Guys Read: Other Worlds

In the better late than never category, here's my It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post. I read the latest installation in the Guys Read franchise.  Guys Read: other Worlds. Given that I was reading Sci Fi stories, I figure that time is relative and I can claim that this is Monday...where I am from (dum.dum.dum).

Kudos to Jen Vincent, who blogs over at Teach Mentor Texts, who created this meme. You can follow it on Twitter with the #IMWAYR hashtag. 

SO...

Trying to stay on target with my reading in place theme, I took to the hammock.  I figured that looking up into interstellar space while reading these stories would remind me of the world beyond our own.

This is a great collection of short stories. I would have been hard pressed to call one volume better than another in the guys read series, until I read Guys Read: Other Worlds that is. I think this is the tightest volume yet. Each story leaves the reader eager for more. Luckily, the reader is not disappointed for long as another gripping and intriguing fantasy or Sci Fi adventure follows!  It is easy to get lost in these stories, 

for who would not want to come to Earth to witness such beauty?

I really enjoyed the rhythm Scieszka has created - the flow of stories allows for a shift in tempo and perspective.  Scieszka balances the length and style of the stories. Each voice is unique. Each story is a departure from the last, yet tied to it by a common bond. 

like this double rainbow

This collection has a story for everyone.  The setting! The plot! The characters! It's all there. There are: heros and heroines; ghosts, robots, aliens, and intrepid explorers; mythical netherworlds, canyons, deserts, and spaceships; talking cats and shoes(!) along with a host of unexpected twists and turns. Rick Riordan, Neal Shusterman, Shannon Hale, D.J. Machale, Eric Nylund, Rebecca Stead, Shaun Tan, Keneth Oppel and Tom Angleberger have honed their craft and like the characters in their stories, they have safely delivered their precious cargo. 

There are stories that I really enjoyed: D.J. Machale's The Scout, Neal Shusterman's The Dirt on our Shoes, Rebecca Stead's Plan B and Shannon Hale's Bouncing the Grinning Goat.  I was saddest when they ended and I loved the plot twists.

I want to thank D.J. Machale for writing a story that kept me on the edge of my seat and then threw me for a loop in the end. What does it mean to be a scout?

I want to thank Neal Shusterman for creating a world that I could never imagine.  I wanted to visit the Transtellar Biologic Incapsulation craft, just to walk that road. 

I want to thank Shannon Hale for creating yet another heroine worthy of admiration.  As a rock hound, I too have held tight to a stone hoping to understand something greater or feel the pull of the centuries.

I want to thank Rebecca Stead for creating a story that had me guessing from the beginning and loving the ending, plus this one had cats. Enough said.

All the stories in this collection carried important lessons and messages, but these four resonated with me the most.

It is easy to get lost in the idea of worlds beyond our own.  The sights this summer seem to echo this idea:

Something mystical this way comes

Magic happens when worlds blend together

Portals when sea and sky join

Sapling-sized mushrooms populating the forest floor

It is a mystical, magical world.

The final story by Ray Bradbury, Frost and Fire, is sufficiently scary and disturbing yet like all the stories in this collection also celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit and carries messages about working toward the greater good of the community and the power of hope.

I like this planet and I hope that whomever comes to visit will like it as well...