A review by twitchyredpen
Space Magic by David D. Levine
4.0
Disclosure: I am friends with Sara Mueller, who co-wrote the included "Falling Off the Unicorn." (I think I enjoyed it its own merits, but it's best to be honest.)
The stories in Space Magic are fantasy in a way that makes sense. Everything is "normal", except there's clicking bug-aliens. Everything is "normal", except the government has time-rewinding assassins. And the stories have a plot. Even the ones not set in this world have a tether to Earth and reality.
See, sometime after reading this, I ended up with another book of short stories that was award winning despite reading like a collection of particularly nonsensical fever-dreams. And before this, the last book of short stories I'd had was this very dense collection of characters thinking about their families and considering whether they should fish. So if you're avoiding short stories because they're boring or just too weird, I understand where you're coming from, and suggest this instead! The stories are not boring, and are a perfect level of weird!
The stories in Space Magic are fantasy in a way that makes sense. Everything is "normal", except there's clicking bug-aliens. Everything is "normal", except the government has time-rewinding assassins. And the stories have a plot. Even the ones not set in this world have a tether to Earth and reality.
See, sometime after reading this, I ended up with another book of short stories that was award winning despite reading like a collection of particularly nonsensical fever-dreams. And before this, the last book of short stories I'd had was this very dense collection of characters thinking about their families and considering whether they should fish. So if you're avoiding short stories because they're boring or just too weird, I understand where you're coming from, and suggest this instead! The stories are not boring, and are a perfect level of weird!