The Hospital for Bad Poets: Stories

Everyone's a poet. Or at least they think they are. "The Hospital for Bad Poets" is a collection of short stories from J.C. Hallman, bringing readers a series of characters to charm and captivate - many of the individuals are day to day 'everymen', yet each is unique in his or her own way. Intriguing and genuinely human, Hallman's stories will keep many a reader glued to the book, making "The Hospital for Bad Poets" a top pick for any lover of short fiction.

My only quibble about these stories is, I like Hallman's other books a lot more. Here, the move to the fantastic seems mechanical, but maybe that's just my own reaction, and others will like them a lot more. They're good stories; it just feels like they share a formula, and maybe I've just gotten tired of the mythic lately: too many werewolves, vampires, faeries and whatnot.

J.C. Hallman's first book of short stories is a marvelous mix of the ordinary and the extraordinary. His stories follow the lives of very ordinary people - your friends, your neighbors, your loved ones - and they allow you a private view of what goes on inside these "ordinary" minds. His characters are full of secrets, longings, strange ideas; some of them seem to live in a parallel reality. A quiet suburb is, in fact, a necropolis; an unseen neighbor lady is a succubus who lures first a husband, then a son, into her secret lair in the shrubbery. These stories succeed because they're so grounded in the ordinary world, but they never settle there. Sometimes disquieting, but always fascinating - a strong collection of work.