www.trashotron.com/agony/news/2004/08-16-04.htm -
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Published on: 8/16/2004
Last Visited: 11/25/2007
Most of my readers know that Peter Crowther is the genius entrepreneur who turned a line of original novellas into the PS Publishing powerhouse.But readers should also be aware that Crowther is a talented writer as well.
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It's a collection of short stories of which the author says, "I'm particularly pleased with this one because it's pretty much all what you might call SF ... " So how does Crowther do SF?With the same warm and human touch he brings to all his fiction.
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Crowther approaches the subject of super-villains in an unusual but typical-for-Crowther fashion.He humanizes The Comedian, having him visit his ailing mother in hospital.Crowther was taking care his own ailing mother as he wrote the piece, and it shows in a passionate commitment to the story, to the emotions.But it's also pretty damn funny.
Crowther dedicates the opening story of the collection, "Some Burial Place, Vast and Dry" to Ray Bradbury, while he begins and ends the story with quotes from Walt Whitman.If you're sensing that Crowther is perhaps a bit more interested in the literary and human aspect of his science fiction, you'd be correct.But he's vastly deeply knowledgeable of the field itself.It's an ideal combination to provide a reading experience that is highly imaginative and emotional.
Crowther, a consummate professional, does not publish himself.
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My issue of 'Postscripts Number 1' arrived on Saturday, so I got to go from seeing Mr. Crowther in his writer hat to seeing Mr. Crowther in his editor hat.From this vantage point, things look pretty damn great, and apparently these are going to be boom times for small-press magazines.So what do you get for your $10.00?You get one hell of a lot, that's what.Pretty much what you'd hope for and expect from Crowther.What are we going to do with a guy who sets our expectations so high and meets them consistently?In theory, he could get a Hugo nom for best writer, editor, publisher and short story this year.That's what -- a publishing quadrafecta?
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Though Crowther doesn't publish his own work as a writer, he's not afraid to speak up as the editor and publisher of PostScripts.He offers a nice, pithy introduction to each story, letting readers know where the writers have been and where they're going.
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While your mileage may vary on worthiness of the hardcover (look, with a signature sheet like that, nobody's worthy), but there can be no doubt that PostScripts offers another reason to just call up Crowther, give him your CC information and tell him to send you everything he does.
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