A review by braynard
Community of Magic Pens by Robert Kingett, Andrew K Hoe, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Gerri Leen, Lorraine Schein, M. Kaur, Adam Kissel, Mikko Rauhala, Avery Montavon, Rai Rocca, Ether Nepenthes, Jannae' Sifontes, Holly Schofield, Lawrence Miller, Ava Kelly, Vijay Varman, Z. Ahmad, E.D.E. Bell, Joy Givens, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Stella B. James, J.S. Bailey, Elizabeth Shaffer, Beth Goder, Dawn Vogel, Kella Campbell, Anthony W. Eichenlaub, M. R. DeLuca, Minerva Cerridwen, Zig Zag Claybourne, Victoria Hollis, Gustavo Bondoni, A. P. Howell, Robert Perez, Jennifer Lee Rossman, K. Alysee Simon, Lena Ng, Nicole J. LeBoeuf, N.R. Lambert, Ethan Hedman

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

  Like most writers, I have a deep love for all things stationary. I have always had a large stack of pretty notebooks waiting for me to use. There has always been crayons and pencils and pens begging for my attention. And I love a good fountain pen. So, when I saw a book about pens at my local comic con, I was hooked. 
  
I had high hopes for this short story collection—a combination of my own love and the book seller’s sales tactics. Unfortunately, this fell quite short of my expectations. 

“Community of Magic Pens” is a short story anthology all centered around the idea of pens and how they impact our lives. Most of the stories take the term “magic pens” literally, meaning that most are fantasy or science fiction. 

To be honest, I think the requirement to focus on pens is where the problem started. A magic pen would be an interesting item to add to a larger piece, but making it the center point of a story means that the conflict had to revolve around the pen. Pens are beautiful and useful and lovely, but they are not narratively interesting. Most stories ended up falling back on a simple internal conflict—usually the main character struggling to write—that was solved by the pen being amazing or magical in some way. Basically, they all ended up being “Believe in yourself and you can do anything!” stories. And these kinds of stories get very old, very fast. 

This issue was no doubt worsened by the project format and goal. It is a collection of short stories designed to show readers how much writers love their pens. The short story format meant that the writers had limited time and space to explore their ideas, which meant any deeper implications had to be ignored in favor of a complete narrative arc. The emphasis on loving pens means that the stories had to show the pens in a positive light. No particularly dangerous or harmful pens were shown. This means that writers had to fall back on simplistic plots and world building. 

I am not upset that I read this collection. I think that the idea behind it was poorly thought out but chosen with all the best intention. I also think that younger readers might appreciate the simple plots more than me, so it is a good option if you have kids who love pens. That said, I will not reread it anytime soon.