Do you remember our post about having superpowers? Well, after we came up with The Recaller, I entered the basic idea in a contest over at Boston Book Bums. To my amazement, I won!
What did I win, you ask? I won a free copy of this incredibly awesome book:
Masked is incredible. I had heard about it on a podcast long before it came out and had it on my radar (and on my wishlist!). I expected to like it, but reading it just blew my mind. Some of the stories, especially the first one, were so intense and different and stunningly awesome that I had to pause a while after reading them, just to soak them in and think about them. This is not something I normally do.
Lou Anders is an amazing and award-winning editor, who has collected many amazing and award-winning authors. They uniformly impressed me. In this collection we find superheroes and heroines of every sort, from the traditional costumed-and-powerful or strangely mythical to the conflicted, the morally ambiguous, the non-heterosexual, the heroes of color, and even one memorable hero who is developmentally disabled. Heroes and heroines with complicated family dynamics, romantic relationships, or friendships. There are some stories with non-traditional narrative structure and some with unreliable narrators, but neither of these is overwhelming.
I don’t even know what to say. I started raving about this book after only the first story. You should definitely buy it and read it!
p.s. Blameless was AWESOME. And did not end with a cliff-hanger, so it’s safe to read now instead of waiting until book #4 comes out.
September 17, 2010 at 4:52 pm
I’m always looking for a good audiobook to listen to while driving to and from work! I’ll keep this one in mind.
Tell me if either of you have read “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”? My wife just got the book.
September 17, 2010 at 5:07 pm
#2 says: My little sister read “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” for her book club– she liked it a lot. I tend to prefer shiny happy books. I bet #1 has something to say about it though. She has a higher tolerance for things that aren’t warm and fuzzy.
September 18, 2010 at 3:03 pm
#1: Have not read it either. My dad and my guy both liked it.
September 17, 2010 at 5:23 pm
[…] While the other is a fun fan-review over here: https://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/holy-short-stories-batman/ […]
September 17, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Do you think good short stories are harder to come by than good novels? It always seems that way to me.
September 18, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I don’t necessarily think so; I have some really excellent short story collections. I read more novels than short stories, so that might be part of it. Also, thanks for the linkage, Joseph Mallozzi! We are now famous-on-the-internet-by-association.
September 18, 2010 at 2:29 pm
#2 says: I always liked Asimov’s short stories and non-fiction essays better than his novels. And he wrote probably a billion short stories… I can also handle stories that aren’t sweetness and light whereas I can’t read an entire depressing novel.