DJStories: The Best of David J. Schow

Epic. This was epic. David J. Schow is a well known name among the genre aficionados. Or at least it should be. The man has mastered the short form. In all fairness I haven’t tried his novels, but prior to this I’ve read three of his collections, his first two and Eye (and one where he served as an editor) and his inimitable style and incomparable way with words definitely left a Wow sort of imprint. Needless to say it was pretty exciting to see a new collection of his works on Netgalley, one put together by the author himself in recognition and celebration of a 40 year anniversary of his first sold and published story. Over four decades Schow has accumulated quite a body of work, these stories chronologically take the readers all over that road map from tough to find B sides to mainstream favorites, like Red Light. Every aspect of genre, creatures, monsters, guts and gore, psychological, action, twisted love stories (and a very sweet one too, a perfect closing note)…this really is a something for everyone sort of collection. And one would expect that sort of inclusivity from a behemoth like that, nearly 600 pages, isn’t it. Took a week to get through, though the last 52% done in more or less in one protracted reading session in a day. In retrospect or, more accurately, has this been an actual paper book, it would probably be best experienced in small/smallish amounts, the sort of thing to dip in and out off over some time. Possibly because Schow’s stories are so dark (interestingly he prefers fantasy to outright scary for classification purposes) and so immersive, it can be emotionally exhausting to wander around in for a long time. But then again if you do a marathon reading of them, there is no monotony to worry about, each story is genuinely original and genuinely different and so good, with quite a few genuinely great ones. Thing is I’m not even a fan of splatterpunk (a term Schow will remind you of his own coinage, that entered dictionary properly in 2002), I don’t care for splatter or punk and subsequently the portmanteau doesn’t really attract either, so the 80s stories were occasionally too much, but still…fun enough. I don’t care for exuberant action so much either. For me Schow’s best when he just tells a real (well, as real as fiction gets) story accoutrements aside…he’s a terrific storyteller and character writer. Not to mention a very clever wordsmith, seriously so, it makes his fiction so distinct and instantly recognizable and so thrilling to read. There’s a visceral vascular vividness to Schow’s work that is very striking, far more so than my peculiar penchant for alliterations. And so many great stories relating to cinema, personal favorites. The only thing less that awesome about this collection was its curation. Normally it can be a lot of fun to find out the story behind the story, but in this case the notes were quite often underwhelming and not all that informative, in fact majority of it concentrated on where the story was published originally and came across at times as a sort of self reverential self congratulatory thing, weirdly enough. Some stories offered great insight, but those were in a minority. Maybe there are some fans who are into that, finding out where, when and who brought the story first to life, but it isn’t quite what I would have liked to learn about. If this was in fact a party, as the afterword impishly makes it out to be, that sort of curation might have come across as a braggadocio or at least a boast of sorts. Then again, in all fairness the man deserves it, a pretty extraordinary career in a moody fickle market without compromising the quality for 40 years. Applause all around, drinks, some more applause. This one is an absolute must for any genre fan. Thanks Netgalley.