Think Like a Dinosaur: And Other Stories

Description

This first major retrospective collects Kelly's finest short fiction from a 20-year career and includes a dazzling array of work, from hard science fiction and Twilight Zone-inspired fantasies to stark futuristic horror. The grim fable "Pogrom" presents a near-futuristic scenario in which internecine warfare has broken out between the aging boomer generation and a youthful dispossessed proletariat who must support them. The landmark novella "Mr. Boy" is the wildly inventive tale of a genetically stunted 12-year-old who literally lives inside his mother, who has turned herself into a three-quarter-scale model of the Statue of Liberty. "The First Law of Thermodynamics" is a remarkable evocation of the psychedelic sixties-the time of Vietnam, Kent State, and acid rock-in which, like that era itself, nothing is what it appears to be. The now-famous title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur," is a tale of a transporter beam maintained by aliens, through which humanity can visit the stars.

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This is a handsome, limited edition collection of the best work by one of the finest short fiction writers in science fiction. There are 14 stories in all, ranging from straight SF to tales that stray into the fantasy and horror genres. Of special note is the title story, which earned the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and a 1996 Nebula Award nomination. But all of the stories are excellent in their own right. An insightful forward by James Patrick Kelly's friend and sometimes collaborator John Kessel (Corrupting Dr. Nice) leads off the collection and explores Kelly's somewhat underrated career.

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Customer Reviews

A Very Interesting and Eclectic Mix of Stories
This is the first collection released by Golden Gryphon Press, back in 1997. It is mostly a collection of sci-fi stories, but it bounces around every genre, including one story that is just a weird tale about an acid trip by a group of friends in the 1960's. It's a very good mix of styles contained herein.

This wasn't a great collection, but it was very interesting, as I found myself reading through this collection rather effortlessly and quickly. The title story was memorable, as it tells how a race of dinosaurs came back to earth and helped them learn how to travel through space. Standing in Line with Mr. Jimmy was a fantastic tale of waiting in line for a new tomorrow. And the final story Mr. Boy was a novella sized story of a coming-of-age story in a weird future where rich people altered their bodies, and Mr. Boy kept on stunting himself to keep him the size and appearance of a 12-year old. All-in-all this was a worthwhile read, with some very good stuff within this collection.

2009-03-05 | fiction book collector (columbus, OH United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Not Free SF Reader
A definitely good collection of stories. The first, and 'title track' if you like is the clear standout in this book, no question. In fact, it is the last few that I generally didn't like as much as the rest, but on the whole this collection is well above average, and easily above 3.60, let alone 3.50.

Think Like a Dinosaur : Think Like a Dinosaur - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Heroics - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Pogrom [Home Front] - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Faith - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Big Guy - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Dancing with the Chairs - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Rat - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : The First Law of Thermodynamics - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Breakaway Backdown - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Standing in Line with Mr. Jimmy - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Crow - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Monsters - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Itsy Bitsy Spider - James Patrick Kelly
Think Like a Dinosaur : Mr. Boy - James Patrick Kelly

Lizard people's replication errors multiply.

4.5 out of 5


Not super.

3 out of 5


Selfish elder generation.

4 out of 5


Plant man match.

4 out of 5


Way Out fast heroware operator.

4 out of 5


Drinking desperate.

3 out of 5


Spook tail left with the Dust.

4 out of 5


Many hits, space cowboy.

3 out of 5


Colony life change.

4 out of 5


Spaceman denial.

4 out of 5


Space capsule balloon bash burn.

3.5 out of 5


Mental monster man happy after finding physical monster woman.

3.5 out of 5


Girlbot minder actor's filial substitute.

3.5 out of 5


Not wanting to grow up attitude certainly isn't helped by mum's mechanical approach to parenting.

