Heirs... | Howard Who?: Twelve Outstanding Stories of Speculative Fiction

Very Entertaining Collection | Howard Who?: Twelve Outstanding Stories of Speculative Fiction | Howard Waldrop

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	• Howard Who?: Twelve Outstanding Stories of Speculative Fiction Howard Waldrop Doubleday Books, 1986 - 181 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews
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highly recommended

An American Iconoclast

Howard Who? is a short story collection by Howard Waldrop with an introduction by George R. R. Martin.

It consists of the following stories.

The Ugly Chickens
This story won the Nebula and the World Fantasy awards as well as being nominated for a Hugo.
It puts forth the question What if the Dodo hadn't been wiped out.

Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen
I have no idea what this story was about, but I was never the less tremendously entertained by it.

Ike at the Mike
Did you ever wonder how the world would be different if Eisenhower and Patton had been in a band with Louis Armstrong rather than leading the allies in Europe? Well Me neither, but Howard did, and its a wonderful story.

Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla
Classic old school horror movie plot. Or old school bugs bunny cartoon either way .

. . . the World, as we Know't
I don't see the word Phlogiston used enough anymore. This story is a cautionary tale of a science experiment gone bad. Really, Really, horribly bad.

Green Brother
This is the first of two Native American centered stories. I much preferred the next one.

Mary Margaret Road Grader
Or Mad Max meets the county fair. This is a post apocalyptic story where Native American again rule the plains of the US, and they engage in tractor pulls.

"Save A Place in the Lifeboat for Me
Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and others are sent to prevent "The day the music died." This was also one of my favorites perhaps because I've been to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake IA many times.

Horror, We Got
You've got to love a time travel tale crossed with a Zionist conspiracy don't you? I loved this story.

Man-Mountain Gentian
Zen Sumo. 'nuff said.

God's Hooks
Izaak Walton goes fishing for a nightmare.

Heirs of the Perisphere
Another post apocalyptic tale. This time Mickey, Goofy, and Donald are the only survivors and they are trying to figure out why no one is coming to Disneyland.

I enjoyed this collection, but I've found I have a hard time getting into reading short fiction. I have a zone I get into in a book I really like, and short stories are over before I ever get to that point. Its much more of a chore to read short fiction for me. But taking that into account the writing itself is very good. Waldrop is very eclectic, and is certainly a master of the short story.

8 out of 10

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Heirs...

First let me confess I have not read this book, not yet... You see I read Heirs of the Perisphere years ago when it was first published * ahem * in Playboy (Nothing risque in the writing, just well written.).

More memorable than the girl, I still remember passages today - must have been close to twenty years ago.

Mr Waldrop... Genius. Years ahead of his time. Great writer. I highly recommend.

Very Entertaining Collection

I especially liked the Ugly Chickens story. All in all it was a fast and interesting read. I recommend all of Howard's writing.

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One of the best, most underappreciated writers

I have been obsessed with Howard Waldrop for about fifteen years. The first three were spent trying to find his collections (this one especially) or locating a working copier so I could xerox any stories I located in the library. It was attempting to purchase "Howard Who?" and "Strange Monsters of the Recent Past" online that led me to become an Amazon.com member. Now I've got everything he's done up to a booklet containing two of his stories I bought from a gentleman in Austin. I found out recently that he was hospitalized for heart troubles. I don't know what his condition is now, but I would advise everyone to get as much of his work in your hands as you can before they go out of print again. And this is the best place to start, his first collection.

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Waldrop Rules!

One of the most eclectic writers in the Sf/F genre one can find. No Waldrop story is like any other story, or like any other Waldrop story for that matter.

If you haven't read Waldrop before, have you got a treat coming!

Howard Waldrop is a writer?s writer. His fiction is erudite, gonzo, wistful, funny, and beautifully written. Waldrop has a capacious, encyclopedic knowledge of superheroes, baseball players, Mexican wrestlers, world wars, longdead film stars, oddball television shows, pulp serials, radio plays, fairy tales, scientific expeditions, extinct species, and knockknock jokes. His stories are sophisticated, magical recombinations of the stuff that our popculture dreams are made of. Never published in paperback, long out of print, and extremely collectible, Howard Who? was Waldrop?s seminal debut collection. If you haven?t read Waldrop before, you?re in for a treat.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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