ericxcherish's review
3.0
My favorite stories were: Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong, Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker, Here Be Dragons by Chris Terry, and The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado
vicgarc's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Sexual content
awesomejen2's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful collection of short stories, there wasn't a single one that I didn't like.
larkais's review
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
Apparently this year I am just diving into short story collections. I picked this one up because it had a lot of noteworthy authors such as Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar who wrote This Is How to Losethe Time War, Ursula Vernon who wrote the Clockwork Centaurs series I read this year, and the editor being Peter Beagle who wrote The Last Unicorn.
The earlier stories were more to my taste than the latter ones. I like the fantasy dripping with pretenses and lyrical writing. That is why my favourite short story ended up being:
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong.
The vampiric/succubus premise of craving strong negative emotion was so unique. Especially when the thoughts manifest physically for the vampires. I cannot get the imagery of beetles and centipedes dropping out of someones head during a meal. It's so visceral.
I thought the first half of the anthology suited my tastes more than the latter half.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
I liked the exploration of different selkie variations here!
"Death is skin tight, Mona says. Gray in front and gray in back."
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander
I thought the writing of this one was great, I wish there was just a bit more reasoning to it plot wise, like the MC did something very atypical and the tornado was compelled? Sounds like a situation where people just want an exciting relationship instead of a sensible one.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker
This one was so mysterious, but well written because of the land's strong characterization. This waterfall diving hole is clearly picky and people disappear out of the blue after the jump into it, never to be seen again. It was a nice small town story that reminded me of Bone Gap with it's in between places.
"Just a thing caught up in the slow process of transformation into another thing."
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone
Definitely a different take on the vampire and vampire slayer tropes. The summary of how this is the seven year itch but with vampires is really all there is to it. I liked the way details are laid out and the final ball catch scene with Vlad's kid.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
I thought the plot construction of this story was a standout, it reflects the traditional legends well with the rule of threes and a strong message about an elder's wisdom. Grandma Harken was an excellent character who didn't know what to do but certainly rationalized each step out.
"She was beautiful," he said. As if it were a reason.
As if it mattered.
As if it ever mattered.
"Better all the way human than this. Better he'd bashed her head in with a rock than this."
"You were a hell of a dancer," said the Father of Rabbits.
"Still am," said Grandma Harken.
"Still are," he agreed.
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
The world building in this one was delightful. It felt like a tale of human mishap, particularly when humans release creatures were they aren't native to and lead to invasive colonization of the area. The wasps sailed into the territory of bees and subjugated them all to prevent a repeat of how the humans exterminated them by being so great in sheer numbers, that they can't all be killed at the cost of the bees.
I think everything after the Carpenter Bees suddenly pivoted into the "modern" world and because less magical. I thought the Tallest Doll had interesting writing where buildings suddenly gain sentience and moved around. The Haunting of Apollo A7LB was a nice reflective love story that didn't end well. I thought Here Be Dragons was a clever story about fake dragon slayers but the moral was unclear. Kill your kid and gallivant to the countryside to lie and cheat?? Sure okay. Amal El-Mohtar's story, Wing, was too abstract for me to appreciate.
I thought Philosophers by Adam Sachs was pretty funny. The generations cut short but who still needed to tell their story was doing it in a series of uncoordinated blinks and tongue clicks where it may be possible to leap to conclusions and interpret but no one dares to because maybe that is just how the theory of knowledge's true form and intent is. Conception!! Two Hats spiraled out of control in 30 hats, but I can see that it feels similar to how a child of an immigrant family may need to wear multiple hats to help their parents. I was the chief government form filler, auditor and translator for the family. Otherwise it may be a story where a child happens to inherit a countless amount of views from their parents and may find it uncontrollable.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers feels like an anthropological adventure that reflects from of Ursula le Guin's stories like the Left Hand of Darkness. Unfortunately, the most interesting part about an alien society is what you do with the knowledge after and I think this one could have been more.
I think the Pauper Prince was overly long, but I know anthologies like to end it on this long note. Didn't like it in Birthday of the World, and didn't like it now.
The earlier stories were more to my taste than the latter ones. I like the fantasy dripping with pretenses and lyrical writing. That is why my favourite short story ended up being:
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong.
The vampiric/succubus premise of craving strong negative emotion was so unique. Especially when the thoughts manifest physically for the vampires. I cannot get the imagery of beetles and centipedes dropping out of someones head during a meal. It's so visceral.
Spoiler
The casual meal on the stove that is flavoured with her baba's soul by her mother was really something. The fun little twist at the end when she becomes the ancient vampire and Aiko ends up alive was great.I thought the first half of the anthology suited my tastes more than the latter half.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
I liked the exploration of different selkie variations here!
Spoiler
Particularly when one story featured the MC, where she found her mother's skin and gave it back to her, never to be seen again."Death is skin tight, Mona says. Gray in front and gray in back."
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander
I thought the writing of this one was great, I wish there was just a bit more reasoning to it plot wise, like the MC did something very atypical and the tornado was compelled? Sounds like a situation where people just want an exciting relationship instead of a sensible one.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker
This one was so mysterious, but well written because of the land's strong characterization. This waterfall diving hole is clearly picky and people disappear out of the blue after the jump into it, never to be seen again. It was a nice small town story that reminded me of Bone Gap with it's in between places.
Spoiler
We left the Century to sit unmoved. The spare key, the one that didn't disappear with Nick, lives in a bowl of coins near our front door. It used to be on top, but it gradually downed in pennies and dimes.""Just a thing caught up in the slow process of transformation into another thing."
