The House of Untold Stories: 50 Unexpected Tales

by Peter Chiykowski

Overview

An orphanage for wayward stories. A labyrinth of secrets. A home on the border of reality…Open each door to find a world of magic and menace waiting for you, if you dare.

In The House of Untold Stories, every page is a door, and every door leads to a new tale of heartbreak, triumph, horror, or imagination. Wander into an enchanted mansion of pocket universes and miniature tales, where each door leads to a micro-fiction story. With tales about anger thieves, a deadly pizza delivery service, haunted music boxes, and more, each room will take you on an unexpected journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524864682
Publisher:	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication date:	08/31/2021
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	440,530
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Peter Chiykowski is the creator of the award-winning webcomic Rock Paper Cynic, the mind behind viral Twitter sensation Dad Joke Han Solo, the author of five books, and the designer of the storytelling deck and fiction anthology The Story Engine, which crowdfunded almost $380,000 and has distributed over 1,200 free digital decks to families in quarantine. He has twice won the Aurora Award for “Best Graphic Novel” from the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, and his writing, art, and memes have appeared in or been covered in books, newspaper articles, blogs, tabletop games, video games, and magazines coast to coast.

Editorial Reviews

06/21/2021

Fifty “pocket-sized” microfiction stories show flashes of profundity but mostly drown in their own glibness in this gorgeously illustrated but scattered collection from Chiykowski, the creator of online microfiction project The Shortest Story. A lovely framing conceit that positions the tales as taking readers into “places half-remembered, half-forgotten, or fully imagined” and softly distressed photo illustrations clash with stand-up comedy–style vignettes that often collapse into punch lines, as in the oddly mean-spirited “Life Everlasting.” Chiykowski shows a flair for inventiveness, but lacks the stylistic range to pull off his far flung concepts, frequently revisiting themes and over-relying on the trick of literalizing metaphors. The resulting stories often conjure an initial sense of wonder that reduces to a mundane snicker by the final line, as in “Pull Down a Star.” The author’s at his best when gesturing at honest emotion, as he does in the zombie apocalypse short “The Bones Beneath,” but even the keenly observed insights of pieces like “The Anger Thief” can’t help but be undermined by an uncomfortable, shrugging joke. Devotees of Joey Comeau and Emily Horne’s webcomic A Softer World will feel at home with Chiykowski’s mix of gentle aesthetics, subtle surrealism, and brief bursts of emotion, but others will leave craving substance. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly