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Horse of a Different Color
"If Philip K. Dick is our homegrown Borges (as Ursula K. Le Guin once said), then Waldrop is our very American magic-realist, as imaginative and playful as early Garcia Marquez or, better yet, Italo Calvino. . . . You never know what he'll come up with next, but somehow it's always a Waldrop story."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
"Waldrop subtly mutates the past, extrapolating the changes into some of the most insightful, and frequently amusing, stories being written today."—The Houston Post
"The most startling, original, and entertaining short story writer in science fiction today."—George R. R. Martin
"It always feels like Christmas when a new Howard Waldrop collection arrives."—Connie Willis
Howard Waldrop's stories are keys to the secrets of the stories behind the stories . . . or perhaps the stories between the stories everyone else knows. From "The Wolfman of Alcatraz" to a horrifying Hansel and Gretel, from "The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew" to the sixth Marx brother's story of a vaudeville act tracking down the Holy Grail, this new collection is a wunderkammer of strangeness.
Howard Waldrop, born in Mississippi and now living in Austin, Texas, is an American iconoclast. His highly original books include Them Bones and A Dozen Tough Jobs, and the collections Howard Who?, Night of the Cooters, Other Worlds, Better Lives, and Things Will Never Be the Same. He won the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for his novelette "The Ugly Chickens."
"Waldrop subtly mutates the past, extrapolating the changes into some of the most insightful, and frequently amusing, stories being written today."—The Houston Post
"The most startling, original, and entertaining short story writer in science fiction today."—George R. R. Martin
"It always feels like Christmas when a new Howard Waldrop collection arrives."—Connie Willis
Howard Waldrop's stories are keys to the secrets of the stories behind the stories . . . or perhaps the stories between the stories everyone else knows. From "The Wolfman of Alcatraz" to a horrifying Hansel and Gretel, from "The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew" to the sixth Marx brother's story of a vaudeville act tracking down the Holy Grail, this new collection is a wunderkammer of strangeness.
Howard Waldrop, born in Mississippi and now living in Austin, Texas, is an American iconoclast. His highly original books include Them Bones and A Dozen Tough Jobs, and the collections Howard Who?, Night of the Cooters, Other Worlds, Better Lives, and Things Will Never Be the Same. He won the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for his novelette "The Ugly Chickens."
195 pages, Hardcover
First published August 16, 2013
6 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Howard Waldrop
170 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 9, 2013
Howard Waldrop is some kind of wizard, a master at mining the past for story nuggets that he transmutes into storyteller's gold. "Horse of a Different Color" is a phrase referring to something different than what is originally expected, and that is an entirely appropriate description of what this book delivers. Waldrop's stories, though often brimming with wit and snappy dialogue, convey a subtle kind of wistfulness, a sense of dreams just out of reach, of things that were but are no more, of things that never were but should have been. This gives his stories an odd poignancy despite the seeming absurdity of some of his subject matter. Above all, the alternate worlds and secret histories depicted in his stories are more interesting places than the world we know. His latest collection displays a combination of unflagging imagination and writing skills that have only sharpened with time. He has truly mastered the art of concise story-telling, as several of these stories are epics in miniature that other writers might have developed into novels.
Some of my favorites include "The Wolf-man of Alcatraz," a compassionate look at 30 years in the life of a man imprisoned for murders committed while in his transformed state; The title story, in which a pair of obscure 1930s vaudevillians go on a quest for the holy grail (probably the weirdest grail-quest story ever written); "The King of Where-I-Go," about a brother and sister whose lives in the 1950s and 1960s are altered by polio, CIA psychic experiments, and time travel, in that order. "Avast, Abaft!," a literary mashup of Gilbert and Sullivan and J.M. Barrie, in which the Pirates of Penzance, while being pursued by the H.M.S. Pinafore, discover Barrie's Neverland and have a brush with Captain Hook (I know it sounds ridiculous but it's wildly entertaining); and "Kindermarchen," a devastating 6-page story that reimagines one of history's darkest hours in the context of a children's fairy tale.
