Shortform

The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales (2010)
Written by: Angela Slatter
Genre: Fairy Tales/Short Stories
Pages: 210 (Trade Paperback)

The premise: ganked from BN.com: In this collection of 16 previously published and new stories, Slatter presents twisted, fractured, illuminating fairy tales and dark fantasies that beguile in their elegant simplicity. Many of the stories are reiterations of classic fairy tales from all over the world. But by retelling the tales in a more intimate manner, Slatter illuminates the symbiotic relationship between pleasure and pain. The sexually candid "Bluebeard" is an empowering tale of a whore and her daughter who best a monster. The wholly original "The Living Book" personifies the intimate act of reading, while "Skin" reworks the Gaelic legend of the selkie into a tale of revenge and redemption from the seal woman's perspective. An afterword elucidates the source material and intent behind each tale. Dark and sinister, these shorts place strong, empathetic female protagonists into harrowing, horrifying, or humble circumstances and see them triumph.

My Rating

Must Have: While it's a rather expensive collection given its rather slim size, it's a collection well worth having. The expense comes from the fact The Girl with No Hands is published by a small press, one in Australia, no less. Still, this is easy to find online: Amazon, the Book Depository, and Barnes & Noble (I didn't look elsewhere). No electronic editions to date, but please, don't let any of this scare you out of trying to get your hands on this book. It's a beautiful short story collection that--once you start reading--you'll find yourself inhaling. Like other readers, I felt like I should maybe take a break between tales to really absorb their impact, but I had no patience to do so. However, that's fine since I plan to re-read each and every story in this collection at some point, and that's because Slatter's reworked fairy and folk tales linger with you long after you finish: they're dark in some respects, but they also present women as the heroes of their own tales instead of the fairy tale standard of purely innocent or purely evil. Here, women are both the victors and victims of their stories, but all of them have a hand in their ultimate fate. It's a wonderful collection, and I'm quite grateful I got my hands on it.


Review style: I'm never consistent when it comes to reviewing short story collections or anthologies. Sometimes, I review story-by-story, and others, I just highlight the stories that were my favorite or discuss the ones that need to be discussed. In this case, I think I'm going to follow the format I used the last time I reviewed an anthology and discussion the collection in general before giving one line reviews to each story. No spoilers, because I think spoiling short stories is a cruel thing to do. The full review is in my LJ, which is linked below. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Angela Slatter's THE GIRL WITH NO HANDS AND OTHER TALES

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ALSO!!!

Book club selections @ calico_reaction. Hop on over! We'd love to have you!

December: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
January: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy (2004)
Edited by: Nalo Hopkinson & Uppinder Mehan
Genre: Short Stories/Speculative Fiction
Pages: 270 (Trade Paperback)

The premise: ganked from BN.com: An anthology of stories of imagined futures, written by leading writers of color from around the world.

My Rating

Worth the Cash: Overall, I was very pleased with this anthology. There are MANY stories here that deserve a re-read, so I suspect I'll keep this sucker around so I can come back to it again and see what more I can get out of each story. There were a few stories that disappointed me, but overall, I was fascinated, engaged, and impressed. There's solid writing in this anthology, and I've found some new authors to check out, which is always a good thing. If you're interested in science fiction and fantasy written by authors of color, this is a fantastic place to start.

Review style: I really don't know how to review this, and that's because my reading of this anthology got interrupted with surgery and pain killers. I will talk about the anthology in general and how it's constructed, and I definitely provide the table of contents with star-rating and brief commentary. There's also a bonus question at the end of the review! No spoilers, because what's the point of spoiling short stories? That's silly!

The full review is at my LJ, for anyone interested. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: SO LONG BEEN DREAMING edited by Nalo Hopkinson

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ALSO!!!

Book club selections @ calico_reaction. Hop on over! We'd love to have you!