3.5 out of 5

2008-01-23 | - Research Finished | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A brilliant collection.
James Patrick Kelly is among the best there is in science fiction. There are some real classics contained in Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories, from the now-famous title story, "Think Like a Dinosaur" (which won a well-deserved Hugo Award) to his brilliant, fast-paced novella, "Mr. Boy," which had a tremendous impact on me when I first read it, and still does. There's "Rat," one of my favorite cyberpunk tales, and the psychedelic "The First Law of Thermodynamics." Buy this book, read the stories contained within, and prepare to be duly impressed.

There is, however, no real thread linking these stories together; Kelly is something of a literary chameleon, and as such has created different moods and textures for each individual story. That is one of the true joys of reading his work, the fact that when you first start reading a Kelly story, all previous experiences you've had of his fiction means very little. Kelly has not attained as large a following as I think he deserves, probably due in part to his slow production of novels (he's only written four so far), but in the end recognition isn't the issue. The art is the issue, and Kelly is a true artist.

2004-05-08 (Marietta, OH) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Masterpiece
Golden Gryphon Press has been publishing a long and wide range of single author short-story collections--and I must, obviously, admit that James Patrick Kelly's (author of WILDLIFE and LOOK INTO THE SUN) THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR AND OTHER STORIES has gained a special place in my heart. One of the leading SF stylists, Kelly's stories have a perfect blend of lyricism and sheer storytelling power; recently, he has earned well-deserved attention with his Hugo-winning stories, "Think Like a Dinosaur" and "10^16 to 1," respectively. Pick up this collection at all costs.

2002-06-10 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Wonderful story collection
James Patrick Kelly is a wonderful secret. If you polled a representative sampling of readers who call themselves SF fans, I would bet that not 50% are familiar with James Patrick Kelly. This is a shame because Mr. Kelly's work are of the very highest quality. This collection of short fiction shows off the very best of Kelly's stories and not one of them should be missed.

My favorite story of the collection is 'Mr. Boy', a wonderful novella about a 25-year-old who has re-engineered himself to remain in a 12-year-old body. This is Mr. Boy. Throughout the story Mr. Boy begins to mature, and he's not quite sure how to handle this. This 60+ page novella makes the entire collection worth purchasing, but there's so much more.

The wonderful stories "Rat", "Monsters", "Think Like a Dinosaur", and many more make this one of the most outstanding collections that I've had the good fortune to come across. Like all Golden Gryphon press books, this is an extraordinary collection from a very talented author. The Golden Gryphon imprint on a book is enough to make me open the wallet, even if it's an author that I am totally unfamiliar with. They put out excellent quality books filled with very good fiction. Highly recommended.

2001-11-25 | human (Vacaville, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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The Wreck of the Godspeed: And Other Stories

Description

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Burn

Description

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Customer Reviews

More Literary Than Science Fiction
This book has a very literary feel about it. James Patrick Kelly has some quite wonderful, evocative passages, some intricate, subtle, and flawed characters, and a topic that resonates both with current events and with lovers of Thoreau. As an exercise in science fiction world-building (both political and geographical), however, there is a lack of complexity and reality that I think many scifi readers will find disappointing. Add in a few jumpy plot conveniences and a fairly silly and non-credible major character (The High Gregory) and you end up being vaguely dissatisfied. You may have gotten some extremely rich and tasty literary calories, but at the end you are still hungry. Donald J. Bingle, Author of Forced Conversion.

2007-03-06 | orphyte (Saint Charles, IL USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 3

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I think I was missing 100 pages
Well, it looks like I am in the minority here. I read this book in an evening and wasn't impressed. I understand what the author was trying to do, but when I read Sci Fi I want SCI FI. I want to know more! It seems like I was missing a ton of pages that explained or at least described things more. I'd like to hear back from anyone that feels the same.

2006-05-06 (Cortland, OH United States) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 2

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Painfully Good
Mr. Kelly's descriptions of burning and being burned, and the interactions between all his characters are really well done. And some are really painful. Spur and his relationship with his soon-to-be ex-wife Comfort, the pain of his memories of the death of Comfort's brother in a self-immolation that did so much destruction, I felt them all.

