Author: Mel Waldman

Publisher: World Audience

ISBN: 978-1-934209-94-3

I have got to say that I love the author’s artwork more then his short stories. The book covers are fantastic designs of colour and obscure shapes which can be interpreted in many ways if you really study them. I practically liked the Cigarette Woman, volume 1.

In volume 1 the stories are strange, deep, weird tales of life death and who we are, why and what’s it all about? I  think he means to say that whatever road we take death is inevitable.

In life too there are many types of death.

All this is very depressing and deep, typical of a psychologist. Who is sane and who is mad? After reading these stories I’m not too sure.

In The House Of The Dead - you can almost smell the stench of death as you read but just what  the meaning of it all is I don’t understand. Interesting though!

In Seat to Heaven - only a psychologist could have written this, whose head is muddled? Mel Waldman certainly has a vivid imagination.

Collector is gross, do we really want to know all this about bizarre behaviour and syndromes? Probably some people may but why would they want  to buy a book with this stuff in it however clever the author is supposed to be. Your choice!

The Call of The Wild - is about madness perhaps with a dash of humour but as usual, very sad indeed.

A View Through The Glass Menagerie Volume 2: ISBN: 978-1-934209-96-7

The cover again is great and called Oval Journey - could it be an eye perhaps?  Anyway Mel is a brilliant artist.

The first story The Giant I really didn’t like or understand or in fact the next one Drifter unless it is once again about who we are and life itself.

Blackout is very atmospheric and again has death, darkness and a corpse in it. The last phrase in this story is “do you?” and the answer to that in my opinion is NO.

A Love Story tells a poignant tale of a couple who are HIV positive.  I did understand this and although always sad it did mean and convey something to me.

Not a pleasant happy book by any means but Waldman has a way with words some of which I feel are quite unnecessary . You might enjoy it.

Child of the Universe Volume 3: ISBN: 978-1-934209-98-1

Again the cover is so striking and titled Duality.  I love it, the shapes interlock to form faces and bodies and could be many things. Mel is a superb artist but his stories are so weird and strange.

Mother Theresa’s Room of Infinity is yet another tale about death, dying and how life and death cannot be comprehended in a lifetime.  Depressing.  Maybe this is clever stuff and Mel Waldman is after all a psychologist and understands all this stuff but who would actually want to spend money on books full of this.  He will have lots of  patients if they do, I’m sure.

The Book of Signatures is a sickening tale.  Tourettes Syndrome is a dreadful affliction and in this story the boy is “cured”. Not really, he obviously burns to death when he sets fire to things and becomes engulfed or is it perhaps a dream?  I lost the will to read anymore in this volume.

Mel Waldman writes very descriptively but the stories he conjures up do not appeal to me  You may enjoy them after all we all have different tastes in everything.

This Is Not A Murder Mystery Volume 4: ISBN: 978-1-934209-75-2

Once again the cover is a very distinctive painting by the author called Rhythm in Blue. All his cover paintings were exhibited in the Mensa Art Exhibitions.

Poetic Justice - At last a story I understood about pride and lust and truth. Who did rape Molly? It was good to read a tale that didn’t consist of nightmares, corpses, murder etc.

Another story I liked was I Am A Jew. He feels guilty that he was in Brooklyn New York on the night of Kristalinacht [the night of the broken glass] and that he missed the Holocaust. Dreams and nightmares take over and he lives through every night as if he actually had been there.  He is one of 6 million Jews and the world must not forget them. We must always remember the Holocaust and pray that such a thing is not allowed to happen again in our world. Mel conveys this beautifully in this story

Midnight  Shrink  Volume 5: ISBN: 978-1-934209-97-4

Caveman is the title of this book cover painting by the author. Fascinating shapes in black red and yellow depict a wonderful profile of a face and the rest is up to you to use your imagination.

