gaykittens's review
4.0
While it has some beautiful gems, the overall collection is hit-or-miss. Some of the authors are already quite established, though often in genre-adjacent SF, which felt like a strange choice for a "new voices" theme. There are some truly questionable clunkers, but it was still worth the read.
colourmeread's review
3.0
ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It had me at Fantasy. And the cover because look at it! This anthology is a collection of short stories by nineteen breakout writers in the genre. I didn’t know any of these authors going in, but I now have a few I’m watching out for in the future.
I’m a big reader of epic fantasy so it did take me by surprise when I realized these stories were more on the contemporary side of things. I’m also so used to reading long books that many of the stories felt too short/underdeveloped for me.
Here’s a breakdown of my individual ratings:
Hungry Daughter of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong | ★★★★
This story is about a world where certain people have the ability to read people’s vile thoughts and feed off of them. This was one of my favourites stories. I was a fan of Wong’s word choice, vivid imagery, and chilling prose. I felt and saw what the character did and I was glued to the story from start to finish. I was quite sad when it ended because I wanted more of it. I hope Wong goes back to this with a full length novel because it’s hands down one of the best fantasy x horror stories I’ve read.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar | ★★
I don’t think I really understood what this story tried to achieve. It’s about a woman who works at a restaurant and whose mother disappeared. This then reminds the woman about selkies and their disappearances, and how this may affect a potential relationship with a coworker.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander | ★★
A tornado falls in love with a girl and follows her at different points in her life, resulting in disaster each time. I loved the idea but found the execution lacking.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker | ★★★
A story about a place where people jump in a pond with no certainty of ever coming back up. Some people disappear with only their clothes to leave behind, while others tempt fate and jump just to see if they’ll have the same fate or not. There’s no rhyme or reason to the disappearances and the story ultimately focuses on why people still jump in. Overall, mysterious and intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone | ★★★★
I really liked this one. I haven’t read a vampire story after the Twilight and Shadowhunter series so this was quite refreshing. This story focuses on a vampire living his day to day life with his human family. He has to keep reminding himself things he should be doing to avoid raising suspicions, such as breathing or controlling his strength. It might sound boring and nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed Gladstone’s style of writing and really loved the ending.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon | ★★★★★
I absolutely loved this one! Jackalopes are mythical animals from North American folklore that look like a jackrabbit with antler horns. In this story, jackalopes often have a night of dancing where they ‘shed’ their skins and look like beautiful women. A young man steals the skin of one of the jackalopes and partially burns it in the process. He then turns to his grandmother for help and I just love what Vernon writes about human nature.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu | ★★
I could not get into the story. For some reason it just didn’t connect with me.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise | ★★★
This was amusing and entertaining! While there was no plot or action, I appreciated the humour in this one.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Davana Headley | ★★★
An adorable Valentine’s Day story about buildings falling in love and what it’s like for the people inside them to witness it all. It was predictable and a little cheesy, but I loved the idea.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi | ★★★★
This was another favourite! An old spacesuit is haunted by its previous owner, resulting in unexpected and troublesome acts for its new owner.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry | ★★
I had high hopes for this one, mainly because it was the only story that somewhat resembled epic fantasy. It focuses on two men with past reputations as ‘dragonslayers’ and what their life is like now that they’re jobless and stay-at-home dads. There was character development for one of the characters, but the ending ruined it all for me.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval | ★★★★
I loved this one too. It’s about a woman who now lives in the real world, after she lives in a world with magic. The story slowly unravels her past and what happened, and constantly touches on her struggles of wanting to go back while knowing it’s better if she doesn’t.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang | ★★
I wasn’t a fan of this one. It’s about a woman who believes her true form is that of a tiger. It sounds interesting at first, and I think it ends on a hopeful note, but something is just so sad about it all.
The Duck by Ben Loory | ★★★
A duck falls in love with a rock, and everyone makes fun of him for it. I love how this touched on themes of friendship and acceptance, and I would love to see this illustrated. Cute, touching, and impactful.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar | ★★★★★
This was so beautiful. It’s about a girl with a necklace of a book, and people often ask her what’s written inside it. ‘It’s a secret’ she says and they often leave her after that. I love the idea of keeping parts of ourselves, our deepest dreams and desires, and waiting until the right person comes along, to see if we want to share it with them.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs | ★★
Three short stories focusing on father and son relationships and the cyclical nature of passing things from one generation to another.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer | ★
I don’t think the story was bad, I just found it so boring that I often tuned out just for the sake of finishing it. I can’t even tell you what I got from it, because it was that unremarkable.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado | ★★★★
This one was quite sexually explicit and as someone who’s always preferred fade-to-black scenes when it comes to sex, I often felt uncomfortable reading this. That aside though, this story was brilliant and powerful. It’s about a woman who gives everything to the men in her life, but it never seems enough. Very thought provoking ending.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik | ★★
A man is fixated on a story his grandfather told him as a boy, so he goes on a quest to find out if there’s any truth in it. I think this is the longest story in the whole collection, and it bored me the longer it went. The story had potential, but I couldn’t connect to the characters and I couldn’t care less.
This was a mixed bag of goodies with stories I loved and ones I didn’t. I also think it was more a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ kind of experience, because I just prefer a different kind of fantasy. I recommend all stories I rated 4-5 stars, of course. They’re certainly worth checking out.
It had me at Fantasy. And the cover because look at it! This anthology is a collection of short stories by nineteen breakout writers in the genre. I didn’t know any of these authors going in, but I now have a few I’m watching out for in the future.
I’m a big reader of epic fantasy so it did take me by surprise when I realized these stories were more on the contemporary side of things. I’m also so used to reading long books that many of the stories felt too short/underdeveloped for me.