Other interesting stories include "The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew," a biography of the fictional actress Ann Darrow in a world where the events of King Kong really happened; "Why Then Ile Fit You," a chronicle of the final years of obscure horror film actor George Zucco and his sad mental deterioration; "Thin, On the Ground," where two recent high school graduates travel from Texas to Mexico in 1962 and experience major culture shock, with sly nods to Mexican horror films and Robert E. Howard; "Ninieslando," a story set during World War I where ex-soldiers form a secret "country" beneath No Man's Land with a plan to peacefully unite the world; and "Frogskin Cap," a story set in the far future of Jack Vance's Dying Earth. There are really no weak stories in the book, IMO.
As the descriptions suggest, some of Waldrop's stories may be a bit too esoteric in subject matter to attract a wide audience, and his stories with their sometimes obscure references demand careful attention when reading. This could be off-putting to some, but the stories are relatively fast-paced and if you enjoy learning interesting historical facts and tidbits on the side this is definitely an added bonus. Waldrop makes his literary alchemy look easy, as if any competent writer could do it. However, few other writers I've read have consistently done this type of story justice (Andy Duncan and Avram Davidson come to mind, and I recommend their work as highly as Waldrop's). In recent years Waldrop has been somewhat slowed down by some serious health issues, but he says he still has a mountain of story ideas he wants to write. Take care of yourself Howard, we still need you!
Some of my favorites include "The Wolf-man of Alcatraz," a compassionate look at 30 years in the life of a man imprisoned for murders committed while in his transformed state; The title story, in which a pair of obscure 1930s vaudevillians go on a quest for the holy grail (probably the weirdest grail-quest story ever written); "The King of Where-I-Go," about a brother and sister whose lives in the 1950s and 1960s are altered by polio, CIA psychic experiments, and time travel, in that order. "Avast, Abaft!," a literary mashup of Gilbert and Sullivan and J.M. Barrie, in which the Pirates of Penzance, while being pursued by the H.M.S. Pinafore, discover Barrie's Neverland and have a brush with Captain Hook (I know it sounds ridiculous but it's wildly entertaining); and "Kindermarchen," a devastating 6-page story that reimagines one of history's darkest hours in the context of a children's fairy tale.
Other interesting stories include "The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew," a biography of the fictional actress Ann Darrow in a world where the events of King Kong really happened; "Why Then Ile Fit You," a chronicle of the final years of obscure horror film actor George Zucco and his sad mental deterioration; "Thin, On the Ground," where two recent high school graduates travel from Texas to Mexico in 1962 and experience major culture shock, with sly nods to Mexican horror films and Robert E. Howard; "Ninieslando," a story set during World War I where ex-soldiers form a secret "country" beneath No Man's Land with a plan to peacefully unite the world; and "Frogskin Cap," a story set in the far future of Jack Vance's Dying Earth. There are really no weak stories in the book, IMO.
As the descriptions suggest, some of Waldrop's stories may be a bit too esoteric in subject matter to attract a wide audience, and his stories with their sometimes obscure references demand careful attention when reading. This could be off-putting to some, but the stories are relatively fast-paced and if you enjoy learning interesting historical facts and tidbits on the side this is definitely an added bonus. Waldrop makes his literary alchemy look easy, as if any competent writer could do it. However, few other writers I've read have consistently done this type of story justice (Andy Duncan and Avram Davidson come to mind, and I recommend their work as highly as Waldrop's). In recent years Waldrop has been somewhat slowed down by some serious health issues, but he says he still has a mountain of story ideas he wants to write. Take care of yourself Howard, we still need you!
September 30, 2015
Good God, this man can WRITE.
I almost don't care what he's writing half the time, whether it's the meandering love-of-vaudeville "The Horse of a Different Color" or the mainly SF "The King of Where-You-Go." Waldrop makes every story's narrator a real person, not a cardboard one; somebody with something to say and a way of saying it.
Go read more Howard Waldrop.
