Karl's Reading List

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 ...

Published by Orbit Books: Australia, 2018 (2017). Book 2 in 'The Licanius Trilogy.' Preceded by ' The Shadow of What Was Lost. ' Followed by 'The Light of All That Falls.' I recently read the first book in this series, and liked it enough that I ended up buying this second book in order to continue reading. I'm glad that I did, as the story picks up immediately after the end of Book 1, meaning that I'm glad that the first story was still fresh in my mind. Middle books in a trilogy often have a lot going against them, particularly when characters from Book 1 have been separated, and remain separated for much of the run time, so that they can be in the needed locations for the epic conclusion of Book 3 - The Two Towers is an example of a middle book that does this, and still does it well. An Echo of Things To Come also has this hurdle to jump, and does it well, but author James Islington has added more challenges for himself by choosing to add in plot-rel...

Published by Word Publishing: Austin, Texas, 1995. I first read this book when I was around 13 years old, and have read it again at least once in the intervening years. It is an interesting genre, which I have not seen represented often: what I would refer to as "Christian Horror." Already that seems bizarre, right?! And it is, but it also works amazingly well. The set up of the story is that Cliff Benson, a nature photographer, is found dead - and seemingly bitten in two! - in the wilderness near Hyde River, with his wife Evelyn stumbling from the wilderness, terror-stricken, covered in blood and unable to recall what has happened. Cliff's brother, Steve, turns up to investigate, and is soon partnered with local sheriff's deputy Tracy Ellis. Blame is originally put on a bear - mostly because no other animal can explain the horrific death - but as the investigation continues, Steve begins to suspect something else is going on. Meanwhile, the town of Hyde River is conc...

Published by Orbit Books: Great Britain, 2013 (1991). First published 1990. Book 1 in 'The Wheel of Time.' Followed by 'The Great Hunt.' This is the first book in a series of 14, a series that I was first introduced to by one of my cousins years ago. I read through every book that had been written to that point, but the series was unfinished, so I put it down and never revisited it. Since then, the series was finished (despite the main author dying before the end!) and it has also been made into three seasons of an Amazon TV show. Anyway, finding a copy in a bookswap library inspired me to give it another go. Let's start with the 'negatives.' It's quite slow paced. It IS an epic story, that would have required a lot of books regardless of pace, but there are times when it FEELS slow. The main characters spend over 100 pages of plot before leaving their home village, there are 300 pages before we get a different POV character for the first time, and the a...

Published by Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd: London and Glasgow, date unknown. A book I remember from when I was a child (along with Swiggo ), this book is old enough and has 'seen enough' that its cover is now missing - the picture here is from it's inner title page. Minny Car is quite dated - one of the main characters is a gollywog! - but still cute and well illustrated. The story begins with Minny Car broken down on the side of the road. A group of toys rescue her and reattach her wheel. In return, Minny Car takes them on a journey through the highlands. First, they encounter the Loch Ness monster, then they have a picnic that gets rained out, and then eventually they face off against a bad-tempered Highland Bull!  It's all told in rhyming verse, with each character getting a chance to shine; Golly actually turns out to be the most practical of the group! I enjoy the story, and it certainly has that nostalgia factor for me, as well. Karl's List First Flight ; Good...

Published by Granada Publishing Limited/Dragon Books: London, Toronto, Sydney, New York, 1980. Part of the 'A. Mazing Monsters' series. Living at my parents' house for a season means that some of the books here are ones I remember from my childhood. Swiggo is one of these (as is Minny Car ). The A. Mazing Monsters series stars Mr A. Mazing, a monster expert, who encounters a different monster in each book, and must solve whatever problems arise from the monster's quirks. The monster Swiggo, which looks like a variation on a mermaid, starts off being caught by Mr A. Mazing in a net, and brought home. Swiggo's issue is that he drinks a lot of water, and as he drinks, he grows. Soon he has outgrown a fish tank, an aquarium, a pond and then is beginning to drain the Atlantic Ocean! In this story, the problem is eventually solved when Swiggo is reunited with his parents, learns about the blowhole on the back of his head, and squirts all the water back out! Fun, silly, an...

Published by Wordsworth Editions Limitied/Classics: Hertfordshire, 1993. First published 1818. I don't think this needs a lot of introduction. Frankenstein is a very popular book, having been continually in print since it was first written in 1818 by a then 18-year old Mary Shelley. A young scientist, mad with power, creates a creature and brings it to life, only to be overwhelmed by what he has done and reject the creature, leading to the monster growing up alone, isolated, and resentful.  The question "Which one of the two is the real monster?" has been asked ever since the book's publication, a fact not helped by the public association of the term 'Frankenstein' with the monster, when it is the name of the scientist - it's almost as if the question could be "Which is the real Frankenstein?" However, in the book the creature is a little more monstrous than I had anticipated: he is lonely and misunderstood, but he is also quick to violence, and ...