#BooktagsBlogHop with Toi Thomas

It's the third Monday of the month which means it's time for another #BooktagsBlogHop book review! If you'd like to join us, please go here.

Today I'm going to discuss the latest book by my favorite author, Stephen King, called The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

On the inside cover flap, the publisher is proud to point out that some of these short stories have never been published! What? That's supposed to be a selling point? I guess it's nice to let the reader know that not all the stories are new, but gee-whiz. Some of them have never been published? Like, yippee y'all.

So I was a little concerned, but since I'm such a huge fan, I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did. My memory is absolutely terrible these days, but I did recognize the first tale (Mile 81), one in the middle called Blockade Billy, and the last tale (Summer Thunder). So those weren't my faves, but everything else (17 stories) was great stuff. No stinkers.

I particularly liked the Kindle Single King wrote called Ur in which one Wesley Smith gets his paws on a magic Kindle that sells books from thousands of other dimensions than ours. So Wes gets to read stuff by Hemingway and Faulkner that was never published in our dimension. Here's an excerpt of Cortland's Dogs "by" Hemingway. 

A man's life was five dogs long, Cortland believed. The first was the one that taught you. The second was the one you taught. The third and fourth were the ones you worked. The last was the one that outlived you. That was the winter dog.

Cool, huh? Could you imitate one of your favorite authors? I might be able to take a stab at King (pun not intended), but the classics? No way.

Speaking of an author's voice, each story comes with a little intro. from King describing the tale's origins. I love reading stuff like that. King writes how other author's voices influence his work and, as a writer, I found that fascinating. When I went to hear Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (author of Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun) speak, she said she didn't read fiction while she was writing fiction because she didn't want another author's voice coloring her work. I was impressed and horrified. How could I not read fiction while writing my own? That would be like not breathing while writing! So it was a relief to read that King doesn't worry about that. Instead he embraces it.

If you are a writer, do you worry about another author's voice coming out in your work?