Strange But Not a Stranger

by James Patrick Kelly

The 16 stories in this collection run the gamut from cyber adventure and a ghostly haunting to chemically modified romance and a time travel mission to save the world. The Hugo Award winner, "10(to the 16th) to 1," tells the story of a boy in the 1960s who gets caught up in a spirited adventure that becomes a desperate attempt to prevent a nuclear holocaust. In "The Cruelest Month," a grieving mother is haunted both by the past and a ghost. "The Prisoner of Chillon" presents a radioactive Lake Geneva overrun with cyberpunks seeking fame and fortune through software piracy. By turns humorous and harrowing, this collection highlights the short fiction of a lauded author at his best.

Author Biography: James Patrick Kelly, a two-time winner of the Hugo Award, is the author of Look into the Sun, Wildlife, and the story collection Think Like a Dinosaur. He lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

310 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

James Patrick Kelly (please, call him Jim) has had an eclectic writing career. He has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and planetarium shows. His short novel Burn won the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Award in 2007. He has won the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award twice: in 1996, for his novelette “Think Like A Dinosaur” and in 2000, for his novelette, “Ten to the Sixteenth to One.” His fiction has been translated into eighteen languages. He produces two podcasts: James Patrick Kelly's StoryPod on Audible and the Free Reads Podcast (Yes, it’s free). His most recent publishing venture is the ezine James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways. His website is www.jimkelly.net.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 to 4.0 stars. I have not read all of the stories in this collection so my rating will only apply to the stories listed below (I will update my rating from time to time as a read more stories):

10(16) to 1 - Very good short story. Set during the Cuban missile crisis, an encounter with a time-traveller confronts a young boy with that classic dilemma of utilitarian philosophy, if you could save many lives by taking one, would it be right to do so? Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Kelly's writing. I'd previously read at least half of these stories, as they were published in Asimov's magazine. He is a thinker, with many odd and intriguing thoughts. The stories are varied in subject and tone. A couple were a bit too angsty for me, but still good for people who like that kind of thing.

[Lis Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Kelly's latest collection of short fiction, and it makes me wonder why it is that I don't actively seek out his stories. As with an earlier collection, Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories, I enjoyed nearly every story in the book. The range here is pretty wide, magic realism, near-future cyber-thriller, alien biology, far-future superscience, and it's all good and nearly all excellent.

Recommended.

[bluetyson]

Strange But Not a Stranger by James Patrick Kelly (2002)