Reviewed By: Marisa Exter
Voyages by Starlight
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Ian R. MacLeod
Class/Genre: Science Fiction [Short Stories]
Copyright 1996, Publisher Arkham House Publishers, Inc.
This collection of short stories by Ian MacLoed straddles the boundaries between Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Every one of the stories is completely unique, in settings ranging from 20th century Northern Ireland ("Ellen O'Hara") to the distant future ("The Perfect Stranger") to an apparently modern-day earth in which the biological rules differ from our own ("Grownups"). Each story is impossible to put down, drawing the reader in to completely vivid universes inhabited by intriguing and sometimes very alien but still very human characters. It will be a very long time before I stop reeling from "Papa" , which reminds me hauntingly of my own Papa, although the grandfather in this story felt comfortable with the electronic toys of his youth, "VCR two-year-event timers, graphic equalizers, PCs and photocopiers, the eight-speaker stereo in the car". As I may be in my own time, Papa is confused by his grandchildren's wildly jet-setting ways as well as their VR machines, the strange foods they eat, and the hardware that is entwined in his own home and his own body which he can barely control. But like my Papa, this Papa loves his grand-children, good food, and his memories of better times. The bitter-sweet tale will stay with me a long time… as will many of the other stories in this amazing collection.
Marisa Exter
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Marisa Exter
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