Book Review: Strange Weather

Strange Weather, by Joe Hill

In one of the short novels -- or long short stories -- in Joe Hill's latest collection, a man lands on a  magic cloud.

Its magic is shown when Aubrey wants to take off his flight suit, and a cloudy coat rack appears. When he wants to sit down, a fluffy chair awaits him. And when he wants to go to bed, a fluffy cloud bed, with a fluffy cloud pillow and a fluffy cloud comforter, show up. It all made me want to lie down and snuggle in it.

Such it the power of Hill's words and description. Although his stories deal in reality mixed with imagination, it's his descriptions that keep you reading. This book, with four stories loosely tied to abnormal weather, showcases his talents.

In Snapshot, a man with a camera has the ability to remove people's memories, and a fat kid in a torrential thunderstorm helps an old lady in his neighborhood. In Loaded, the shooting of a black child is re-visited 20 years later during another shooting in California's fire season. In Aloft, the magic cloud appears in the cold, leading to memories for the poor guy stuck on it. And in Rain, the rain is not mellow drops of water, but hard crystals and nails Try dealing with that.

But all of those backdrops are set up to tell the stories of the people involved. Ordinary, distinct people who represent America, are put into impossible situations and told to deal with it.

How they do it, and how it is told, show Hill's greatness. As his father once wrote, "It's not the tale, but he who tells it."

Hill tells them well.