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone
Definitely a different take on the vampire and vampire slayer tropes. The summary of how this is the seven year itch but with vampires is really all there is to it. I liked the way details are laid out and the final ball catch scene with Vlad's kid.
Spoiler
"I miss when we could be violent with each other"Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
I thought the plot construction of this story was a standout, it reflects the traditional legends well with the rule of threes and a strong message about an elder's wisdom. Grandma Harken was an excellent character who didn't know what to do but certainly rationalized each step out.
Spoiler
I like the twist at the end where she was a jackalope wife, but when offered the pelt, she decided not to take it but to gift it to the jackalope who was stuck in between the transformation. It was different from the selkie story in a good way because Grandma Harken was still self possessed and knew who needed the pelt more rather than spiriting away to the bonfires again."She was beautiful," he said. As if it were a reason.
As if it mattered.
As if it ever mattered.
"Better all the way human than this. Better he'd bashed her head in with a rock than this."
"You were a hell of a dancer," said the Father of Rabbits.
"Still am," said Grandma Harken.
"Still are," he agreed.
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
The world building in this one was delightful. It felt like a tale of human mishap, particularly when humans release creatures were they aren't native to and lead to invasive colonization of the area. The wasps sailed into the territory of bees and subjugated them all to prevent a repeat of how the humans exterminated them by being so great in sheer numbers, that they can't all be killed at the cost of the bees.
I think everything after the Carpenter Bees suddenly pivoted into the "modern" world and because less magical. I thought the Tallest Doll had interesting writing where buildings suddenly gain sentience and moved around. The Haunting of Apollo A7LB was a nice reflective love story that didn't end well. I thought Here Be Dragons was a clever story about fake dragon slayers but the moral was unclear. Kill your kid and gallivant to the countryside to lie and cheat?? Sure okay. Amal El-Mohtar's story, Wing, was too abstract for me to appreciate.
I thought Philosophers by Adam Sachs was pretty funny. The generations cut short but who still needed to tell their story was doing it in a series of uncoordinated blinks and tongue clicks where it may be possible to leap to conclusions and interpret but no one dares to because maybe that is just how the theory of knowledge's true form and intent is. Conception!! Two Hats spiraled out of control in 30 hats, but I can see that it feels similar to how a child of an immigrant family may need to wear multiple hats to help their parents. I was the chief government form filler, auditor and translator for the family. Otherwise it may be a story where a child happens to inherit a countless amount of views from their parents and may find it uncontrollable.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers feels like an anthropological adventure that reflects from of Ursula le Guin's stories like the Left Hand of Darkness. Unfortunately, the most interesting part about an alien society is what you do with the knowledge after and I think this one could have been more.
I think the Pauper Prince was overly long, but I know anthologies like to end it on this long note. Didn't like it in Birthday of the World, and didn't like it now.
stevequinn's review against another edition
4.0
Overall above average collection. The Usman Malik story at the end was beautiful and wonderful. The sort of thing that makes one say “yes, that’s why I read books.”
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
3.0
I usually enjoy short story anthologies - you get a collection of all sorts of things, some better, some less good. I often compare them to finding a chest full of stuff in the attic and being excited to discover trinkets and gems and stuff that kind of sucks, but you can't have it all in life.
Well. This chest felt a bit like a dud, even though it started off exciting.
I see a few other reviewers say the "new" in the title is a bit deceiving, because this is a book published in 2017 which contains stories published 2014 and 2015 - this issue didn't bother me, really. I've read Homer and Dickens and H.G. Wells, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. LeGuin, so I think a "new voice" can belong to anyone who started publishing in the past decade or so.
No, what bothered me was that these stories... lacked luster? Felt tame? Felt strangely similar in their approach, even if they were very different? For some time, I couldn't put my finger on it, but the collection made me feel a bit bored overall, even if I enjoyed some of the stories.
I don't usually review on a story-by-story basis, but I'm on vacation, so I did just that. And after thinking of each of them in turn, I realized what it was that bothered me: a number of these stories have Points. And by that, I mean that they have one thing they want to say, and tend to focus on that. You might read about ducks, or ribbons around one's neck, or old philosophers, but there isn't a lot of magic there. Many of the stories aren't so much stories, as they're allegories, which takes away from the richness they might have otherwise held.
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong
I really enjoyed this one. When I started reading this book, it struck me with its grittiness and its innovative imagery - a sort of vampire who feeds off people's souls enjoys eating petty criminals, to feel the taste of their vileness. But when she discovers a murderer, she becomes addicted. It's so well-written that I didn't mind reading it twice.
And I read it twice because...
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
As this book informed me, Sofia Samatar wrote "A Stranger in Olondria", a novel which I'd started reading on my Kindle and hadn't finished yet. Remembering the novel, I went and finished that one first and ended up loving it in a strange way, before returning to this story collection (and re-reading the first story).
However, while I really enjoyed Samatar's novel, this story didn't really touch me. It's interesting, but I didn't feel it too deeply.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander
A tornado falls in love with a girl. The girl rejects the tornado. Later on, she decides she misses the tornado. If this were about a boy and a girl, there would be nothing special here, so it felt like a one-trick story without much to offer beyond the gimmick.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker
There's a pond which sometimes makes people who jump into it vanish without a trace. But people keep jumping into it anyway. It's an interesting story, well-written, pondering, psychologically intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone
Vlad the Impaler, a vampire, is now married and has a child. He's trying to pretend he's normal, so he moves slowly, he acts slowly, he acts normal. It's somewhat fun, but it's the same old, same old "we're a married couple in a bit of relationship trouble, and there's some trouble with the son, and there's another woman on the horizon" thing. I'm a bit bored of that.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
To me, this was the best story in the volume. Do you know those fairy tales, in which men fall in love with otherworldly women who turn into animals, so they hide the women's skins, who are now unable to shapeshift? And then those women marry them? Well, this is a take on that.
