They Do the Same Things Different There

by Robert Shearman

Robert Shearman visits worlds that are unsettling and strange. Sometimes they are just like ours - except landlocked countries may disappear overnight, marriages to camels are the norm, and the dead turn into musical instruments. Sometimes they are quite alien - where children carve their own tongues from trees, and magic shows are performed to amuse the troops in the war between demons and angels. There is horror, and dreams fulfilled and squandered, and of true love. They do the same things different there.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction, Weird Fiction, Anthologies

Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2014

About the author

Robert Shearman has worked as a writer for television, radio and the stage. He was appointed resident dramatist at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter and has received several international awards for his theatrical work, including the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the World Drama Trust Award and the Guinness Award for Ingenuity in association with the Royal National Theatre. His plays have been regularly produced by Alan Ayckbourn, and on BBC Radio by Martin Jarvis. However, he is probably best known as a writer for Doctor Who, reintroducing the Daleks for its BAFTA winning first series, in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award.

His first collection of short stories, Tiny Deaths, was published by Comma Press in 2007. It won the World Fantasy Award for best collection, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and nominated for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize. One of the stories from it was selected by the National Library Board of Singapore as part of the annual Read! Singapore campaign. In 2008 his short story project for BBC7, The Chain Gang, won him a Sony Award, and he provided a second series for them in 2009.

He is now at work on his first novel.

Reviews

[Seregil of Rhiminee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Risingshadow.

Robert Shearman's They Do the Same Things Different There was a nice surprise for me, because it contained excellent stories that highlight and emphasize the weirder side of speculative fiction in a wonderful way. It was interesting to read this collection, because I had previously read only a few stories by Robert Shearman and didn't really know how versatile a writer he is and what kind of stories he can write.

I think that the stories in this collection will please many fans of weird stories, because they contain plenty of weirdness and strange happenings. If you're like me and love well written quirky, imaginative and twisted stories, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the contents of this collection.

This collection contains the following stories:

- Luxembourg
- Restoration
- A Joke in Four Panels
- That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love
- Sounding Brass Tinkling Cymbal
- Page Turner
- Taboo
- Peckish
- Dumb Lucy
- 72 Virgins
- Static
- The Constantinople Archives
- Your Long, Loving Arms
- Brand New Shiny Shiny
- Patches
- The Sixteenth Step
- Our Fallen Sons
- The All-New Adventures of Robin Hood
- Memories of Craving Long Gone
- Mond
- It Flows From the Mouth
- A Grand Day Out
- History Becomes You
- One Last Love Song

Robert Shearman seems to have an endless imagination, because his stories contain many kind of happenings and fascinating weirdness. His stories are wonderfully literary and fantastical with a pinch of poignancy and a dash of irresistible quirkiness on top of them.

These stories are definitely "something different" and that's why it's a bit difficult to categorize them, but it's possible to categorize them as weird fantasy and new weirdish speculative fiction. Readers can find traces of fantasy, science fiction, horror and even bizarro fiction in them.

Robert Shearman explores and examines the world and the characters through a skewed lens and lets surreal and unexpected happenings take place in his stories. One of the best things about this collection is that when you begin to read a story, you don't at first know what's going to happen in it, because the author has a nice way of surprising his readers.

There's something for almost everybody in this collection, but it's possible that some of the stories may not be to everybody's liking, because the author writes about all kinds of things from love and cannibalism to family life and bestiality. I think it's great that the author doesn't try to please everybody with his stories, but writes all kinds of new weirdish stories. (I have lots of respect for authors who have courage to write extraordinary stories and are willing to add unsettling and unpleasant elements to them, because there are too many authors who try too hard to please everybody with their stories and end up writing mediocre speculative fiction.)

Before I write more about the contents of this collection, I think it's good to mention that the unsettling elements in these stories are a bit different kind of unsettling elements than what you normally find in collections that contain weird stories and dark fiction, because Robert Shearman has his own kind of unsettling writing style. When talking about his writing style, it's appropriate to talk about new weirdish kind of unsettling writing style.

