A review by elusivity
Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2012 edition by David G. Hartwell, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Liz Gorinsky
4.0
I enjoyed almost all of the short stories in this collection.
Dormana - Gene Wolfe. 4 STARS. So simple, so sweet.
Portrait of Lisane de Patagnia - Rachel Swirsky. 3.5 STARS. In an alternate Renaissance Italy, art is combination of paint and magic. To paint something with magic is to destroy it. Lisane was famous for her painting and bed-hopping, as she taught and slept with most of her pupils then discarded them when they proved mediocre. The magic itself is interesting, but this is mostly a vivid analogy of what it takes to get over an intensely painful love.
The Mongolian Wizard - Michael Swanwick. 4 STARS. Very enjoyable alternative fin-de-siecle world in which the aristocracy were all wizards. War is looming on the horizon, yet
A Tall Tail - Charles Stross. Found this one boring.
The Ghosts of Christmas - Paul Cornell. 3.5 STARS
The Finite Canvas - Brit Mandelo. 3 STARS Straight-forward story. A syndicate killer woman requests scar flowers be carved into her arm, to commemorate the death of her lover, whom she killed.
Am I Free to Go? - Kathryn Cramer. 4 STARS. A neuro-atypical mind hides in plain sight, fighting attempts to make her neurotypical.
About Fairies - Pat Murphy. 4 STARS. Almost no magic in this one. Fairy myth and lore, speculation, musing interweaves normal life. A woman finds a mirror in the woods and imagines it is gateway to fairyland.
Our Human - Adam-Troy Castro. 4 STARS. As always with this writer, amazingly conceived, truly inhuman aliens. As well, sordid sexuality, and horrific ways to die. Entertaining read.
Faster Gun - Elizabeth Bear. 3 STARS
Dormana - Gene Wolfe. 4 STARS. So simple, so sweet.
Spoiler
A tiny little alien visits a little human girl for one day, on its journey of knowledge gathering.Portrait of Lisane de Patagnia - Rachel Swirsky. 3.5 STARS. In an alternate Renaissance Italy, art is combination of paint and magic. To paint something with magic is to destroy it. Lisane was famous for her painting and bed-hopping, as she taught and slept with most of her pupils then discarded them when they proved mediocre.
Spoiler
As she lay dying, she calls upon her most magically-talented (but not so artistically) to paint her.The Mongolian Wizard - Michael Swanwick. 4 STARS. Very enjoyable alternative fin-de-siecle world in which the aristocracy were all wizards. War is looming on the horizon, yet
A Tall Tail - Charles Stross. Found this one boring.
The Ghosts of Christmas - Paul Cornell. 3.5 STARS
Spoiler
Pregnant scientist invents time travel -- can only travel into one's own past and future, and only for one day of the years. As she traveled into the past, the past changed, and as the adult woman peeked through the child's eye she was a spooky child to her parents, which explained why their relationship was always tense. Then she went forward into the future, and... maybe... ruined her relationship with her daughter...The Finite Canvas - Brit Mandelo. 3 STARS Straight-forward story. A syndicate killer woman requests scar flowers be carved into her arm, to commemorate the death of her lover, whom she killed.
Am I Free to Go? - Kathryn Cramer. 4 STARS. A neuro-atypical mind hides in plain sight, fighting attempts to make her neurotypical.
About Fairies - Pat Murphy. 4 STARS. Almost no magic in this one. Fairy myth and lore, speculation, musing interweaves normal life. A woman finds a mirror in the woods and imagines it is gateway to fairyland.
Our Human - Adam-Troy Castro. 4 STARS. As always with this writer, amazingly conceived, truly inhuman aliens. As well, sordid sexuality, and horrific ways to die. Entertaining read.
Faster Gun - Elizabeth Bear. 3 STARS