The relationship of Walden with The Thousand Worlds is intricate and interestingly flawed. And the characters of Spur, High Gregory and the others of his band, and the various villagers and "government" people are very well done.

"Burn" is a very fine multilayered book that reads quickly, like a simple adventure, but will cause you to come back and think about the many philosophical questions that JPK raises.

Read this book. You'll like it!

2006-04-27 | Mr. Bewildered (Moses Lake, WA) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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A personal Walden is threatened by defensive fires
James Patrick Kelly's BURN tells of a small planet whose new owner has his dreams of building his personal Walden from scratch - where voluntary simplicity is the rule. Unfortunately its existing inhabitants have other ideas - and they are capable of using fire to defend their own freedoms. Compromises, conflicts, and conflagrations evolve in a satisfying, changing plot that never fails to surprise.

2006-04-19 | California Bookwatch (California, USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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A terrorist war fought with forest fires
I read this short novel on a long AMTRAK trip and imagine my surprise when part of the story took place on . . . a train! The setting is a planet that has been turned into a social experiment where the residents live in the sort of simple, utopian, agrarian society advocated by Henry David Thoreau. Unfortunately, their ideal world has displaced the planet's original residents, the Pukpuks, who retaliate by setting fires in the forests planted by the utopians.

The science fiction element of the novel felt subtle and as a reader I was instead drawn in by the character of Spur, a firefighter wounded while battling the fires, and the rural community that could be anyone's hometown. This is very much a novel about a damaged man trying to do the right thing, with a good mix of humor, action and thought-provoking moral questions that mirror those of our own 21st century world.

Good stuff. And who knew Thoreau was so fascinated by fire?

2006-01-17 (Baltimore) | Helpful Votes: 20 | Rating: 5

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Wildlife

Description

Rebelling against her fashion drug designer father, freelance journalist and troubled clone Wynne Cage covers a data-heist that places her in the rank of a thief and must confront the forces of a world with unlimited bio-technological advantages. Reprint. AB.

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Customer Reviews

Like a breath of fresh air
Great characterization, well written. Explores what it means to be alive and human, particularly in terms of artificial intelligence.

2000-01-04 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Strange But Not a Stranger

Description

The 16 stories in this collection run the gamut from cyber adventure and a ghostly haunting to chemically modified romance and a time travel mission to save the world. The Hugo Award winner, "10(to the 16th) to 1," tells the story of a boy in the 1960s who gets caught up in a spirited adventure that becomes a desperate attempt to prevent a nuclear holocaust. In "The Cruelest Month," a grieving mother is haunted both by the past and a ghost. "The Prisoner of Chillon" presents a radioactive Lake Geneva overrun with cyberpunks seeking fame and fortune through software piracy. By turns humorous and harrowing, this collection highlights the short fiction of a lauded author at his best.

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Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader
This is definitely a good collection of stories, having no less than three with a 4.5 rating, and a 3.60 average overall. Golden Gryphon have a pretty nifty logo, too. It has an intro by Connie Willis, and a reasonably detailed afterword where Kelly describes the genesis of each of the stories.

Strange But Not a Stranger : 1016 to 1 - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Lovestory - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Feel the Zaz - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Unique Visitors - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : The Prisoner of Chillon - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Candy Art - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : The Propagation of Light in a Vacuum - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Hubris - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Glass Cloud - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Proof of the Existence of God - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : The Cruelest Month - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Chemistry - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : The Pyramid of Amirah - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Fruitcake Theory - James Patrick Kelly
Strange But Not a Stranger : Undone - James Patrick Kelly


Time traveler wants kid to save the world, at least with Galaxy and Green Lantern preparation he has a decent shot at it

4.5 out of 5


Alien baby changes.

3.5 out of 5


Schizo CAT woman has old time star turns Down.

4.5 out of 5


Upload immortality, longtime.

3.5 out of 5


Spook journalist thinks spiders and snakes is WILDLIFE overload.