I almost don't care what he's writing half the time, whether it's the meandering love-of-vaudeville "The Horse of a Different Color" or the mainly SF "The King of Where-You-Go." Waldrop makes every story's narrator a real person, not a cardboard one; somebody with something to say and a way of saying it.
Go read more Howard Waldrop.
January 4, 2014
5 out of 5, with the caveat that I cannot be objective about this collection. Howard Waldrop is one of the few writers whose work I'll buy the day it comes out, unseen and unreviewed.
If all Waldrop does is cleverly hide all sorts of historic/pop culture Easter eggs into most of his stories with barely any telegraphing, it would be a feat. Indeed, it's a point of pride for me when I catch them. I immediately recognized bits of the Bird Man of Alcatraz in the story of the "Wolf-Man" of the same. But, here's Waldrop's trick: as always, there are moments I fail to spot the references, and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the stories one bit!
More importantly (to me at least), Waldrop's characters almost always convey some sort of bittersweet piece of truth or wisdom that can only be gained from going around the proverbial block a time or two.
I did let a sliver of objectivity creep into my reading, but I won't mention it here (you can find it in my story-by-story comments on the actual goodreads review page). It's more of a technical quibble, anyway. Whatever.
Also, "Coca Cola comic book orgy" is now my favorite Waldrop line. If I had a band, I'd ask his permission to use it as a name.
If all Waldrop does is cleverly hide all sorts of historic/pop culture Easter eggs into most of his stories with barely any telegraphing, it would be a feat. Indeed, it's a point of pride for me when I catch them. I immediately recognized bits of the Bird Man of Alcatraz in the story of the "Wolf-Man" of the same. But, here's Waldrop's trick: as always, there are moments I fail to spot the references, and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the stories one bit!
More importantly (to me at least), Waldrop's characters almost always convey some sort of bittersweet piece of truth or wisdom that can only be gained from going around the proverbial block a time or two.
I did let a sliver of objectivity creep into my reading, but I won't mention it here (you can find it in my story-by-story comments on the actual goodreads review page). It's more of a technical quibble, anyway. Whatever.
Also, "Coca Cola comic book orgy" is now my favorite Waldrop line. If I had a band, I'd ask his permission to use it as a name.
April 17, 2014
Howard Waldrop is simply a national treasure. He is unclassifiable and irreplaceable. He really should be read much, much more than he is.
May 23, 2016
If Howard Waldrop, the Trout-Hunter, is not officially listed as a bona fide American Institution, he certainly ought to be, and any long-time attendee of ArmadilloCon can tell you why. For years, the Howard Waldrop Show at the con has been SRO, as his friends and fans hunker down to listen to him read a new story. Complete with props and often with dramatic lighting supplied by a flashlight. Howard is not, unfortunately, a prolific short-story writer (it generally takes him six months to a year from idea to completion), but almost every story he does write is a unique gem, worth re-reading and savoring anew every couple of years. And while he’s generally considered an SF/F author, he’s actually sort of his own genre.
Howard does a lot of research for his stories and he likes to build them around real people and events -- though the line between “real” and “made up” can be a subtle one. “Why Then Ile Fit You” is about movie stars getting old in some comfort in the 1950s, as described by George Zucco, a name fans of black-and-white horror flicks will recognize immediately. It can’t be said to have a plot, really, but it has a heck of lot of atmosphere. “Thin, on the Ground” is Howard in a didactic mood, but he’s not heavy-handed about it. On the surface, it’s the narrator and his best friend heading for the Mexican border in search of Boy’s Town the day after high school graduation in 1962. But it quickly becomes both a homage to Robert E. Howard and a reaction to Dubya’s banana republic presidency.
What if lycanthropy was a real thing? Why, then, a man who committed several murders while not in his own skin might end up in a high-security facility -- and that’s the situation in “The Wolf-man of Alcatraz,” in which inmate Bob Howlin has to be confined to a special basement room with bank-vault doors at every full moon, for the safety of everyone on the Rock. And when you’ve finished, it may dawn on you that you’ve never actually seen the werewolf. A terrific story, one that could provide the premise for a whole series of yarns. And again: What if King Kong were real? That’s the premise of “The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew . . . ,” a sentimental remembrance of a young actress who went from cheap boarding house to top of the moviemaking heap in barely year, and then disappeared. You’ll enjoy this one even more if you’re old enough to remember Eve Arden.
