bones of the moon
black cocktail
a child across the sky
outside the dog museum
the panic hand
kissing the beehive
the land of laughs
the marriage of sticks
from the teeth of angels
sleeping in flame
voice of our shadow
the wooden sea
[ Featured Reviews ]
Across the field of vision By Gavin J. Grant Completely different aspects of speculative fiction are represented in three excellent new books on the shelves this month. Starting with the closest to home, Jonathan Carroll’s The Wooden Sea (Tor, $23.95, ISBN 0312878230) is another wonderfully offbeat story from the author of The Land of Laughs. Frannie McCabe is the police chief of Crane’s View, a small town on the Hudson just north of New York City. When McCabe was a teenager he was a troublemaker that everyone, including his own family expected to end up in jail – or somewhere worse. Instead he is one of the happiest men you could meet. He has all the things he could want: a loving wife, her daughter, friends, a good job, a diner that’s a home away from home, and a motorbike that’s loud enough to wake the dead. Everything starts to change when someone drops off an old tired, three-legged dog at the police station. McCabe’s life is suddenly no longer his own. There are changes, intrusions. People he has known all his life suddenly act differently. The worrisome part is that these people include himself. Carroll takes us on side trips to other parts of McCabe’s life – first the future, then the past. McCabe’s 17-year old self turns up, all spit, anger and violence. It is Carrolls’s skillful handling of the details that carries us with him as he explores how identity and relationships change over time. It’s saying a lot, but this is one of Carroll’s best so far. |
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