- "A
- long-deserved
- tribute
- to
- his
- copious
- and
- entertaining
- career
- as
- a
- storyteller,"
- is
- how
- Paul
- Di
- Filippo
- describes
- this
- second
- volume
- of
- our
- Darrell
- Schweitzer
- retrospective
- in
- his
- introduction.
- "We
- might
- first
- make
- the
- observation
- that
- Darrell
- hews
- to
- time-tested
- narrative
- strategies:
- classical,
- demonstrably
- effective
- modes
- of
- story-telling
- learned
- at
- the
- feet
- of
- the
- masters.
- .
- .
- This
- straight-line
- approach
- does
- not
- rule
- out
- suspense,
- trickery,
- or
- depth
- of
- portraiture.
- Quite
- to
- the
- contrary,
- this
- reliance
- on
- immemorial
- methods
- of
- storytelling
- allow
- his
- work
- to
- hit
- home
- all
- the
- more
- impactfully.
- Take
- a
- story
- like
- 'The
- Dead
- Kid,'
- which
- always
- lays
- all
- of
- its
- cards
- on
- the
- table
- in
- plain
- sight,
- Stephen-King-style,
- but
- which
- is
- nonetheless
- full
- of
- twists
- and
- punchy
- horror.
- .
- .
- .
- In
- 'The
- Fire
- Eggs,'
- we
- see
- an
- alien
- manifestation
- that
- greatly
- perturbs
- civilization,
- along
- the
- lines
- of
- a
- Ted
- Chiang
- piece.
- In
- "Spiderwebs
- in
- the
- Dark"
- we
- get
- a
- mind-blowing
- look
- at
- the
- hidden
- underpinnings
- of
- the
- spacetime
- continuum."Indeed
- here
- we
- see
- Schweitzer
- display
- the
- fullest
- range
- of
- his
- talents,
- from
- the
- supernatural
- to
- science
- fiction
- to
- wry
- wit
- (the
- hilarious
- "Kvetchula")
- to
- what
- can
- only
- be
- described
- as
- post-modern
- existential
- weirdness
- in
- "Ring
- the
- Living
- Bells,"
- which
- Di
- Filippo
- compares
- to
- Robert
- Aickman.
- We
- also
- get
- sophisticated
- neo-pulp
- ("Waiting
- for
- the
- Zeppelin
- Gang"),
- theological
- alternate
- history
- ("The
- Last
- Heretic"),
- Arthurian
- romance,
- Lovecraftian
- horror,
- and
- some
- truly
- unique
- material.
- "The
- Adventure
- of
- the
- Hanoverian
- Vampires"
- is
- not
- only
- a
- Sherlock
- Holmes
- pastiche,
- but
- the
- only
- alternate
- historical
- vampire
- cat
- detective
- story
- ever
- written.
- Whatever
- his
- fictional
- mode,
- Darrell
- Schweitzer
- is
- a
- vastly
- entertaining writer.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
