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All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past: Neat Stories
- All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past (1980)
- Helpless, Helpless (1984)
- Fair Game (1986)
- What Makes Heironymous Run? (1985)
- The Lions Are Asleep This Night (1986)
- Flying Saucer Rock & Roll (1985)
- He-We-Await
- The Left-Handed Muse (1987). Essay by Lewis Shiner.
- Helpless, Helpless (1984)
- Fair Game (1986)
- What Makes Heironymous Run? (1985)
- The Lions Are Asleep This Night (1986)
- Flying Saucer Rock & Roll (1985)
- He-We-Await
- The Left-Handed Muse (1987). Essay by Lewis Shiner.
122 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
71 people want to read
About the author
Howard Waldrop
171 books76 followersHoward Waldrop was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction, with shorties that combined elements such as alternate history, American popular culture, the American South, old movies, classical mythology, and rock 'n' roll music. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 6, 2026
"There are two types of science fiction writers: type “A” is Howard Waldrop.
Type “B” is everybody else."
Oh, well. So I guess I just prefer everybody else.
:)
Type “B” is everybody else."
Oh, well. So I guess I just prefer everybody else.
:)
November 22, 2014
No one--and I mean no one at all--writes a short story like Howard Waldrop. If you like Howard's stories, that's unfortunate, because that means that you have to wait for your next fix from the single source rather than being able to rely on multiple suppliers. But them's the breaks when you're talking about a writer who has a unique style and voice.
This collection from 1987 showcases seven of those wonderful stories, bracketed by an introduction from Gardner Dozois and an afterword by Lewis Shiner, and in conjunction with some original artwork by people like Tim Kirk, Terry Lee, and Hank Jankus (at least in this version, the signed, limited and slipcased edition; YMMV). The stories are reprinted from both Shayol, a fanzine produced by Pat Cadigan and Arnie Fenner (someone once said that the most important thing for Howard's career was for him to send his stories to the highest paying market first rather than starting with the semi-pro magazines), to OMNI (the highest paying market; hmm, someone must have finally told Howard). The stories are:
"All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past" -- His second story ever sold, but one that took years to actually see print. What makes a Howard Waldrop story? A Grade B monster movie plot treated as if it actually occurred from the viewpoint of the national guardsman called in to help fight it. The difference is point of view. Howard's able to make the story unique by establishing a unique focus on it.
"Helpless, Helpless" -- A perfect little tale of disease and civilization, trading off that adage that he who forgets history is bound to repeat it and Alfred Bester's tale of the android and the heat. Short, but to the point.
"Fair Game" -- Another of Howard's signatures is that he does his research, almost to the point of absurdity given the economics of scale. But in science fiction, it tends to pay off, because readers are trained in watching the minutia, and if you can carry it off, they will be pleased. Here, it is Hemingway and the hunt is on.
"What Makes Hieronymous Run?" -- Hieronymous, of course, is Bosch, and the research also includes Brueghel the Elder and a number of other warped Renaissance painters, whose fevered imagination comes to life in this tale.
"The Lions Are Asleep This Night" -- As Howard tells it in the introduction, he walks a fine line between telling a subtle story and a rarefied one. There have been many times that I've felt that he crossed the bounds, just because my knowledge of history, culture, or mythology wasn't enough to keep up him. This is one about a different Africa, but there are enough clues here for most anyone to understand the differences.
"Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" -- This is probably one of my top three favorite Waldrop stories, and one of my top 20 favorite short stories. The reasons are two-fold: number one, it's that good; number two, I heard Waldrop read it out loud. If you ever get the chance to hear Waldrop read a story, do take it. The only other reading I can think of offhand that I thought was any better than this reading was Dan Simmons reading "Entropy's Bed at Midnight."
"He-We-Await" -- A little bit of Ancient Egypt and the return of an awaited messiah, but not quite the type you might have been thinking of.
This collection appeared in paperback a few years back, but is likely out of print now. If you are a fan of alternate history or the short story, you owe it to yourself to check the used book racks for this or one of Howard's other collections. You won't be sorry.