Here's a bit of information about some of the stories:

- The Sixteenth Step is a well written and atmospheric horror story. In this short story the author tells about a bed-and-breakfast house that has a bit of weirdness to it. He also writes interestingly about love.

- Peckish is a fantastic story about the Von Zieten family and a scandal concerning the whole family. It's an interesting story about family life and cannibalism, and it's a fascinating take on the well-known fairy tale called Hansel and Gretel.

- Taboo is one of the weirdest stories in this collection, because it's a story about a woman who's getting married to a camel. In this story the author explores what is considered to be acceptable by the society and its laws.

- A Grand Day Out is one of the best stories in this collection. It's a beautifully written, nostalgic and also slightly bittersweet story.

- That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love is a disturbingly brilliant and emotional horror story about a brother and a sister who sacrifice and execute dolls. The author writes perfectly about Karen's feelings and what kind of an effect the childhood happenings have on her later life. This story is one of the best modern horror stories I've read this year.

- Sounding Brass Tinkling Cymbal is a brilliant piece of strange fiction. It tells of a boy who gets to choose his own tongue.

- A Joke in Four Panels is an interesting short story. I'm not going to write what it is about, but I'll mention that readers who are familiar with The Peanuts comics will probably get the most out of it.

Although I like all the stories in this collection, I have to mention that I consider That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love to be the best of them. I've always liked this kind of weird and unsettling horror stories, so I was very impressed by it. It was so disturbing and well written a story that it truly stood out among the other stories. Based on this story alone I can say that Robert Shearman is an exceptionally good writer of dark fiction and I intend to read more of his dark fiction in the near future.

Peckish is another impressive story, because it was an interesting take on the old Hansel & Gretel fairy tale. It's something a bit different, because the author successfully combines fantasy and horror elements in it. It's a satisfyingly macabre, delightfully twisted and well written fairy tale for adults.

I've been fascinated by speculative fiction for a long time, because in my opinion it gives authors much more freedom to explore different - and especially difficult - themes and issues than mainstream fiction. They Do the Same Things Different There is an excellent example of how speculative fiction is a good tool to explore different themes, because the author explores several different themes and he does it well. No matter how odd the story is, he writes about the happenings in a bold and fluent way.

Robert Shearman writes surprisingly well and fluently about families, family members, children, wives, husbands and relationships between siblings etc. He has an ability to evoke emotional responses in the reader by writing about what happens to the characters, what they do to each other and how they interact with each other.

Some of the things that happen in these stories aren't pretty, but there's no need for the author to sugarcoat the happenings, because a bit of roughness makes the stories interesting and enhances the atmosphere in a wonderful way. I liked it very much that the author wasn't afraid of writing about unsettling things when necessary. That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love is a perfect example of the author's ability to create an unsettling and unforgettable atmosphere (I think that it will quite difficult for readers to forget this story).

I recently read Helen Marshall's Gifts for the One Who Comes After, which was also published by ChiZine Publications. The stories in this collection reminded me a bit of Helen Marshall's stories, because there were similar kind of elements in them. I think that readers who have read Helen Marshall and like her stories will be delighted to read this collection. These stories also reminded me a bit of the stories written by J. R. Hamantaschen.

After reading this collection I can say that Robert Shearman is an author who clearly deserves more attention and should gain a larger readership. His stories are a unique combination of good prose, fantastical happenings and imaginative storytelling, so all who enjoy reading this kind of fiction should take a look at this collection. If you've never read anything like this before, don't be afraid to give this collection a chance to impress you, because you may find yourself fascinated by these quirky new weirdish stories.

If you enjoy reading weird and well written stories, I can highly recommend Robert Shearman's They Do the Same Things Different There, because it's a unique and mesmerizing collection of new weirdish speculative fiction.

Highly recommended to readers who want to read something out of the ordinary!

