Fantastic Collection-Recommend for your library
593930
I was skeptical when I previewed the book but came away from the preview wanting more. This book is the LIST of all lists for inspirational movies. I saw many of my favorites and now I have a place to go to remind myself of the ones I'd love to see over and over. This book is a must for movie viewers - it's a great reference to utilize for future Christmas gifts as well. This book will keep you inspired. Easy organized and gives title covers as well. Overall A+. Highly recommend.
3736051
This short story collection piqued my interest immediately - it's not every day you hear of a research scientist who writes fiction on the side. I'm an engineering student and voracious reader, so I finally bought it for myself and recieved it yesterday. I hadn't meant to read the entire collection at once, but I kept opening it up again and again.

Iagnemma reminds me of one of my favorite musicians, Sufjan Stevens. He has the same power to evoke feelings of deep-seated loneliness ("The Indian Agent"), and the same power to disturb ("Children of Hunger"). I strongly recommend reading this while playing Sufjan Stevens' album "Michigan." Many of these stories are set in that state, and the songs and stories are full of similar imagery - misunderstood men, lonely women, and desolate, snow-shrouded winters.

The only quibble I have with the collection is that his female characters are rather one-dimensional. They are almost uniformly portrayed as being incapable of sympathizing with their lovers' relentless pursuit of knowledge. They stand outside of the world of science, not in it. I didn't care for the way the tough female professor of "Kingdom, Order, Species" fell into fangirl mode when she met the academic she idolized for years. I sympathized more with the professor's daughter in the title story, who refuses to fall into the same trap her mother did, and took great satisfaction in the unexpected revenge of the neglected wife in "Children of Hunger."

I don't think any fiction writer has ever plumbed the dark depths of science the way Iagnemma has. I'm looking forward to seeing another short story collection from this fantastic writer.
784654
I really liked this collection of stories.  It contains some authors I'd never heard of who were popular in the early 20th Century.  There isn't much room for character development because most of the stores are around 10 pages.  There is violence, there is insanity, there are clever detectives who wrap everything up in little more than the time it takes a modern mystery novelist to describe the crime scene. Perfect book for times when you don't want to get caught up in a 400-page novel. The only thing I didn't like was that if you want to read additional stories/novels by the authors in the collection, you're probably out of luck because they're likely out of print.  I highly recommend this, as well as the other collections put together by Martin Edward.
4902166
This is an excellent collection of varied, intriguing, fun, quirky, and at times fantastic short-form fiction.  The author, Stuart Levine, seems especially adept at revealing the interior passions of characters that might seem sleepy and mundane to the rest of the world -- like the homely female high school journalist in his final story "The Front Page", or the hyper-sexual couple in "Telling Lies at the Hitler Tourist Court".  Levine's interests, as demonstrated in the settings of these short stories, are hugely varied: classical music, major league baseball, art, South American culture, and rural convenience store gossip.  He finds passion and pathos in all sorts of unexpected places -- and then depicts it with great clarity and power.  That's not to say that the stories are of equal quality.  Some are merely good.  But two, Are You Superman and The Front Page -- I'd put up there in there with the best of John Updike and I.B. Singer.  In short, an outstanding collection of short-stories that I enjoyed reading -- and will read many times more!
3021500
Sick like what is a really cool collection.  Better than I expected.  I couldn't put it down.  Some of my favorite poems were towards the end, but the authors collection is quite eclectic. This book is full of variety and beautiful perspectives. I want more!!
1850477
You can't go wrong with this collection, and the price makes it even better! This collection is hugeover 50 stories and 350,000 words. It includes Amazon best sellers like "Stepbrother Fallen," and the author's unpublished erotica.

Consider this Aya Fukunishi's farewell tour. The author's taking a break, so who knows how long this will be available.

The stories range from paranormal series (The Wolves of the Five Tribes) series, billionaire romances (Unrequited), BDSM ("At His Command"), short erotica stories and much more.

Theres a little of everything in this collection, romantic, sensual, angsty and even straight-forward, old fashioned erotica. Not all of them were for me, but that's OK. After all, you can't please everyone all of the time, but you'll like a lot of it.

At $0.99, its like you're paying for one book and the 50+ rest for free. Since this is a going away present from the author, it might be the last chance to get them.
4914026
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. The range is wonderful by in large. Standouts for me were Mark Henry's The Sweeter the Juice" hilarious and terrifing all at once. Nicole Peeler was new to me but I will read more of her. But my personal favorite(probably because I'm a musician) was Allison Pang's "A Duet with Darkness" even though I took a star off for the writing being a bit uneven in places still in all a very fun way to meet some new authors.
3049947
This is such a wonderful collection. I loved all of these books. I love how "just one year "ended, but am also so happy that Gayle wrote the novella for "just one night". This is one of my favorite collections to date. There were quite a few concepts in these books that hit such a soft spot for me. 100% worth the buy. I could not put them down. I read "Just one year" and the novella in one day.
2369253
This book gets four out of five stars for me.  I desperately wanted to give it five.  It's a great collection definitely worthy of my library shelf, and one that I'm sure to come back to from time to time.  There were some real whoppers in here, fantastic stories by fantastic authors, some of which followed me long after I'd closed the book.  Only one story in the book did not sit well with me, the rest were wonderful and well worth my time.  I don't regret a single minute spent exploring this book.

However.

Yes, sadly, you knew there would be a however in here.

My however is this: The book's premise is that Lovecraftian horror can be found anywhere, in the most unlikely places.  Many of the stories live up to this in spades.  However -- yes, there it is -- many of them don't.  A disproportionate number of stories were set in, around, or under Innsmouth, Miskatonic University, etc.  Now, don't get me wrong: these are wonderful settings for horror stories.  Innsmouth alone is a gold mine (literally) of eldritch horrors, terrible secrets, evil cults, and forbidden knowledge.  Which is all fine and wonderful.

But I thought the idea was to take us to UNlikely places, to get us OUT of Innsmouth, Miskatonic, etc.  As wonderful as this book is, it does not consistently deliver on its own premise.  One or two Innsmouth/Miskatonic stories, I could let pass, especially if they are well written, and these are certainly well written.  But there were simply too many of them, and I have to be honest here.

Now, all that being said, if I could have given this 4 & 1/2 stars, believe me, I would have.  In my own mind, I have.  I wish to Dagon there was a way.  This is a hell of a book, and I am pleased as punch to have it in my library.  I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone ever.  And if Matthew Carpenter decides to come out with another in the future, I'll be among the first in line for it.  I can't wait to see where he'll take us next time!  A modern-day amusement park?  A defunct nuclear reactor?  Your old home town?  A moving shoe box by the side of the road?  A seemingly abandoned radio station?  The empty lifeguard tower by the beach?  Who knows?
2428883
This really is a fantastic collection, I'm kicking myself now for not having gotten into Wallace's stuff sooner. These pieces somehow manage that oddest of qualities in modern non-fiction writing: being in earnest. Wallace seems interested in offering us serious examinations of things that we would rather dismiss as irrelevent or beneath us (I mean the Maine lobster festival?). Granted many writers do that these days, but Wallace is one of the first I've come across who seems to regard this as not just some delightful novelty, but as a sober desire to genuinely understand the bizarre hodgepodges that make up contemporary life. For the curious at heart.
4695929
I love this collection! I grew up watching these films and was so pleased that they have been so well curated. If you like one, you're going to like all of them.
1783804
I absolutely loved this collection and have added the previous set to my wish list.  Most of the authors are new to me and I am excited to find other books they have out.
1849296
I loved this collection! I can't wait for the next book in several of the series that were introduced here. As with all collections, there were a few that I cared for less though I hated none of them. I loved Fostering Hope the most but I was so happy to read all of these! The worlds were fun, exciting, and for the most part well written. I was surprised at the lack of sex in the stories as a whole - that was unexpected in romance novels, but hopefully the heat will turn up in the sequels! I definitely recommend the collection and can't wait to see what's next.
1434799
This 16 disc collection far exceeded expectations, a rarity in this day and age.  The extra content provided a timeline of the selection of the cast, in-depth discussion of the characters and creatures, interviews with and insights from JK Rowling, deleted scenes, interviews with the cast, explanations of casting decisions and directorial choices ...too much more to expand on. Suffice it to say that if yo are a serious Harry Potter fan, this is the only collection that you should--or need to--buy!
1257533
If you love amazing stories, you will love this collection.  Three books for one price is a great deal. A nice weekend read. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I do not give a synopsis of the stories as I think you already get that from the books description. Never let anyone else's comments keep you from reading a book. We are all different and enjoy different things. Happy Reading!
639807
I received this book as a gift, did not know anything about it before picking it up. I am an avid reader, but science fiction is one of the areas I have read the least in. This collection convinced me to change that . . .

Some things I really like about this collection:

Before each story, there are two quotes talking about science fiction and genre. These were really great insights into the writers. In many collections, these quotes are worthless throwaways. Not so here, much of it was thought provoking and new to me.

Out of the 19 stories, I've read works by only one of the authors before - so a true newcomer. This is a great introduction to works of authors. Here are my two favorites, by far:

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Le Guin: By far, my favorite. Worth the price of the book, the shortest story of the bunch. Can't wait to put this in front of more people, just a great take on life, storytelling, and layers of truth. Stands out as one of my favorite short stories ever now and one that I will return to.

The Ziggurat, Wolfe: This is an odd story involving a custody dispute and . . . some science fiction. I'm not sure if I can point to exactly what it is, but its awesome. Some of the best writing and storytelling I have come across. Many Gene Wolfe books are now on their way to my house . . .

One more of honorable mention: Angouleme, Disch: Bizarre, interesting, mysterious. I didn't love this story, the first in the collection, but I think might eventually. It's stuck with me and there is definitely more beneath the surface.

All in all, a great collection, a great intro to some modern science fiction authors. Highly Recommended.
1604036
This is a great collection of dark fantasy stories by independent film maker, Mike Watt.  Some previously published and some brand new to this collection, they are, in no particular order, disturbing, moody, grim, grimmer, hilarious, thoughtful and horrific.  The title, of course, refers to FDR's admonition that "The only thing we have to fear is fear, itself."  Hence, the fear of fear: Phobophobia.  And this a collection that delivers on fears that we all face at some time in our lives, but Mike's characters don't act or react predictably.  The stories, characters and situations are at once familiar and arcane. Vampires, a not so hard boiled private eye, aliens and the thing under your bed are all here, but in refreshing, new interpretations.  These are stories for people who like to read written by a guy who loves the language. If you can't find something to like in this book, you should probably give up reading.  Read the first line of the story titled "The Naked Bones of an Echo", then try not reading the rest of the story.  Mike has written, directed, acted and co-produced several independent movies including: "The Resurrection Game," "Severe Injuries", "A Feast of Flesh" and others. Fans of Mike and his wife/partner/co-producer, Amy Lynn Best, will be pleased to see that Mike writes excellent short fiction as well as screenplays.  For those of us who have known and loved him for many years, it's great to have all these pieces in one volume.  I can't wait to see what he does next. You won't be sorry you bought this book!