Don’s Reviews > Horse of a Different Color: Stories > Status Update

5* for "Ninieslando," wherein Waldrop takes an obscure WWI school of thought to its logical (and heartbreaking) conclusion. Also, a textbook example of what Orson Scott Card is talking about when he talks about a "milieu" story.

5* for "Frogskin Cap." If Paolo Bacigaluppi was a little more economical (yet still effective) with his post-apocalyptic world-building, it would look like this story.

5* for "Avast, Abaft!" The very model of a modern, major pirate story to end all pirate stories because of this line: "It was as if he were living a dream; he was translated to a higher state of consciousness that included a perceptual breakthrough and had a paradigm shift. It was like having deja vu two times in a row."

4* for "Kindermarchen." I should've just given this a 5, but it did bother me that the piece didn't have the punch I thought it should, being 1600 words long. Of course, that could've been because I'd pretty much had the end figured out before I got there.

5* for "The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew." King Kong is real. 'Nuff said.

5* for "The King of Where-I-Go." I think this is the kind of magical realist story of childhood past that Steven Millhauser tries to write, but with a heart(ache) to it that only Waldrop can pull off. Also, "Coca-Cola comic book orgy." is now my favorite HW line.

5* for "The Horse of a Different Color (That You Rode in On)" for delivering exactly what HW promised, as described in his afterward, "...a miniature Da Vinci Code done shorter and better, and with a pantomime horse, too."

5* for "The Wolf-Man of Alcatraz." A werewolf story that's more about the man, with just enough accurate historical detail thrown in (cf. Bird-Man of Alcatraz), and just enough purposeful stretching of historical detail--and I'm not just talking about the lycanthropy.

5* for "Why Then Ile Fit You." I should've known the story was about actor George Zucco but I didn't have to to enjoy it. In any case, the story is a good example of how to have an unreliable narrator w/out telegraphing it.