Strange Stories

By Alexander Galica

Talking animals and past experience taken from memory and real life experiences, situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496981455

Alexander Galica

Alex was born in Wiltshire, England and studied English at school. He is also a recognised Artist and Musician. He now lives a quiet life as a writer and poet.

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2014 Alexander Galica. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/21/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8138-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8145-5 (e)

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Reviews for Strange Stories

[urthona73 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best of these stories are able to hint at horror and fantastical elements without ever making it wholly explicit: you're never sure if maybe the horror you feel creeping up has as much to do with the narrators as it does the experiences they are narrating. "Near Zennor" is a masterpiece of ambiguity, and probably my favorite story in the book. The one I liked least was "The Return of the Fire Witch": engaging with explicitly fantastical tropes removes the feeling of the uncanny that Hand works with so well. It ends up feeling like "The Masque of the Red Death" performed by Adventure Time characters. But the good definitely outweighs the bad in this collection, and I look forward to lending this volume to my friends.

[anglemark · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lovely prose. The least successful of the stories was the Vancean pastiche, but it was kind of fun anyway. Nobody evokes scenery and landscape like Elizabeth Hand.

[mmignano11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These stories are, in fact, strange. I picked this book up at the local library from the New Book shelf and because I am participating in the Short Story group on LT. I was glad that I did. It was a rather quick read, but very enjoyable. Not quite Science Fiction, in fact, I think a Science Fiction fan would say not even close, but since I am not very well acquainted with SciFi, I wouldn't really know. The thing is, Elizabeth Hand seems to know a lot about Science and uses that knowledge in the short stories in this collection. In thinking about it as I write this review, I guess it is more Fantasy than SciFi. Whatever the concoction is, it works. Each story is full of a sense of wonder as the author creates a world that is not quite ordinary, and sometimes quite fantastic. Her descriptions of setting is crucial to her stories. When the reader is brought into any setting that takes place in nature, it is there the writing shines. It is evident that Hand is not only familiar with botany but loves the natural world and sees a connection between it and whatever her characters face in her stories. In "Near Zennor" the setting plays a huge part in the story, as a man travels through terrain his deceased wife had enjoyed as a child. She and her friends created a fantastical world on the moors near her uncle's farmhouse in England, based on a series of books written by a local author. There, they have a strange, other-worldly experience, and he sets out to see the landscape for himself. Need I say more? Her relationship with nature is never more evident than in "Winter's Wife", the story of a decent country man who brings home a young wife from Iceland. A young boy tells the story of Winter, his mother's best friend, a man so well-liked that everybody considered him their friend. His new wife is kind, also if a bit strange. But we don't find out how strange until the 300 year old trees that Winter loves and can view from the balcony of the new house he is building for his wife, are threatened. A long story, it was one of my favorites. "The Return of The Fire Witch" is the story that makes me see her stories are more fantasy thatn Science Fiction. This story is unadulterated fantasy, and wonderful in the way that it tells the reader about things completely foreign and unfamiliar but somehow understood in the context of the story. I find Fantasy to be similar to a drawing or painting of vivid colors. As I read a Fantasy story I find myself creating a colorful and complex picture in my mind. The final story in the collection is the kind of story that leaves you thinking about long after you are done reading. If any of this sounds good to you, try this book. I promise it will not disappoint. A veteran writer, Elizabeth Hand is an author I will continue to seek out for future reading pleasure.

[piratejenny_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Strange stories indeed. Some plain strange, some melancholy, some, well some didn't quite work for me, but that's often what happens with collections of short stories. I really enjoyed "Near Zennor" but I also felt it could be expanded into something more, that there was something just beyond reach that I wanted more of. Although perhaps that was Hand's intent--with her, you can never quite tell and that's one of the reasons I really enjoy her work. I also very much liked "The Far Shore" and how I thought I knew what it was going to be and I was sure it was a retelling of a particular fairy tale but ended up as something rather different. "Winter's Wife" was far and away my favorite though. If you like strange stories, definitely pick this one up.