“The Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode In On)” is another case of real people and fictional events. Manny, the fifth and oldest Marx Brother, who -- in the story -- changed his name to “Marks” and lived to 107, reminisces here with an interviewer (when he’s only 103) about his life in the great days of vaudeville, just before the talkies killed it off, and about the greatest variety acts ever. Except that his memories slide gradually into revelations of a Catholic/Masonic conspiracy involving a pantomime horse. As is often the case with Howard’s stories, the warp of the narrative is a fascinating lesson in social history, but the woof this time beats the pants off Dan Brown. Take Peter Pan, add the HMS Pinafore and Dick Deadeye, then toss in every pirate fantasy trope you can think of, including the Flying Dutchman, and season with a pinch of steampunk, and you have “Avast, Abaft!” which the author says he had been carrying around in his head since the late ’60s, waiting for a chance to use it. The humor is far from subtle (at least for the literarily aware) and the result is a thorough hoot.
“The King of Where-I-Go,” which was shortlisted for the Hugo and may be the best thing in this superior volume, sounds autobiographical at first -- especially if, like me, you’re a fellow Texan of nearly the same age, and you know some of the facts of Howard’s life. But it isn’t, not quite. What it is, is a rumination on growing up in the South in the ’50s, the Age of Polio, and on brothers and sisters. And time travel. “Kindermarchen,” on the other hand, is a rather short, rather lightweight retelling of Hansel and Gretel, with the addition of a ogre army. It’s okay, but you can see the ending coming a mile away.
“Frogskin Cap” was written for the first-ever anthology of stories set in Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” future, and it’s the most outright science-fictional story in the volume. Quietly poetic and some very nice descriptive writing about the last Curator of the Museum of Man. The Great War of a century ago turns up in a number of Howard’s stories, and “Ninieslando” is based on one of that conflict’s oddest facts -- that there was a whole community of men, the lost and deserted from both sides, living between the trenches, in and under No Man’s Land, surviving on abandoned equipment and rations. But only a very original mind would think to add to this the artificial language Esperanto, which it was hoped at the turn of the 20th century would help lead to world peace. It’s an amazing and very affecting story, and with a slightly horrific ending.
Howard does a lot of research for his stories and he likes to build them around real people and events -- though the line between “real” and “made up” can be a subtle one. “Why Then Ile Fit You” is about movie stars getting old in some comfort in the 1950s, as described by George Zucco, a name fans of black-and-white horror flicks will recognize immediately. It can’t be said to have a plot, really, but it has a heck of lot of atmosphere. “Thin, on the Ground” is Howard in a didactic mood, but he’s not heavy-handed about it. On the surface, it’s the narrator and his best friend heading for the Mexican border in search of Boy’s Town the day after high school graduation in 1962. But it quickly becomes both a homage to Robert E. Howard and a reaction to Dubya’s banana republic presidency.
What if lycanthropy was a real thing? Why, then, a man who committed several murders while not in his own skin might end up in a high-security facility -- and that’s the situation in “The Wolf-man of Alcatraz,” in which inmate Bob Howlin has to be confined to a special basement room with bank-vault doors at every full moon, for the safety of everyone on the Rock. And when you’ve finished, it may dawn on you that you’ve never actually seen the werewolf. A terrific story, one that could provide the premise for a whole series of yarns. And again: What if King Kong were real? That’s the premise of “The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew . . . ,” a sentimental remembrance of a young actress who went from cheap boarding house to top of the moviemaking heap in barely year, and then disappeared. You’ll enjoy this one even more if you’re old enough to remember Eve Arden.
