Status Updates From The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth

The stories that open were fine, but there were only two real grabbers. I got the sense that this was a bit of an odds and sods collection designed to justify the publication of the novella.

As to the novella, Bethany Melmoth is unfortunately not much of a character. This reads like something that was puzzled out as fiction in advance of a screenplay. Nothing wrong with that but it just makes for pretty thin going.

Three of the shorter pieces in, and you can tell shorter stories are no longer really hitting the nerve for him. Entirely readable, but pastry compared to the stuff in “Fascination.” I am, however, looking forward to the rest, esp. the novellas.