Halloween Mask is a salutary story of Mary dying of lung cancer. Smoking and nicotine are not allowed in the hospital room.  Who makes the face masks and what are they made of.  Mel mentions smoking especially king Size kools cigs quite a few times in these books. I wonder if he has a problem with his lungs and if he has ever smoked.  Perhaps someone dear to him and he is so much aware of all the perils of smoking.

The Evil Among Us - A chilling story of Charlie. Labelled slow and emotionally disturbed, living with his father. Always fearing someone will break in and kill him.  Everyone saw him as a loveable victim needing friendship and taking care of. The world rejected him. As he got into middle age he began collecting CDs and pornography. Then he began sending hate mail and eventually the worst happened which I won’t give away, you must read the book to find out. The story shows us how little we understand the mentally ill.

Hello Adam - Another weird and wonderful tale. A man -is he a pervert? Continually linking up with mothers who had kicked out their erring husbands.  All to get them into bed  then leaving them but he does miss the children especially blonde Adam. He tries to get in touch twenty years later.

The Red Noose Volume 6: ISBN: 978-1-934209-81-3

Revelation painted by the author is the cover for this volume.  Another clever creation and very stunning.

In Anonymous Sam Stone sits waiting with a gun. Waiting for the knock on the door, is it all in his mind, a mind that still suffers from war time horrors? Who is it at the door or is there no-one there as the blackbird flies away? Again a sad tale which makes you think. His descriptions are brillian

No Exit From Hell, a couple young and high on drugs murder their little girl. Incessant crying and the man loses his temper and throws her. The story tells us from the point of view of the psychologist how he listened and absorbed their excuses, he is still waiting for them to return. Thy were picked up later on after a neighbours call. Is there any escape from hell? Mel Waldman creates grim stark stories but he has the experiences first hand.

The Longest Story Floating in the Universe - a very short story but with a wealth of meaning. Birth, life, death. Billions of humans rush across an invisible landscape of souls asking “who am I”. The answer is different for each one but always meaning the same.

Deep, deep, perceptions.

Metamorphoses by Candlelight  Volume 7: ISBN: 978-1-934209-78-3

Another brilliant cover on this volume, entitled The Kiss. I just think these paintings are excellent and I repeat in my opinion Mel Waldman’s artwork is much superior to his stories.

This collection gives me no pleasure to read. I quite definitely are not on this man’s wavelength at all. Others may think otherwise. Weird and wonderful, strange and depressing  with death as his favourite subject.  Shooting - death - therapy are many themes which Mel explores. In some ways they are clever I suppose but who wants to read this kind of stuff?

Metamorphoses by Candlelight -This story tells of Ethel who is dying but Dr Divere visits her and lights candles for her as he passes on the electrical energy of his soul to her. The metamorphosis begins. He lives in her body giving her a few more precious years. It get more complicated and I found it hard to really understand the meaning in this story but although it was too deep for me it was interesting.

The Public Phone -This seemed a straight forward story.  Harry an ineffectual, inadequate man is waiting at the bus stop at four o clock in the morning.  A public phone rings, he can’t resist . A seductive voice whispers  that she is waiting on the bridge for him and wants him.  Although he knows no-one ever wants him he cannot resist.  Back at her house the fun begins but not for Harry.

The Bell - A widower leaves town to check into a hotel somewhere that could be called Oblivion. He sleeps and dreams about a bell tolling for him and on his journey towards that church he is grieving for Mary. It is a story of the process of grieving  for a loved one. He metamorphosis Mary’s love inside himself but needs to find her. The mind is capable of many things.

Mel Waldman, a psychologist understands the depth of the mind and has written these seven volumes of powerful but strange short stories.  They are very profound too much for me,  a mere book reviewer to grasp but other readers will judge for them for  themselves.

The above review was contributed by: Jessica Roberts: Jessica has been a book reviewer for a newspaper and a national women's magazine and is working on a novel. To read more of Jessica's reviews CLICK HERE 

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