THE EXPERIMENTAL NOTEBOOK II by C S Boyack

4 out of 5 stars

Short Stories ~ speculative fiction

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Review Team

I've never been quite sure exactly what 'speculative fiction' is, and presumed it to be writing whatever you want regardless of what 'the rules' say or what is currently in fashion or an accepted genre.  I think all writing should be like that anyway, so I imagined these stories would work for me; also, I'd read good reports of C S Boyack.

I'll start by saying that he's an artful and intelligent writer with bags of talent.  As is always the case with short story collections, some of them are weaker than others, and some are extremely good.  My favourites were Magpies, Practical Geology and The Parade Wave, all of which are on the extremely dark and slightly comedic side, and will merit a second read.  Others, such as a vampire one, didn't interest me so much, and with some of them I felt they were lacking a denouement; I'd come to the end and think, 'and?'.  Sometimes, the dialogue was a bit information heavy and unrealistic; there are other ways of setting the scene other than have one person express to another exactly where they are and why (like they wouldn't already know that) ~ BUT: in each one the writing is great, I couldn't fault that, and this made them all enjoyable to read. 

A solid 4*; I'd definitely read more by this guy.