“The Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode In On)” is another case of real people and fictional events. Manny, the fifth and oldest Marx Brother, who -- in the story -- changed his name to “Marks” and lived to 107, reminisces here with an interviewer (when he’s only 103) about his life in the great days of vaudeville, just before the talkies killed it off, and about the greatest variety acts ever. Except that his memories slide gradually into revelations of a Catholic/Masonic conspiracy involving a pantomime horse. As is often the case with Howard’s stories, the warp of the narrative is a fascinating lesson in social history, but the woof this time beats the pants off Dan Brown. Take Peter Pan, add the HMS Pinafore and Dick Deadeye, then toss in every pirate fantasy trope you can think of, including the Flying Dutchman, and season with a pinch of steampunk, and you have “Avast, Abaft!” which the author says he had been carrying around in his head since the late ’60s, waiting for a chance to use it. The humor is far from subtle (at least for the literarily aware) and the result is a thorough hoot.
“The King of Where-I-Go,” which was shortlisted for the Hugo and may be the best thing in this superior volume, sounds autobiographical at first -- especially if, like me, you’re a fellow Texan of nearly the same age, and you know some of the facts of Howard’s life. But it isn’t, not quite. What it is, is a rumination on growing up in the South in the ’50s, the Age of Polio, and on brothers and sisters. And time travel. “Kindermarchen,” on the other hand, is a rather short, rather lightweight retelling of Hansel and Gretel, with the addition of a ogre army. It’s okay, but you can see the ending coming a mile away.
“Frogskin Cap” was written for the first-ever anthology of stories set in Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” future, and it’s the most outright science-fictional story in the volume. Quietly poetic and some very nice descriptive writing about the last Curator of the Museum of Man. The Great War of a century ago turns up in a number of Howard’s stories, and “Ninieslando” is based on one of that conflict’s oddest facts -- that there was a whole community of men, the lost and deserted from both sides, living between the trenches, in and under No Man’s Land, surviving on abandoned equipment and rations. But only a very original mind would think to add to this the artificial language Esperanto, which it was hoped at the turn of the 20th century would help lead to world peace. It’s an amazing and very affecting story, and with a slightly horrific ending.
December 19, 2014
Getting a new Howard Waldrop collection is always a little bittersweet because it's been about seven years since the last one and it'll probably be another seven years or so until the next. I usually avoid reading Howard Waldrop stories until they're collected, just so I can have the whole fresh experience. This collection has the added poignancy of Waldrop's description of his rather serious and horrible medical misadventures from which I wish him a full and speedy recovery.
So, Howard Waldrop stories: they're not really like anything else out there. We have the waning days of an obscure B-movie actor, we have a, well, there's no point in paraphrasing it, a wolfman in Alacatraz, we have a secret history of vaudeville complete with a quest for the Holy Grail, a poignant tale of a boy whose sister catches polio, an account of the career of the actress from King Kong - no, not the actress who played the actress, the actress, Bob Howard and his best pal take a trip down south, pirates and pirates and other nautical legends, a Vancian tale set on the Vancian Dying Earth, and a trip to No Man's Land in any language. Each is a unique and subtle set of tastes and flavours for the mind, each is distinctly Waldropian.
So, Howard Waldrop stories: they're not really like anything else out there. We have the waning days of an obscure B-movie actor, we have a, well, there's no point in paraphrasing it, a wolfman in Alacatraz, we have a secret history of vaudeville complete with a quest for the Holy Grail, a poignant tale of a boy whose sister catches polio, an account of the career of the actress from King Kong - no, not the actress who played the actress, the actress, Bob Howard and his best pal take a trip down south, pirates and pirates and other nautical legends, a Vancian tale set on the Vancian Dying Earth, and a trip to No Man's Land in any language. Each is a unique and subtle set of tastes and flavours for the mind, each is distinctly Waldropian.
March 14, 2015
Why isn't Howard Waldrop a household name, spoken of in the same breath as Ursula K LeGuin, George RR Martin, or JK Rowling? It's certainly not because Wadrop isn't as good a writer as the others -- in many ways, he's the most imaginative speculative fiction writer we've got. Who else writes stories with these premises:
- what if the sailing ship bringing dodos to America had not been sunk, and instead of being extinct, dodos were still being raised on an obscure chicken farm in Arkansas, by an illiterate gfarmer who just thought they were ugly chickens?