A young man falls in love with a jackalope (a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope), and decides to take her skin away and burn it - and she probably wants to be with him, too. However, he botches things up badly, ending up with a half-animal, half-human woman, and he takes her to his grandmother, begging her to fix everything, and running away from responsibility.
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
This is a story that's probably about some sort of real-world politics, but I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be. Anyway, the wasps are determined, imperialistic, ruthless bastards, and bees are an old-style, hierarchical community. When the latter are conquered by the wasps, they start taking on their new masters' culture, but botch it at all up.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise
This is exactly what it says in the title. It's cute, but nothing special.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana Headley
It's Valentine's Day and some buildings in New York are falling in love and taking strolls together. It's an... interesting... story, I guess, but it felt just odd to me. Especially the bit about two buildings having sex, unless I misread that.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi
A haunted astronaut suit comes to visit the woman who made it - probably because the astronaut had been in desperate love with her, even if they ended up marrying different people, since he was white and she was black.
I keep hearing Hannu Rajaniemi is unreadable, but this story was quite nice (and readable), and cute.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry
Two men have a thing going on: they pretend to be dragon slayers. They go into town, create a fake dragon attack, then rescue the town from the dragon and collect a large and comfortable fee for it.
The main character was the "knight" of the tale, and his partner was the mechanical genius who invented all sorts of crazy fake dragon stuff to fool villagers. Alas, they got found out and their "business" failed. So they went back home to their wives and their children. The main character came to enjoy being a father, but didn't want to let it show, while the mechanical genius just hated everything about it.
The story was interesting, but, like many others in this collection, it didn't quite do it for me. There was something missing.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval
She was taken by the fairies in order to sing for them, and she hated it. Now that she was allowed to leave them, she longs for their world again, trapped between two worlds, and no longer quite sane.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang
A woman dreams about being a tiger - and she *knows* she's one deep inside. But maybe she's wrong.
The Duck by Ben Loory
A duck fell in love with a rock. A lady-duck helped him out. This felt like it should have a moral attached at the end, because it's explicit enough in its lesson.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar
Another story that feels like it should have a moral attached at the end, because the lesson was explicit. A young woman has a tiny book of secrets around her neck and she waits until the right man with a book of secrets around his neck comes along to open it.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
Three absurdist stories about fathers and sons, exploring the paternal relationship in an allegorical fashion.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer
A very boring story about a man who travels to a village of air mages. It's advertised as doing the Victorian Style Thing, but somehow it feels fake, as if it were written by someone who doesn't really enjoy Victorian fiction at all. Or maybe I'm wrong and I had this feeling because I was mostly bored.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado
This is a story intertwined with urban legends and commentary on people's expectations from women. It felt a bit didactic in the latter endeavor (are you trying to educate me about women's feelings, story?), but the urban legends thing worked quite well.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik
The longest story of the bunch (a full quarter of the book!), but more interesting than most. A grandfather tells his grandson a story about a pauper princess who sold tea in a stall in a land far, far away. A few years after that, when the grandfather dies, the grandson discovers that the princess might be his grandmother, and there might be a huge secret his grandfather had hidden from him, so he travels to the old land to discover it. And it's quite magical.
Well. This chest felt a bit like a dud, even though it started off exciting.
I see a few other reviewers say the "new" in the title is a bit deceiving, because this is a book published in 2017 which contains stories published 2014 and 2015 - this issue didn't bother me, really. I've read Homer and Dickens and H.G. Wells, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Ursula K. LeGuin, so I think a "new voice" can belong to anyone who started publishing in the past decade or so.
No, what bothered me was that these stories... lacked luster? Felt tame? Felt strangely similar in their approach, even if they were very different? For some time, I couldn't put my finger on it, but the collection made me feel a bit bored overall, even if I enjoyed some of the stories.
I don't usually review on a story-by-story basis, but I'm on vacation, so I did just that. And after thinking of each of them in turn, I realized what it was that bothered me: a number of these stories have Points. And by that, I mean that they have one thing they want to say, and tend to focus on that. You might read about ducks, or ribbons around one's neck, or old philosophers, but there isn't a lot of magic there. Many of the stories aren't so much stories, as they're allegories, which takes away from the richness they might have otherwise held.
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong
I really enjoyed this one. When I started reading this book, it struck me with its grittiness and its innovative imagery - a sort of vampire who feeds off people's souls enjoys eating petty criminals, to feel the taste of their vileness. But when she discovers a murderer, she becomes addicted. It's so well-written that I didn't mind reading it twice.
And I read it twice because...
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
As this book informed me, Sofia Samatar wrote "A Stranger in Olondria", a novel which I'd started reading on my Kindle and hadn't finished yet. Remembering the novel, I went and finished that one first and ended up loving it in a strange way, before returning to this story collection (and re-reading the first story).
