Cliff Burns

A nice collection, if perhaps a bit more suburban than urban at times, but what's in a subtitle? In any case, our idea of the 'urban' now embraces our consensus reality of the media space, and the stories that touch on that have a chill air of weirdness breaking in unnoticed. And some of those stories are more about finding the fantastic in the everyday.

Of individual stories, 'The Curious Mr.Cavendish' would make a fine Tale of the Unexpected if that tv show were still on; 'The Lure of Ancient Places' gives a contemporary take on ancient cities, and the sirens that lurk in them even now; and 'The Toxic Cinema of Alain Marchant' will ring true to any cinéast. Indeed, there are a few stories that draw out our habit of living our lives increasingly through our shared media experiences: 'Magic Man' and 'More real than TV' have a smack of authenticity in their behind-the-scenes stories. Recommended.… (meer)

This collection of short stories by Canadian author Cliff Burns dates from 2013, though some of the stories date back to the mid-1990s. No matter: I enjoyed this collection. Some of the stories struck me as a bit Bradbury-esque, but written for our times with adequate amounts of darkness (Bradbury did get a bit twee in his later years). Many of the stories had twists or turns that were like depth charges, primed to sink deep before going off, quite where and when being a surprise to the reader. I like that.

Daughter was the point where the collection took off for me; there were various points where i nodded in recognition of my own past (both in Spies and in Adult Children). Printed Matter was a chilling hoot; The Daddy Monster just chilling. And the collection ended on two highs: Eyes in the Sky (I like a good alternate history, and that one was about as alternate as they come!), and Second Sight I loved. I did feel it ended perhaps a page or two (but no more) too early - how Cheryl met up with Doris Wakaluk wasn't entirely clear - but I'll overlook that for the characters and the setting. I'm hoping that there may be more of the Boyko family and/or the inhabitants of Zephyr...… (meer)

Burns is an unflinchingly dark fantasist, driving his imagination into disturbing realms where nothing is certain and answers are few. Stories of bleak dystopian tragedy such as “Apocalypse Beach” mingle with the unsettling intensity of domestic dramas such as “Invisible Boy” and “The Strange Music.” The humour is dark, the horror worse. These are not fantasies of light and hope, but rather despair (although hope does make an appearance now and then).

rel="nofollow" target="_top">Read more at the Redeblog.… (meer)

This is a work of fiction, consisting of two novellas, "Living with the Foleys," and "Kept".

First, I need to say that I love the novella form, and think there are not enough of them out there. I have always enjoyed detective and horror and noir and various other genres in short story or novella form and think that this form works a lot better than full novels. One of the biggest problems with most of the recently-written novels I have read in the past several years, from Harry Potter to "book club" best sellers, is that they could have been half again as long and would have been much improved.

Cliff handles this form well. Every sentence belongs there and is important to the story. Every character is memorable and serves a function in the story. Every word rings true and is used properly (this should properly be a very low bar, but it is not, these days, and I need to call it out here - well done!)...

The stories are very different, but neither is conventional. Who are the protagonists? Well, one is a homeless man. The other is a decidedly scary lady, from whom I hope I would run if I met her in a dark alley - yet the reader (or at least this reader) can't help but root for her.

I don't want to say too much about the plots, because I want you to go out and try to find this book. I found my copy at Powell's. Since it is a limited printing, it may be tough to find at your neighborhood bookstore, but it's on Amazon. I think that no matter who you are, you'll really love the first story. I will close with the warning that if you don't like stories that are scary, violent and dark, you may not like the second one. I did, though - it was a real roller coaster ride.… (meer)