- what if Thomas Wolfe had survived the operation that killed him in 1939, and instead lived to lead a zeppelin-based Technocratic restructuring of the American government in 1940 that kept us out o World War II? With the help of Fats Waller, I should add.
- What if Georges Melies, Erik Satie, and Pablo Picasso beat Emile Zola to the punch and produced a _film_ exonerating Alfred Dreyfuss?
- What if Ann Darrow had been a real actress? What would her iMDB entry look like?
- What if ... oh, you get the idea.
Waldrop's wild imagination and deep historical and cultural knowledge make his stories a crazy, careening ride into alternate worlds that do not exist, but really, _really_ should.
- what if the sailing ship bringing dodos to America had not been sunk, and instead of being extinct, dodos were still being raised on an obscure chicken farm in Arkansas, by an illiterate gfarmer who just thought they were ugly chickens?
- what if Thomas Wolfe had survived the operation that killed him in 1939, and instead lived to lead a zeppelin-based Technocratic restructuring of the American government in 1940 that kept us out o World War II? With the help of Fats Waller, I should add.
- What if Georges Melies, Erik Satie, and Pablo Picasso beat Emile Zola to the punch and produced a _film_ exonerating Alfred Dreyfuss?
- What if Ann Darrow had been a real actress? What would her iMDB entry look like?
- What if ... oh, you get the idea.
Waldrop's wild imagination and deep historical and cultural knowledge make his stories a crazy, careening ride into alternate worlds that do not exist, but really, _really_ should.
May 27, 2014
This is a great collection of wildly original stories. Among my favorites are "Why Then Ile Fit You," which is told from the viewpoint of character actor George Zucco; "The Wolf-man of Alcatraz," which is the story of a reluctant werewolf doing prison time for the murders he committed; "The Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode in On)," an insane story of Vaudeville and the quest for the Holy Grail(really); "The King of Where-I-Go," -- a haunting story of a brother's relationship with his sister with a great time travel element; "Kindermarchen," a re-telling of the story of Hansel and Gretel with an ending that will hit you between the eyes; and "Ninieslando," which is not only a powerful anti-war story but one of the most powerful short stories I have read in any genre. Highly recommended!
August 19, 2017
He turns a kernel of an idea into a fully executed story and that's amazing. Weaving fairy tales, myths, old Hollywood, etc. into an engaging surreal fun story. And while I'm not generally a fan of SF and fantasy fiction, I enjoyed these stories.
October 20, 2018
Patchy, but with a couple of little gems. I appreciated the author’s Afterword comments at end of each story.
September 25, 2014
Several of the stories in the present collection, written between 2003 and 2010, are bagatelles; not bad, but not memorable. Take “The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew,” which purports to be a 1952 movie magazine article about the late actress, Ann Darrow (from KING KONG, get it?). It’s a story in search of an audience, as is the one in which the Pirates of Penzance and the crew of the HMS Pinafore meet Captain Hook. “The Horse of a Different Color” is, in the author’s unimprovable summary, “THE DA VINCI CODE done shorter and better, and with a pantomime horse.”
Horse of a Different Color: Stories Review on Popzara
Horse of a Different Color: Stories Review on Popzara
March 24, 2014
As with most anthologies, this was a mixed bag. Howard Waldrop's creativity is still one of his strongest qualities, and in that this anthology surely does not disappoint.
My favorite stories here included The Wolf-Man of Alcatraz", "The Horse of a Different Color", and "Thin, On the Ground.
My favorite stories here included The Wolf-Man of Alcatraz", "The Horse of a Different Color", and "Thin, On the Ground.
December 8, 2014
I see that people really like this one, and compare Howard Waldrop to a bunch of authors I like, but these did not engage me at all.
January 12, 2016
I didn't really rate these stories very highly, but I liked two of them enough (Ninieslando and The King of Where-I-Go) enough to give it three stars overall.
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