However, while I really enjoyed Samatar's novel, this story didn't really touch me. It's interesting, but I didn't feel it too deeply.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander
A tornado falls in love with a girl. The girl rejects the tornado. Later on, she decides she misses the tornado. If this were about a boy and a girl, there would be nothing special here, so it felt like a one-trick story without much to offer beyond the gimmick.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker
There's a pond which sometimes makes people who jump into it vanish without a trace. But people keep jumping into it anyway. It's an interesting story, well-written, pondering, psychologically intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone
Vlad the Impaler, a vampire, is now married and has a child. He's trying to pretend he's normal, so he moves slowly, he acts slowly, he acts normal. It's somewhat fun, but it's the same old, same old "we're a married couple in a bit of relationship trouble, and there's some trouble with the son, and there's another woman on the horizon" thing. I'm a bit bored of that.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
To me, this was the best story in the volume. Do you know those fairy tales, in which men fall in love with otherworldly women who turn into animals, so they hide the women's skins, who are now unable to shapeshift? And then those women marry them? Well, this is a take on that.
A young man falls in love with a jackalope (a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope), and decides to take her skin away and burn it - and she probably wants to be with him, too. However, he botches things up badly, ending up with a half-animal, half-human woman, and he takes her to his grandmother, begging her to fix everything, and running away from responsibility.
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
This is a story that's probably about some sort of real-world politics, but I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be. Anyway, the wasps are determined, imperialistic, ruthless bastards, and bees are an old-style, hierarchical community. When the latter are conquered by the wasps, they start taking on their new masters' culture, but botch it at all up.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise
This is exactly what it says in the title. It's cute, but nothing special.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana Headley
It's Valentine's Day and some buildings in New York are falling in love and taking strolls together. It's an... interesting... story, I guess, but it felt just odd to me. Especially the bit about two buildings having sex, unless I misread that.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi
A haunted astronaut suit comes to visit the woman who made it - probably because the astronaut had been in desperate love with her, even if they ended up marrying different people, since he was white and she was black.
I keep hearing Hannu Rajaniemi is unreadable, but this story was quite nice (and readable), and cute.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry
Two men have a thing going on: they pretend to be dragon slayers. They go into town, create a fake dragon attack, then rescue the town from the dragon and collect a large and comfortable fee for it.
The main character was the "knight" of the tale, and his partner was the mechanical genius who invented all sorts of crazy fake dragon stuff to fool villagers. Alas, they got found out and their "business" failed. So they went back home to their wives and their children. The main character came to enjoy being a father, but didn't want to let it show, while the mechanical genius just hated everything about it.
The story was interesting, but, like many others in this collection, it didn't quite do it for me. There was something missing.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval
She was taken by the fairies in order to sing for them, and she hated it. Now that she was allowed to leave them, she longs for their world again, trapped between two worlds, and no longer quite sane.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang
A woman dreams about being a tiger - and she *knows* she's one deep inside. But maybe she's wrong.
The Duck by Ben Loory
A duck fell in love with a rock. A lady-duck helped him out. This felt like it should have a moral attached at the end, because it's explicit enough in its lesson.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar
Another story that feels like it should have a moral attached at the end, because the lesson was explicit. A young woman has a tiny book of secrets around her neck and she waits until the right man with a book of secrets around his neck comes along to open it.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
Three absurdist stories about fathers and sons, exploring the paternal relationship in an allegorical fashion.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer
A very boring story about a man who travels to a village of air mages. It's advertised as doing the Victorian Style Thing, but somehow it feels fake, as if it were written by someone who doesn't really enjoy Victorian fiction at all. Or maybe I'm wrong and I had this feeling because I was mostly bored.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado
This is a story intertwined with urban legends and commentary on people's expectations from women. It felt a bit didactic in the latter endeavor (are you trying to educate me about women's feelings, story?), but the urban legends thing worked quite well.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik
The longest story of the bunch (a full quarter of the book!), but more interesting than most. A grandfather tells his grandson a story about a pauper princess who sold tea in a stall in a land far, far away. A few years after that, when the grandfather dies, the grandson discovers that the princess might be his grandmother, and there might be a huge secret his grandfather had hidden from him, so he travels to the old land to discover it. And it's quite magical.
not_mike's review against another edition
5.0
Paperback.
The more anthologies I read, a few stand out. Here, pretty much every story did. Outstanding collection.
The more anthologies I read, a few stand out. Here, pretty much every story did. Outstanding collection.
acrisalves's review against another edition
5.0
Publicado aqui https://osrascunhos.com/2017/07/12/the-new-voices-of-fantasy-varios-autores/
O mercado anglo-saxónico de ficção especulativa vai-se renovando, seguindo novas tendências, estilos e culturas, gerando cruzamentos impensáveis entre géneros em contos que reflectem as preocupações do seu próprio tempo. Ao longo dos anos vão surgindo novos autores que começam a ser conhecidos pelos contos destacados por prémios ou em antologias de melhores do ano. Este volume pretende reunir algumas histórias destes novos autores e destacá-los como promissores para os próximos tempos.
A antologia começa com um conto de Alyssa Wong, a quarta história publicada da autora, com a qual venceu o Nebula e o World Fantasy Award (a mesma história que foi, também, nomeada para um Shirley Jackson, um Bram Stoker e um Locus Award). Claro que prémios e nomeações não são garantia de boas histórias, mas este conto, Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers contém detalhes de horror e fantástico num cenário actual onde a corrupção alastra, resultado do consumo imediato e da fome interminável.
