Zoetrope: All-Story Vol 16 No 2

This issue of Zoetrope was another good issue. As part of their normal format there are new stories and the last story is a classic one that has been turned into a movie.

Hallelujah, Family! by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
This story is about multi generations of dysfunctional family told in short bullet points. It was kind of hard to follow at first but when I straightened out who was who really liked it.


Extinct Anatomies by Daniel Alarcon
Loved this short story about a man who while overseas, got dental work done by his cousin. In order to distract himself from the pain he had vivid sexual fantasies with the dental assistant.


Short Life Of Trouble by Sam Shepard
Fantastic little play between 2 long time musician friends one of them interviewing who I assume to be the more popular musician. Great dialog and read really well.


The Plum Tree And The Hammock by Janet Frame
This story is about 2 family neighbors and a plum tree with the roots on one side and the best fruit leaning over the fence into the neighbors property told from the point of view of one of the young daughters. It brings up a good point, who owns a tree with roots on one side of a property line and the majority of the branches on the other?


We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick
This classic was the inspiration for Total Recall and was amazing. The twist at the end was so good and I never saw it coming although in hindsight I probably should have. It's the second Philip K. Dick I've read in Zoetrope and it's convinced me I need to buy a book of his collected short stories. His imagination and storytelling skills are crazy good.


Art by Sfaustina
I'm not sure what I think about the art, here a couple good examples from the magazine

East, West By Salman Rushdie

East, West by Salman Rushdie

This is the first book I've read by Mr. Rushdie and enjoyed the collection of short stories. It's organized by having 3 each under the sections East, West and East, West. I've always thought of Salman as one of the great intellectuals of our day so I was pleasantly surprised by some playful stories. All of them were deep & often profound but they were all fun in their own ways. I loved the story The Prophet's Hair a story surrounding the luck that falls on whoever owns a strand of hair of the Prophet Mohammed. Another one of my favorites was Chekov And Zulu as spy story and he left what I think is the most profound story for the end The Courter. Great collection of stories!