Greetings From Lake Wu
by Jay Lake
List Price:
Our Price: $19.75
You Save: $0.20 (1%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.97 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jay LakeIllustrator: Frank Wu
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-11-30
ISBN: 0972054723
Number of pages: 268
Publisher: Wheatland Press
Book Reviews of Greetings From Lake Wu
Book Review: A Second Helping, Please!
Summary: 4 Stars
I like my fiction spiced pretty high. Entering the dangerous world of food analogies: "Greetings From Lake Wu" is a picnic buffet. A Lakeside picnic, even! See the nice cottonwoods, feel that breeze, laugh at the amusing clown. Ah! Now that we're all relaxed, let's dig into this spread.
The collection opens with "The Courtesy of Guests," a tasty little character-driven nugget set in a distant future. What's to be the fate of Earth, after mankind has long evolved off it? Hmm. Good to chew on, and two memorable buddies to compare notes with! No wonder this tale won the Best of Soft SF prize for 2001.
"The Scent of Rotting Roses" will likewise please sci-fi fans. Fresh enough to arouse interest, familiar enough to satisfy any appetite, this one smells like warm bread rolls to me.
"Glass: A Love Story"- chicken cordon bleu, baby! Intricate, beautiful, ostentatious... not your typical picnic fare. Stories like this (and there are several- damn thee, word limit!) make this collection absolutely hearty.
Like the dish contributed by some moustached aunt from the Old Country, I have no idea what "G.O.D" is. I tried some to be polite, but, huh? Same can be said for "The Trick of Disaster." Throwing a Frisbee for record-breaking distance is a great picnic game, but Lake's sailed this one way over many heads. Looked great when it was in the air, but I haven't a clue where it's landed.
The German potato salad of the collection is "The Murasaki Doctrine," bland filler which occupies about one-third of the volume. I dunno. Maybe some readers like rehashed space-opera. Some people like German potato salad. Gimme a surprisingly original dish with loads a chilli, any day.
Some more meat: "Jack's House." Move Orwell's "Animal Farm" in a house. And have the cats and rats and mice and dogs address religion, rather than politics. Tasty and sustaining, "Jack's House" is a highlight.
There's always gotta be something sticky. Months after its reading, I think about "The Goat Cutter" almost every time I open a tin of pet food.
And as it's not an official picnic until the bugs arrive, "Greetings From Lake Wu" includes the noteworthy "Who Sing But Do Not Speak."
"The Angle of My Dreams" is sweet dessert. There's a surprising number of tales in this basket which would be worth the purchase alone.
After this outing, count me as a Jay Lake fan. Visit www.jlake.com if, like me, you've been impressed and want to know when the next celebration is scheduled.
Four Lil' Debbie Star Crunches out of five.
Short Stories Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Short Stories Books
The Roald Dahl Treasuryby Roald Dahl
Jonathan Cape; Published: 1997; Hardcover; Book
The Red Pony (Twentieth-Century Classics)by John Steinbeck
Penguin Classics; Published: 1994-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountainby Robert Olen Butler
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
Guys and Dolls: The Stories of Damon Runyonby Damon Runyon
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1992-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $45.54
How We Are Hungryby Dave Eggers
PENGUIN; Published: 2006-02-23; Paperback; Book
Dressing Up for the Carnivalby Carol Shields
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.79
Price in other shops:
East, Westby Salman Rushdie
Vintage Books; Published: 2006-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
Local Girlsby Alice Hoffman
Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random; Published: 2000-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Someone to Watch Over Me: Storiesby Richard Bausch
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
Faithless: Tales of Transgressionby Joyce Carol Oates
Ecco; Published: 2001-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops: