Bogormen

Title: Fairytales from Verania
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Fantasy, short stories
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 329
Date read: August, 2021

In the opening story—The Unicorn in the Tower—Gary is a princess trapped in a stone tower by the evil Lady Tina DeSilva, who plans on sacrificing him on the first full moon after his eighteenth birthday. With help from his friends—a bird named Tiggy and a mangy weasel called Sam—Gary interviews potential suitors to rescue him and love him above all others, as he so rightly deserves.

The Unicorn in the Tower is followed by Sam and the Beanstalk, wherein a poor farm boy exchanges his family’s bull for magical beans and the promise of treasure in the sky. But when he climbs the beanstalk, Sam finds things are not as he expected them to be.

The Good Boy sees Todd and his immaculate ears taking center stage. When Todd’s father dies, he leaves his son in the care of his evil stepmother and two stepsiblings who live to make Todd’s life a living hell. It’s not until the household receives an invitation to attend a ball for the mysterious Sir that Todd begins to wish for a life beyond what he knows.

David’s Dragon, the final—and only canonical—tale, is set a thousand years before the rise of the Dark wizard Myrin. It begins simply: a lonely boy in a small village befriends a dragon. What follows is a story of love and sacrifice, hope and heartbreak, and what it means to earn your place amongst the stars.

Welcome back to Verania. It’s going to be a hell of a ride.


I really wanted to love this, but just... didn't :-/ It was okay, but didn't come close to TJ Klune's usual standards.

The Unicorn in the Tower, 3 stars
Stereotypical Gary-as-Rapunzel. I liked this one alright. It was pretty over the top in places, but very on-point for Gary.

Sam and the Beanstalk, 4 stars
Probably my favourite of the lot. It emphasized the friendship between Gary, Sam, Tiggy and Ryan, which has always been my favourite part of the series. For a moment there, I was afraid for the ending, but it turned out alright :-)

The Good Boy, 2 stars
Todd-as-Cinderella. I really didn't care for evil!Gary and the dom/sub plot wasn't my cup of tea either. Also, it was just too long! Could easily have been shortened some.

David's Dragon, 1.5 stars
Though it was the only completely original story of the lot, it was also my least favourite :-( The sense of dread and foreboding that followed me for most of the story made it almost painful to read.

So a 2.6 star average.

Title: The Tuscon Time-Traveler and Other Stories
Author: Claus Holm
Genre: short stories, sci-fi
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 186
Date read: April, 2018

"I'd be shooting someone who hasn't done anything yet." Professor Wells put his hand on my shoulder. "Such is the dilemma of time travel, Ted. A world where reaction comes before action. Where you as the chrononaut knows what the future will be like because you've lived it, even if it hasn't happened yet."

If you could go back in time and change the course of history, would you do it? Even if you could never be sure what the change would lead to? Can any of us really foresee the impact our actions have on history and the future?

Through ten independent stories, Claus Holm explores the world of time travel, dimensional changes, and new technology. He shows us a world where Germany won World War II, introduces us to people who can cast minds from the future to the past, and takes us to a future where an earthquake has destroyed our civilization beyond repair. Each story treats the question of how people deal with challenges that change their view of life.


It's funny - I'm usually not a big fan of short stories. Unless I'm already familiar with the universe, it seems like too much investment for too small an output. Which means that as a rule, I tend to stay away from short story collections.

Claus Holm is one of the few exceptions, and with this short story collection he has published his best works yet. "The Tuscon Time-Traveler" is a collection of 10 short stories, all involving time-travel in some way or the other. I'll state my bias up front - as a rule I love stories involving time-travel (as long as it's done well), so I knew ahead of time that this would probably be right up my wheelhouse, and I was right.

Of course with short story collections there will always be some that you love and some you care less for, and that was also the case here. My two absolute favourites were "The Hitler Dilemma" (could you save Hitler's life if the alternative was worse?) and "I Love Her From the Mirror" (a man "accidentally" spies on his neighbour through a one-way mirror), with "Tamagotchi" and "The Tuscon Time-Traveler" as close seconds, but they all tickled my fancy in some way or the other. Some of them seemed to end a bit abruptly (which is so often the case with short stories), but I appreciated that others were given enough page-time to really explore the premise of the story.

I almost wish I'd saved reading this for the readathon... Being short, approachable and engaging it would have made for the perfect readathon material.

Title: De, der vogter
Author: Claus Holm
Genre: Short-stories
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 384
Date read: March, 2017

En gruppe turister spærres inde i en underjordisk bunker uden kontakt til omverden. De ved ikke, hvor længe de kan overleve dernede - eller hvad der er sket på jorden over dem.

Dreng møder pige i en historie om at forfølge sin egen drøm, frem for andres. Måske kan man også lære af de ting, man ikke ved.

