Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, Bantam 2014 832 page hardcover, various genres
This twenty-one story anthology is large. The hardcover page count is shown above, but the paperback edition I read had even more, a whopping 909 pages.
It took me almost a year to work through, but during that time I was reading other things: novels, other short story anthologies and collections, graphic novels. Still, my interest didn’t flag, and I’d say I enjoyed better than 90% of the stories, many of them quite long.
Here’s the table of contents…
- “Tough Times All Over” by Joe Abercrombie
- “What Do You Do?” by Gillian Flynn
- “The Inn of the Seven Blessings” by Matthew Hughes
- “Bent Twig” by Joe R. Lansdale
- “Tawny Petticoats” by Michael Swanwick
- “Provenance” by David Ball
- “The Roaring Twenties” by Carrie Vaughn
- “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane” by Scott Lynch
- “Bad Brass” by Bradley Denton
- “Heavy Metal” by Cherie Priest
- “The Meaning of Love” by Daniel Abraham
- “A Better Way to Die” by Paul Cornell
- “Ill Seen in Tyre” by Steven Saylor
- “A Cargo of Ivories” by Garth Nix
- “Diamonds From Tequila” by Walter Jon Williams
- “The Caravan to Nowhere” by Phyllis Eisenstein
- “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives” by Lisa Tuttle
- “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back” by Neil Gaiman
- “Now Showing” by Connie Willis
- “The Lightning Tree” by Patrick Rothfuss
- “The Rogue Prince, or, the King’s Brother” by George R. R. Martin
This is a really top notch anthology, and a good one to have on the shelf, whether you want to read it straight through, as I did, or just hunt and peck Highly recommended.
So, what have you been reading?
Tip the Wink 
OK, I am definitely interested in this. Some of the stories must be very long (novella length) if there are 21 stories and 909 pages.
I did finish one book, Free Reign by Rosemary Aubert, which I see that you have read (reviewed on The Broken Bullhorn). I liked it a lot.
Otherwise continuing the reading I was doing before (Monkey Justice and The Woman in White). Both are very good.
Tracy, it’s cool that you went back to Bullhorn for that review. I did really like Free Reign. As I recall, the following book wasn’t as good. I also am reading Monkey Justice. Slowly.
The Martin/Dozois anthologies are worth every penny, Rick. I’ll have to check out ROGUES.
My highly recommended book this week is HANNAH GREEN AND HER UNFEASIBLY MUNDANE EXISTENCE by Michael Marshall Smith. Hannah is an eleven-year-old whose parents have split up with her mother moving to London. Hannah’s grandfather is left in charge after her father goes walkabout. What Hannah (and her parents) never knew was that her grandfather has been friends with the devil for over 150 years and now, she, her grandfather, the devil, and an Accident Imp that looks like a talking mushroom are on a quest to save the world. Not a juvenile, but a rollicking good book that can be enjoyed by all ages.
Other books read this week are Landell Bartlett’s VANGUARD FROM VENUS (a 1928 giveaway from Hugo Gernsback and my FFB this week) and AT CLOSE OF EVE (a 1947 horror/fantasy anthology edited by “Jeremy Scott”, a pen name of Kay Dick), The Bartlett was basically clunky and rushed at the end as if the author did not know how to finish the story and the Scott contain a lot of overwrought lit’ry tales that left me cold, along with a few good ones.
I listened to the audiobook of RICOCHET JOE by Dean Koontz, a story about a teenager with a special gift. Part funny and part horror, this one’s middle of the road Koontz. To my knowledge it has never appeared in print and will probably end up as a “bonus” add-on to a future paper-bound edition of one or another of the author’s novels.
I’m still working my way through SCARFACE AND THE UNTOUCHABLE, savoring every chapter.
I also continued my short story binge and finish reading ll of Seabury Quinn’s Jules de Grandin stories. There are a few lemons among the 93 stories but most are pure pulp gold.
This week I should finish the Capone book. Coming up are an old F. Paul Wilson medical thriller, a few brief new books from Neil Gaiman, and Seabury Quinn’s WEIRD CRIMES & SERVANTS OF SATAN, a collection of his two nonfiction series from the 1920’s WEIRD TALES.
Did the Easter Bunny visit your house this year?
No Easter bunny, Jerry, just a little rain and we had a pot roast dinner. Sent the afternoon and evening finishing the second Miller’s Kill book by Julia Spencer-Fleming, then discovered the third book is unavailable at the library. Darn.
Nice anthology, with a number of authors I like – Lansdale, Willis, Gaiman, Denton, Vaughan. But as a rule I prefer shorter stories. Still, a possible..
Speaking of stories, I now have three collections sitting on the printer waiting for me to get to them, as well as some large collections on the Kindle. I’m currently reading Peter Lovesey’s very enjoyable THE CRIME OF MISS OYSTER BROWN.
I did finish a couple of mysteries last week: SHE’S LEAVING HOME by William Shaw and RESURRECTION BAY by Emma Viskic. Currently 2/3 of the way through the 1986 Edgar winner for Best Novel, THE SUSPECT by L.[aurali] R. Wright. All I can say is, it’s a fast read and I’m enjoying it, but…this must not have been a very good year if that was the best novel. In chapter one we see the murder, one elderly man killing another, so there is no whodunit element. It’s the first in a series featuring RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg, and also spends time setting up his romance with Cassandra, a librarian. Of course, your mileage may vary, but this is just an OK read. It’s no BOOTLEGGER’S DAUGHTER, for instance.
Barbara also read the Wright book, and was much unimpressed with it. I have it here, but based on two shrugs, I may just pass it on to the library book store.
OK. Finished it. It didn’t improve. I don’t know if it was a particularly weak year for the Edgars – there were two Ruth Rendell books nominated for Best Novel – but to my mind this was not deserving of an award.
I read ROGUES when it was first published. Like all these Big Fat Anthologies, there were some very good stories and some ho-hum stories. I read a SF novel, a Western, a YEAR’S BEST SF anthology, and a non-fiction book about the rise of Organized Crime in America. All in all, a fairly productive week.
Yes, that sounds like a lot of reading! I wish you’d be more specific, but I suppose those books will show up on your blog soon, yes?
My review of A BLOODY BUSINESS: THE RISE OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN AMERICA by Dylan Struzan showed up on my blog today. The other books need to be written up, but they’ll show up on my blog in the next few weeks. We’re driving home tomorrow and then it will take a couple of days to get caught up on mail, errands, and other assorted tasks. When the dust settles, I’ll get back to reading.
I just picked up a dollar, ripped-cover mm paperback copy of half the contents or a third at a Dollar General last night.