presence of the wonderful "Last of the Winnebagoes." I remember I put off reading that story for a long time, assuming from the title it was an exploration of the decline of native Americans, and would not be light reading. Then I read it, and cried, and read it again, and cried. And quickly decided that it was one of my favorite stories of all time, regardless of genre. And it is a story about the decline of native Americans, but not the sort that are defined by ethnicity. And most of all, it is the most beautiful dog story I have ever read.
But the book has other gems. Even as a guy, I still found "Even the Queen" a brilliant little story (and I couldn't have been the only guy who thought so, since it won a Hugo award), despite being a story about three generations of women discussing ... Well, read the story. Like most of her stories, it seems lighthearted at first, then POW!
Spice Pogram is a pure madcap romp, full of puns, and misunderstandings, and coincidences, and missed meetings, and precocious children, and enigmatic (but charming) aliens. This will make you laugh out loud. (And if you really like it, you need to read "Blued Moon" in her first collection Fire Watch.)
Each of these stories alone would be reason to buy this book, but together, it's a must for any SF reader's bookshelf. And the other stories are excellent as well, especially "Jack" and "At the Rialto."
Rating: 3
Summary: Not bad, but not for those short on time!
Comment: Connie Willis is a good writer, good at telling funny and/or moving stories about us people and our problems and triumphs. Hard-SF fans should definitely look elsewhere; all the science and sociology and future-speculation in these stories is completely in the service of the human emotions and predicaments she wants to explore. This is SF really only by accident.
I would have enjoyed the book more if the stories had been shorter and tighter, and perhaps if I hadn't read them all at once. At least three of them are rather similar "screwball comedies", and those three stories are 27, 60, and 98 (! ) pages long.
I think she could have done what she wanted to do in half, or even a third, of the length, without hurting the qualities of the stories. But that may just be because I'm a busy Daddy without spare hours to spend savoring every page.
I'm not going to rush out and buy all the rest of her books, but I probably will read more eventually.
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Title: Fire Watch by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553260456 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Remake by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553574418 Publisher: Spectra Pub. Date: 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Fire Watch by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553270257 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Bellwether by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553562967 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 1997 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Passage by Connie Willis ISBN: 0553580515 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 02 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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