Selkie stories are for losers é a história seguinte da autoria de Sofia Samatar, uma autora que não é propriamente uma voz emergente, antes uma autora já reconhecida no género com histórias como A Stranger in Olondria que venceu vários prémios. Cruzando lendas diversas sobre mulheres que se mantém entre os humanos até ao momento em que alguém encontra a sua antiga pele (ou descobre que são algo mais do que parecem), esta história quase banal consegue surpreender pela estrutura e desenvolvimento.
Depois de tornados apaixonados por raparigas (em Tornado’s Siren de Brooke Bolander que apenas possui como elemento distintivo o tornado capaz de sentimento) encontramos Left the century to sit unmoved de Sarah Pinsker que nos traz um fenómeno local, um lago que faz desaparecer totalmente algumas pessoas sem critério específico – mesmo depois de drenado o lago apenas se encontram os objectos e roupas da pessoa.
Max Gladstone também não é propriamente um autor desconhecido, escrevendo sobretudo fantasia urbana. Em A Kiss With Teeth não foge ao género mas apresenta uma das melhores histórias do conjunto, com um tom levemente cómico sobre as preocupações de um pai que vê o seu filho ter más notas. Como pai tenta perceber o que se passa, mas a sua própria natureza torna difícil ajudar sem dicas da professora, a presa perfeita. Ah. É que o pai é um vampiro reformado que tenta passar por humano, simulando os nosso gestos e forma de andar.
Em The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees de E. Lily Yu explora-se uma premissa que não é totalmente nova. Recordo que em The Bees de Laline Paull já se apresentava a vida numa colmeia apresentando aspectos sociais da hierarquia e como esta poderia ser subvertida por um único elemento. Confrontando as abelhas com as vespas possuidoras de uma tecnologia mais avançada este conto de E. Lily Yu consegue ser um relato apaixonante sem necessitar de se centrar num único elemento, e comparar vários sistemas de sociedade.
A. C. Wise traz-nos outro dos melhores contos do conjunto, um guia cómico de como a bruxa pode arranjar uma casa. Começando com as formas aborrecidas como aquisição e ocupação, passa por nos apresentar como se pode domar uma casa ou fazer crescer uma, expressando para cada método os cuidados a ter (os humanos podem não gostar muito de ter uma bruxa dentro de casa e podem tentar queimá-la, por exemplo, ou a casa pode pregar partidas a quem a tenta influenciar).
Depois de Hauting o Apollo A7LB (um conto que já conhecia da excelente colectânea do autor Hannu Rajaniemi), segue-se uma história irónica de Chris Tarry, Here be dragons, onde dois homens simulam a existência de dragões para extorquírem dinheiro das vilas mostrando depois entranhas de vários animais como prova de uma chacina. Um dia esta trapaça pode voltar-se contra os supostos salvadores – de mais formas do que o leitor imagina.
Mais juvenil, mas enternecedora pela forma inocente e desiludida como nos apresenta o amor de um pato por uma rocha, The Duck de Ben Loory é um dos contos que vale a pena ler, nem que seja para ver a forma como transforma este premissa simples e aparentemente idiota numa boa história.
Publicado no The New Yorker, The Philosophers de Adam Ehrlich Sachs traz uma história demente de problemas genéticos hereditários que supostamente não trariam problemas psicológicos. Geração após geração, os homens desta família perdem na idade adulta todos os movimentos e passam a comunicar com os restantes recorrendo ao piscar de olhos com o intuito de transmitir as próximas palavras do seu livro. Arrepiante, claustrofóbico e assustador pela degradação, é um bom conto que vai elevando a premissa ao extremo absurdo .
Esta colectânea termina com uma novela mais longa, The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, de Usman T. Malik, que se centra na problemática da emigração e da integração cultural sob uma fábula contada pelo avô (talvez demente) que recorda interacções com princesas e génios e que foi mudando de país em país até atingir determinados objectivos. Demonstrando como existe sempre muito para revelar da vida dos nossos antepassados, segredos dolorosos que ficaram enterrados, feitos que se silenciaram pelas circunstâncias, esta é uma novela excelente.
Ainda que não tenha apreciado todos os contos de igual forma, até porque os estilos e géneros são muito diversos, esta colectânea possui uma qualidade narrativa bastante elevada. Nem todas as histórias apresentam elementos que se destaquem pela originalidade, mas todos se encontram bem escritos e estruturados. São, na sua maioria, contos que possuem o necessário para envolver, mas sem excesso de detalhes que quebrem o ritmo ou desbalanceiem a história. Para os interessados em se actualizar para o que tem sido publicado recentemente, eis uma boa aposta.
(esta colectânea foi fornecida pela editora via NetGalley)
O mercado anglo-saxónico de ficção especulativa vai-se renovando, seguindo novas tendências, estilos e culturas, gerando cruzamentos impensáveis entre géneros em contos que reflectem as preocupações do seu próprio tempo. Ao longo dos anos vão surgindo novos autores que começam a ser conhecidos pelos contos destacados por prémios ou em antologias de melhores do ano. Este volume pretende reunir algumas histórias destes novos autores e destacá-los como promissores para os próximos tempos.
A antologia começa com um conto de Alyssa Wong, a quarta história publicada da autora, com a qual venceu o Nebula e o World Fantasy Award (a mesma história que foi, também, nomeada para um Shirley Jackson, um Bram Stoker e um Locus Award). Claro que prémios e nomeações não são garantia de boas histórias, mas este conto, Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers contém detalhes de horror e fantástico num cenário actual onde a corrupção alastra, resultado do consumo imediato e da fome interminável.
