BOOK REVIEWS

      I have dispensed with my 'Books of the Year' postings  which covered the years 2009 and 2010, and now attempt to review a selection of books that I have read both good and bad, in editions old and new. Much of what I buy is often based on suggestions by others, or some train of thought that makes me think "maybe I should try..." so they are not necessarily all strange/supernatural fiction.

       With many small press books costing around £35-£40 each, and some seemingly worthy tomes changing hands on the second hand market for many times that, these reviews may also give the potential purchaser some indication of what they might receive for their money. Needless to say, my opinions should not be given any great value as I bring my own foibles to every review and these may change at any time.

James Tiptree Jr.


'Tales of the Quintana Roo'

Arkham House 1986
pp100(?)  Out of Print

   There are moments when I feel very ignorant indeed and in reviewing this book I felt that moment once again as I realized that I had missed out on this author until now.
  
    'James Tiptree Jnr' was psuedonym of Alice Bradley Sheldon, who wrote a number of popular  science fiction short stories and novels.

    This slim volume is something of an anomaly in that contains three supernatural tales (all of which were either nominated or won awards) linked by their location - the Quintana Roo of the title.

    They are also linked in that the sea plays a major part in proceedings, and Sheldon's overarching theme seems to be that of the eternal and mans place within it. However multiple interpretations could be put forward for the first story in which the protagonist comes into contact with something/someone washed ashore. Is it a revenant(?) a vampire(?), a Charon figure(?), Tiptree offers us an explanation of sorts at the end, but it remains an ambivalent tale. Does it mean anything that the stories subject is a designer of swimming pools? And what of the colour red?

    In the second tale a sporting adonis may (or may not) become a literal God as he 'Waterskied to Forever', while the third tale 'Beyond the Dead Reef' maintains a sustained sinisterness almost from the casting off. Sheldon was, one assumes, an amateur diver, for much of the action takes place under water. Once again a rationale is offered but this seems to me as much a study in the mistakes that can be made when under pressure as its more overt interpretation.

    Sheldon took holidays in the Yukatan before it became a tourist destination and, and her subtle evocation of a now lost locale (similar to that of Lucius Shepard's use of Honduras in 'Trujillo') adds to the uneasy atmosphere that runs through each of the stories as they slide inexorably from the 'known' into more nebulous territory.

    I thoroughly enjoyed these tales and ordered her second Arkham collection ('Her Smoke Rose Up Forever') within a few hours of finishing them. I fear the bookshelves may soon be under the additional strain of a fair few 'Tiptree' books very soon...