[Marcheto Marcheto · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had been a quite while since I had enjoyed a speculative fiction collection as much as I’ve enjoyed “They Do the Same Things Different There”, which I found simply amazing. I had previously read a few stories by Robert Shearman, so I knew more or less what to expect, nicely written quirky stories with a touch of irony. And I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy this book, but it has gone beyond all my expectations. From the twenty-four stories collected here, a couple were just good, most of them really good and a handful of them excellent, so no filler stories here.

Although the label weird or surrealist would fit most of them, they were so imaginative and diverse that I didn’t find them monotonous, quite the opposite, each story was a surprise, completely different to the previous ones, and each story, for its part, was full of wonderful twists. For me this book was as delicious and full of surprises as a box of assorted chocolates, so I forced me to space them out and to read one at a time, to make them last longer.

What is more, these are not the kind of story you read and enjoy, and five minutes later you’ve completely forgotten about it: they linger in your mind and make you think, as they leave plenty to the reader’s imagination.

And though in a collection so full of gems is hard to choose, among my favorite ones would be “Static”, “Restoration”, “Luxembourg”, “Our Fallen Sons”, “A Grand Day Out”, “History Becomes You” and “Memories of Craving Long Gone”.

[Daniel]

Read immediately following Helen Marshall's Gifts for the One Who Comes After, a similar dark, weird literary fantasy collection from ChiZine, I found Shearman's more difficult to approach and get into. Reading a large chunk of this type of intense, subtle material like these all at once probably had a large impact in this and I will need to return to this collection again sometime to give it the full attention of my brain it deserves.

What I can relate about this is that it is wonderfully written, the language exquisite, and the stories unsettling. For those who really enjoy Marshall's work, this is something you'll want to read, and vice versa. It makes sense that ChiZine had both collections out at the same time. Though they have much in common in style, and particularly tone of their stories, the two writers are of course not exactly the same and readers may have their preference. In general I found Shearman's stories to be even more surreal and nuanced, with less of the classic horror elements that Marshall's stories contain. Both are great, but every potential reader may still have one that they slightly prefer and Shearman's style of 'weirdness' is something new for me, different (as the title suggests) from the usual subgenre of literary surreal horror.

Shearman's tales here are filled with non-traditional, fantastic situations or settings and the plots are usually not clear at first, or follow the path you might expect them to based on their set-up. Unlike in Marshall's collection there is not any consistent thread of theme to Shearman's stories that I could discern, but another reading when I'm less burnt out may reveal more. Regardless how you first read these I think that the collection is something that a fan of this genre would want to return to and find new facets that weren't picked up on originally. If oddity is your thing or something you'd like to try, don't let this collection pass you by.

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reading copy of this from ChiZine Publications via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Until I reread it I don't feel comfortable in giving it a precise star rating.

[Urthwild Darkness Beckons · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were to categorize my bookshelves by genre, then this collection of stories would simply have to dance from shelf to shelf. Some Bizarro, slipstream, humour, fantasy, horror, science fiction and just plain weird stories abound.



You will have to form your own conclusions with many of the story endings because Sherman does not always hold your hand the whole way; if you cannot watch a film or read a book without being told absolutely everything then perhaps this is not the book for you.

However, if you want to jump out of short story rut-land and you like a little bit of unpredictability read this and you will find not only weirdness galore but well written, compelling and sublimely realised stories.

Received for an honest review.

Urthwild

[Lizy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed some of these short stories. Others I found vaguely offensive. I don't know if these were intended as tongue in cheek but some of the satire left me feeling like the author and I have differing views on things. Especially if he is once again putting forward the argument that same sec marriage would lead to legalising marriage to animals or incest. But otherwise the majority of these stories were thought provoking and some even a bit sad. I enjoyed this book. I'm just not sure I would want to read it again.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure I quite understand the glowing praise for this collection. Some of the stories were pretty amazing, but some of them seemed more like creative writing exercises. I didn't even finish the book - it was due back at the library and I was fine with returning it with a few stories left to go. I don't want to imply that it was bad, just not amazing enough to worry about. /shrug.

