"I Sing the Body Electric" by Ray Bradbury

What a title!

Bradbury gave this collection of short stories a bold title reminiscent of Walt Whitman's confident and beautiful poems. Unfortunately, for me, the book didn't live up to its title. I Love Ray Bradbury, I truly do, but this was the book of his that I've enjoyed the least (I haven't read them all yet, but I'm working on it.)

It sounds like it would be fantastic (there's even a story with a robot Abraham Lincoln for goodness sake) but it just seemed more contrived to me than his other writing.

I'm glad that I read it, but it wouldn't be the Bradbury book I'd recommend.  Instead start with "The Martian Chronicles", "Fahrenheit 451", or even "Farewell Summer".

"Dancing with Mr. Darcy" edited by Sarah Waters



Wolvesey Castle in Winchester near where Jane Austen lived at the end of her life

I've got a soft spot for Austen adaptations and fan fiction.  I admit it.  So the short story collection "Dancing with Mr. Darcy" was really interesting to me.  All of the stories have some relationship to Jane Austen and/or her novels.  I loved some of the stories, and I admit that I didn't really enjoy all of them.  Overall, though, it was an interesting way to engage with Austen's literary legacy and be exposed to new authors.

To read my review of "Dancing with Mr. Darcy", click here.

"The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury

"The Illustrated Man" is a collection of short stories masquerading as a novel.  Ray Bradbury is a master of short fiction, and "The Illustrated Man" plays to this strength.

There is a loose framework to the book.  The unnamed narrator meets an unusual man, the illustrated man, whose body is covered in tattoos.  These, however, are not ordinary tattoos.  These intricately detailed and vibrant tattoos change, come to life, and show the future.  Parts of his body might show you your own future, or you may see a story of the distant future.  As the illustrated man sleeps, the narrator watches his tattoos and the book is a collection of the sixteen stories that are shown during the night.

These short stories have little to connect them other than the future setting, and the sense of menace that permeates the book.  Whether it is diseased men banished to another planet, a city wreaking revenge on people, or children plotting the death of their parents, there is a deep and disturbing sense of dread throughout most of the book.  It is a representation of the future, and shows snippets of possibilities.  (Most stories seek some type of future plausibility and loosely fall in the genre of science fiction, although "The Playground" is a noticeable exception that relies on fantasy and a less logically explainable event.) 

These snippets of the future are clearly part of Bradbury's vision, and are closely related to his futuristic books like "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451".  In fact, "The Other Foot" seems to carry on from a plot line introduced in "The Martian Chronicles."  These are related stories that all fit into Bradbury's unique vision of the future. 

Although it is fantastic to read, Bradbury's depiction of the future is also deeply troubling.  Although there are moments of redemption, it is a generally pessimistic view showing the atrocities (big and small) that people are capable of.

The Mammoth Book of Wolfmen: The Ultimate Werewolf Anthology

Traditionally vampires have been more popular than werewolves.  This is probably because--if we're being honest--vampires (the beautiful undead) are sexier than werewolves (people who turn into over sized dogs).   There seems to be a lot more fiction about vampires than werewolves, or else werewolves show up as secondary characters in vampire books (like in the Twilight books).

It was a refreshing change, then, to read the Mammoth anthology of werewolf short stories.  Mammoth always does a good job with their short story anthologies, and this one is particularly good.  I really liked the wide range of short stories in "Wolfmen".  There were a lot of very different takes on werewolves, and stories ranged from classic horror to postmodern thoughtfulness.  Like in any anthology, some of the short stories are better than others.  On the whole, though, the standard is surprisingly high.  If you like werewolves, it's definitely something you should read.  And if you don't like werewolves, you might be surprised by how much you enjoy some of these stories.

To read my full review of The Mammoth Book of Wolfmen, click here.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance

If you've been following this little blog of mine, you've probably noticed by now that I have a bit of a soft spot for vampire books.  I like the atmospheric quality of most vampire fiction and the melding of fantasy and real life. 

Whether you're a fan of the genre looking for something to read, or a newbie to vampire fiction who wants a bit of a taster, I'd recommend reading the Mammoth Anthology of "Vampire Romance".  This is quite a large collection of short stories.  They all have vampires of some variety and are-to varying degrees-romances.  Other than that the stories vary greatly.  It's fun to read all of the short stories, and a good way to be exposed to lots of authors writing vampire fiction (and especially vampire romance).

To find out more about the Mammoth book "Vampire Romance", click here.