[kmaziarz_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The subtitle to Hand’s new collection of short stories gives the reader some clue about what to expect here. These stories straddle a line between literary fiction, the fantastic, and horror, moving gracefully between all three. Dark and beautiful, filled with rich language and sensuous imagery. A stand-out in he collection is the Hugo-nominated “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon.” Recommended for fans of A.S. Byatt, Caitlin Kiernan, and Tanith Lee.

[fledgist · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of stories that blend the everyday -- in America and Britain -- with fantasy in an extraordinarily gentle way. A mysterous girl, whose father may be a magician, is found in a decaying house. A girl discovers her uncle is a werewolf. Two witches bring down a king. The stories' power comes from the quiet way in which they are told and in which they capture the reader and draw the reader in. This is a wonderful collection of truly poetic tales.

[ladycato · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program."Strange Stories" is an apt subtitle for this collection of ten tales, ranging from the novella-length Hugo-nominated, "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" to the flash-length "Cruel Up North." Hand has a knack for creating vivid, flawed characters--very normal people--who encounter something extraordinary on the fringe of society. Often these encounters are rather disturbing. "Near Zennor" struck me as the creepiest, evoking the isolated moorlands of Cornwall and beings that drift from the beyond.That said, I'm not into creepy. I appreciated Hand's realistic characters, but overall the anthology was a disappointment for me. Maybe my expectations were too high, as I've heard wonderful things about Elizabeth Hand for years and this was my first time reading her work. There was a pattern to how many of the stories ended: this strange thing happened, and that was that, and I was frustrated by the lack of explanation or finality in some cases. "The Return of the Fire Witch" didn't feel like it belonged in the collection at all; it fit the theme of strangeness, but was a pure fantasy work, not set on Earth like the rest.I'm glad I read this, just to have read Hand's work, but I think my disappointment came down to personal taste. I would be hesitant to read more of her work in the future.

[cammykitty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of short stories is "interstitial." "Interstitial" was a small movement within the fantasy/science fiction community about ten years ago. Works that are interstitial often combine genres. They are subtle. The fantasy element may be used more as symbolism than as a plot element. Elizabeth Hand is a well-established science fiction/fantasy writer, and her publisher Small Beer Press is practically the home of interstitial fiction. This collection is meticulously written, lush with description and symbolism. If you're looking for adventuresome fantasy, this isn't your collection. If you're looking for stories that walk the same ground as poetry, this collection may be for you. Many of the stories centered around transformations, death. Most involved middle-aged protagonists. Some of the stories were thought provoking and beautiful, but some of them didn't go beyond the banal or the purely imagistic. I'd recommend this collection for people who like literary fantasy, and don't expect magic to shake the earth.

[nightwing_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In Errantry, the latest book by Elizabeth Hand, we are presented with ten unique and distinctly different stories. Every one of these odd little tales draws you in and doesn't ever really let you go again. From the tale of a man who folds pages from magazines and fast food wrappers into works of art that evoke the oldest of memories, to a singular observation of creatures who only exist for any two people at one time, these are stories every bit as dangerous as any of Ms. Hand's novels. Once you have read a single one of them, you will never be able to view life in that same way ever again. And you will return again and again, to explore more fully each of the worlds she has introduced you to.

[chelseagirl_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm partial to Elizabeth Hand's writing, and Errantry is no exception. Hand is especially strong at stories where the ordinary collides with the strange, and some moment of transcendence or horror touches everyday life. This collection hits it out of the park, again and again; her writing is just so on-key, always. Particular favorites are "The Maiden Flight of Macaulay's Bellerophon," "Hungerford Bridge," and "Winter's Wife." "The Return of the Fire Witch" was in a very different mode than the others, but has given me a not-at-all-unwelcome "earworm" for "In The Court of the Crimson King" which I probably last heard twenty years ago . . . I received a copy through the Librarything Early Reviewers program.

[hapaxlegomenon_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

These stories are more folk tale than fantasy, and seem to take a lot of inspiration from Washington Irving. They're not not focused in America, but they draw from the tradition of American folk tales. The stories are all well-written, but unfortunately predictable - a few pages into each, I knew exactly how it was going to unfold and end. The journey there is nicely phrased, though.