UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short Stories by Michael R Lane
| UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short Stories by Michael R Lane | |
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| Category: Short Stories | |
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Reviewer: Luke Marlowe
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| Summary: Thought provoking and intelligent, Michael R Lane knows how to write a good short story – a collection of which he's compiled here. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 258 | Date: November 2016 |
| Publisher: Booklocker.com | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1634917124 | |
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From stories of young people caught up in a Robin Hood style operation gone wrong, to a believer in God having her faith shaken by the arrival of aliens, author Michael R Lane has compiled a collection of fascinating and clever short stories here. From farm to urban, from World War II to the Digital Age, the places and times, people and events in UFOs and God spotlight the tender underbelly of the human condition in all its glory and despair on these varied stages of fiction.
UFOs and God is a fairly broad and slightly terrifying name for a collection of short stories – for me it suggested that these were going to be very, very weird indeed! However, the title is merely taken from one of the short stories from inside this book, and instead of the broad musings on the supernatural and extra-terrestrial that I was concerned about, I found instead a collection of short stories which are very well written, encompassing a wide range of topics – but mainly focused on humanity, and on different interactions between people. There are certainly stories that veer into very strange realms, but through keeping the main characters in such stories serving as capable guides for the reader, Michael R Lane helps to prevent things getting too confusing.
The stories vary in length – some half hour reads, other reads that just take moments. It makes for a well paced collection of stories – shorter ones serving as quick refreshing moments before the reader moves on to a longer tale – and some of the extremely short stories pack a surprisingly heavy punch considering some are no more than 500 words or so in length. It's clear throughout that Lane is extremely accomplished – he writes very well indeed, with strong characterisation and excellent ideas that are conveyed clearly in these brief tales. Surprising and varied, they make for a very fun read. It's true that the volume could perhaps do with a little more editing – but a couple of proofing errors shouldn't distract the reader too much from what is a compellingly different collection of tales. The emotions in these tales are extremely vivid – making it an extremely entertaining and enjoyable experience for the reader. Good to read in one sitting, or to pick up and read a quick story every now and then.
We also have a review of Lane's The Gem Connection.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending this in, and for further reading I recommend Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff clever and touching short stories, this both an entertaining and an emotionally provocative read.
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You can read more book reviews or buy UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short Stories by Michael R Lane at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short Stories by Michael R Lane at Amazon.com.
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