Eating Memories

This collection of short stories is worth reading for several reasons: First, Mrs Anthony covers a wide range of topics with these stories - it's not the same theme repeated over and over again. You are thrown from a boy who remembers the future to a pilot captured by aliens to a ghost story to a virus infection on Mars to your neighbor, the alien, to a city-kid "imprisoned" in a redneck town with Torku to.... do you get the picture? And every time, it's fresh. Creative. The ideas are new. Second, this is not SF where problems are solved with science. No "beam me up, Scotty.", sorry. Most of these stories explore the human condition, human behaviour, human reasoning. Third, P. Anthony has a way with characters and with language - both seem very alive, and she does it with very little words. Fourth, the stories get you (or at least me) thinking. They're not very happy stories, so if you need happy endings, then this book is not for you. But the stories grip you, and they stay with you after you read them. I couldn't stop reading. It was one of these books I finish in a few hours. After reading it, I got Cradle of Splendor, one of her novels, which I didn't really like much. I'll try again with Brother Termite, but what I really wish for is more short stories.

This omnibus of some of Pat Anthony's shorts clearly shows her having a versatile imagination. At times she borders on being witty, but seems to forget how to carry the ascerbic wit through to a satisfying conclusion. And like many of today's modern female authors, he seems unable to resist bashing men in some of her short stories, something which is patently adolescent, hence why Pat lost one star from my overall rating.

As I write this, I am only part way through this book, but the stories are remarkable. Patricia Anthony is astounding. I can't wait to read everything else she has written.