This collection from 1987 showcases seven of those wonderful stories, bracketed by an introduction from Gardner Dozois and an afterword by Lewis Shiner, and in conjunction with some original artwork by people like Tim Kirk, Terry Lee, and Hank Jankus (at least in this version, the signed, limited and slipcased edition; YMMV). The stories are reprinted from both Shayol, a fanzine produced by Pat Cadigan and Arnie Fenner (someone once said that the most important thing for Howard's career was for him to send his stories to the highest paying market first rather than starting with the semi-pro magazines), to OMNI (the highest paying market; hmm, someone must have finally told Howard). The stories are:
"All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past" -- His second story ever sold, but one that took years to actually see print. What makes a Howard Waldrop story? A Grade B monster movie plot treated as if it actually occurred from the viewpoint of the national guardsman called in to help fight it. The difference is point of view. Howard's able to make the story unique by establishing a unique focus on it.
"Helpless, Helpless" -- A perfect little tale of disease and civilization, trading off that adage that he who forgets history is bound to repeat it and Alfred Bester's tale of the android and the heat. Short, but to the point.
"Fair Game" -- Another of Howard's signatures is that he does his research, almost to the point of absurdity given the economics of scale. But in science fiction, it tends to pay off, because readers are trained in watching the minutia, and if you can carry it off, they will be pleased. Here, it is Hemingway and the hunt is on.
"What Makes Hieronymous Run?" -- Hieronymous, of course, is Bosch, and the research also includes Brueghel the Elder and a number of other warped Renaissance painters, whose fevered imagination comes to life in this tale.
"The Lions Are Asleep This Night" -- As Howard tells it in the introduction, he walks a fine line between telling a subtle story and a rarefied one. There have been many times that I've felt that he crossed the bounds, just because my knowledge of history, culture, or mythology wasn't enough to keep up him. This is one about a different Africa, but there are enough clues here for most anyone to understand the differences.
"Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" -- This is probably one of my top three favorite Waldrop stories, and one of my top 20 favorite short stories. The reasons are two-fold: number one, it's that good; number two, I heard Waldrop read it out loud. If you ever get the chance to hear Waldrop read a story, do take it. The only other reading I can think of offhand that I thought was any better than this reading was Dan Simmons reading "Entropy's Bed at Midnight."
"He-We-Await" -- A little bit of Ancient Egypt and the return of an awaited messiah, but not quite the type you might have been thinking of.
This collection appeared in paperback a few years back, but is likely out of print now. If you are a fan of alternate history or the short story, you owe it to yourself to check the used book racks for this or one of Howard's other collections. You won't be sorry.
December 19, 2014
This collection comprises a number of odd stories where history mixes up with something a little more bizarre.
In "All about Strange Monsters of the Recent Past," the giant insects and animals from all the old movies have come out, and started destroying the world for real. Only this time, the Army isn't powerful enough to stop them. This was my second-favorite of the bunch, as the wry humor plays with both the old movies and the current havoc.
"Helpless, helpless," was my favorite of the book, as it imagines a plague on the same scale as the Black Death in a future where androids are as common as people. No one can figure out why androids keep malfunctioning, only that the rate of infection is spreading like an epidemic.
"Fair Game" tells about Ernst on his last hunt. It's clunky in the beginning when describing Ernst, and drops so many hints about who this really is that the last name becomes unnecessary by the end. The significance of the barn was not ever made clear to me, however, unless it was supposed to represent Hell.
"What Makes Heironymous Run?" is a story completely grounded in art. Some of the scenes referenced were familiar to me, others weren't. In a lot of ways this is probably going to be more enjoyable if you can catch most of the references. When Deborah comes out of the art museum, though, the story wastes long chunks of dialogue on what felt like an attempt to cram in every painting that hadn't been already shown.
"The Lions Are Asleep This Night" is about an African boy named Robert as he writes a play about one of his favorite stories from African history. It's about freedom, in a sense, but there isn't much fantasy except within the plays themselves.
"Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" is about a unique kind of gang war in the 1960's. Two gang bands have a high-stakes sing-off with some rather interesting results. Due to obfuscation of the lyrics, this one is best read aloud.