[Paweł Dembowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful like the long lost silent films of 15th century Constantinopole.

[Biblioworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Я не имею ничего против абсурдистких текстов - они порой бывают чрезвычайно интересны.

Начиная с классики - Алиса в стране чудес.

И первый рассказ про Люксембург был в меру забавен, хотя на мой вкус чрезмерно затянуто и не смешно пережевывал в общем забавную идею.

И он по сути своей должен быть абсурдным, потому что на уровне логики сюжет просто невозможно рассказать.

Но последующие рассказы пошли по наклонной - такие же неплохие идеи при утомительно длинной и не смешной попытке юморить.

Я даже не осилил дочитать до конца - очень скучно.
Идеи забавные, но выковыривать их из скучного потока текста просто шахтерская работа.

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

there were a few stories here that i really loved and would have given 4 or 5 stars. knocked this review down to 3 stars because some stories i wanted to skip- mostly all were good, and i’m glad i didn’t skip any. but some were certainly much better than others. “Luxembourg” and “Restoration”, the first two, were by far my favorites, so maybe that just got my hopes up for the rest.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every story is decidedly unique and wonderfully written, but outside of four or five of them I felt myself decidedly unaffected and unengaged the majority of the time. Its not for everyone, but I can think of a few people I know who would in fact love this collection.

[Laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

leans toward cosmic/existential horror with a whole lotta sexual perversion.

72 virgins made me laugh. the sixteenth step is prob my fave of the bunch.

3.5 stars.

[Anna Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new favorite author find for me. The stories are fantastic in the truest sense of the word. I love this authors very practical, sincere delivery and tone, couples with the twighlight zone level weirdness of his tales. Great book!

[El Juanito · Rating 4 out of 5]

read some years ago and really liked it, want to read again. very weird, interesting stories that you don't really understand and some you are not even think mean anything but are captivating regardless

[Jon Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shearman’s latest collection of absurdist short stories is, if anything, even more horrific, beguiling and strange than his previous collections. The collections from ChiZine emphasise the darker side of his work, most of the stories qualifying as horror in one way or another. But it’s not standard horror, instead it’s absurdist horror; existential terrors summoned to the page to disquiet the reader. Blood and guts do appear from time to time but never to shock purposes. Instead it’s all presented in Shearman’s calm authorial voice, the author always sure and in control where his characters are, in a very British way, politely bewildered by events.

It starts off lightly, with Luxembourg going missing and moves on through unorthodox takes on Peanuts (A Joke In Four Panels), Hansel and Gretel (Peckish), the rewards for martyrs in heaven (72 Virgins) and how we anthropomorphise objects (Static). History and love are recurring fascinations. It’d be apt if, having started with the disappearance of a country, the collection finished with the reappearance of the Twin Towers (History Becomes You, as sharp and wise about history and human nature as any short story I’ve read. And I’ve read a few). And perhaps it’s most satisfying to think of it as the final piece and the last story as a rather sweet coda. For all we’ve seen cannibalism, sex, murder, bestiality and people held captive against their will the collection finishes on the sweetest of notes, a bittersweet paean to the power of music that seems to be moving toward tragedy but lifts itself courageously at the last with a beautiful, earned sentiment. And with that, the writer leaves the stage but leaves the reader craving more.

[Rae Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of Robert Shearman's short story collection Remember Why You Fear Me, and while this collection was not as good as that, it was not a disappointment. I don't think there was a story in here that I disliked, which is always a amazing thing for a collection to accomplish.

The opening story, Luxembourg, was probably the story that kept me coming back to this collection for awhile. I would think about it, and I'd be like "man, I should read more of that, that story was bizarre," and thus, I'd pick it up again.

Dumb Lucy and 72 Virgins were the next two that stood out for me. In Dumb Lucy, I wanted to know more about what was going on the world that the two characters were traveling in. It sounded like an awesome setting, but as is the nature of short stories, I don't think it was explored to full potential. 72 Virgins I just thought was an interesting twist on the whole afterlife.

