Rite: Short Work - Softcover

Williams, Tad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596061642 ISBN 13: 9781596061644

Publisher: Far Territories, 2008

Synopsis

Rite: Short Work gives ample evidence of Tad Williams as an accomplished practitioner of the short form! Within you'll find a knockout novella later expanded to novel length (Child of an Ancient City), riffs on the great fantasist Michael Moorcock (The Author at the End of Time, Go Ask Elric), along with excursions into some of his most popular creations and beyond.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Those who know prolific novelist Williams from his epic series (Shadowmarch, etc.) may be surprised by this collection of 15 short stories plus a smattering of nonfiction and television concepts. As with his longer work, nearly every story overlays several plot lines, providing an epic aura without the length. "Three Duets for Virgin and Nosehorn" weaves together the life, death and mythology of a fabulous single-horned beast; "Child of an Ancient City" (later expanded to novel length by Nina Kiriki Hoffman) details a fateful tale-telling contest; and "The Writer's Child" is the haunting story of a child telling a story about a child reading a story. The collection's second half falters: Michael Moorcock fan fiction pieces, "The Author at the End of Time" and "Go Ask Elric," and his Otherland series tie-in, "The Happiest Dead Boy in the World," are ponderous with backstory. The flatness of the essays and TV scripts disappoints after the lyrical fun of the fiction. Still, the stand-alone stories make this volume worthwhile. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Williams is primarily a novel writer. As he says in the introduction to this collection, most of his short fiction has been written for anthologies. The stories here are therefore rather varied: "The Author at the End of Time," a gift story for Michael Moorcock's sixtieth birthday; "Go Ask Elric," which comes from an anthology of stories by other writers featuring Moorcock's fantasy hero Elric; "Nonstop," which nervous fliers shouldn't read; Williams' take on the computer-who-would-be-God trope, "Not with a Whimper, Either"; the original version of "Child of an Ancient City," which Nina Kiriki Hoffman helped him expand into a novel; "A Tale from the Book of Regret," a story to go with the Shadowmarch novels; "The Happiest Dead Boy in the World," to go with the Otherland books; and eight more. Plus six nonfiction pieces and three TV scripts. Williams introduces each piece, which makes these even more of a treat for his fans. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Far Territories
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1596061642
• ISBN 13: 9781596061644
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 350