En ung mor mister på én gang sin mand og sit arbejde - men måske kan en rød cykel bane vejen frem mod et nyt liv.

En nyfødt dreng får tildelt en agent fra Oven - og en fra Neden - men hvorfor er han så vigtig?

De, der vogter er fire forbundne historier om almindelige mennesker i ualmindelige situationer; om mennesker, som beskytter hinanden, og som indimellem selv har behov for at blive beskyttet. Frygt og sorg, afmagt og tragedie, alle har de en vigtig plads i fortællingerne - men i sidste ende indtager kærlighed, venskab og medmenneskelighed de altoverskyggende hovedroller.

Fra 1950'erne til nu; fra den faderløse femårige til den fortvivlede cirkusprinsesse. Når luften er ved at løbe ud - i metaforisk eller bogstavelig forstand - er spørgsmålet det samme for os alle: Skal jeg blive hvor jeg er, eller skal jeg bryde ud?


"De, der vogter" er en samling af 4 noveller, der ved første øjekast ser ud til at være uafhængige af hinanden... og så alligevel ikke. De er meget forskellige, og derfor nærmest umulige at anmelde under ét, så jeg har valgt at anmelde dem hver for sig i stedet.

Den første novelle, "Bunkeren", var også klart min yndlings. Jeg har altid haft en svaghed for dystopiske/post-apokalyptiske romaner, og fløj lige igennem den. Der var enkelte af personerne, jeg gerne ville have hørt mere om (f.eks. overlevelsesnødden som købte al vandet i starten af bogen), men det er ulempen ved (gode) noveller... man vil altid gerne vide mere! Og egentlig syntes jeg, det var et okay sted at stoppe - alt taget i betragtning. Jeg var helt vild med Sarah :-) 5 stjerner.

Starten på den anden novelle, "Kvinden og løverne", mindede mig utrolig meget om starten på "The Night Circus" (selv her ved anden gennemlæsning, hvor jeg ved at inspirationen er en helt anden), men det er dog kun starten, og historien fik hurtigt sit eget liv. Det ville være en skam at røbe for meget af handlingen, så jeg vil nøjes med at sige at jeg absolut ikke havde forventet den drejning historien ville tage, men efter det første chock begyndte jeg at gennemskue de hints Claus havde lagt ud, og endte med at synes, at det var en fin slutning. I sidste ende er det nok den af novellerne jeg er midst tilbøjelig til at genlæse, men jeg vil alligevel give den 3 stjerner.

"Gaven" fik mig til at græde. "Big ugly tears". Mærkeligt nok ikke der hvor man måske ville have forventet det, men ved Jessicas reaktion senere. Meget vagt, det ved jeg godt, men jeg prøver at undgå spoilers. Heldigvis endte historien på en mere positiv note (ellers er jeg heller ikke sikker på, jeg ville have kunnet klare det), men jeg ville have ønsket den havde været bare lidt længere, så de øvrige siders tragedie var blevet opvejet mere. 4 stjerner.

Den sidste novelle, "Vogterne", var jeg meget splittet overfor. Som kristen havde jeg afgjort nogle problemer med den*, men handlingsmæssigt fandt jeg den meget fascinerende. Den er baseret på et interessant koncept, og jeg kunne godt lide den meget bogstavelige tilgang til skytsengle og dæmoner. 4 stjerner.

Generelt en meget velskreven bog, som jeg er glad for at have fået chancen for at læse. Og specielt "Bunkeren" bliver nok en novelle jeg kommer til at genlæse ofte. Ikke dårligt klaret af Claus Holm, når man tænker på, at jeg typisk ikke er så meget til noveller. De fleste af disse er dog også lange nok til at gå under den engelske term "novella" snarere end "short story".... hvilket jeg værdsatte!

*Ikke så meget engle og dæmoner generelt - det er der præcedens for blandt kristne forfattere også... bl.a. hos Frank E. Peretti og C.S. Lewis, bare for at nævne to af de mest kendte... men ind i mellem var der nogle fraser som skurede i ørerne. Det er dog på ingen måde sikkert, at det er ting der ville genere andre end mig.

Title: Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection
Author: Mira Grant
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 608
Date read: July, 2016

A collection of all the Newsflesh short stories published until now, plus two never seen before. Some are obviously better than others, but they're all well worth reading for people wanting to remain (figuratively only, obviously!) in that universe.

The book includes a short introduction by the author to each short story, which I enjoyed.

Short stories included:
- Countdown
- Everglades
- San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the Browncoats (this one always makes me cry)
- How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea
- The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell
- Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus
- All the Pretty Little Horses (*new* - how the Masons moved on from losing their son in the rising)
- Coming to You Live (*new* - 2 years after Shaun and Georgia disappeared off to Canada)

Title: Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories
Author: R.J. Palacio
Genre: YA
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 380
Date read: October 2015, May 2020, October 2023

AUGGIE & ME is a new side to the WONDER story: three new chapters from three different characters - bully Julian, oldest friend Christopher and classmate Charlotte - giving an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives.


