Allow the strange words to work their secret magic, and above all, read these stories only at night. Remember I wrote them with the moon as my sole companion…

– from the author’s introduction.

With the above extract from the author’s introduction also printed on the front cover, how is a poor book fan supposed to resist? I obviously couldn’t when I visited the library a few weeks ago, because it came home with me!

I’d not head of the author before, so I only had the blurb and front cover to go by, and when all’s said and done, I’m pretty glad it did. But what is the book about?

Well there are a dozen short stories re-told by the author which are based on traditional Creole folktales. If you want to know how to avoid the devil of gluttony, make your fortune, or the importance of showing a little kindness in your leadership, then there are stories in this book to guide you.

Be-warned though, like folktales the world over, there is tricksiness woven through these dark little tales, things aren’t always as they seem to  be, or indeed explained to us the listener (I say listened, because they are written in the style of a wandering-minstrel  relating his tales to a rapt audience of which you are part.)

Dark, wicked and vivid words, are these and as Chamoiseau recommends, they are perfect for reading on a summer’s night. I’ll be honest though, and this is a problem I have with a lot of short stories, so it is more to do with the form, than the book itself, but I just couldn’t connect with the stories the way I had hoped, and no doubt they deserved.

‘yes indeed, it was she, the chamber-pot crony of more than one old zombie, the Bat King’s bedfellow in the buff, practically chief undercook in hell’s kitchen, yes, her!’

Buy: Strange Words by Patrick Chamoiseau from The Book Depository.

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– Publishers Blurb

There are many ways we come across new books to read, friends, browsing your local bookshop, fellow blogger’s (hello Nymeth!) reviews in your newspaper of choice… This one was a little different though.

In an earlier internet life I hung around the Harry Potter fanfiction community, even wrote one or two myself for a bit. I’m not as involved these days, although I still stop by to read the odd fic.

At some point last year, I came across a particular fic, where Harry comes across a bar called Callahan’s. The fic’s author wove in some of the characters that appear in this book, none the least of which is the Saloon itself. I just knew it was a place I wanted to visit for real, so I managed to track a copy down via Bookmooch.

You see Callahan’s is a special place, where all are welcome, but you’re only likely find out about the place if you actually need to visit it. But if you do, you’ll find a welcome and an absolution. As long as you accept whatever responsibility is due.

The stories that first contained in the book first started to appear in Analog magazine in February 1973, and whilst they’re humorous and packed with puns and the odd weird , there are some  thought-provoking points to be made.

Will I be visiting Callahan’s again? I’m really not sure. I did enjoy my visit but I didn’t love it, quite as much as I was hoping to, but then again perhaps I just need to stay a little while longer…

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