The title story, “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”, is a tight, dynamic specimen of writing you find so little of these days. Perhaps more fantastical vision than proper story, Maggie nevertheless tells of a man beguiled by a slot machine in Vegas. Ellison's superb voice provides the meat, while the manner in which the man is beguiled provides the spice. “Kiss of Fire” is an overt confirmation of mortality in the face of life extending technology. Ellison mixes his devices a touch (aliens, extraterrestrialism, angels, etc.), but the imagery, particularly that in the final few pages, offers a nice touch. One of several pieces of flash fiction in the collection, “Fever” is a spot of forgettable flash fiction that tells what happened next to Icarus.
“The Discarded” is a story whose dynamic voice may actually get in the way of story. About mutant misfits, Ellison's wild voice struggles to capture how exotic they are. A more straight-forward style would have rendered better contrast. Need more.... “Status Quo at Troyden's”, while superficially a piece of revenge, ultimately offers a bit of meta-revenge, that of the author on the protagonist. About a man living in a NYC tenement paying room and board on a weekly basis, his confrontations with the landlord eventually come to a head.
“Tired Old Man” is a story which twists expectations with a nice touch of sentiment. It tells of a zealous author who unexpectedly runs into another author he'd never heard, an author who subtly humbles him with deeper than deep insight into his oeuvre. If Ellison's comments are to be believed, then “Valerie: A True Memoir” is indeed memoir, or more precisely, a recollection of a certain moment in a relationship, a moment that every man has at least sniffed and every woman has heard of: the gold digger. But, as with so many stories in this collection, it's Ellison' voice which makes this particular gold digger's story special. “Base” is the story of a bastard, a real bastard, someone who laughs at sticking a spanner in the sprockets of civil society. Ellison, however, doesn't let you on to the this until the final moments—a nice coup de grace for this quick story.
The final two stories in the collection, “A Toy for Juliette” and “The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” make for an odd couple. “A Toy for Juliette” was not written by Ellison, rather Robert Bloch, and is perhaps the most obtuse take on Jack the Ripper the reader is to encounter—an origin story of sorts, emphasis on “of sorts”. The next title, the one with three prepositional phrases in it, is a follow up—”Jack the ripper in her prime. (Yes, that pronoun is correct.) The reader's mileage will vary on this time traveling pair of stories (I personally fade), but one can say they are at least well written and off the beaten path.
In the end, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes may be the weakest of the five audiobook collections of Ellison's short fiction. There is a fair bit of flash fiction, which doesn't tend to stick too long, and a few of the stories have more flair than substance . But what cannot be said is that Ellison's strong authorial voice is lacking. The title story, “Valerie: A True Memoir”, and “Tired Old Man” have flair and substance. If anything, read a few Ellison short stories to understand how powerful and dynamic an author's voice can be. It should also be remarked that Ellison is a phenomenal reader (and commentator), which makes this audiobook collection something extra.
The following are the fourteen stories collected in Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes:
Between Heaven and Hell
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes
Twilight in the Cupboard
Kiss of Fire
Fever
The Discarded
Darkness Falls on the River
Status Quo at Troyden's
Tired Old Man
The Silence
Valerie: A True Memoir
Base
A Toy for Juliette
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World
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