Sunday, April 26, 2015

April Short Stories

April Short Stories (original sign-up post) (my list of 52) (challenge hosted by Bibliophilopolis)
  • King Diamonds "The Child's Story" by Charles Dickens 
  • 2 Diamonds "Curious if True" by Elizabeth Gaskell from The Grey Woman and Other Stories
  • Ace Clubs "Death Ship" by Richard Matheson from The Time Traveler's Almanac
  • Ace Hearts "A Correspondence and A Climax" by L.M. Montgomery from Short Stories 1905-1906
"The Child's Story" by Charles Dickens
  • I loved reading "The Child's Story" by Charles Dickens. Here's how it begins, "Once upon a time, a good many years ago, there was a traveller, and he set out upon a journey. It was a magic journey, and was to seem very long when he began it, and very short when he got half way through." I thought it was beautiful in its imagery. It is about a "traveler" who first meets a young child, then a boy, then a young man, then a middle-aged gentleman with a family, then an old man. It was an incredible read.
"Curious if True" by Elizabeth Gaskell
  • I persevered through it, and, it could have just been a case of bad timing, but, I couldn't make any sense out of this short story at all. Other than it was set in France. And the narrator was someone--a man? a woman? probably a man? doing genealogical research and hoping to find out how he was related--if he was related--to John Calvin. And half of it was probably a dream of sorts. Probably. It's not that I love first person narrative to begin with, but, in a short story it can be even more disorienting. I wasn't impressed with this one.
"Death Ship" by Richard Matheson (1953)
  • Premise/Plot: "Death Ship" was adapted into a Twilight Zone episode in 1963. The story introduces three astronauts to readers. (Mason, Ross, and Carter). Their mission, I believe, is to scout out other planets to see if they are suitable for colonization. But their mission is fated to fail, in a way. It begins with them exploring a 'flash' or sorts. It ends up they're investigating the crash of what appears to be an earth spaceship very much like their own. What they find inside the ship, well, let's just say that they have a very hard time making sense of it. Will readers do a better job?! Perhaps, especially if they've seen the Twilight Zone episode a few times.
 "A Correspondence and A Climax" by L.M. Montgomery from Short Stories 1905-1906
  •  Premise/Plot: Readers meet Sidney a young woman who has been swept up into a fantasy world of her own creation. She writes a young man all about how wonderful and glorious and full her life is--a real social whirl. In reality, she's a poor, hardworking country girl. When she learns that he's on his way to visit her, she's in for quite a shock. As is he. But it's a pleasant one for the most part. He doesn't mind her lies. He loves her as is.

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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