[SUH]≡ Read Gratis The Fantasy Writer Assistant and Other Stories Jeffrey Ford Michael Swanwick 9781930846104 Books

The Fantasy Writer Assistant and Other Stories Jeffrey Ford Michael Swanwick 9781930846104 Books

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The Fantasy Writer Assistant and Other Stories Jeffrey Ford Michael Swanwick 9781930846104 Books

A decent collection, enjoyable but a couple of them veered off course.


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The Fantasy Writer Assistant and Other Stories Jeffrey Ford Michael Swanwick 9781930846104 Books Reviews

Reading Jeffrey Ford's stories in THE FANTASY WRITER'S ASSISTANT, brought back the excitement of the 1960's when we scanned the magazines for the latest Zelazny and Le Guinn, Disch and Wolfe and speculative fiction seemed to get remade every month.
Ford is that fresh, that good. His range is big. In the hilarious title story, he devestates the extended fantasy series. BRIGHT MORNING dances with Kafka and the writer's life. FLOATING IN LINDRETHOOL, takes the tired 1940's noir film, slaps its cliches around and turns it back into something full of danger and heart. CREATION mixes The Catholic BALTIMORE CATECHISM and Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN with a bit of what I suspect is autobiography and produces an amazing father/son story.
The technique is masterful. The uncanny arises effortlessly out of the ordinary in the New Jersey college compostion class of THE HONEYED KNOT. Of all the actors in the Hollywood pantheon, the narrator of EXO-SKELETON TOWN becomes Joseph Cotton! And it makes perfect, painful sense. THE WOMAN WHO COUNTS HER BREATH, begins with the narrator casually describing his minor monster of a mother-in-law and ends with chilling mortal combat.
I don't know if Speculative Fiction is large enough to contain Jeffrey Ford for very long. But while it does, we have this book.
Those who have been following Jeffrey Ford's career have been awaiting this collection eagerly. Ford's reputation has grown with each story published. Each of his novels has established his place as one of the premier genre authors of his time. Finally, the magnificent Golden Gryphon press brings us a collection of Ford's short stories, a collection packed with grade A fiction.
Ford's fiction runs the gamut from the delicately beautifully to the wonderfully bizarre. The masterpiece 'Creation' explores a boy's relationship with his father against the backdrop of a man made out of logs he believes he's created in the forest. 'Creation' is a hauntingly beautiful story that is sure to be included on 2003 award ballets. 'Exo-Skeleton Town' takes place on an alien planet. The alien inhabitants are crazy about vintage movies, and trade balls of dung, which has aphrodisiac qualities, for copies of the movies. The few humans on the planet wear exo-suits (shaped to look like former film stars) to deal with the planet's atmospheric pressure. 'Exo-Skeleton Town' may be my favorite Ford story. Filled with lively and believable characters, magnificently odd plot twists and a touching conclusion.
'The Fantasy Writer's Assistant' tells the story of a best-selling fantasy writer who is losing his gift to 'see' into his created universe and turns it over to his assistant. The assistant learns that the characters in the universe are being exploited by the writer and tries to undo his damage. "Floating in Lindrethool" is a marvelous noirish story about a door-to-door salesman who tries to sell floating brains in a jar but inadvertently falls in love with one of them.
You get the idea. Jeffrey Ford is a consumate storyteller, a master of the written word. This collection doesn't even display the full range of Ford's talent. He has written exquisite stories not included herein, currently available in _The Green Man_ and _Leviathan 3_, that I strongly urge you to read. Whether you've read Ford's stories previously or he's a complete unknown to you, this collection is one that you must read. It's not only one of the best genre collections of 2002, it's one of the best I've ever seen. Highly recommended.
Somehow I missed Ford's first collection of short stories.I have never experienced a short story writer who captivates the reader with each story, in spite of each story being so different from one another. Alien bug world, brain computing sales, a lifelong pursuit of a Kafka short story and a car ride with Jesus and Satan. That was a couple of hours reading. Yet you get sucked in quickly as you begin each story, instead of giving in the temptation to flip through to the next story or search the table of contents.
I've only read THE FANTASY WRITER'S ASSISTANT from this collection so far, but it was a weird, twisted and fun take on plain old heroic fantasy told in a literate way. That's what I liked most-- Ford's refusal to write stuffy fiction despite his intellectual ability to do so. Add to that an approach to the idea that involves writers themselves, and you've got potential for a cult book here. I've bought all five of his books that I could find, and have plans to read them.
I loved it. Jeffrey Ford really does have a lot of talent. The short stories i enjoyed more were the titular story, At Reparata, Exo-esqueleton town, The honeyed knot and Bright morning.
Love the magical, imaginative writing.
Great collection.
A decent collection, enjoyable but a couple of them veered off course.