Skip to main content

Short Fiction Friday: Late Nights at the Cape and Cane

Late Nights at the Cape and Cane by Max Gladstone, Uncanny #1

So yes another Max Gladstone short story, that is two in a row already. Last week I reviewed A Kiss With Teeth from Max Gladstone which was pretty cool. Last Tuesday night I found out that a new magazine was release, Uncanny, that feature a story of Max Gladstone as well. And being a big fan there was only one possibility left. Review the story.

There isn't a given synopsis of the story but if I would have to describe it Max Gladstone takes you to an alternate urban fantasy realm where you can't always win... 

Late Night at the Cape and Cane is a short story that has approx 3k words and having read several of his stories this is once again a story in a different direction but perhaps the closest linked to his Craft Sequence. As I already said the setting of the story is really in the lines of Urban Fantasy and Max Gladstone isn't afraid to show some of the magic associated with this theme. In the story of Late Night at the Cape and Cane, you follow the story of Doc Sinister and his adventures in the cafe/bar named the Cape and Cane, well just to say the back drop of this story combined with the early mention of magic and Super-League did already inspire a lot of promise for the remainder of the story. Also an early reference marks Doc Sinister as a sloppy drunk, scared and monologuing, now soon the narrator tells that the former and latter are normal for Doc but the middle one, being scared is something of concern. Already my mind was on overdrive thinking about the direction of the story. Soon after this Max Gladstone delves deeper in the why Doc is scared and by this introduces several other characters like Stella the narrator (perspective that you follow) and Skeleton Gwynne I presume that she is a female walking skeleton? All of these characters have something weird of their own and this really make them stand out of the story.

Now there isn't a full focus on urban fantasy epic magic sorcery battles but it does feel like a very pressured atmosphere. WIth the mentioning of all the magical powers that some of these character posses it is a bit like that after every sentence a "bomb" might go of escalating the events. In end it there is nice confrontation that really has a tense atmosphere but luckily it went down quiet. I really liked one of the ending sentences of the story "I didn’t smile back. I went inside to see how Doctor J’s hat would fare. Us losers have to stick together, after all". This given over the whole story and the whole atmosphere gives a very nice description. 

One thing that readily stands out and which is in direct relation to the characters is the world that Max Gladstone has managed to build. It is very science fictiony with lines in the Urban Fantasy direction but whereas some others need several pages to build a world, the one that is shown in Late Night at the Cape and Cane is build within just a few sentences and the whole remainder of the story is just so pretty darn awesome to read about. Max Gladstone introduces some very cool concepts that readily ask to be built in more episodes or a full story. I really must urge you to read this story!

You can find the full story following this link

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Author Interview with Christopher Fowler

Author interview with Christopher Fowler. Author bio:  Christopher Fowler is an English novelist living in London, his books contain elements of black comedy, anxiety and social satire. As well as novels, he writes short stories, scripts, press articles and reviews. He lives in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chooses London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two thousand year history can provide inspiration In 1998 he was the recipient of the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year, for 'Wageslaves'. Then, in 2004, 'The Water Room' was nominated for the CWA People's Choice Award, 'Full Dark House' won the BFS August Derleth Novel of The Year Award 2004 and 'American Waitress' won the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year 2004. The novella 'Breathe' won BFS Best Novella 2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Christopher, welcome over to The Bo

Short Fiction Friday: Selfies

Selfies by Lavie Tidhar "Selfies", by Lavie Tidhar, is a creepy little horror tale about the fate of a young woman who makes the mistake of a lifetime when she buys a new phone in the local mall. It is only a few weeks back that I read a different but very interesting short story of Lavie Tidhar, Dragonkin . I found this story directly to my liking, the synopsis and build up of the story was unique and got me excited by it's less is more writing style. In the end this story for me had so much going on that I hope to see Lavie Tidhar exploring it even further. That aside, now its time for Selfies . I think I can now safely say that Lavie Tidhar is an author to watch out for, his stories will get you thinking and will scare you twice over.  I have been thinking a lot of the current situation with always being connected on social media and the likes. It's unavoidable. One thing that is connected with all of this is of course your smartphone, yes no longer a cell

Guest Blog: Alien Invasion Stories from Armada to Grunt Traitor

Guest Blog: Alien Invasion Stories from Armada to Grunt Traitor  By Weston Ochse © 2015   There’s something at once terrifying and romantic about an invasion. One wrong move could mean the destruction of everything you know and love, but in the heat of battle, there are crystalline moments in which true humanity shines. Like many military authors, I often look to history for guidance on how to write the future. I’ve always looked at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift as the perfect sort of battle to represent an alien invasion. One hundred and fifty British soldiers in a remote outpost are beset by four thousand Zulu warriors. The odds seemed impossible, yet in the end the British won the day. The early Michael Cain movie Zulu retells this story and stands as one of my favorite military movies of all time. There are moments in the film that resonate. In the face of overwhelming attack, the sergeant major lowly commanding his men to take it easy. Right when everything seems los