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The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller, Vol. 1
Crossing the boundaries between fabulist literature, science fiction, and magical realism, the stories in this collection offer a valuable glimpse into the evolution of Carol Emshwillers most versatile and imaginative authors.
536 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Carol Emshwiller
143 books91 followersCarol Emshwiller is an American writer of avant garde short stories and science fiction who has won prizes including the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. Ursula K. Le Guin has called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of the strongest, most complex, most consistently feminist voices in fiction." In 2005, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Her most recent novel, The Secret City, was published in April 2007.
She is the widow of the artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller . Their son is the actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist Peter Emshwiller .
She is the widow of the artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller . Their son is the actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist Peter Emshwiller .
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 29, 2011
Go read this, do! It's a fantastic collection of 89 weird and wonderful very short stories in 572 pages. Each story starts out strange and winds its way into even more experimental, experiential territory.
Also, do read Emshwiller's novels The Mount and Carmen Dog. Yes, do!
Not yet sufficiently enticed?
Here are some first lines of stories:
(Writers, read this for: first lines; examples of brief, engaging stories of the type published in numerous science fiction and literary magazines and journals and anthologies)
"It's Saturday," the absolutely hairless woman said, and she pulled at her frayed, green kerchief to make sure it covered her head." — "Day at the Beach"
"This the diary of lost sleep." — "The Queen of Sleep"
"The person you care about the most has just told you you're no good." — "Joy in Our Cause"
"In a dream I follow him to a cocktail party of his admirers." — "I Love You"
"We are advancing into an unknown land with a deliberate air of nonchalance, our elbows out, our hands on our hips, or standing one foot on a rock when there's an opportunity for it." — "Abominable"
"I am the woman of the year, or so it seems so far." — "Verging on the Pertinent"
"In the beginning there was a goddess from whom all things flawed flowed." — "If Not Forever, When?"
"We have always yearned for great men." — "The Promise of Undying Love"
"She is eighty-two and in love." — "There Is No Evil Angel But Love"
"Grandma used to be a woman of action. She wore tights. She had big boobs, but a teeny-weeny bra." — "Grandma"
Still, here? Goodness, dear, go read Emshwiller!
One issue, editing: This volume contains far too many obvious typographical errors.
Also, do read Emshwiller's novels The Mount and Carmen Dog. Yes, do!
Not yet sufficiently enticed?
Here are some first lines of stories:
(Writers, read this for: first lines; examples of brief, engaging stories of the type published in numerous science fiction and literary magazines and journals and anthologies)
"It's Saturday," the absolutely hairless woman said, and she pulled at her frayed, green kerchief to make sure it covered her head." — "Day at the Beach"
"This the diary of lost sleep." — "The Queen of Sleep"
"The person you care about the most has just told you you're no good." — "Joy in Our Cause"
"In a dream I follow him to a cocktail party of his admirers." — "I Love You"
"We are advancing into an unknown land with a deliberate air of nonchalance, our elbows out, our hands on our hips, or standing one foot on a rock when there's an opportunity for it." — "Abominable"
"I am the woman of the year, or so it seems so far." — "Verging on the Pertinent"
"In the beginning there was a goddess from whom all things flawed flowed." — "If Not Forever, When?"
"We have always yearned for great men." — "The Promise of Undying Love"
"She is eighty-two and in love." — "There Is No Evil Angel But Love"
"Grandma used to be a woman of action. She wore tights. She had big boobs, but a teeny-weeny bra." — "Grandma"
Still, here? Goodness, dear, go read Emshwiller!
One issue, editing: This volume contains far too many obvious typographical errors.
August 21, 2019
In honor of her passing, LoA just reprinted her classic story "PELT" (1958), including the magazine cover of its first publication: http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2019/02...
One of her best, and most-reprinted, stories. A good intro to her stuff, for you young'uns. My rating is just for that story. I haven't (yet) read the collection. On the TBR, if the library buys a copy.
She once told an interviewer: When she was growing up, “I always thought of myself as one of the boys, though a defective one.” [!] She lived to be 97, passing on February 2, 2019.
One of her best, and most-reprinted, stories. A good intro to her stuff, for you young'uns. My rating is just for that story. I haven't (yet) read the collection. On the TBR, if the library buys a copy.
She once told an interviewer: When she was growing up, “I always thought of myself as one of the boys, though a defective one.” [!] She lived to be 97, passing on February 2, 2019.
April 22, 2021
april 22, 2021
yeah, I'm rereading "pelt," for the student book club this time, and I'm ready to give it 5 stars, babey. a good fucking story. you know I like stories about personhood and freedom and justice.
december 3, 2020
I haven't actually read this collection--I don't think I have the patience for a nearly 600-page short story collection by ANY author--and am therefore not providing a rating. I read one story, "pelt," which can be found at story of the week here.
a good story about a hunting dog. perhaps I will return to emshwiller's work one day.
yeah, I'm rereading "pelt," for the student book club this time, and I'm ready to give it 5 stars, babey. a good fucking story. you know I like stories about personhood and freedom and justice.
But why, why? This is morning now and our world.
december 3, 2020
I haven't actually read this collection--I don't think I have the patience for a nearly 600-page short story collection by ANY author--and am therefore not providing a rating. I read one story, "pelt," which can be found at story of the week here.
This . . . is . . . world.
Here is the sky, the earth, the ice.
We have watched you, little slave. What have you done that is free today? Take the liberty. Here is the earth for your four shoed feet, the sky of stars, the ice to drink. Do something free today. Do, do.
Little slave, what have you done that is free today? Remember this is world. Do something free today. Do, do.
This is world. The sky, the earth, the ice.
a good story about a hunting dog. perhaps I will return to emshwiller's work one day.
But what good was a world?
December 3, 2013
Heyyyyyyyyyyyy, where's 'Glory, Glory' (1990)?
January 20, 2016
The Mount is entertaining, but this somehow feels like a slog - so many stories, and so inconsistent.
June 5, 2018
Grandma Read
January 7, 2022
Hunting Machine.
Read
September 12, 2024Ediciones Orbis
November 19, 2021
A sweet story about a man and his…dinosaur? An apocalyptic world where a survivor hangs out in no man’s land discovers a creature hurt and sick, nursing it in place of the dog he once had. But something isn’t right in this genetically engineering creature, and that’s what makes this story bathetic. Emshwiller had a wonderful knack for these kinds of stories, and this is one of her good ones.
April 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews