Odder than Ever by Bruce Coville

Every once in a great while, I’ll read a book and just wonder, ‘where the fuck has this author been this whole time?’

Imagine my surprise when I searched for Bruce Coville and found hundreds of results.

Odder than Ever is one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve encountered in a long while.

I wasn’t expecting much because first, I bought this book because I liked the cover and when I do that I’m pretty much always disappointed.

Second, short story collections, even from the greatest authors, are usually hit and miss.

And lastly, it’s children’s fiction and while some of the greatest literature ever written falls under this category, there are at least a thousand shitty kids books for every one profound work of art.

Odder than Ever is one of those rare works. There are nine stories in this collection and not a single misfire.

Coville approaches the universe he has created as if the world were a carnival and each protagonist had his own little booth in a side freak show.

Some of the stories are truly unsettling, (There’s Nothing Under the Bed & The Japanese Mirror) while others are hysterical (The Giant’s Tooth & Am I Blue) while others are filled with simple wonder (The Metamorphosis of Justin Jones & I, Earthling)

As far as children’s literature goes, this belongs up there with the best works of Carroll and Dahl.

And it ranks up there with Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkeyhouse & Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes when it comes to short fiction anthologies.

So run, run to Half Price Books and you might still find this on an endcap for only $6.

Go on.