Three Monkeys, Ten Minutes

I thought I knew what to expect from Lee Battersby's collection of short stories Through Soft Air. After all I had read enough of his stories in ASIM to have gained an impression. But I forgot that Lee is a prolific author and I was mistaking the market for the range. The stories in this collection are not all light amusing pieces. They range from that right through to dark and intensely personal. But my expectations were right in one aspect. These are not the sort of story that you have to work at and dissect to find meaning. These stories pull you in and flood you with sensation. OK, so the characters are not the deepest and at times the stories are not always the best constructed, but with these very short stories that is not really anything to worry about. The important thing is that the emotion and imagery are always there in big doses.

I'm not entirely sure that I like the more serious pieces as much as the lighter ones in this collection. On the other hand, that is almost certainly a general expression of personal taste than a reflection of the relative merit of the stories. In any case they were all pretty compelling stuff. All I can say is "more please". Knowing Lee, that won't be far off.