I received Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets through the LibraryThing Member Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review.

"Already at the age of eight, she knew the truth about clocks: how they pretend that time goes on forever, when it really stops abruptly. All it takes is a lamb chop, or one small cell gone haywire."

I took this quote from the short story "Invasive Species," which was, by far, my favorite short story in this collection. It was probably my favorite Appel story altogether. After weeks of only having time for reading textbooks for class, this story drew a strong emotional response from me (aka I cried... a lot). Dealing with a mother who is about to lose a child to cancer, this particular piece does a wonderful job of portraying grief.

The story that gave this collection its title was about an alien working in a Latvian restaurant, observing the citizens of earth. It was a humorous story and got me in the mood to enter the collection. While I'm not much of an alien lover, I was able to really love the way Appel wrote about an alien. What really did it for me was the ways in which he highlighted the struggles of a being living in a strange world. Red Ziggy's grasp on numbers and human languages, his over-use of proverb-sounding sayings, and his confusion at human decisions made for a fun and light read, that seemed to me a very realistic depiction of how aliens would feel on earth.

Overall, I was not disappointed by this book. I can't help but go into a Jacob M. Appel collection without expecting something great, and I haven't been let down yet. ( )

This book of short stories by Jacob Appel is wonderful. Each story starts with a jolt. Imagine a being from a distant planet in disguise on Earth as a Latvian running a Latvian restaurant in Alabama. Imagine a girl facing her own imminent death by practicing for the afterlife. Imagine people who died being resurrected and in some cases bringing tales of what really happened in their life or who killed them. Each of these stories unfold amidst the ordinary woes of everyday life - abortion protests, careers, climate change(cooling rather than warming) and love. Appel has a breadth of knowledge and experience that is rare. He is able to add in casual details about medicine, law, the environment, physical sciences, history and nature that further enrich the pleasure of these stories. ( )

This is not only one of the best short story collections I'd read by Appel, but one of the finest I've read at all. Each story steeps you deep in the narrative and fully entertains, enlightens, and astounds. This is short story writing, and writing in general, at an extremely high level of art. Appel does so well here that you become fully engrossed in the stories and can appreciate them on a literary level as well.

5 stars- no less. ( )

Once again, Jacob M. Appel writes stories that make you think. My top three favorites were: Invasive Species, The Resurrection Bakeoff, and Shell Game with Organs. Thanks to LibraryThing's Member's Giveaway for this book and the opportunity to read and review it. ( )

Most of these short stories were mildly surreal, just a wee bit speculative, yet still fully literary fiction. The topics are often both deep (cancer) and quirky (a parrot who keeps yelling “disappear”). They often feature a male protagonist’s perspective of the female character he is interested in befriending/pursuing or leaving. I enjoyed the climate change reversal in “Phoebe with Impending Frost” where global cooling was the actual crisis. The author has a background in science and is not afraid to use it when crafting his plots. He is a strong writer, but at the end of the day I just did not connect to the characters as much as I would have liked. ( )