"Think Like a Dinosaur" and Other Stories

This is the first collection released by Golden Gryphon Press, back in 1997. It is mostly a collection of sci-fi stories, but it bounces around every genre, including one story that is just a weird tale about an acid trip by a group of friends in the 1960's. It's a very good mix of styles contained herein. This wasn't a great collection, but it was very interesting, as I found myself reading through this collection rather effortlessly and quickly. The title story was memorable, as it tells how a race of dinosaurs came back to earth and helped them learn how to travel through space. Standing in Line with Mr. Jimmy was a fantastic tale of waiting in line for a new tomorrow. And the final story Mr. Boy was a novella sized story of a coming-of-age story in a weird future where rich people altered their bodies, and Mr. Boy kept on stunting himself to keep him the size and appearance of a 12-year old. All-in-all this was a worthwhile read, with some very good stuff within this collection.

James Patrick Kelly is among the best there is in science fiction. There are some real classics contained in Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories, from the now-famous title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur" (which won a well-deserved Hugo Award) to his brilliant, fast-paced novella, "Mr. Boy," which had a tremendous impact on me when I first read it, and still does. There's "Rat," one of my favorite cyberpunk tales, and the psychedelic "The First Law of Thermodynamics." Buy this book, read the stories contained within, and prepare to be duly impressed. There is, however, no real thread linking these stories together; Kelly is something of a literary chameleon, and as such has created different moods and textures for each individual story. That is one of the true joys of reading his work, the fact that when you first start reading a Kelly story, all previous experiences you've had of his fiction means very little. Kelly has not attained as large a following as I think he deserves, probably due in part to his slow production of novels (he's only written four so far), but in the end recognition isn't the issue. The art is the issue, and Kelly is a true artist.

Golden Gryphon Press has been publishing a long and wide range of single author short-story collections--and I must, obviously, admit that James Patrick Kelly's (author of WILDLIFE and LOOK INTO THE SUN) THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR AND OTHER STORIES has gained a special place in my heart. One of the leading SF stylists, Kelly's stories have a perfect blend of lyricism and sheer storytelling power; recently, he has earned well-deserved attention with his Hugo-winning stories, "Think Like a Dinosaur" and "10^16 to 1," respectively. Pick up this collection at all costs.

James Patrick Kelly is a wonderful secret. If you polled a representative sampling of readers who call themselves SF fans, I would bet that not 50% are familiar with James Patrick Kelly. This is a shame because Mr. Kelly's work are of the very highest quality. This collection of short fiction shows off the very best of Kelly's stories and not one of them should be missed.My favorite story of the collection is 'Mr. Boy', a wonderful novella about a 25-year-old who has re-engineered himself to remain in a 12-year-old body. This is Mr. Boy. Throughout the story Mr. Boy begins to mature, and he's not quite sure how to handle this. This 60+ page novella makes the entire collection worth purchasing, but there's so much more.The wonderful stories "Rat", "Monsters", "Think Like a Dinosaur", and many more make this one of the most outstanding collections that I've had the good fortune to come across. Like all Golden Gryphon press books, this is an extraordinary collection from a very talented author. The Golden Gryphon imprint on a book is enough to make me open the wallet, even if it's an author that I am totally unfamiliar with. They put out excellent quality books filled with very good fiction. Highly recommended.

This volume contains fourteen of Kelly's best stories,including twoHugo nominees and four Nebula nominees. The title story is the best known, and the most discussed, of all of them, seen by many as a response or follow-up to Tom Godwin's classic, "The Cold Equations." The other stories represent the best of Kelley's work, and make it available in a permanent form. This is the first volume from a new publisher, Golden Gryphon, and is a very well-produced volume. (I hope someone is bringing single-author collections such as these to the attention of libraries, since they provide the only way for most libraries to get some of the best work of today's leading authors.)