Gill ShuttReseñas

This is a sci fi/fantasy novella in the spirit of Planet of the Apes, telling of an advanced, highly organized civilization comprised of monkey-type primates with prejudices running deep between different factions (species); and further divided into segments determined by age: the young, the mids and the olds.

The mids of the group that is the subject of the story come into great peril at the hands of a band of strangers who lure them off. They are met with great evils that threaten their lives, the lives of their families and their home (Home Trees). There is plenty of suspense as brother and sister, Tia and Ngi, try to outwit the evil pack leaders of the enemy pack.

The primates and their environment and culture are amazingly well fleshed out for a short book and we come to know the characters well. I found it to be an interesting and imaginative read and enjoyed this novella.

A short story, written in first-person, mixed a bit with the style of ancient mythology stories. It is an interesting theme, with intelligent, talking simian-like cultures, but the characters are a bit flat and there are many things not really explained which would have been interesting

If you enjoy reading super depressing and fairly disturbing stories...then this is the book for you. It certainly was NOT for me. I'm not sure what I really expected after reading the synopsis, but this wasn't it... I think it was the last sentence of the synopsis that hooked me - "But, as is always the case after a storm passes, you will also find life beginning anew." Yeah...maybe a couple of the stories have a victorious ending, but the vast majority of them just left me feeling extremely uncomfortable. Also, even though the synopsis makes it seem as if at least half of the stories are storm related, most of them are about abusive spouses and horrible human beings. I guess having gone through the big tornado on April 27th of last year, I was looking for an anthology that focused on the sunshine after the storm and how the human spirit and "Mother Nature" have an incredible ability to bounce back from adversity. If that's what you're looking for too, then don't look here...

Note: I received this in a member giveaway on LibraryThing. All of the above is 100% honest.

A fairly well done anthology with storms of some kind as the running thread. Short stories, poetry and imagery made for an interesting combination but my overall enjoyment was slight. I thought some of the short stories wordy and obvious, my favorite being "The Wait" by Farah Ghuznavi.
I'm also discovering I like the idea of poetry with it's sparsity of words and it's imagery more appealing than the reality. Though I quite enjoy Haiku. My favorite of the poems was "Tornado Brewing" by Carol Alexander, I think due to childrens viewpoint.
The included imagery was, sadly, hard to enjoy on my first generation nook.

This was a book that I could not get into. I read a few stories and I could not get interested. I am also not a big poetry reader and there are some mixed in.

An interesting short read - a fable or parable more than a novella, using an alien community similar to early hominids to display a message about the dangers of social manipulation and the miss-use of religion - an alternative tale of the loss of innocence.½

This seamlessly edited anthology has something for every discerning reader. From well-crafted, various forms of poetry to short stories ranging from magical realism to ethnic fiction to SF, these pieces have been carefully chosen to mesh together smoothly and subtly from one to the other. The quality and range is fantastic. The storm metaphor is utilized in unexpected and clever ways.

I enjoyed it thoroughly- very highly recommended.

An interesting book, though I found it a bit disconcerting at times. I found myself seeing it as a reflection on human behaviour or the evolution of behaviour. The style is easy to read but I could not read it all in one sitting.

I received On the Edge by Gill Shut as part of the LTER.
It is a story of a primitive monkey-like society and the invasion of their established life by creatures with evil intent (although this is disguised at first).

I had some trouble getting into this story, as when I started reading it it felt very similar to many stories I have read previously. The story itself was good, although it did not present any new ideas in a captivating method. The characters could have used more development.

Overall a nice story but nothing that grabbed me and made me want to read more.½

On the Edge by Gill Shutt was an interesting read. I have never read a book similar to this one. It is not something I would normally read but it was well written and had a story behind it that you could see how it could happen in real life if there were people that felt this way. It reminds you of some of the serial killers or a false prophet leading the group to do evil so that they could get there way.½

‘On the Edge’ is a story of intruders and of evil intent, where the young are set against their elders. Unfortunately, the motivation of Gnzar and the intruders is not really made clear. Consequently, I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to read ‘On The Edge’ as an allegory, or just as a tale.
The story has an interesting premise with intelligent primates and gender role reversal, but ultimately, the story didn’t really satisfy me. I think there were two reasons for this. Firstly, the creatures have very modern, human emotional responses to various situations, but annoyingly refer to a day as a ‘circle of the sun’. I think the author needs to decide whether she wants her characters to be primitive or contemporary in nature. Which leads to my second criticism: the story is in need of an editor. Apart from a couple of typos and punctuation errors, there are times when elements in the story just don’t sit right.
I would be interested to read further ‘rememberings’, if Ms Shutt has written any, but I hope that the good people of Greyhart Press realise that speculative fiction, along with all other kinds of writing, needs careful and critical editing.

What a beautiful story!

Written in language of folklore or mythology, it tells the story of a group of primates and their encounter with others of their kind. I wasn't sure what to think of it, but it drew me in with the language and a simple, but engrossing story. Finished in less than an hour, this little novella will hook you in, and before you know it, it's done. It's not the kind of thing I would usually pick up on my own, so Thank you so much, Early Reviewers! I am so glad I get the chance to read this lovely bit of primate folklore. I would recommend this to anyone interested in zoology, ancient human evolution, or anyone else who enjoys well-written short stories.

A novella more than a novel this books introduces us to a non-human society and slowly builds our knowledge of their customs and traditions. The author builds this society without going into to many mundane details and provides an exciting fast read. The story seems to be the first step into the world of the Pahuk and hopefully their is a full series of adventures to follow

A short story, written in first-person, mixed a bit with the style of ancient mythology stories. It is an interesting theme, with intelligent, talking simian-like cultures, but the characters are a bit flat and there are many things not really explained which would have been interesting

Early Reviewer copy from LibraryThing March 2012

This is a short read. It is about a tribe of monkey/human like creatures that have a conflict between groups. It is somewhat of an odd story. Women are larger and more dominant, and age groups appear to be living separately. The author is a capable writer and the story keeps the reader's interest. The arrival of a Christ-like figure which has foreknowledge, dies to eliminate the evil characters (by bringing a disease that affects both the creatures and the flora), and will see those who die in the cause in the afterlife is a bit over the top for me. It seems to artificial of a solution to the dilemma that is developed. Furthermore, the split between age groups that is generated by the invading group is illogical and irrational. I cannot recommend this short story. I suspect some of Gill's other stories have a more credible story line.

On the Edge by Gill Shutt

This book had my interest from the first page. It is definitely a book that will make you think as it is a very deep book. As a novelette it surprised me at how much substance is included between the pages.

The book brings you to a group of young bipeds, Mids, who find themselves in a unique situation as they are confronted by strangers with a different look on life. The story is one that is difficult to put down once you get started you want to know how it ends.

This is not a book for the light reader due to the deep subject. It will make you contemplate your humanity and what may have happened as we advanced.

An enjoyable read that I would definitely recommend as an intellectual stimulating topic.

I received this book as an early reviewer. It was a nice surprise.