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evanmc's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very enjoyable collection of stories. When at his best Joseph Bates channels the more cerebral and affecting episodes of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. My favorite story of this collection was Tomorrowland, where Bates flexed his strongest muscle: his ability to describe apathy and despondency and to make you feel it right in your gut. That description of the Dad of the future, hunched over ont he edge of the bed in his space suit, literally made me well up inside.
The only story which didn't work, in my opinion, was the one about the boardwalk Elvis impersonator. It seemed to drag and never really turned a corner toward any type of meaningful conclusion.
Physically, this is a beautiful book. The matte cover and great layout (that spine looks just brilliant!) exude quality.
I'm looking forward to reading more of Bates' work, and would be curious what he could do in a novel format.
The only story which didn't work, in my opinion, was the one about the boardwalk Elvis impersonator. It seemed to drag and never really turned a corner toward any type of meaningful conclusion.
Physically, this is a beautiful book. The matte cover and great layout (that spine looks just brilliant!) exude quality.
I'm looking forward to reading more of Bates' work, and would be curious what he could do in a novel format.
plantonic_friendships's review against another edition
5.0
I greatly enjoyed the collection of stories. The first remains the standout piece, though I also liked the one of the old house and figures. Boardwalk Elvis was pretty rough - in a good way. I just felt so bad for the Elvis impersonator.
rissawriting's review against another edition
5.0
I've finally gotten around to reading Bate's collection--a delightful, thoughtful, and odd collection that captivated my attention enough for me to read it in a single setting.
Tomorrowland is funny and absurd but counterbalanced by an intense emotional weight. Bates takes on death, religion, politics, guilt, shame at the same time as magic and good intentions. He tempers real life absurdity with real life tragedy. He pokes fun at extremism. These stories read like a good cup of black coffee to an accustomed tongue--bitter but sweet and rich in all of the right places.
Tomorrowland is funny and absurd but counterbalanced by an intense emotional weight. Bates takes on death, religion, politics, guilt, shame at the same time as magic and good intentions. He tempers real life absurdity with real life tragedy. He pokes fun at extremism. These stories read like a good cup of black coffee to an accustomed tongue--bitter but sweet and rich in all of the right places.
jrpoole's review against another edition
5.0
The stories in Tomorrowland mix the mundane and the surreal, delivering time travel narratives and alternate universes filled with memorable losers, like Raymond Carver writing dispatches from somewhere on the fringes of the Twilight Zone. It's an impressive collection, especially when it plays around with sci-fi memes like it does in "Future Me," in which the protagonist meets a future version of himself who's traveled back in time to set his younger self straight with results both poignant and hilarious.
Other highlights include "How We Made a Difference," a deft little political satire, and "Yankees Burn Atlanta," in which a group of middle-aged baseball fantasy campers get a lesson in humility on the baseball diamond.
Other highlights include "How We Made a Difference," a deft little political satire, and "Yankees Burn Atlanta," in which a group of middle-aged baseball fantasy campers get a lesson in humility on the baseball diamond.
kimmysanders's review
3.0
I picked this up on a whim in the sci-fi section at the library because I thought that it would probably be cooler than whatever they based that new Disney movie of the same name on.
This is a collection of short stories--I wouldn't really call them science fiction. The first one, "Mirrorverse," and the later "Future Me" come closest in that respect. I would say the overall conceit comes slightly closer to weird fiction, but weird in a still very human, if heightened, sense.
Most of the stories are good--some are maybe a bit more heavy-handed than others, and some meander a bit. The standouts for me were probably "Guilt City," "Yankees Burn Atlanta," and maybe "Bearing a Cross," though that one does get a tad too political and he does a little better when he tones that down. "How We Made a Difference" is similar in that it is also a mite too political but also amusing if you're already of a certain mindset, I suppose.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable and short read. Probably not one I'd pick up again, but nothing I regret reading. It would make for an interesting book club discussion if you have some open-minded members.
This is a collection of short stories--I wouldn't really call them science fiction. The first one, "Mirrorverse," and the later "Future Me" come closest in that respect. I would say the overall conceit comes slightly closer to weird fiction, but weird in a still very human, if heightened, sense.
Most of the stories are good--some are maybe a bit more heavy-handed than others, and some meander a bit. The standouts for me were probably "Guilt City," "Yankees Burn Atlanta," and maybe "Bearing a Cross," though that one does get a tad too political and he does a little better when he tones that down. "How We Made a Difference" is similar in that it is also a mite too political but also amusing if you're already of a certain mindset, I suppose.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable and short read. Probably not one I'd pick up again, but nothing I regret reading. It would make for an interesting book club discussion if you have some open-minded members.
mdbow22's review
4.0
Joseph Bates is a fantastic writer, and I hope he writes a lot more. The majority of the stories I really loved. In almost all of them he creates something unique, or twists what we already know. Like Kevin Brockmeier, he mixes fantasy, science-fiction, and realism. Unlike Brockmeier, Bates was unable to do so as cohesively. Two of the stories, while good on their own, didn't fit in well with everything else in the book. It left me wanting more out of those stories. I'm referring to "Broadwalk Elvis" and "Yankees Burn Atlanta." I would have liked them much more had they been included in a collection full of similar stories, but here they jumped out too much. Out of place, I wanted to get through them more than I wanted to enjoy them.
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