The Ocean and All Its Devices

by William Browning Spencer

Fans of William Browning Spencer have been waiting more than ten years for this, his second collection of short stories. The Ocean and All Its Devices won't disappoint. Spencer's first collection, The Return of Count Electric was acclaimed by reviewers in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Cemetery Dance, Publishers Weekly and other magazines and newspapers. Science fiction legend Roger Zelazny, once introduced to Spencer's work, became a lifelong devotee. He wrote: William Browning Spencer is one of those rare short story writers who comes along once in a generation -- like Saki, Collier, Sheckley -- and manages to combine all of the virtues within that restricted format. The Ocean and All Its Devices collects some of Spencer's finest published work. Three of these stories appeared in year's best anthologies. Another, The Death of the Novel, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award, while The Essayist in the Wilderness was on the final ballot for a World Fantasy Award.

Contains:
Introduction (The Ocean and All Its Devices) • essay
The Ocean and All Its Devices • (1994) • novelette
The Oddskeeper's Daughter • (1995) • novelette
The Death of the Novel • (1995) • short story
Downloading Midnight • (1995) • novelette
Your Faithful Servant • (1993) • short story
The Foster Child • (2000) • short story
The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness • (1998) • short story
The Lights of Armageddon • (1994) • short story
The Essayist in the Wilderness • (2002) • novelette

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction

195 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

William Browning Spencer is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer living in Austin, Texas. His science fiction and horror stories are often darkly and surreally humorous. His novel Resume With Monsters conflates soul-destroying H. P. Lovecraftian horrors with soul-destroying lousy jobs.
His story "The Death of the Novel" was a 1995 Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Short Story.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hardcover book is numbered 727 of 750 copies printed and is signed by William Browning Spencer.

Contents:

The Ocean and All Its Devices
The Oddskeeper's Daughter
The Death of the Novel
Downloading Midnight
Your Faithful Servant
Foster Child
The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness
The Lights of Armageddon
The Essayist in the Wilderness

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say this is more a 3.5'er but I rounded up. I like William Browning Spencer as a writer and a humanist, and some of these stories are great, such as the the titular story and "Your Faithful Servant." "Death of the Novel" is also pretty good. Only one story is a complete whiff.

All this is just a lead-up to suggesting you check out our TWO EPISODE review on the podcast, "The Horror of Nachos and Hamantaschen."

http://nachonomics.com/hnh/2016/4/27/...

http://nachonomics.com/hnh/2016/5/4/e...

[Andy North · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to read more of William Browning Spencer's stuff now! This is an odd collection of short fiction. The stories jump between genres, and I tended to like the "Weird Fiction" and the cyberpunk stuff fell super flat for me.

The title story is a fine short Lovecraftian thingy, but not surprising at all. You're going to know what happens beat-for-beat after reading the first two pages. Seeing that everyone else referred to it as a standout of the collection made me a little worried, honestly.

I'm glad I finished it, because there are some standout stories in here, and ones that show a lot more the author's personality. The Essayist in the Wilderness is funny and eerie. Other standouts are Your Faithful Servant, The Death of the Novel, and The Lights of Armageddon.

I thought The Foster Child was a dud, and the two cyberpunk stories The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness and The Death of the Novel I skipped after a couple pages. I don't tend to like cyberpunk, so take my opinion with a big grain of salt there. But those stories are a big enough mismatch for the others that I wondered why they were in there.

[Trish Graboske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spencer is seriously weird. Loved "Downloading Midnight", the cyberpunk story I really have been looking for. "The Essayist in the Wilderness" is just brilliant!

[Brontesrule · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This anthology straddles the line between supernatural horror and weird fiction. My favorite was the title story, although I enjoyed the others (except for three I skipped because I couldn't get into them - “Downloading Midnight," “The Foster Child,” and “The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness”).

I liked Spencer's writing style. Here's an example (Two quotes from "The Death of the Novel"):

“It was a tattoo of protection, given her by her father, but it could not save her from the man, because he himself was not evil but only capable of doing great evil, and she was in love and so unprotected, for love is welcoming and defenseless.”

“The chapters were unpleasant reading, but he could not help himself...He might have been reading about a stranger and he was; he was. He had never been that callous, that calculating, had he?”

[Eric Johansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story. I sat down and couldn’t stop reading. If you love Lovecraft as much as I do, check this one out. The dread builds up, there is lots of weirdness, and plenty of questions to ponder when it’s all over

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet and quite probably prophetic. I found this to be quite a refreshing viewpoint. I guess SF is my VR, fear of the big R, and hope, maybe my best excuses. Rehabs just a few days of hell and then the Big R… Too many people stupidly destroying a beautiful planet. 4 stars. From the Years best science fiction sixteen , edited by Gardner Dozois.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several wonderful stories mixed with the OK. The title story is one of the best, powerful and lyrical - as the title implies. Their is also the extremely horrific but hysterical Essayist in the Wilderness. When Spencer fires on all cylinders his stories are GREAT.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read of a collection from one of my favorite short story authors (or anything authors, really) in the whole wide world. I really could've used an extra half-star for this one...

[Chris Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well worth what I paid for it. William Spencer has an incredible way of infusing humor into grand horror.