Selkie stories are for losers é a história seguinte da autoria de Sofia Samatar, uma autora que não é propriamente uma voz emergente, antes uma autora já reconhecida no género com histórias como A Stranger in Olondria que venceu vários prémios. Cruzando lendas diversas sobre mulheres que se mantém entre os humanos até ao momento em que alguém encontra a sua antiga pele (ou descobre que são algo mais do que parecem), esta história quase banal consegue surpreender pela estrutura e desenvolvimento.
Depois de tornados apaixonados por raparigas (em Tornado’s Siren de Brooke Bolander que apenas possui como elemento distintivo o tornado capaz de sentimento) encontramos Left the century to sit unmoved de Sarah Pinsker que nos traz um fenómeno local, um lago que faz desaparecer totalmente algumas pessoas sem critério específico – mesmo depois de drenado o lago apenas se encontram os objectos e roupas da pessoa.
Max Gladstone também não é propriamente um autor desconhecido, escrevendo sobretudo fantasia urbana. Em A Kiss With Teeth não foge ao género mas apresenta uma das melhores histórias do conjunto, com um tom levemente cómico sobre as preocupações de um pai que vê o seu filho ter más notas. Como pai tenta perceber o que se passa, mas a sua própria natureza torna difícil ajudar sem dicas da professora, a presa perfeita. Ah. É que o pai é um vampiro reformado que tenta passar por humano, simulando os nosso gestos e forma de andar.
Em The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees de E. Lily Yu explora-se uma premissa que não é totalmente nova. Recordo que em The Bees de Laline Paull já se apresentava a vida numa colmeia apresentando aspectos sociais da hierarquia e como esta poderia ser subvertida por um único elemento. Confrontando as abelhas com as vespas possuidoras de uma tecnologia mais avançada este conto de E. Lily Yu consegue ser um relato apaixonante sem necessitar de se centrar num único elemento, e comparar vários sistemas de sociedade.
A. C. Wise traz-nos outro dos melhores contos do conjunto, um guia cómico de como a bruxa pode arranjar uma casa. Começando com as formas aborrecidas como aquisição e ocupação, passa por nos apresentar como se pode domar uma casa ou fazer crescer uma, expressando para cada método os cuidados a ter (os humanos podem não gostar muito de ter uma bruxa dentro de casa e podem tentar queimá-la, por exemplo, ou a casa pode pregar partidas a quem a tenta influenciar).
Depois de Hauting o Apollo A7LB (um conto que já conhecia da excelente colectânea do autor Hannu Rajaniemi), segue-se uma história irónica de Chris Tarry, Here be dragons, onde dois homens simulam a existência de dragões para extorquírem dinheiro das vilas mostrando depois entranhas de vários animais como prova de uma chacina. Um dia esta trapaça pode voltar-se contra os supostos salvadores – de mais formas do que o leitor imagina.
Mais juvenil, mas enternecedora pela forma inocente e desiludida como nos apresenta o amor de um pato por uma rocha, The Duck de Ben Loory é um dos contos que vale a pena ler, nem que seja para ver a forma como transforma este premissa simples e aparentemente idiota numa boa história.
Publicado no The New Yorker, The Philosophers de Adam Ehrlich Sachs traz uma história demente de problemas genéticos hereditários que supostamente não trariam problemas psicológicos. Geração após geração, os homens desta família perdem na idade adulta todos os movimentos e passam a comunicar com os restantes recorrendo ao piscar de olhos com o intuito de transmitir as próximas palavras do seu livro. Arrepiante, claustrofóbico e assustador pela degradação, é um bom conto que vai elevando a premissa ao extremo absurdo .
Esta colectânea termina com uma novela mais longa, The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, de Usman T. Malik, que se centra na problemática da emigração e da integração cultural sob uma fábula contada pelo avô (talvez demente) que recorda interacções com princesas e génios e que foi mudando de país em país até atingir determinados objectivos. Demonstrando como existe sempre muito para revelar da vida dos nossos antepassados, segredos dolorosos que ficaram enterrados, feitos que se silenciaram pelas circunstâncias, esta é uma novela excelente.
Ainda que não tenha apreciado todos os contos de igual forma, até porque os estilos e géneros são muito diversos, esta colectânea possui uma qualidade narrativa bastante elevada. Nem todas as histórias apresentam elementos que se destaquem pela originalidade, mas todos se encontram bem escritos e estruturados. São, na sua maioria, contos que possuem o necessário para envolver, mas sem excesso de detalhes que quebrem o ritmo ou desbalanceiem a história. Para os interessados em se actualizar para o que tem sido publicado recentemente, eis uma boa aposta.
(esta colectânea foi fornecida pela editora via NetGalley)
saguaros's review against another edition
4.0
I'd already read two of the stories included here, but all the other ones were new to me (even thought they'd been published elsewhere before) and several of the authors were as well.
I wish all these "new" authors had been even more unknown--several have been writing and published for years, but nevertheless I didn't dislike any of the stories in this collection.
My favourites were:
Selkie Stories Are For Losers, Sofia Samatar
Tonado's Siren, Brooke Bolander
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved, Sarah Pinsker (<333)
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB, Hannu Rajaniemi
Here Be Dragons, Chris Tarry
The Husband Stitch, Carmen Maria Machado
(and of course, The Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon, but I had read that one before)
I wish all these "new" authors had been even more unknown--several have been writing and published for years, but nevertheless I didn't dislike any of the stories in this collection.