October: Feed by Mira Grant
November: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

ALSO: don't miss out on winning a copy of the modern fantasy anthology Clockwork Phoenix 3, edited by Mike Allen. For details, click here. Deadline: 10/5

Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing (2009)
Edited by: Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak
Genre: Short Stories
Pages: 302 (Trade Paperback)
Disclaimer: free from publisher

The premise: ganked from BN.com (and the shortest premise EVER): Twenty-one gems showing that the freshest, most startling stories come from the spaces between conventional genres.

My Rating

Worth the Cash: but kind of close to "Glad It Was Free." Why? Because if I were to compare my overall experience between reading volume 1 with volume 2, I would have to say that volume 1 won me over more, as I found myself really engaged by more of the stories. Heck, that's evidenced by the fact that for volume one, I reviewed each story individually, whereas with this volume, I just mentioned with ones stood out. All in all, it probably all balances out, but this time around, I'd forget most stories as soon as I moved on to the next. Now, this is a ME-THING, and this will be true for every reader. That's because with every reading experience, the reader is bringing their own experiences, their own expectations, their baggage, etc. But this becomes an even bigger issue with interstitial fiction, because the one defining expectation is that you should have NO expectations whatsoever. That you should let the story take you where it may without labels defining where you THINK it should go. So while on the whole I preferred the first volume of Interfictions to this second one, this second one is still enjoyable with a variety of stories from a variety of authors (diversity of race, sex, nationality, and ethnicity!) and if you're looking for something that doesn't try to fit any standard mold, or if you're a literary reader looking for something that pushes the boundaries, this is a good place to start.

Review style: What I really want to do here is talk about interstitial fiction as a whole and what it means to storytelling (and not just in books either), and I want to talk about how this anthology on the whole compares to the first anthology and why that doesn't mean a gosh-darn thing in terms of reviews, and then I guess I'll highlight which stories really caught my eye. No story-by-story review here. This anthology just didn't speak to me that way, and I'll explain why (and why that's not a bad thing). No spoilers at all, so rest easy. What's in my LJ is half-review, half-discussion. Comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing

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ALSO:

Book club selections @ calico_reaction. Hop on over! We'd love to have you!

July: Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff
August: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
September: So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson

Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories (2010)
Written by: Sandra McDonald
Genre: Short Stories/Fantasy
Pages: 282 (Trade Paperback)

The premise: ganked from the back cover: A writer of whimsy and passion, Sandra McDonald has collected her most evocative short fiction to offer readers in Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories. A beautiful adventuress from the ancient city of New Dalli sets off to reclaim her missing lover. What secrets does she hide beneath her silk skirts? A gay cowboy flees the Great War in search of true love and the elusive undead poet Whit Waltman, but at what cost? A talking statue sends an abused boy spinning through a great metropolis, dodging pirates and search for a home. On these quests, you will meet macho firefighters, tiny fairies, collapsible musicians, lady devils and vengeful sea witches. These are stories to stir the heart and imagination.

My Rating

Must Have: How can you say no to a collection that explores gender issues, sexuality issues, racism, and so much more? McDonald's book is a cross between Catherynne M. Valente's themes and Charles de Lint's world-building, which stories that really linger long after you're finished. While some are serious, some are whimsical, and all are unifying not just by themes, but by setting and characters. The stand-outs for me were "Diana Comet and the Lovesick Cowboy," "The Goddess and Lieutenant Teague" (really loved this one), "The Fireman's Fairy" (this is will make you sad), and "Kingdom Coming." I also loved the fake historical vibe to this collection, a kind of alternate history that isn't obviously alternate history, but rather a riff on our own. All in all, it's a great collection, and I'm thankful I got my hands on it. I really think this deserves to at LEAST make the Tiptree shortlist, because if it doesn't, I can't imagine what would.

