Having been a fan of Book of the Damned for many years, I finally picked up Wild Talents and was amazed at the difference in clarity between his first and last books. Wild Talents is much more concise, with his selection of examples of gathered events limited to an illustrative few, rather than account upon account, as with Book of the Damned. Chapters were all precise and made logical sense, the sensational was treated properly as unsensational, and the way he tied different ideas together as you continued to read was gloriously executed with clear forethought.One of the strongest points of Fort's is his ability to not take anything seriously at all. I found myself giggling with glee at his depiction of how everyone treated Einstein when he clearly pointed out that he was celebrated wrongly at that time. His cynical eyebrow was perpetually raised at the news reporters of whom he quotes, and one of my favorite obliterations was in pointing out how one case of unexplained fires had been reportedly caused by a simple girl raised from an orphanage with a masterful knowledge of chemistry. Fort also refuses to let himself off the hook when it comes to being human and wanting more, and frankly states at the end of a chapter about his own experiences with phenomena, "Well, then, if I'm not a wizard, I'm not going to let anybody else tell me that he's a wizard."The only part of the book that I felt bogged it down (and in this, only slightly) was when the book suddenly took on the need to offer up a new set of explanations, as personal- and impersonal-witchcraft. The idea is fine with me, in many degrees I find how he views witchcraft to be completely accurate, however to try and explain anything at all made me a bit disappointed. I understand that Charles Fort did this collecting to try and tie things together; he wasn't interested in the phenomena itself, but how it was all connected. But it seemed so strange to suddenly have a definite idea about anything all all introduced in a book by a man who consciously acknowledges that we no absolutely nothing about our universe when it comes down to it. The ending of the book picks up though, with him utilizing the witchcraft idea to explain some things like Stigmata and imprints, which I think was brilliantly realized.On a whole, I think if you know nothing about Charles Fort, that it might be a good idea to do some light research about him first, and while Book of the Damned is a delight to read, this one is far more easy to swallow, as it is much tighter and I would recommend it for a first-timer, as his writing style is very particular.All in all, I loved it, and thought it was beautifully collected, well thought out and brilliantly presented: 4 out of 5 stars due to him giving in to the human agenda to have to find any answers at all about anything. But it's one that will keep you thinking for a long time afterwards. And you'll always have something interesting to say at parties.
Fort's novel, Wild Talents, is about two mutants at the Charles Xavier school of arts who fall in love with each other only to find that love isn't easy as it seems. I gave the novel two stars because this fanfic was mediocre at best! The romance seemed forced and the protagonists didn't have any chemistry whatsoever. The worst part was the character, Charlie Ford, who was a shamefully obvious author insert who would only show up and receive praise from everyone in the area. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
