Multiples

Dear Readers, I think this book is a very good book. Some of the stories are similar to some of Terry Jones' other books. Part of The reason I read this book was because I liked another book "Nicobobinus" so much. "Fantastic Stories" was very nicely written and Terry Jones' humor comes out often in this, along with his wildly spread and unusual imagination. Micheal Foreman's illustrations were excellent. I believe Terry Jones and Micheal Foreman make a good team. Together, the two individuals have created a very interesting and wonderful book. I would recommend it to anyone who loves fairy tales, especially those with a twist. sincerely, Michelle Barbara O'Loughlin

As mentioned by other reviewers, with 400 poems by 20 poets it is possible for the first time to begin to intuit a "different voice" in Japanese women's haiku / hokku from that of men. Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi, in their introductory material, opened the discussion in "Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master" regarding feminine sensibilites evident in Chiyo's haiku, and they did so without apology! And I agree that it is time to let women be women in haiku and cease judging them according to the lived experience of men. But I am glad also that I cannot think of one single characteristic that marks a Japanese woman's haiku as a woman's haiku. Nevertheless read 400 of them in a single sitting and you will begin to smile as you catch on to something delightful -- "Viva la difference!"

This is one of the best collections of short stories i've ever read. It contains all kinds of stories. Funny, sad, historical, etc. One thing applies to them all. They are all very good. I've been to Bolivia, talked to a lot of people there, but nobody told me about their terrific writers. Strange! Buy this book. Especialy if you like South American litrature. Thank you Rosario Santos for collecting!

Joseph Privitera is trained in romance languages and has been a musician, salon photographer, university professor, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer. The author of a dozen books, his gift of language and his knack for imagery makes his poetry as memorable as it is unique. The Womb: The womb,/Man's link with the past,/The far, far past,/When human life began./The Womb/Ties generation to generation,/Bad lot to bad lot,/Good lot to good./Solomon knew this/When he decreed that/One is a Jew only/When the womb is Jewish./The womb melds races/And keeps them apart./It fosters beauty and good,/Ugliness and evil, too./It holds the seed/And cuddles it into life,/New life tied to the past,/The distant, far-off past./The seed lies fallow/Outside the womb./But once within,/It forms a chain/From Past to Present to Future/And on and on and on/ad in-fin-ni-tum.

From the sureal to the supernatural, the assignment of 'fear' has brought out the best in these authors.
... turn a victim into a villian and back to a victim, very nice!
... a doctor visit that is sick, twisted and just WRONG! - i loved it!!
... beautiful, tragic, touching, and absolutely amazing - a ghost story that brings a well of emotions =)

These were my immediate thoughts after reading some of these stories. Overall, this is one amazing collection! No matter what kind of horror reader you are, there is a story here for you, or rather your nightmares.

* A glimpse of one man's eternal hell
* another man's mortal hell [NOT as a human]
* 8 minutes of 'live' hell
* hell at the hands of mountain men
* hell delivered by your own family
...more hell [fear] than you can shake a nightmare at!! Whether you like it viseral or subtle, it's here and if it's any indication of what we can expect from the proposed series of 'within' collections, we're in for one fearful ride!! Rating? oh absolutely a 5 buy it, own it, and let the fear within you begin!!

I loved this book - especially "This Is My Chair" I could see aspects of my cat in every poem.

The stories encountered in Pickering's Fiction 100 run the gamut of possibility. Whatever your personal choice for focus in a literature course, the book is replete with ideas and directions. Included are short stories by Asimov, Bierce, Borges, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Chekhov, Lessing, Allen (that's Woody Allen), Mishima, James, Irving, Gogol, Marquez, Poe, Silko, London, Vonnegut, Wells, Thurber, and many others. Each story comes with excellent questions for study following the text, and biographical notes on each author at the end of the book. Of chief importance in the teaching of short story is a framework upon which to hang the stories you select. In addition to the ample selection of stories in Pickering's book, he also includes an excellent reader's guide with a wonderful outline of story grammar elements: plot, character, setting, and so on. I have used the reader's guide numerous times as the framework for courses for the gifted. Pickering gives suggested readings that illiustrate each element and offer suggestions to the instructor and reader. Of particular note here, is his discussion of character and characterization. He gives creative writing instructors and students some excellent ideas and suggestions for methods of characterization that are rarely encountered. In all, the book is well worth examining for inclusion in a course for short fiction, creative writing, or just for the sake of finding some of the stories you've been looking for and couldn't find in another source. An excellent anthology.