Review style: I have few notes and a ton of sticky tabs all over this book. I want to talk about the unifying element to each of these stories, some of the themes the book touches on, as well as single out which stories were really powerful for me. No spoilers (save for a teeny-tiny one that's clearly marked), so if you're interested in the full review at my LJ, just click the link below. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Sandra McDonald's DIANA COMET AND OTHER IMPROBABLE STORIES

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DON'T MISS OUT: Want a chance to win a free copy of the short story collection that deserves a Tiptree nod? Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories by Sandra McDonald definitely fits the bill! Interested? Click here.

ALSO:

Book club selections @ calico_reaction. Hop on over! We'd love to have you!

June: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
July: Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009)
Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro
Genre: Short Fiction
Pages: 221 (Hardcover)

The premise: ganked from BN.com: A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life . . . A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him . . . A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he’s only just met . . . A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career . . . A young cellist whose tutor promises to “unwrap” his talent . . .

Passion or necessity--or the often uneasy combination of the two--determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp.

My Rating

Wish I'd Borrowed It: if you're interested in Ishiguro's work, don't start here, not even if you're a fan of music. These tales never have a strong resolution on any note (pun intended), and the unifying factors quickly made the stories predictable and stale. The writing did not enchant or delight me, whereas I was glued to the voice used in Never Let Me Go. Part of the problem is that pretty much all of the narrators in these stories are selfish, whiny men, and let's face it, whether they're brilliant artists or not, I just don't have the patience to read a slice of their life. I'm not going to let this collection sour me on Ishiguro's work as a whole, but I will pay closer attention to reviews of his work in the future. I should've listened to them for this one, but no... I thought I knew better, since I used to be a music major. ;) 'Fraid not. This is pretty forgettable, whereas Never Let Me Go still sticks with me.

Review style: to be honest, there's really not that much to spoil, and I feel no urge to do a story-by-story review either. So if you're interested in the full review, you're welcome to check it out at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Kazuo Ishiguro's NOCTURNES

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Is this community still OK to post to? I've just posted on my blog about the short story The Things which is a retelling of The Thing from the point of view of the monster. I think it's really good.

The New Space Opera (2007)
Edited by: Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Genre: Short Stories/Science Fiction
Pages: 517 (Trade Paperback)

The premise: with anthologies, I always laugh when I force myself to define a "premise" but I will say that the stories--all original to the anthology--are based on upon the premise that space opera, as a genre, has evolved from its roots and become something rather different, maybe harder to define, and each of these stories illustrates that. The editors didn't want to pigeon hole readers into a specific definition of what "new space opera" is, and instead let the readers try and figure it out for themselves, based on the stories in the anthology.

My Rating

Buy the Paperback: and by that I mean the mass-market, which is all you'll really find in stores anyway, unless you're going through Amazon. It's a good anthology overall, and while I feel that only half of these stories might fit any sort of definition for space opera, new or old, I do feel that whatever your story preferences, you're probably going to like more stories than not. IF, and only IF, you are a fan of 1) space opera and 2) space-based and planet-based SF in general. The stories in this anthology cover a large spectrum in terms of taste, and my faves might be someone else's hates and vise-versa. For my buck, the stories that make this anthology worth the cash are the Mary Rosenblum, Alastair Reynolds, Greg Egan, Dan Simmons, Nancy Kress, and Robert Silverberg. However, depending on your SF tastes, your mileage may vary. I liked this volume enough that I'm going to pick up the second volume, and if I have one complaint about the anthology as a whole, it's this: while all the stories are original to THIS anthology, some are written in the author's existing universes. In some cases, the author pulls off a story that works as a stand-alone, but in other cases, the author doesn't even try and that gets frustrating: knowing that you're reading something that you know you don't have the big picture on since you haven't read the related work. At least only a handful of stories do this. For the most part, it's worth the cash, and I applaud the editors for publishing (much like Pyr does with its Fast Forward anthologies) an anthology of ORIGINAL work, rather than a bunch of reprints.