I think my favorite story has to be Memories of a Craving Long Gone, wish was sad and weird and if I dare say, delicious.

[Tone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally when I read a collection of short stories froma single author, even a "best of", I expect some filler. Not here. Every one of these is a gem.

I think these fall into the Surreal genre, though I hesitate to label it that way because the Surrealists were an artistic movement that I know little about. Let me put it this way, this book is filled with stories where weird things are just given. Like A Grand Day Out, where everyone who dies gets one more day of youth, that's just the way things are.

My favorites were; A Joke in Four Panels, Taboo, Static, The Sixteenth Step, A Grand Day Out and Brand New Shiny Shiny

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I have just been reading too much spec fiction and weird fiction lately, but these stories seemed like stories that were written simply to explore a "Hey what if..." moment.

There were only a few that I felt actually resonanted with a greater meaning, and a couple of them were actually just offensive (to me). "72 Virgins" & "Taboo" seemed almost specifically intended to offend, and I'm not really sure I gained anything from the experience.

I gave this a 3-star rating (I liked it) simply because I really did like a few of the stories. But for a collection that is up for the Shirley Jackson Award for 2014, I found this collection pretty sub-par to be honest.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Mr. Shearman's quirky, absorbing and Daliesque anthology. All of the stories are very well written, dealing with the mundane aspects of the human condition and everyday life in the most unusual and surrealistic fashion.

This book is not for someone looking for an ordinary, run of the mill read. These stories will shock you and then make you think. They are intellectually provocative because of the surrealistic treatment of institutions such as family and marriage. Very well done, with an occasional whiff of ironic humor.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review copy received through NetGalley.
Robert Shearman's brain is not bound to ordinary laws of spatiality and temporality. His eerie, compelling stories take place in worlds where matter transmutes or flickers in and out of existence, where the timeline of technological development is all askew, where childhood and adulthood curve back upon each other. These inventive, haunting tales are weird, unsettling, and excellent.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories varies from the macabre to the horrific to the just plain odd.

Vivid descriptions help place characters and settings into rather surreal worlds and/or situations.

Characters vary from likeable to despicable, realistic to bizarre.

Overall, an interesting read.

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing, compelling, funny, sometimes even gross or simple utterly strange and in a way sometimes reallly beautiful. All this is true for this collection and I definitely enjoyed reading every single story in this book. I just can´t really tell why. Perhaps because they created a tickle in my head when I was thinking about what I have just read.

[Sean]

ARC received from Netgalley.

A weird and wonderful short story collection from Robert Shearman.Some I enjoyed-Taboo, about a camel.And some weird-Luxembourg,about disappearing Country.All in all very enjoyable and quite frankly very different.

[Benoit Chartier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Shearman spins amazing tales. You just sink into them like you would a very plush downy pillow. He just eases you into these fantastic, impossible tales, and only leaves titillating hints as to his motives. I thoroughly recommend this book. I devoured it.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was.... something. I love this author, but there comes a limit of how much one can take. This thing is filled with the weirdest shiz you can think of. It's very good and I recommend it to fans of Neil Gaiman especially.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I didn't finish it. Enjoyable at times, but more "huh" (without the interrogative) than weird, much less horrific. I think I was hoping for more Barron or Ligotti and less... well, fantastical. They weren't bad by any stretch, they were just quirky. Eh.

[Alexander Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review on my blog

[Tom Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

weird fiction at its best. every story in this collection is amazing - and there are several that are incredibly powerful/emotional.

[Josef Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good short story collection

For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/they-d... and follow me on Twitter @josenher

[Artur Nowrot]

Bardzo dobre opowiadania, czasem zabawne, czasem absurdalne, czasem krypne, zaskakująco niecyniczne – ale coś gdzieś siadło. Odkładam, może wrócę.

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting short stories, but most were too weird, without an explanation for the weirdness. I didn't finish it.