Cover Dishonesty
Sep. 26th, 2004 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo one of the ways I've been dealing with overwhelming levels of work-stress, family-stress, social-stress, and wedding-stress is book binging. I have bough more books in the past month than in the entire year before, give or take, and I'm nearly on a first name basis with the desk staff of my local library. I'm becoming less and less discriminating, too - F&SF, mystery, children's literature, essays, cookbooks, just about any sort of printed word will give me the escape I need.
Last week I was browsing the local F&SF bookstore, and I found something that looked marvelously creepy and intriguing. I'm a serious sucker for science fiction where the science of choice is biology, and even moreso for medical fiction. This was a series of short stories, bridging the line between SF and horror, about a disease called Sensory Deprivation Syndrome. Decent authors, an intriguing core concept, a writeup of the disease as a CDC Bulletin that sent cold fingers down my spine, both for the idea and the accuracy and detail of the writing. So of course I sighed a little sigh of the financially limited, put down the Charles DeLint novel I was planning on buying, congratulated myself for being open enough to try something new, and bought it.
The cover looks great. The description was great. The stories.... well, they're not all lousy. Just most of them.
It's ridiculous. Almost half of the stories break the rules that are set up in the introduction - there are clear statements of how things do and do not work, and the authors apparently ignore them blithely. The cutting edge of horror couldn't pierce butter without a hearty push that is beyond the capacity of my imagination; most of the ideas just leave me vaguely bored or wishing that the author had been willing to actually take the concept somewhere instead of merely presenting it. And completely aside from this, the editing is woefully absent. I've come across more typos, doubled words, and punctuation errors than I can remember seeing in my entire life as a reader.
And yet I keep pushing on, hoping that the next story will make it worthwhile. I think, after I muddle through this, I owe myself a good, comfy wallow in some truly luscious wordcrafting....
Last week I was browsing the local F&SF bookstore, and I found something that looked marvelously creepy and intriguing. I'm a serious sucker for science fiction where the science of choice is biology, and even moreso for medical fiction. This was a series of short stories, bridging the line between SF and horror, about a disease called Sensory Deprivation Syndrome. Decent authors, an intriguing core concept, a writeup of the disease as a CDC Bulletin that sent cold fingers down my spine, both for the idea and the accuracy and detail of the writing. So of course I sighed a little sigh of the financially limited, put down the Charles DeLint novel I was planning on buying, congratulated myself for being open enough to try something new, and bought it.
The cover looks great. The description was great. The stories.... well, they're not all lousy. Just most of them.
It's ridiculous. Almost half of the stories break the rules that are set up in the introduction - there are clear statements of how things do and do not work, and the authors apparently ignore them blithely. The cutting edge of horror couldn't pierce butter without a hearty push that is beyond the capacity of my imagination; most of the ideas just leave me vaguely bored or wishing that the author had been willing to actually take the concept somewhere instead of merely presenting it. And completely aside from this, the editing is woefully absent. I've come across more typos, doubled words, and punctuation errors than I can remember seeing in my entire life as a reader.
And yet I keep pushing on, hoping that the next story will make it worthwhile. I think, after I muddle through this, I owe myself a good, comfy wallow in some truly luscious wordcrafting....
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-26 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 06:39 am (UTC)But I think the winner has to be 'Ingathering,' by Zenna Henderson. I started it a few years ago when I lived with a friend who owned a copy, but never got to finish it. A few weeks ago I was reminded of it's existence, and thanks be to heaven the local library had a copy....
no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 11:19 am (UTC)If you like Zenna Henderson, you might want to check out her collection of short stories, The Anything Box. They're mostly about children, and they're mostly about horror, and they creep the hell out of me -- in a good way. It's been out of print for years, but if your library doesn't have a copy (and you want to read it), I could loan you mine.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-26 08:38 pm (UTC)Can I suggest my mother's book to you? It's a non-fiction book called The New Killer Diseases: How the Alarming Evolution of Germs Threatens Us All.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-26 10:34 pm (UTC)I've got the latest Callahan's book (and all the rest of them, for that matter) and I just ordered a used copy of something called Sophie's World that looks exciting. I don't have many books (or rather, I don't have many books which aren't in Minnesota) but you can borrow anything I've got.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 07:02 am (UTC)Have your read the Berton Roueche books? Non-fiction, but very well-written... "The Medical Detectives" is a good place to start...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 08:03 pm (UTC)