Typical Girls

Susan Corrigan

Here we have all the hard evidence we need that no matter how smart people may be, that doesn't mean they can write good stories.

I picked this one up because it contained a story by Poppy Z. Brite. (It's “Saved,” her collaboration with Christa Faust, which you can also find in the infinitely superior collection Are You Loathsome Tonight?.) That one is, of course, excellent. A few of the others in here are also worth your time. The rest of them are either harping on the same subjects you expect or simply quite badly written. In other words, every story here is loaded with potential, and most of them don't realize it. The collection's better authors are too stuck in their one-trick pony mode to turn out a decent story, the bad authors have fantastic ideas and don't have the wherewithal to realize them. (One almost thinks this should have been a book of collaborations a la Brite and Faust; when retread ideas meet bad writing, though, as in the case of Amy Lame's story, one wonders why it wasn't left on the cutting room floor.)

Pick it up for the Brite story if you're unfamiliar with her stuff and want to see if she's the kind of author you enjoy. Too much of the rest, though, isn't worth your time.