leichter (05/02/83)
I recently read the really marvelous short story named in the title. It's in "The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, 24th edition" Ace edition April 1983 (so how come I managed to buy it in March?) [Oh my God, he's reviewing SciFi in net.books Sidney - and HE flamed about SciFi reviews - what's the world coming to Sidney...) Well, it may have been published as SciFi/SF/Fantasy, but it's an excellent story; well-written, interesting characters. The basic idea is simple: A ghost story - typical haunting, actually - told from the side of the ghost. Don't let this description scare you off; it has nothing in common with your typical ghost story other than the overall setup. It's really an investigation of the choices we make in life, and what makes life worth living. (That sounds really deep, doesn't it?) Anyway, try it. According to the introduction, Parke Godwin "is a reformed actor whose latest novel, 'Firelord', was published in 1980. He is co-author (with Marvin Kaye) of 'The Masters of Solitude' and its recently completed sequel, 'Wintermind'." Any comments on these, or other works? BTW: Quick review of some of the other stories in the same collection: "Out There Where the Big Ships Go", by Richard Cowper, is very nice. John Varley's "The Pusher" has an interesting twist. Most of the others stories are nice but not particularly memorable. I do, however, highly recommend Algis Budrys's essay/book review on "The Secret Language of Science Fiction", which says many of the things I was trying to say about SF in this newsgroup, although with a somewhat different slant. -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter leichter@yale