_standback_ (_standback_) wrote,  The Radio Magician And Other
Stories  I came across James Van Pelt thanks to his writing
columns over at The Fix, but it didn't take long to discover
that his more interesting, less packaged thoughts could be found
on his LiveJournal. JVP teaches creative writing to high-school
students, and his LJ is full of insights about writing,
teaching, and teaching how to write.  By way of both disclaimer
and explanation, JVP made an offer I couldn't refuse, under
which he sends me a PDF of his new short story collection, and I
review it online. I'd recently read his Nebula-nominated "How
Music Begins," which was superb, so I was happy to take him up
on the offer.  Let's begin by saying that this collection is
strong and solid. Almost every story in the anthology is, at
very least, an enjoyable read, and many of them do a lot more
than that. Most of y'all probably aren't interested in a
detailed run-down of a bunch of short stories you haven't read,
so let me focus on the stories I fou