THREE MOMENTS OF AN EXPLOSION Stories

This short story collection should cause anyone new to author Miéville or narrator Nicholas Guy Smith to seek more from both. Smith narrates nearly all the stories, while the other narrators contribute only one or two each. Smith's delivery meshes well with Miéville's preoccupations: Both share an ability to convey the tension between the ordinary and the strange. At times, the stories are reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin's; at other times, of Stephen King's. Most require the narrator to hold reality in suspension. Smith easily negotiates that requirement, using subtly rising and falling intonation and pacing that quickens, slows, and pauses to great effect. Several of the stories beg development into a novel. If that should happen, Smith would be an excellent choice to narrate. K.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2015]