Of Fractious Fairy Tales, one 5-star reviewer wrote:
"Terry
Pratchett was renowned for taking familiar tales and converting them
into comforting metaphors in the Discworld. That is not the way of
Jessica Palmer.
Rather, she takes the crumbling skeletons of
childhood fairy stories and fleshes them with satirical icons from the
modern world to create a universe that is not Grimm but GRIM.
An
author with many genres to her credit, from teen fantasy, through
textbooks and cultural analysis. But this collection has more in common
with her early horror work, twisted with a warped sense of humour that
befits the daughter of a clown.
As with her other recent collection,
"Other Visions of Heaven and Hell", you should leave your preconceptions
on the coffee table. You will not, and could not, have anticipated
this. But you will enjoy it, mostly"
Of Other Visions Of Heaven and Hell, Sandra Scholes, reviewing this book for the British Fantasy Society, wrote:
"With Parallel
Universe Publications, readers always get their money's worth as Jessica
has over 20 short stories to interest the discerning horror reader.
Some have been published in anthologies such as Last Laugh for Weirdbook
#28, Cinderella Revisited, Weirdbook #29 and What the Dickens in
Substance.
Jessica, the daughter of a professional clown has had 28
books published in several genres, horror, fantasy, science fiction and
is no stranger to being published by some of the more interesting
imprints of popular publishers; McFarland, Scholastic and
HarperCollins's Element Books as well as UK's Thompson. She keeps
herself busy writing science and technology manuals, writing textbooks
about Native American history and satirical columns; A Slice of Life and
How to Make Love to your Personal Computer.
Of all these stories, I
have a few favourites as, for me her writing style reminds me of the
late Damon Knight, full of humour and comical situations you can't help
laughing about. Both heaven and hell get a look in here with stories
that have characters we have definitely heard of before. Devil Woman has
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson entangled in another mystery to find
Tonga, assisted by Mary Morstan, Watson thinks it's bad form of Holmes
to put a lady in danger, but knows there is something strange about the
whole situation, Bill Gates shows up in The Gates of Hell where he is
sent to Hell as a punishment for "one of the most diabolical inventions
of the 20th Century," and the demons have some fun getting their own
back, Cinderella makes an appearance in a revised version of the popular
fairy tale in Cinderella Revisited where the fairy Godmother would
never envisage how she would turn out after what she does for Cinders.
The
stories are short enough and punchy enough to give readers an idea of
what to expect from Jessica as a seasoned writer of fiction. I found
there was a lot to enjoy and glean from her short works. Her style is
fun rather than being too dark to read and once I had read one, I
couldn't wait to get on to the other. In this anthology there is an
excellent mix of fantasy, comedy horror and some well-placed science
fiction ones tossed in for the fun of it."
Other Vision of Heaven and Hell
You can order this book direct from us on this link, post free.
Amazon.comFractious Fairy Tales
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Glad to see my review put to good use!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for what you wrote. Too few readers ever write reviews.
DeleteLooks good.
ReplyDeleteThey are. They really are.
ReplyDelete