My favourites were:
Selkie Stories Are For Losers, Sofia Samatar
Tonado's Siren, Brooke Bolander
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved, Sarah Pinsker (<333)
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB, Hannu Rajaniemi
Here Be Dragons, Chris Tarry
The Husband Stitch, Carmen Maria Machado
(and of course, The Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon, but I had read that one before)
verlkonig's review against another edition
4.0
Thanks to Netgalley for the Arc!
This collection of short stories from relative newcomers in the fantasy field is a great introduction to some very talented new authors, only one of which I'd read anything from before. All of the stories, as the title of the collection would suggest, are fantasy. However, the vast majority of the stories are set in the modern day, with little in the way of classic sword and sorcery. There's also a lot of speculative fantasy and stories verging on the horror genre. Regardless of the similarities in genre, however, all of the stories are original and enjoyable, written and edited well.
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers
Alyssa Wong
The first story in the collection had me instantly engrossed, introducing us to a woman who uses tinder for something other than casual hookups. This story is dark, creepy, and more than a little gross, with some interesting characters and imaginative writing.
Selkie Stories are for Losers
Sofia Samatar
Based on the selkie legends - seals that can shed their skins to become human - this story has some sympathetic characters but was a little vague and lacking in magic for me. However, stories within a story are something I always enjoy thanks to my incredibly short attention span, so it kept me reading up until its conclusion.
Tornado's Siren
Brooke Bolander
Brooke Bolander was the only author whose work I had read previously ([b:And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead|24957192|And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead|Brooke Bolander|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424186256s/24957192.jpg|44618599]) - which I loved, so I was super excited for this one. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by this one. It was whimsical and open ended, things which I enjoy, but I was hoping for a little more substance and grit from Brooke.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved
Sarah Pinkser
This story was a little creepy, about a woman obsessed with jumping into a lake which sometimes appears to swallow the jumper. A list of rules for the lake provided towards the beginning of the story filled me with anticipation:
2. No skinny dipping, so your friends will know if you were taken or if you just drowned. (Clothes don't get taken.)
A Kiss with Teeth
Max Gladstone
This was probably my favourite of the entire collection, imagining Vlad the Impaler/Dracula as a married man in modern day New York. We are treated to how he adapted to his new life with his terribly badass lady love and his young child, who is having some trouble in school. I'm a fan of Dracula anyway, but I enjoyed the breath of fresh air this imagining gave him.
Jackalope Wives
Ursula Vernon
Vernon is clearly a very talented author and here weaves a wonderfully moral folk tale style story about a grandmother who has to deal with her foolish grandson's mistake of trying to catch himself a Jackalope wife. The less said the better about this one - rest assured, it's beautiful and surprising and original.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees
E. Lily Yu
I loved the fantasy of this short; a sad, politically charged story about wasps and bees who make incredibly intricate maps within their nests while exploring the world around them. It's ruthless and the writing is beautifully rich with wonderful imagery.
The Practical Witch's Guide to Buying Real Estate
A.C. Wise
This one I found a little disappointing, but it was a nice break from a collection which is otherwise fairly serious. It's exactly what it sounds like - a guide to real estate for witches, with many humorous anecdotes and fun ideas.
The Tallest Doll in New York City
Maria Dahvana Headley
Probably one of the most original stories in the collection, The Tallest Doll is set on Valentines Day, when the Chrysler Building decides to go on a date with the Empire State Building. It's sweet and utterly unique, a nice little romance.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB
Hannu Rajaniemi
About a supposedly haunted moon suit who turns up at the house of the woman who helped sew it, this story is a sweet commentary on romance with some commentary on race and class. Enjoyable.
Here Be Dragons
Chris Tarry
This was probably my least favourite story in the collection, which was a little surprising because it's also one of the only stories not set in the modern day, and I'm a big fan of medieval fantasy. However, the reason I didn't enjoy it is not because of the story or setting, it's because I found the characters so horrendously unlikeable that I simply did not want to spend a spare moment with them.
The One They Took Before
Kelly Sandoval
A young woman is driven to look for ads and listings regarding rifts in the universe, faerie queens, and missing persons, fighting the urge to follow them up. I wholly enjoyed this strange story about this person's foray into the fae realm, and loved the strange, ambiguous hints interspersed throughout.
Tiger Baby
JY Yang
A short story about a woman who believes she is a tiger, I was totally into this one up until the very end, but may be alone in that.
The Duck
Ben Loory
I adored this very short and sweet fable about a duck that falls in love with a rock. Yes, really.
Wing
Amal El-Mohtar
This one is even shorter than The Duck, and written very, very beautifully and sincerely. It's a quiet story about love, soul mates, and secrets, and has convinced me to look for more by El-Mohtar.
The Philosophers
Adam Erlich Sachs
Another favourite of mine in this collection, The Philosophers is actually 3 short stories about fathers and sons, each with just my kind of dry, Neil Gaiman-esque humour.
My Time Amongst the Bridge Blowers
Eugene Fisher
Honestly, I skimmed through this one a little. It follows a scholar who meets a strange village tribe with incredible abilities in the mountains. The writing was a little stuffy and slow for my liking, reminding me of Jonathan's diary entries in Dracula. Not for me, unfortunately.
The Husband Stitch
Carmen Maria Machado
I wondered where this one was going for a little while, but it had me hooked with its wonderful, flowing prose so instantly that I didn't care. A wonderfully feminist story about a young woman with a ribbon around her neck which she forbids her husband to touch. Even the more ordinary aspects of this story were written with such easy readability and such a quiet yet relentless note of tension that I couldn't put it down.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
Usman T Malik
The last, and the longest story in the collection, this is a fun, twisty story about a young Pakistani man who tries to discover the secrets of his late grandfather. It's a fun story with a beautiful ending, worth the word count.