"He-We-Await" is a rather muddled story. It's eventually about an old archeologist who clones a mummy and raises the boy to continue his father's rule. So much of the story is about Egyptian history, though, and so much is implied rather than said that it annoyed me.
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" is the longest and last story in the book. It retells the twelve labors of Hercules as they might have happened in 1926 in Mississippi, with an ex-convict serving out the last year of his sentence as parole labor under a very bad boss. The overall tone and idea is good, but the execution left me wishing for something better. Rather than show how Houlka actually carries out most of his jobs, I.O. narrates him leading up to the task, and then there is a scene break, and then the narrative picks up after it's finished. Killing the snakes at the pond (the re-imagining of the Hydra) is one of the few that does get more spelled out. For the rest, the reader has to rely on knowledge of the original myths. Also there were parts that I just couldn't figure out what they had to do with the story; the whole confusing scene about Al (Al Capone, by inference) seems to be there only to introduce opium. I'm not even sure if the woman in the story is the same woman Houlka and I.O. eventually find out is a user.
Overall it's not a bad collection, but the writing feels stiff, and the history sometimes drags the stories down rather than give them a good setting. It isn't something I'll read again. I rate this book Neutral.
In "All about Strange Monsters of the Recent Past," the giant insects and animals from all the old movies have come out, and started destroying the world for real. Only this time, the Army isn't powerful enough to stop them. This was my second-favorite of the bunch, as the wry humor plays with both the old movies and the current havoc.
"Helpless, helpless," was my favorite of the book, as it imagines a plague on the same scale as the Black Death in a future where androids are as common as people. No one can figure out why androids keep malfunctioning, only that the rate of infection is spreading like an epidemic.
"Fair Game" tells about Ernst on his last hunt. It's clunky in the beginning when describing Ernst, and drops so many hints about who this really is that the last name becomes unnecessary by the end. The significance of the barn was not ever made clear to me, however, unless it was supposed to represent Hell.
"What Makes Heironymous Run?" is a story completely grounded in art. Some of the scenes referenced were familiar to me, others weren't. In a lot of ways this is probably going to be more enjoyable if you can catch most of the references. When Deborah comes out of the art museum, though, the story wastes long chunks of dialogue on what felt like an attempt to cram in every painting that hadn't been already shown.
"The Lions Are Asleep This Night" is about an African boy named Robert as he writes a play about one of his favorite stories from African history. It's about freedom, in a sense, but there isn't much fantasy except within the plays themselves.
"Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" is about a unique kind of gang war in the 1960's. Two gang bands have a high-stakes sing-off with some rather interesting results. Due to obfuscation of the lyrics, this one is best read aloud.
"He-We-Await" is a rather muddled story. It's eventually about an old archeologist who clones a mummy and raises the boy to continue his father's rule. So much of the story is about Egyptian history, though, and so much is implied rather than said that it annoyed me.
"A Dozen Tough Jobs" is the longest and last story in the book. It retells the twelve labors of Hercules as they might have happened in 1926 in Mississippi, with an ex-convict serving out the last year of his sentence as parole labor under a very bad boss. The overall tone and idea is good, but the execution left me wishing for something better. Rather than show how Houlka actually carries out most of his jobs, I.O. narrates him leading up to the task, and then there is a scene break, and then the narrative picks up after it's finished. Killing the snakes at the pond (the re-imagining of the Hydra) is one of the few that does get more spelled out. For the rest, the reader has to rely on knowledge of the original myths. Also there were parts that I just couldn't figure out what they had to do with the story; the whole confusing scene about Al (Al Capone, by inference) seems to be there only to introduce opium. I'm not even sure if the woman in the story is the same woman Houlka and I.O. eventually find out is a user.
Overall it's not a bad collection, but the writing feels stiff, and the history sometimes drags the stories down rather than give them a good setting. It isn't something I'll read again. I rate this book Neutral.
April 3, 2016
An excellent collection of excellent stories, the best being A Dozen Tough Jobs, a retelling of the Hercules myth in the South in the 20s. Some are light confections, some are more substantial dishes, but all are crafted carefully, though some are more pleasing than others. The Lions are Asleep This Night and He-We-Await are also excellent stories in this collection.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews