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Butcher Boy: A Collection

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Overview

What Other Folk have said about the two separate collections -discontinued- that now comprise this one:"Excellent stuff. Some stories are described by the author as "steampunkish" but, to me, feel more like the technology of Dune, far-future tech that has gone through a biotech stage, but deliberately regressed to a dirty, fumy, type of level. A couple of the stories are set in a different milieu, with much more "Culture" type technology. But the tales are driven much more by characters than tech. Really enjoyed it." M J Dudley."Excellent collection from a new writer, featuring the usual stuff: an avenging tram, giant orgasms, somebody who loves their house and the house loves them right back... Impressive alternate world building in the stories where the British Empire is at war with the USA, and creditable world borrowing in the Cugel story. Not perfect, as to be expected from what is more or less a debut collection - a couple of the endings possibly wrap up sooner than I would like, but all the stories are absorbing and the quality of the writing is high throughout." Mayo."I have found this collection of short stories highly entertaining and well written. Two of them are definitely in a Vancean vein (the first one is a Cugel the Clever episode, you can’t be more Vancean than that!), but Barlow has been wise enough not to overdo it. The Vancean prose is already rich enough in itself, and excessive imitation leads to an amusing pastiche, at best, or to an unpalatable caricature, at worst. As I said, Barlow has refrained from this catastrophic error. Other stories take place in a sort of post-neo-Victorian universe, in which the British Empire wages a deadly war against the Yanks. You will find a very sooty, grimy, smelly Great Britain, with enormous constructions and contraptions made of brick and wrought iron. I always love that kind of setting… One story is guaranteed to make a vegetarian out of you, if you’re not already one. It almost (but not quite) put me off my steak. Special mention and kudos for the story about Alfred House. Quite deep and moving. All in all, this is a really excellent book, with a lot of variety and quite a few suprises, which actually captured my interest throughout. And at this price (I bought the Kindle edition on amazon.fr for 2.99 euros), it’s a real bargain!" Patrick Dusoulier."Full disclosure: C.S. Barlow and I know each other through the Jack Vance discussion board and I critiqued an early draft of "The Clients of Caralios." That being said, these are well written science fiction stories, some with a decidedly Vancean flavour, including an actual "Cugel the Clever" romp. If you like imaginative and quirky sf, you'll like these stories." Matthew Hughes."This is a mixed collection of short dark stories. I recognised immediately that a good number of the stories have a very British feel to them. There are a few contemporary stories, a story reminiscent of Lovecraft, an alternate world story and a sci fi story. ... Most of the stories stick close to the definition of horror though I don't feel they necessarily evoke it to the level I usually like. I put this down to the negative side of the short story format. With short stories the build up has to be quicker and, as a reader, getting to grips with the setting and content can distract for the underlying 'horror'. Luckily, what some of the stories lack in horror are made up in intrigue. One of my favourite stories in the collection was 'The Demon of Cocky Rusty'. It perfectly evokes thoughts of childhood and then strongly throws in a direct horror element which works extremely well. My least favourite story was 'Extracts from High Inhuman Sixth's Secret and Unorthodox Journal'. I found the world building distracting and I felt it lacked a traditional element of horror (though there was discomfort and unease). Overall, I thought it was a solid collection that deserves to be read." Roberto.

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