Fire Watch
by Connie Willis

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Book Reviews of Fire Watch

Book Review: A mixed bag of early stories - better work is available
Summary: 4 Stars

A little less intense, but still of very good quality are "Lost and Found" which invokes the Second Coming, "Daisy in the Sun" showing how life goes on, even with extinction hanging over us, and "Samaritan" which describes a minister who must make a difficult decision about a church's trained orangutan. Each of these stories is sure to do more than merely please.

Rounding out the collection, Willis offers "Service for the Burial of the Dead", about guilt and loss and a lover who dies too soon, "The Father of the Bride", a silly addendum to a classic fairy tale, "And Come from Miles Around" wherein a mother observes the observers at an eclipse (but no one else does), "Mail-Order Clone", an inane tale of a customer who is dissatisfied with his mail-order purchase, and "Blued Moon" a truly unique story showing how a chemical company's discharge has bizarre effects on human behavior. Many of this last group are intended to be humorous, and perhaps shouldn't be classified as science fiction at all, but most are at least entertaining.

Fans of the author will be very pleased with this collection. Those new to Willis may find these stories impressive, but not overpowering enough to convince them to start on one of her brilliant (but admittedly lengthy) novels. This is unfortunate, since such masterpieces as To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Doomsday Book are among the best that contemporary fiction has to offer.

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