It didn't blow me away the way "Wonder" did, but I still really, really, really liked it.

I've wanted to read this ever since I finished "Wonder" two months ago, and thanks to an exceptionally well timed birthday present, I was able to read it for my October read-a-thon. It totally lived up to my expectations, and I'd be hard pressed to say which short story I liked the best. It was good to see things from Julian, Chris and Charlotte's point of view, and I liked that Auggie was just a minor characters in these stories.

It didn't blow me away the way "Wonder" did, but I still really, really, really liked it.

I've wanted to read this ever since I finished "Wonder" two months ago, and thanks to an exceptionally well timed birthday present, I was able to read it for my October read-a-thon. It totally lived up to my expectations, and I'd be hard pressed to say which short story I liked the best. It was good to see things from Julian, Chris and Charlotte's point of view, and I liked that Auggie was just a minor characters in these stories.

Reread 2023: Definitely like Julian's story the best on this read-through - but with Charlotte's as a close second.

Title: At the Altar
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Genre: Short stories
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 228
Date read: November, 2014

L.M. Montgomery proves that love does conquer all in this collection of nineteen funny and romantic short stories. Couples make it to the altar despite myriad obstacles, including mistaken identities, family obligations, meddling gossips--even one very determined cat--and their journeys couldn't be more delightful for the reader.


I'm usually not a huge fan of short stories, but LMM is the exception that proves the rule. These stories are sweet and so quickly read that they worked perfectly as a "read for 5 minutes in bed before I fall asleep". They're not meant to have any great depth, but are just quick bites, perfect (in the case of this collection) for any hopeless romantic :)

Title: How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea (Newsflesh #3.5)
Author: Mira Grant
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 132
Date read: July 2013

Post-Rising Australia can be a dangerous place, especially if you're a member of the government-sponsored Australia Conservation Corps, a group of people dedicated to preserving their continent's natural wealth until a cure can be found. Between the zombie kangaroos at the fences and the zombie elephant seals turning the penguin rookery at Prince Phillip Island into a slaughterhouse, the work of an animal conservationist is truly never done--and is often done at the end of a sniper rifle.

Yet another novella in the Newsflesh universe. I wasn't quite as taken in by this one as by the earlier ones, as there seem little new ground to explore... but what little new ground there is, Mira Grant found in this novella. My biggest beef with the story is that like in all novellas, there's not enough page-space to explore the plot and the characters.

Title: Beggars in Spain
Author: Nancy Krauss
Genre: Sci-fi, short story (novella)
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 95
Date read: October, 2011

Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep, and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sisters mirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to a growing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and study than normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health. The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance.

I didn't realize until after I had started reading it, that this was published first as a novella and later as a full-length novel. It was completely by accident that I'd gotten hold of the novella rather than the novel - might as well have been the other way around.

But now that I have read it, I'm glad I read the novella. It was a brilliant story - engaging and thought-provoking - but I don't think it would have worked nearly as well as a full-length novel. The pacing would have been off, it wouldn't have been as tight nor - I think - as poignant.

As it was, I couldn't get the story out of my head and found it extremely well written and provocative (in a good way). I'm sorry Alice and Leisha never became close, but was glad to see that the ending opened for the possibility of that in the future.

Title: Idol Musings
Author: Various
Genre: Short-stories, essays
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 644
Date read: June, 2010

A collection of entries written by contestants of LJ Idol

I don't think the thrill of reading my own name in print is ever going to get old :-D

This collection of Idol Musings is very representative of the competition. Some entries made me laugh, some made me cry, some left me cold, and some made me sit back with a feeling that all is right with the world.

I doubt the book will register on the radar of people who haven't either participated in the writing competition themselves, or know some of the contributers, and that's a shame, because there's a lot of really, really good writing in there.

It's not a book I can sit down and read from A-Z, but for a few essays here and there, it's a pure treat.

Title: The Doctor's Sweetheart
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Genre: Short-stories
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 175
Date read: November, 2009

A collection of short stories featuring tales of the joys and sorrows of courtship, lost love, surprising reconciliations, and unexpected passions.

I hadn't read this short story collection in years, so thought it was time to pick it up again, but on this read-through, I was surprised to see how dark and almost depressing all the stories were, despite the main theme allegedly being romance. Very few - if any - were completely happy love-stories, instead there was love lost, love regained after a long estrangement, love found at the expense of others, or love misunderstood. I didn't pay attention to when these short-stories were written, but if I were to venture a guess, I'd think it was rather late in LMM's life, when her depression had become more pronounced.