Review style: for this anthology, I really have no interest in sitting down and discussing each individual story (there's 18!), so I'm grouping each story into categories with perhaps a sentence or two commentary for each. No spoilers here, just generalities and some story premises.

So if you're interested in the full review (remember, no spoilers!), feel free to head over to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: THE NEW SPACE OPERA edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan

( List of Contributors )

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The Homeless Moon: Imaginary Places (2009)
Written by: Jason S. Ridler, Michael J. DeLuca, Erin Hoffman, Scott H. Andrews, Justin Howe
Genre: Short Stories
Pages: 79 (Chapbook)

The premise: this year, Homeless Moon's chapbook has a theme (yay!) of lands from Manguel and Guadalupi's The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (huh?), which sent me marching to Wikipedia to learn what I could about this volume, and then it sent me marching back to the chapbook to see specifically had been used and when it first appeared. Fortunately, all the imaginary places used in this chapbook are obscure to me, so I was mostly happy. Plus, I got my theme, something that unifies the chapbook while also allowing each author to be true to him(and her!)self.

My Rating

No Rating: as with the first chapbook, this was free for me, and it's free for you too, because you can download it from the website as a PDF. Just go here to download not just this second chapbook, but the first too! As a whole, I was really thrilled with the fact this particular chapbook is united with a theme, all be it one I wouldn't have remotely considered if I were brainstorming with them. I wonder, because of the homages paid in each story, if any of the writers could get these stories published elsewhere if they hadn't published them here in this chapbook, but that's neither here nor there. This chapbook really charmed me with Scott H. Andrews's fantasy, as well as Justin Howe's short but amusingly dark tale. On a technical note, I was glad to see fewer typos and formatting errors in this edition, though I would like to see--should the Homeless Moon folks do another chapbook--the headers use not just the author's name, but the title of the short story as well instead of "The Homeless Moon". It really confused me in the first chapbook, but simply annoyed me here, as I would've liked to look up and see the title of the story at any given moment. But maybe I'm just too demanding. However, if I'm being demanding, I'd like to see a different theme for the next chapbook. Selecting imaginary places from Manguel and Guadalupi's The Dictionary of Imaginary Places is all well and good, but I'd like to see a theme where the writers don't have to walk the fine line between homage and, well, the dark side. Not that any of the stories strayed to the dark side, but sometimes, it was a close shave.

Still, a great little read that is easy to get through and won't demand too much of your time or any of your money, as you can read it for free here. What have you got to lose? It's worth your time, trust me, especially if you enjoy short fiction.

Review style: I will review each story individually, though I reserve the right to use the term "review" loosely. Will there be spoilers? I'll speak in generalities the best I can, focus more on the technique and the ideas driving the story rather than any specifics.

So if you want to see a story-by-story review, NO SPOILERS, then just hop over to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are welcome.

REVIEW: The Homeless Moon: Imaginary Places (chapbook)

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The Homeless Moon (2008)
Written by: Michael J. DeLuca, Jason S. Ridler, Scott H. Andrews, Erin Hoffman, Justin Howe
Genre: Short Stories
Pages: 43 (Chapbook)

This is a rather odd review for me to write. For starters, if you click on the title of the chapbook, you'll find out rather quickly that you can read this chapbook for free, online. Or, if you must have a print copy (and if they have any LEFT from 2008), you can pay for the shipping and they'll send you one.

So that's one reason this is, in short, an odd review. The other, more important reason this is an ODD REVIEW is that I know every single one of these writers. All of them were my classmates at the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2005, and one of them was my roommate!

Consider that a warning of sorts in terms of how objective I'll be. I've read their work before, so there's a tendency to want to compare their stories to what I've read before, especially if I've critiqued the story in the chapbook. However, I'll give my honest opinion, but my official rating is going to be odd. Since all of my ratings are essentially based on my purchasing of the material, well, you can see how the current ratings don't apply.