Here’s a breakdown of my individual ratings:
Hungry Daughter of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong | ★★★★
This story is about a world where certain people have the ability to read people’s vile thoughts and feed off of them. This was one of my favourites stories. I was a fan of Wong’s word choice, vivid imagery, and chilling prose. I felt and saw what the character did and I was glued to the story from start to finish. I was quite sad when it ended because I wanted more of it. I hope Wong goes back to this with a full length novel because it’s hands down one of the best fantasy x horror stories I’ve read.
Selkie Stories are for Losers by Sofia Samatar | ★★
I don’t think I really understood what this story tried to achieve. It’s about a woman who works at a restaurant and whose mother disappeared. This then reminds the woman about selkies and their disappearances, and how this may affect a potential relationship with a coworker.
Tornado’s Siren by Brooke Bolander | ★★
A tornado falls in love with a girl and follows her at different points in her life, resulting in disaster each time. I loved the idea but found the execution lacking.
Left the Century to Sit Unmoved by Sarah Pinsker | ★★★
A story about a place where people jump in a pond with no certainty of ever coming back up. Some people disappear with only their clothes to leave behind, while others tempt fate and jump just to see if they’ll have the same fate or not. There’s no rhyme or reason to the disappearances and the story ultimately focuses on why people still jump in. Overall, mysterious and intriguing.
A Kiss with Teeth by Max Gladstone | ★★★★
I really liked this one. I haven’t read a vampire story after the Twilight and Shadowhunter series so this was quite refreshing. This story focuses on a vampire living his day to day life with his human family. He has to keep reminding himself things he should be doing to avoid raising suspicions, such as breathing or controlling his strength. It might sound boring and nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed Gladstone’s style of writing and really loved the ending.
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon | ★★★★★
I absolutely loved this one! Jackalopes are mythical animals from North American folklore that look like a jackrabbit with antler horns. In this story, jackalopes often have a night of dancing where they ‘shed’ their skins and look like beautiful women. A young man steals the skin of one of the jackalopes and partially burns it in the process. He then turns to his grandmother for help and I just love what Vernon writes about human nature.
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu | ★★
I could not get into the story. For some reason it just didn’t connect with me.
The Practical Witch’s Guide to Acquiring Real Estate by A. C. Wise | ★★★
This was amusing and entertaining! While there was no plot or action, I appreciated the humour in this one.
The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Davana Headley | ★★★
An adorable Valentine’s Day story about buildings falling in love and what it’s like for the people inside them to witness it all. It was predictable and a little cheesy, but I loved the idea.
The Haunting of Apollo A7LB by Hannu Rajaniemi | ★★★★
This was another favourite! An old spacesuit is haunted by its previous owner, resulting in unexpected and troublesome acts for its new owner.
Here Be Dragons by Chris Tarry | ★★
I had high hopes for this one, mainly because it was the only story that somewhat resembled epic fantasy. It focuses on two men with past reputations as ‘dragonslayers’ and what their life is like now that they’re jobless and stay-at-home dads. There was character development for one of the characters, but the ending ruined it all for me.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval | ★★★★
I loved this one too. It’s about a woman who now lives in the real world, after she lives in a world with magic. The story slowly unravels her past and what happened, and constantly touches on her struggles of wanting to go back while knowing it’s better if she doesn’t.
Tiger Baby by JY Yang | ★★
I wasn’t a fan of this one. It’s about a woman who believes her true form is that of a tiger. It sounds interesting at first, and I think it ends on a hopeful note, but something is just so sad about it all.
The Duck by Ben Loory | ★★★
A duck falls in love with a rock, and everyone makes fun of him for it. I love how this touched on themes of friendship and acceptance, and I would love to see this illustrated. Cute, touching, and impactful.
Wing by Amal El-Mohtar | ★★★★★
This was so beautiful. It’s about a girl with a necklace of a book, and people often ask her what’s written inside it. ‘It’s a secret’ she says and they often leave her after that. I love the idea of keeping parts of ourselves, our deepest dreams and desires, and waiting until the right person comes along, to see if we want to share it with them.
The Philosophers by Adam Ehrlich Sachs | ★★
Three short stories focusing on father and son relationships and the cyclical nature of passing things from one generation to another.
My Time Among the Bridge Blowers by Eugene Fischer | ★
I don’t think the story was bad, I just found it so boring that I often tuned out just for the sake of finishing it. I can’t even tell you what I got from it, because it was that unremarkable.
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado | ★★★★
This one was quite sexually explicit and as someone who’s always preferred fade-to-black scenes when it comes to sex, I often felt uncomfortable reading this. That aside though, this story was brilliant and powerful. It’s about a woman who gives everything to the men in her life, but it never seems enough. Very thought provoking ending.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik | ★★
A man is fixated on a story his grandfather told him as a boy, so he goes on a quest to find out if there’s any truth in it. I think this is the longest story in the whole collection, and it bored me the longer it went. The story had potential, but I couldn’t connect to the characters and I couldn’t care less.
This was a mixed bag of goodies with stories I loved and ones I didn’t. I also think it was more a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ kind of experience, because I just prefer a different kind of fantasy. I recommend all stories I rated 4-5 stars, of course. They’re certainly worth checking out.
jamiezaccaria's review
4.0
A pretty diverse collection overall but more of a mix of fantasy and speculative fiction rather than straight fantasy.
My favorites:
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
My favorites:
“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon
“The Philosophers” by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” by Sarah Pinsker
ericxcherish's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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
5.0
Beautiful collection of short stories, there wasn't a single one that I didn't like.
larkais's review against another edition
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
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
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
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.