4 out of 5


Ancestral timeshare problems.

3 out of 5


Lightspeed not at all lucid loopy love.

3 out of 5


History never repeats, I tell myself before I read a heap.

3.5 out of 5


Alien architecture requirements are quite whacky.

3.5 out of 5


Multiversal self-belief can be shocking.

3.5 out of 5


Ghost phone release.

3.5 out of 5


Lack of hormones gambler.

3.5 out of 5


Structural belief is slow.

3 out of 5


Alien bloody xmas incident.

3 out of 5


Future escape a problem of many dimensions.

4.5 out of 5

2007-08-17 | - Research Finished | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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One of the Best Single-Author-Collections of the Year.
James Patrick Kelly's second collection of stories (published by Golden Gryphon, a fine publisher) is a treasury of superbly crafted gems. 15 of them, actually, with a foreword by Connie Willis and an afterword by the author himself.

Highlights are 1016 to 1 (Hugo Winner, novelette category), Undone (Nebula nominee, Novelette category), and Glass Cloud. But nearly each story is insightful.

Contents follow:

Lovestory, Feel the Zaz, Unique Visitors, The Prisoner of Chillon, Candy Art, The Propagation of Light in a Vacuum, Hubris, Proof of the Existence of God, The Cruelest Month, Chemistry, The Pyramid of Amirah, Fruitcake Theory, and the above 3 mentioned.

2003-05-28 (Los Angeles.) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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A marvelous book
Why has James Patrick Kelly not reached a mass-market audience? Why have his two short story collections been published by small print houses? "Why" has always been a difficult question to answer, but I believe there are two reasons for this. The first, of course, is his relatively slow writing pace. American audiences demand things that are NEW; new films, new books, new television shows. As Charles Dickens said, any book you haven't read before is new. If you've never read The Pearl by John Steinbeck, or Animal Farm by George Orwell, why aren't they considered new?

And so, ranting aside, I present unto you my review of James Patrick Kelly's wonderful collection of short stories, Strange but Not a Stranger. By turns witty, funny, insightful, frightening, and intense, the word that practically springs to mind that describes the collection is entertaining. Your attention quotient, as Connie Willis duly noted in the introduction, will be at a constant peak. Thus, I present as evidence for my cause: "Hubris," "The Propagation of Light in a Vacuum," "10^16 to 1," "Undone."

But where is the description of these aforementioned stories, you ask? Where are the cleverly placed lines of wit, the insightful comments? As with all James Patrick Kelly stories, you have to read it to believe it. But be forewarned: reading these stories is merely half of the journey, for the stories have hidden meanings that will haunt you until you're sure you've figured them out, sure that you've gotten your full money's worth out of them, and suddenly, without warning, they come at you again with another viewpoint or idea for consideration. To put it succinctly, and to practically make the rest of this review obsolete, this book is worthy of a spot on your bookshelf. Enough said.

2002-11-02 (Marietta, OH) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Freedom Beach

Description

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Customer Reviews

A Personal Classic
Considering that this book has gone out of print and nobody else has posted any reviews, I guess it won't stand the test of time. Nevertheless, it struck a special chord, and it stays in my mind. It's a fantasy in which a man named Shaun Reed finds himself trapped at an Eden-like resort. He has no memories of his past, and the only clue as to why he's there is a cryptic plaque signed by "The Dreamers". Is this a vacation? A radical form of therapy? An experiment? Brainwashing? As Shaun wrestles against the limits of his paradise/prison, he drives towards an understanding that remains just out of reach, while his sleep is flooded with troubled memories and eerie fantasies. The essential appeal is not the mystery of "The Dreamers" who did this to him (although that's certainly an intriguing question), but rather in Shaun's struggle with himself; a psychological struggle. I'm drawn to novels with a psychological edge, and these two writers, early in their careers, came together to do a superb job with this one. It touched me and continues to touch me. Am I the only one?

2003-09-07 (Pasadena, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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