pp.31 YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
pp.44 THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
pp.63 MOTHER SAVAGE--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
pp.70 THE STORY OF AN HOUR--Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
pp.73 AN UPHEAVAL--Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
pp.81 ROMAN FEVER--Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
pp.94 PAUL'S CASE--Willa Cather (1873-1947)
pp.113 EVELINE--James Joyce (1882-1941)
pp.118 THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER--D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
pp.133 THE JILTING OF GRANNY WEATHERALL--Katherine Ann Porter (1890-1980)
pp.142 SWEAT--Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
pp.154 A ROSE FOR EMILY--William Faulkner (1897-1961)
pp.164 HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS--Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
pp.169 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK--Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
pp.175 THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS--John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
pp.186 THE MAN WHO WAS ALMOST A MAN--Richard Wright (1908-1960)
pp.198 LIVVIE--Eudora Welty (B. 1909)
pp.212 REUINON--John Cheever (1912-1982)
pp.215 THE GUEST--Albert Camus (1913-1960)
pp.228 A PARTY DOWN AT THE SQUARE--Ralph Ellison (1914-1995)
pp.235 THE LOTTERY--Shirley Jackson (1919-1965)
pp.244 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND--Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
pp.260 A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS--Gabriel García Márquez (B. 1928)
pp.267 DEAD MAN'S PATH--Chinua Achebe (B. 1930)
pp.271 VANDALS--Alice Munro (B. 1931)
pp.297 A & P--John Updike (B. 1932)
pp.304 A SMALL, GOOD THING--Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
pp.327 WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?--Joyce Carol Oates (B. 1938)
pp.344 HAPPY ENDINGS--Margaret Atwood (B. 1939)
pp.348 SHILOH--Bobbie Ann Mason (B. 1940)
pp.362 EVERYDAY USE--Alice Walker (B. 1944)
pp.371 DIED AND GONE TO VEGAS--Tim Gautreaux (B. 1947)
pp.388 LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE--Dagoberto Gilb (B. 1950)
pp.399 TWO KINDS--Amy Tan (B. 1952)
pp.410 BARBIE-Q--Sandra Cisneros (B. 1954)
pp.412 THE RED CONVERTIBLE--Louise Erdrich (B. 1954)
pp.422 HOW TO TALK TO YOUR MOTHER (NOTES)--Lorrie Moore (B. 1954)

I bought this anthology used and it was obviously a former text book. I really enjoy it. While I greatly appreciate and adore full-length classic literature, short stories are a wonderful compromise for the times you don't want to be fully involved in a novel and neither want to read twaddle. Great authors with little commitment.

Editor R.S. Gwynn has chosen really wonderful samplings from a rather wide range of writers. Many women, non-whites, non-English-speakers... et cetera, should that aspect concern you. Each piece is prefaced with a short, non-intrusive biography of the author.

Certainly, authors/stories are absent, but I don't think it detracts from the value of this collection. It really is a lovely little book into which to nestle.

Field Days is an outstanding anthology of poetry drawn from the pages of Common Ground. These paeans of lyrical celebration are arranged alphabetically and represent the combined works of more than ninety poets, both ancient and modern. From John Keats, William Blake, and Walt Whitman to Sylvia Plath, Robert Graves, and Seamus Heaney, here are poems that inspire, celebrate and document the complex and timeless aspects of human experience amidst pastoral landscapes and agricultural settings. Brockhampton: The land was too wet for plowing; yet it is done./Even the stones of the ridges lie sulky and brown./The roads are a slide of mud. The wet sky/Is blank as the chink of the hawk's perfect eye./A blink before the dark comes down/Drops the peregrine sun./The land glows like an awkward face./Broken posts, by which sheep graze/Shine pale as growing wood./Above, the last crow's wings/Cannot frighten from my blood/The stubborn light of things. Alison Brackenbury.

The stories included here are all excellent! I'm ordering Southern Blood, hoping it will prove to be equally strong writing.