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| Agog! Ripping Reads | 
| Authors: Margo Lanagan, Jeff Vandermeer, Simon Brown, David Conyers, Jay Lake, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Jason Nahrung, Paul Haines, Brendan Duffy
Creator: Cat Sparks
Publisher: Agog! Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $16.98
You Save: $0.97 (5%)
New (16) from $16.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1391969
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 292
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0809562383
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780809562381
ASIN: 0809562383
Publication Date: June 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Expected US delivery in 7-10 business days
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Product Description
Agog! Ripping Reads is the sixth anthology of speculative fiction to be published by Agog! Press, and the fourth to be edited by Cat Sparks.
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| Customer Reviews:
Short Speculative Fiction At Its Best August 8, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having read Ripping Reads, the latest in the series of down under anthologies from Agog! Press, I can only say I regret not having read the other installments. All stories in Ripping Reads are good, and a lot are excellent.
Editor Cat Sparks was clever enough to open with 'When the world was flat' (Geoffrey Maloney), a deliciously tongue-in-cheek tale about (indeed) a flat world - but a *Victorian* one. That marvellous tale got me all eager to read the rest, and I was not disappointed.
The second standout early in the book is 'Truckdreamin'' (Andrew Macrae), a fascinating and well-written cross between Mad Max, cyberpunk and a seventies trucking movie.
Directly following this is 'A pig's whisper', a darkly atmospheric and more than a little disturbing story of two children lost in the outback.
'Rosebuds' by Tansy Rayner Roberts, though superficially an unremarkable fantasy tale, is highly entertaining, deals with princes, princesses, courts and dwarves just a bit differently, and has one of the best first line I've ever read. I read 'Rosebuds' with a constant grin.
'The souls of dead soldiers' (title abbreviated to save bandwidth) by Ben Peek is darkly apocalyptic, weird in a good way, gripping and moving.
And the last story worth a special mention is 'World's Wackiest Upper Atmosphere Re-entry Disasters Dating Game' by Brendan Duffy. With fast and furious writing, bizarre, funny and entertaining characters, a truly wacky take on modern society, and roller coaster twists and turns, the title really says it all.
Jeff Vandermeer provides two yummy 'Secret lives' pieces of flash fiction, and force of nature Jay Lake adds an unexpectedly sensitive and low-key story.
There's 15 more pieces of great writing in this anthology, and there certainly is great reading. If you like speculative fiction, pick up this antho!
Agog! Ripping Reads is an excellent overview of current Australian speculative fiction June 27, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This collection features twenty two original short stories by Australian authors (plus Jeff Vandermeer).
In "A Pig's Whisper" by Margo Lanagan (author of the collection Black Juice, which won two World Fantasy Awards, and was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, American Library Association), Margo plays darkly with Australian history and fiction, including Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding and May Gibbs' Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
"Rosebuds" by Tansy Rayner Roberts (author of the novels Splashdance Silver and Liquid Gold) is a funny, charming, feminist retelling of the Brother's Grimm fairytale "Snow-White and Rose-Red", with a witty, arch, resourceful heroine.
"The Souls of Dead Soldiers are for Blackbirds, Not Little Boys" by Ben Peek is an original, moving, dark, strange tale of war, loss of faith, and growing up.
The collection also includes stories by:
Anna Tambour (author of the collection Monterra's Deliciosa & other tales and the novel Spotted Lily);
Chris Lawson (author of the collection Written in Blood);
Simon Brown (author of The Mark of Thetis, Privateer, Winter, Cannibals of the Fine Light, Inheritance, Fire and Sword, Sovereign, Empire's Daughter and Rival's Son);
Jeff VanderMeer (author of the novels Dradin, in Love; Veniss Underground; Shriek: An Afterword); and
Cory Daniells (author of the novels Broken Vows, Mystery at Devon House, Dark Dreams, Desperate Alliances).
Agog! Ripping Reads is an excellent overview of current Australian speculative fiction.
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