Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories
Philip K. Dick Award finalist Includes the Nebula winning story "Creature" What if the world ended on your birthday -- and no one came? What if your grandmother was a superhero? What if the orphan you were raising was a top-secret weapon, looked like Godzilla, and loved singing nursery rhymes? What if poet laureates fought to the death, in stadiums? Emshwiller's books ( Joy in Our Cause, Carmen Dog, Ledoyt, and others) have won her a devoted cult following. Her short fiction is about women and men, monsters, obsessions, art, and falling in love. She writes witty, humane, endearingly odd stories that play with all the genres and conventions you can put a name to -- science fiction, Western, romance, postmodern, tabloid, literary -- and some that haven't even been invented yet. Suspect that life is much stranger than anyone ever admits? Buy this book. Unhappy in love? Buy this book. About to visit the dentist or embark on a long voyage? Buy this book. Troubled by dreams you can never quite remember in the morning? Buy this book. Love good short fiction? Buy this book.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:193152002X
ISBN13:9781931520027
Release Date:August 2002
Publisher:Small Beer Press
Length:282 Pages
Weight:0.88 lbs.
Dimensions:0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
Memorable, Provocative and Entertaining
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
This is the first book that I read from Carol Emschwiller. I read a short story of hers from another annual collection and thereafter desired to read more of her stories. Each of the 19 stories included in "Report to the Men's Club" are imaginative and original. For example, in "Mrs. Jones", one of two rivaling spinsters realizes that a strange creature has been visiting them at night. It is her bizarre reaction and plan that sets this story apart. Though she finds that the creature cannot speak, she entraps the manlike bat and refashions him as her husband. The ending is hysterical. In both "Foster Mother" and "Creature" the author finds the humanity in creatures that are clearly far from human. The story "Grandma" raised a lot of issues about what to do with superheros and superheroines when they have passed their prime. I really wish that this story was a little longer. If you like fantastic stories that make you think, have witty humor, contain thought-provoking surprises, and are satirical in nature, you will like this book.
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