F/SF

This is a collection of some longer length short stories, probably novella length, and very short interspersing vingettes of a page or so. The first of the more substantial stories is about a character from the author's novel, Koko, and having read that novel, the boy's name was an immediate clue that something nasty was about to transpire, given that the grown-up version of this character was thoroughly unpleasant in the novel. Sure enough, Harry Beavers learns to hypnotise his younger brother with horrific results. (In an afterword, the author tells us that this and 'The Juniper Tree' which follows are meant to be by his character Tim Underhill, best-selling author, who used the stories to work out things in his life and so the Harry of this story isn't meant to be literally the one from 'Koko'.) I found this story rather too graphically nasty.

'The Juniper Tree' is about a boy who is molested in a cinema - a theme from 'The Throat', the third of the author's Blue Rose trilogy, where this happened to one of the serial killers and, again, to Tim himself. It was better written than the first but has a somewhat anti-climactic ending.

'A Short Guide to the City' is a sort of guide to a tourist, the place visited being a version of Millhaven, the town in the Blue Rose trilogy and its follow-ups, since it has the Green Woman Taproom, notorious from 'The Throat' and other landmarks. However, it is a darker fantasy version of the place in other books, given that, as the story develops, it seems there are junkyard cities where children are living, a never-finished bridge and other flights of fancy.

'The Buffalo Hunter' is, I think, meant to be black comedy. I found it went on far too long and the extended 'joke' about baby bottles was soon very wearing.

Probably the best in the book is the concluding 'Mrs God' about a man who escapes to a stately home in England to evade the pregnant wife he is angry with, in order to research an obscure poet who spent a lot of time there decades previously. All too soon, the parallels with his own situation start to appear. The strangely disconnected and disoriented tone of the story, including the odd village encountered on the character's journey to the great house, reminded me of Ramsey Campbell's work, though from the author's afterword his inspiration was taken from Robert Aickman, another writer of supernatural tales.

Altogether, I didn't enjoy the collection and can only rate it at an 'OK' 2 stars. ( )

Los relatos recogidos en esta nueva selección de Peter Straub no están inundados de la sangre y vísceras diversas a las que nos tienen acostumbrados casi todas las obras recientes del género de terror. Por el contrario, recuperando la tradición de los mejores clásicos, su lectura nos resultará inquietante, nos producirá una sensación de malestar que tardaremos mucho tiempo en olvidar.
Vio a un hombre joven que vestía jersey negro holgado y pantalón también negro, y que caminaba calle abajo en dirección a ella. Su cabello negro ondeaba al viento y su rostro parecía estar iluminado por una sonrisa. Pensó que siempre era agradable ver a alguien sonriendo en la calle; era como una señal de afabilidad. Cuando estaban a punto de cruzarse, ella se dio cuenta de que estaba haciendo muecas, no sonriendo, y de que tenía los ojos humedecidos. Esto sucedió en Nueva York, uno de esos días en que el cielo tiene un color gris plomizo, el aire es gris y frío y la gente se pone la chaqueta y el jersey por primera vez. Ella se volvió y lo miró mientras pasaba por delante de ella, preguntándose qué podía haberle ocurrido. Al joven aún le envolvía una extraña luminosidad, y la mujer se dio cuenta de que otras personas también lo estaban mirando.

Some good and varied writing from Straub. The novella is the original Blue Rose story and there is a lot else that fills in gaps for that series of books--not that they are necessarily directly related, but they kind of fill in the mental landscape behind Blue Rose. And there's plenty else to enjoy--Straub going places in short form that you may have never seen him before, and writing quite well in them. Definitely worth a try for anyone who liked the Blue Rose novels, or anyone who enjoys intelligently done suspense & horror. ( )

http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2015-10.html#straub ( )