Shuteye for the Timebroker: Stories,Used

Product DescriptionShuteye for the Timebroker gathers a wide, wild assortment of stories that collectively represent critically acclaimed author Paul Di Filippo's extensive concerns, themes and styles. Pure science fiction in the 'Galaxy' mode can be found in the title piece, while modernday publishing practices get a rakingover in the satirical 'The Secret Sutras of Sally Strumpet' (included in The Year's Best Science Fiction TwentySecond Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois).Humorous fantasies such as 'Captain Jill' and 'Billy Budd' segue into a Dunsanyian tale such as 'Walking the Great Road.' There's a touch of horror to be found in 'Underground,' 'Eel Pie Stall,' and 'We're All In This Alone' (the latter cowritten with awardwinner Michael Bishop). A politicallycharged story of a fantastic assassin occurs in 'Shadowboxer.' Finally, the nearly three dozen vignettes under the title 'The Farthest Schorr' form a minicollection in themselves, as they take flight from the surreal paintings of Todd Schorr.From Publishers WeeklyThe 15 stories in Di Filippo's latest collection (after 2005's The Emperor of Gondwanaland) show his command of a colorful palette of ideas and approaches. The title tale is an amusing satire of a sleepless 24/7 nearfuture in which time is traded like a commodity by professional (if sometimes incompetent) brokers. In the screwball fantasy 'The Secret Sutras of Sally Strumpet,' a male writer hires an actress to play the pseudonymous female 'author' of his bestselling chick lit novelthen finds himself getting absorbed like one of his feckless male characters into her far too authentic performance. The book also features respectful homages to the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany and Jules Verne. Most of the stories percolate with the author's trademark gushes of wit and humor, but several of the best are deadly earnest, including 'Underground,' a spooker set in the New York City subway system, and 'Shadowboxer,' a tale of a psychic assassin fighting 'the war on terror' that brilliantly captures the moral ambiguity of attitudes in post9/11 America. (May)Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From BooklistMost of Di Filippo's previous collections have been thematic. The stories in Strange Trades (2001) explored unusual professions, while those in The Steampunk Trilogy (1995) lampooned Victorian science. This time Di Filippo displays his versatility, with quirky contemporary fantasy sitting beside cuttingedge hard sf. Two early stories, 'Captain Jill' and 'Billy Budd,' are set in the mythical New England town of Blackwood Beach, whose citizenry includes a centuriesold wizard and a greentinted gardener who grew from a mandrake seedling. The title story explores a future when drugs have vanquished sleep, and the extra time available to businesses is handled by 'timebrokers.' Other tales span the spectrum of genres from horror (a New York subway rider encounters the ghost of a teenage suicide) to the avantgarde, best exemplified in the final story, 'The Furthest Schorr,' which consists of 32 mindbending vignettes inspired by the paintings of surrealist artist Todd Schorr. As in all of Di Filippo's work, superior craftsmanship shines from every page. Carl HaysCopyright American Library Association. All rights reservedAbout the AuthorPaul Di Filippo lives in Providence, RI, with his mate of thirty years, Deborah Newton, two cats named Mab and Penny, and a cocker spaniel (large, brown, male) named Brownie. Of late, he has been turning his talents to scripting comics. But he continues to write stories and novels as well. His novel, TIME'S BLACK LAGOON, features a certain amphibious creature from a classic 1950's film.From The Washington PostNo matter what the genre, the momentum of a good story is inescapable. In its thrall, a reader can overlook any number of errors in the telling. Sadly, in Paul Di Filippo's la