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billymac1962's review
3.0
Edit....cleaning up my Currently Reading shelf so marking this as read, even though I'm a little more than halfway through. Will continue to read offline every now and then.
I'll be dipping into this one between novels.
So far, the first two stories have been okay. Mildly creepy...
3) The Stuff That Goes On In Their heads - Excellent story! This is the type of stuff I expect from MMS. 5 stars
4) Unnoticed - This reminded me of a Twilight Zone (or Outer Limits or Amazing Stories) episode I saw back in this 80s or so. I read it last night and this morning it's still wriggling under my skin for some reason. Very good. 4 stars
5) The Good Listener - A son traces his father's last day. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I feel left hanging. I guess I didn't get it. 3 stars
6) Substitutions - This was okay. 3 stars
I'll be dipping into this one between novels.
So far, the first two stories have been okay. Mildly creepy...
3) The Stuff That Goes On In Their heads - Excellent story! This is the type of stuff I expect from MMS. 5 stars
4) Unnoticed - This reminded me of a Twilight Zone (or Outer Limits or Amazing Stories) episode I saw back in this 80s or so. I read it last night and this morning it's still wriggling under my skin for some reason. Very good. 4 stars
5) The Good Listener - A son traces his father's last day. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I feel left hanging. I guess I didn't get it. 3 stars
6) Substitutions - This was okay. 3 stars
beckylej's review
5.0
Fall is definitely in the air! It's amazing to me how quickly the seasons changed here - September hit and bam (massive deluge aside) it's fall. This is so surreal compared to back home in Louisiana where we have about two seasons: hot and not so hot. And that's totally fine with me except that I actually kind of love fall. Not the cold mind you, just fall. Fall doesn't mean pumpkin lattes for me, it means Halloween and an even more intense craving for horror than I suffer from the rest of the year. ('Cause let's face it, it's always there. At least for me.) So it's perfect that this month marks the release of Earthling Publication's latest collection from Michael Marshall Smith, EVERYTHING YOU NEED.
If you've not read Michael Marshall/Michael Marshall Smith before, you are most definitely missing out. While he's been published for years it was actually the release of THE STRAW MEN that caught my attention. It was the first in a trilogy that was released during my bookseller days. Since then, he's penned a number of additional titles including THE SERVANTS, BAD THINGS, and KILLER MOVE. And he's got a new release due out here in the States in February from Mulholland. In the midst of all of that, he's somehow found the time to compile a new collection of shorts featuring a selection of previously pubbed pieces and all new stories (with story notes!!!!) in EVERYTHING YOU NEED.
Throughout the years I have become increasingly more fond of short stories and it's all thanks to authors like Michael Marshall Smith. The stories in EVERYTHING YOU NEED run the gamut from fun ("The Seventeenth Kind") to freaky ("Sad, Dark Thing," which I had the pleasure of reading last fall) and everything in between. Some, like "The Stuff That Goes on in Their Heads," will make you ponder deeper thoughts while others will scare the ever living crap out of you. They make for dark and dreary bedtime stories - the kind that make you double check locks and turn on lights even though you know it won't help - and that's exactly what I enjoy about them!
Smith conveys so much emotion and detail in each of the stories, something that always amazes me in shorts in particular, how, in just a few pages, the author can ensnare the reader and leave them breathless with anticipation and utterly worn out by the end.
While I did truly enjoy each and every story in this collection, I must say my personal favorites were "Author of the Death," "Unnoticed," "The Woodcutter," and "The Last Barbecue."
If you've not read Michael Marshall/Michael Marshall Smith before, you are most definitely missing out. While he's been published for years it was actually the release of THE STRAW MEN that caught my attention. It was the first in a trilogy that was released during my bookseller days. Since then, he's penned a number of additional titles including THE SERVANTS, BAD THINGS, and KILLER MOVE. And he's got a new release due out here in the States in February from Mulholland. In the midst of all of that, he's somehow found the time to compile a new collection of shorts featuring a selection of previously pubbed pieces and all new stories (with story notes!!!!) in EVERYTHING YOU NEED.
Throughout the years I have become increasingly more fond of short stories and it's all thanks to authors like Michael Marshall Smith. The stories in EVERYTHING YOU NEED run the gamut from fun ("The Seventeenth Kind") to freaky ("Sad, Dark Thing," which I had the pleasure of reading last fall) and everything in between. Some, like "The Stuff That Goes on in Their Heads," will make you ponder deeper thoughts while others will scare the ever living crap out of you. They make for dark and dreary bedtime stories - the kind that make you double check locks and turn on lights even though you know it won't help - and that's exactly what I enjoy about them!
Smith conveys so much emotion and detail in each of the stories, something that always amazes me in shorts in particular, how, in just a few pages, the author can ensnare the reader and leave them breathless with anticipation and utterly worn out by the end.
While I did truly enjoy each and every story in this collection, I must say my personal favorites were "Author of the Death," "Unnoticed," "The Woodcutter," and "The Last Barbecue."
henryarmitage's review
3.0
I really liked [b:Spares|21010|Spares|Michael Marshall Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1167301486l/21010._SY75_.jpg|1178452] by this author and [b:Only Forward|920395|Only Forward|Michael Marshall Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1333726911l/920395._SY75_.jpg|123899] totally blew me away. This mostly horror anthology wasn't quite up to that level, but worth reading. There were a couple of good and unconventional zombie stories.
ashmind's review
Somehow it didn't quite work for me.
But if you like straightforward horror you might like it — reminds me of younger Stephen King and similar authors. Maybe that's a problem — it's published in 2013, but "The Seventeenth Kind" wouldn't be out of place in 1980 or earlier.
And some of them are just too much like responses in /r/WritingPrompts (e.g. "Unbelief").
But if you like straightforward horror you might like it — reminds me of younger Stephen King and similar authors. Maybe that's a problem — it's published in 2013, but "The Seventeenth Kind" wouldn't be out of place in 1980 or earlier.
And some of them are just too much like responses in /r/WritingPrompts (e.g. "Unbelief").
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