Trunk: Stories That Took The Long Way - Various

Published by Metaphorosis Publishing, 2026.
Edited by B Morris Allen.

Short story collections are interesting to read cover-to-cover. No matter how good the collection is, there will always be some that grab your attention more than others, particularly if the collection is from a number of authors, rather than one. Trunk is one such collection, and what makes it an even more intriguing beast is that the connective tissue between these stories (other than they fact that they all fall into the fantasy or science-fiction genres) is that, in order to be considered for inclusion, the stories must have been rejected for publication multiple times. Each story ends with a short blurb about the author, followed by the history of rejection for the story that you have just read.

Almost by necessity, then, the stories in this collection are a little odd, a little 'out there', a bit different in some way to your 'standard' short story, although most of them did hold my interest to one degree or another. Highlights for me included 'Dog Days' by Cara Masten DiGirolamo, about an ex-gymnast and current werewolf who enrols herself in a dog show in order to continue competing, 'The Grand Seeming' by S. L. Harris about a 'Seemer' (a form of sorcery) who is slowly corrupted by their gift, and 'The Transformation of Tabitha Magee' by Pete Lead, about a cat magically transformed into a human who begins to care for her ailing owner. 

Some are light and whimsical, some are dark and melancholic, some are disturbing... It is an interesting collection, and I had hoped that a few of the stories might be suitable to study with my classes, but perhaps they are just a little too odd for that.

Lower your expectations slightly (not dramatically), and then enjoy.

Completed 16 October 2026.

Previous Book ~ Next Book

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Master's Men - William Barclay

Image
Published by SCM Press Ltd: London, 1959. I enjoy early church history, and the commentaries of William Barclay, so learning that he had written a book about the twelve apostles, telling their history, was intriguing. Unfortunately, there are certain aspect to Barclay's writings that I have some issues with, and The Master's Men leans far enough into those issues that I struggled with the book as a whole - actually, I started this in the middle of 2024, and only picked it up recently in order to finish it off, rather than from a sense of enjoyment. Firstly, the good. Each chapter looks at one of the '12 disciples' named in the gospels (as well as some extra individuals - there are 15 chapters), giving the list of scriptural mentions (which, for some, are not very many), and then going into the 'historical' accounts found of them outside scripture. Barclay is quite good at joining the dots, and it is in these moments that the book becomes to most interesting. An ...
Read more

The Fathers of the Greek Church - Hans von Campenhausen

Image
Published by Adam and Charles Black Limited: London, 1963. Translated from German by LA Garrard. First published in German as 'Griechische Kirchenväter' in 1955. A 'proper' theological work by a 'proper' theologian, The Fathers of the Greek Church gives a brief biography of a number of the - wait for it - fathers of the Greek Church. Being written by a theologian, it is no surprise that the book focuses more on the theological writings of each individual than their actual biography, although this is still covered. I love church history, and what I enjoyed about  Fathers was learning more about the beliefs of a number of these individuals, or even (for a few) hearing about them at all! With early church history it is also interesting to track the development of concepts that modern believers take for granted. It is not that these concepts had to be invented - as Scripture alludes to them -   but it took some time for the understanding of these concepts to be soli...
Read more

The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens

Image
Published by Penguin Classics: London, England, 2000. First published 1840-1841. I remember seeing an adaptation of this book at some point, fairly low budget I think, and from that adaptation only remembered the outcome of one particular storyline. Knowing that a particular plot would end in a particular outcome made reading the book an interesting experience, wondering how exactly events would lead to the outcome I remembered, and would have the same prevalent tragic emotion throughout as the adaptation seemed to have.  But reading Dickens is not at all like watching Dickens. So often a straight adaptation of the plot of a Dickens book leads to a movie that is somewhat bleak and depressing, whereas reading Dickens gives fuller scope to the satire and humour of his writing, even in the midst of tragic events. I really enjoyed this book. I am a big Dickens fan (I'm sure this is neither the first nor last time I've said that) but this one is now among my favourit...
Read more