Tuesday 15 September 2015

Review: The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack

This is a most intriguing collection.  Reminiscent of Poe’s ‘Tales of Mystery and Imagination’ with a hint of Asimov.  The genres range between science fiction, fantasy and paranormal.  They are dark for the most part, which I like, but each story is highly individual.  There are robots, ghosts, and a fearless little girl who lives near a forest making cabbage soup when she’s not ridding the village of monsters ('The Soup Ladle of Destiny' is my personal favourite, and the funniest of the stories).  All the stories have a twist.  Mostly these are unexpected – although you do catch the mindset of the author after reading a few.  This didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the stories, though.  It just made me wonder what was coming up. 

In the middle of the collection, the author includes an ‘intermission’, where he addresses the reader in person.  I must admit that this is the first time I’ve come across such an approach.  But C. S. Boyack (Craig – if you visit his Amazon Author Page) has an engaging style, and I find the personal touch here adds to my enjoyment of the stories.  It made me click on his author page!

There is an excerpt from one of his YA novels (Will O’ the Wisp) at the end of the collection.  I read this too.  Another charismatic set of characters and a glimpse of an intriguing plot.

I recommend this author.  He’s a real spinner of yarns. 




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