The premise: I didn't recognize a discernible theme holding the stories of this first chapbook together. The only connecting factor is that the writers attended Odyssey 2005, and have formed a kind of group. Is it a critique group? I don't know, to be honest. But they call their online blog "The Homeless Moon" and decided to put together a chapbook to showcase their fiction. This chapbook they handed out at ReaderCon 2008. There are three stories I'd label as fantasy, one I'd label as science fiction, and one that simply defies genre of all kinds. So really, there's no premise to this: it's just a batch of short fiction. :)

My Rating

No Rating: this was free for me, and it's free for you too, because you can download it from the website as a PDF. Just go here to download not just this first chapbook, but the second too! In terms of summarizing, I can objectively and safely say that the writing in each of the stories is very strong, and each story is unique to its author. Critiques for the chapbook as a whole include wishing there was a unified theme (I was kind of hoping all of the stories would relate to the moon, but at least two did), and I also noticed a number of formatting errors, where lines weren't indented correctly, and I recall noticing a number of typos as well. But you know what? The chapbook is free, so who am I to complain? The stories are enjoyable, though not all of them sat well with me. I love the DeLuca the best, and that story alone is worth reading the chapbook. If you're a mythology buff, I dare you not to fall in love with Hoffman's story as well. The Homeless Moon writers are definitely making their mark on genre fiction (it's not a huge mark, not yet, but wait, one day!), so getting a chance to sample their work for free is more than worth it. The chapbook is only 43 pages, and doesn't take that much time to read at all. So read it. And enjoy.

Review style: I will review each story individually, though I reserve the right to use the term "review" loosely. Will there be spoilers? I'll speak in generalities the best I can, focus more on the technique and the ideas driving the story rather than any specifics. So if you want a story-by-story review, just click the link below to go to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

The Homeless Moon Chapbook

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Pump Six and Other Stories (2008)
Written by: Paolo Bacigalupi
Genre: Short Stories/Science Fiction/Dystopia
Pages: 248

The premise: it's a short story collection. What more do you need? Bacigalupi's stories tend to focus on dystopic, sometimes dark futures that sometimes contain multi-cultural characters and settings. The prose never fails to grab your eye and hold it, as it's sharp and magnetic and keeps you turning the pages. And maybe this is my bias showing, because I love his work so much, but in spite my general ambivalence and dislike toward the art of the short story, I consider Bacigalupi a master, simply because he tells full, complete stories that always resolve in some form or fashion, and I'm rarely left feeling like I've missed something. To me, few short stories do that, and few have the staying power in my mind that Bacigalupi's do. I don't have to look at a title and wonder what the story is about. I remember, every time. That's how well they stick with you.

My Rating

Must Have: If there's one good thing about Bacigalupi short stories, it's this: when you're done, you really don't MIND the prospect of reading them again. And again, and again. That's saying something (especially coming out of my mouth), and it gives credence to the fact that I think Bacigalupi is a modern master, and if he isn't yet, then I have every confidence he will be. No doubt, these are not stories that are filled episodic points of adventure (thank god), but if the stories don't make you really uncomfortable in some way, or if they don't make you think SERIOUSLY about the issues he's tackling and how they relate to the world we live in now, then you're not paying attention. This is MY kind of science fiction, the kind of SF that makes me excited to be a writer (and for that matter, a reader). But what I really want to know is why the hell Bacigalupi hasn't yet won a Hugo. Maybe it's because there's not enough people reading his work, and if that's the case, go forth, buy this collection, and READ. Read your eyes out, and enjoy.

Review style: If I've read the story before, the title of the story will be a link to the first review. However, this review will be very general in nature. I usually do a story-by-story breakdown when it comes to magazines/anthologies/collections, but I'm not feeling it this time. I do try to discuss each story in generalities though, so have no fear of spoilers.

To read the full review, just click the link below, which goes to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Paolo Bacigalupi's PUMP SIX AND OTHER STORIES

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