The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: 03/22/07

I don't normally chose to read short stories but this book's cover and the positive review it got at the BookCrossing meeting intrigued me enough to give The Girl in the Flammable Skirt a try. I'm really glad I did; it's one of the most fun short story collections I've read in ages.

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt is a collection of short stories that are written in a chick-lit style (hence the cover) but with science fiction and horror undertones. Each of these stories is very short, usually around ten or fifteen pages, the perfect length for quick or on the go reading. I mostly read it while cooking dinner and feeding Harriet at the table.

The first story is one of my favorites and sets the tone of the book perfectly. It covers the devolution of a girl's boyfriend from man to ape to sea creature. This sort of story has been done before (think Star Trek Voyager for instance) but this time the story was told in a tongue-in-cheek matter of fact approach that just made me giggle. The girl friend still loves her boyfriend but doesn't fret that he's changing. She just accepts that he is and chronicles the ramifications of his change on her life and what remains of his.

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