This collection of short stories from relative newcomers in the fantasy field is a great introduction to some very talented new authors, only one of which I'd read anything from before. All of the stories, as the title of the collection would suggest, are fantasy. However, the vast majority of the stories are set in the modern day, with little in the way of classic sword and sorcery. There's also a lot of speculative fantasy and stories verging on the horror genre. Regardless of the similarities in genre, however, all of the stories are original and enjoyable, written and edited well.
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers
Alyssa Wong
The first story in the collection had me instantly engrossed, introducing us to a woman who uses tinder for something other than casual hookups. This story is dark, creepy, and more than a little gross, with some interesting characters and imaginative writing.
Selkie Stories are for Losers
Sofia Samatar
Based on the selkie legends - seals that can shed their skins to become human - this story has some sympathetic characters but was a little vague and lacking in magic for me. However, stories within a story are something I always enjoy thanks to my incredibly short attention span, so it kept me reading up until its conclusion.
Tornado's Siren
Brooke Bolander
Brooke Bolander was the only author whose work I had read previously ([b:And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead|24957192|And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead|Brooke Bolander|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424186256s/24957192.jpg|44618599]) - which I loved, so I was super excited for this one. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by this one. It was whimsical and open ended, things which I enjoy, but I was hoping for a little more substance and grit from Brooke.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved
Sarah Pinkser
This story was a little creepy, about a woman obsessed with jumping into a lake which sometimes appears to swallow the jumper. A list of rules for the lake provided towards the beginning of the story filled me with anticipation:
2. No skinny dipping, so your friends will know if you were taken or if you just drowned. (Clothes don't get taken.)
A Kiss with Teeth
Max Gladstone
This was probably my favourite of the entire collection, imagining Vlad the Impaler/Dracula as a married man in modern day New York. We are treated to how he adapted to his new life with his terribly badass lady love and his young child, who is having some trouble in school. I'm a fan of Dracula anyway, but I enjoyed the breath of fresh air this imagining gave him.
Jackalope Wives
Ursula Vernon
Vernon is clearly a very talented author and here weaves a wonderfully moral folk tale style story about a grandmother who has to deal with her foolish grandson's mistake of trying to catch himself a Jackalope wife. The less said the better about this one - rest assured, it's beautiful and surprising and original.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees
E. Lily Yu
I loved the fantasy of this short; a sad, politically charged story about wasps and bees who make incredibly intricate maps within their nests while exploring the world around them. It's ruthless and the writing is beautifully rich with wonderful imagery.
The Practical Witch's Guide to Buying Real Estate
A.C. Wise
This one I found a little disappointing, but it was a nice break from a collection which is otherwise fairly serious. It's exactly what it sounds like - a guide to real estate for witches, with many humorous anecdotes and fun ideas.
The Tallest Doll in New York City
Maria Dahvana Headley
Probably one of the most original stories in the collection, The Tallest Doll is set on Valentines Day, when the Chrysler Building decides to go on a date with the Empire State Building. It's sweet and utterly unique, a nice little romance.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB
Hannu Rajaniemi
About a supposedly haunted moon suit who turns up at the house of the woman who helped sew it, this story is a sweet commentary on romance with some commentary on race and class. Enjoyable.
Here Be Dragons
Chris Tarry
This was probably my least favourite story in the collection, which was a little surprising because it's also one of the only stories not set in the modern day, and I'm a big fan of medieval fantasy. However, the reason I didn't enjoy it is not because of the story or setting, it's because I found the characters so horrendously unlikeable that I simply did not want to spend a spare moment with them.
The One They Took Before
Kelly Sandoval
A young woman is driven to look for ads and listings regarding rifts in the universe, faerie queens, and missing persons, fighting the urge to follow them up. I wholly enjoyed this strange story about this person's foray into the fae realm, and loved the strange, ambiguous hints interspersed throughout.
Tiger Baby
JY Yang
A short story about a woman who believes she is a tiger, I was totally into this one up until the very end, but may be alone in that.
The Duck
Ben Loory
I adored this very short and sweet fable about a duck that falls in love with a rock. Yes, really.
Wing
Amal El-Mohtar
This one is even shorter than The Duck, and written very, very beautifully and sincerely. It's a quiet story about love, soul mates, and secrets, and has convinced me to look for more by El-Mohtar.
The Philosophers
Adam Erlich Sachs
Another favourite of mine in this collection, The Philosophers is actually 3 short stories about fathers and sons, each with just my kind of dry, Neil Gaiman-esque humour.
My Time Amongst the Bridge Blowers
Eugene Fisher
Honestly, I skimmed through this one a little. It follows a scholar who meets a strange village tribe with incredible abilities in the mountains. The writing was a little stuffy and slow for my liking, reminding me of Jonathan's diary entries in Dracula. Not for me, unfortunately.
The Husband Stitch
Carmen Maria Machado
I wondered where this one was going for a little while, but it had me hooked with its wonderful, flowing prose so instantly that I didn't care. A wonderfully feminist story about a young woman with a ribbon around her neck which she forbids her husband to touch. Even the more ordinary aspects of this story were written with such easy readability and such a quiet yet relentless note of tension that I couldn't put it down.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
Usman T Malik
The last, and the longest story in the collection, this is a fun, twisty story about a young Pakistani man who tries to discover the secrets of his late grandfather. It's a fun story with a beautiful ending, worth the word count.