The Shapes of Strangers

by Ian Creasey

“You have to admire his effortless mastery.  A series of flawless miniatures.” – Tony Ballantyne A major new collection from one of British Science Fiction’s most accomplished short story writers, whose stories feature regularly in Asimov's, Analog, and elsewhere. From the chilling implications of cloning to the potential of alternative realities, from alien life encountered in unexpected ways to the pitfalls of relying too heavily on technology, these stories explore what may lie ahead for all of us.  Sometimes delivered with wry humour, sometimes with dark portent, but always in entertaining and unexpected fashion.
Introduction 
After the Atrocity    
The Equalisers
No Strangers Any More    
The Language of Flowers    
An Exercise in Motivation    
My Time on Earth    
“I Was Nearly Your Mother”    
Shooting Grouse    
Memories of the Knacker’s Yard    
The Dunschemin Retirement Home for Repentant Supervillains
The Shapes of Wrath    
And Then They Were Gone    
Pincushion Pete    
Erosion    
About the Author “The Language of Flowers is a simple yet powerful story that combines real world elements with a dash of science fiction in a positively delightful way.” – Tangent Online “A nice little gem from Mr. Creasey.” – SFRevu of Erosion “Super fun story! The narrator is mischievous and creative and altogether endearing.” – Tangent Online of My Time On Earth

Genres: Science Fiction

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 9, 2019

Reviews

[david james · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian Creasey is an author I'd not come across before although he apparently is quite an accomplished short story writer.

This copy is another signed limited edition I got from New Con Press - an excellently presented book - Ian Whates and his team really do produce some excellent looking books.

The book features 14 short SF stories from Mr Creasey featuring alternate realities, parallel universes, the (possible) future of social media and its excesses, how life after death may manifest in a future where copying and uploading brains and brain processes is possible, and other thought provoking topics.

There is not a bad story in there - in fact it's one of the best compilations of shorts from a single author I've come across.

Highlights (for me) were:
- After the atrocity - a dark tale of using a matter duplicator to duplicate (many times) and interrogate a terrorist. Of course, if you have many copies of a terrorist, you may also need copies of the team mass producing him if you are to keep it secret.
- No Strangers Anymore - Strange tale of aliens turning up and wanting to buy the moon - but told from the perspective of a future British royal princess whose job it is to smooth things over with the aliens and predicts, among other things, Brexit before the Referendum. Also a good take on social media, dating apps and virtual tags for absolutely anyone and everyone (even the aliens).
- I was nearly your Mother - a parallel universe tale of a girl who had lost her mother to an accident, meeting an alternative mother (basically the same person as her mother only, in her universe, she was unable to have children). The only problem being that the two women have diverged significantly since the birth and are no longer the same person.
- Memories of the Knackers Yard - another slightly darker story of a policeman investigating a murder where the victim's ghost had also disappeared, in an alternate reality where ghosts are a common occurrence and can provide evidence of crimes against them as well as commit crimes against other ghosts.
- The Dunschemin Retirement Home for Repentant Supervillains - an entertaining romp of what happens to super beings once they are geriatric, and how much of their work is actually done by their henchmen
- And Then They Were Gone - a story of an 18 year old girl's showbiz parents 'uploading' into a digital cyberspace, as they were bored of the world they were living in, and their plan of leaving their daughter with a taxidermy model of themselves in 'action pose' as a reminder.

All the stories were worth reading though. The author also includes a bit of narrative at the end of each story to explain the story a bit more and how it came about, which is always a plus.

Ian Creasey is certainly an author I will be looking out for in future.

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program]
In this collection of short stories by Ian Creasey there is a common ground: all of them start from a "what if?" thought. Creasey even explains this in the author's comment at the end of each of these. What I like most is that the "if" which is "whatted" is something I never would have thought of. This is really important: I got bored to read variation on the standard SF themes, and from this point of view this collection is really refreshing. Of course some stories are better than other ones: I personally really appreciated After the Atrocity, The Equalisers, No Strangers Any More (even if it is way too British :-) ), The Dunschemin Retirement Home for Repentant Supervillains; The Shapes of Wrath and And Then They Were Gone would instead have won the prize for a good idea which did not go as hoped; An Exercise in Motivation and Shouting Grouse told me absolutely nothing. After all, a nice and well crafted and written book for lovers of short stories.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like a good short story, and this collection is full of them. There's some thinking to be done after each one, and perhaps they're a tiny bit heavy-handed, but they're all immensely enjoyable. I'd have preferred the author's comments to be all together at the end of the book (which might help with the 'you should think about this' feeling), but it's a fair choice to have them at the end of each story.

Well written, well crafted and enjoyable.