Writing on Reading: The Emperor of Ice Cream

The Emperor of Ice Cream is a collection of short stories by fantasy author Jeffery Ford. The book, along with many of the stories in the book, has received several awards and lots of critical acclaim. The acclaim is well-deserved. What I liked about Ford's stories was the non-traditional approach to fantasy. He avoids tropes and concentrates on unique characters and situations. His writing is focused and crisp, and he's especially adept at ending his stories with just the right touch. As a writer, I really enjoyed the comments about each story by the author at the end. You don't often get to hear information about the origin or inspiration of a story from an author. Some of the stories I thought were particularly good were "Jupiter's Skull" "A Night in the Tropics" and "The Emperor of Ice Cream."