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lsparrow's review against another edition
4.0
loved this collection of tales. each different from each other in style, world and character.
tocy777's review against another edition
3.0
The Third Bear was my absolute favourite by Jeff Vandermeer
sonofthe's review against another edition
4.0
Very good collection. Sets a strong tone for the types of stories Clarkesworld publishes. The opening four stories all had often disturbing sexual content, but it was all integral to the stories.
There were a few stand-outs for me. I've included links so you can read the individual stories online at the Clarkesworld website.
Clockmaker's Requiem by Barth Anderson posited an interesting alternate history to the origin of clocks. The way the story jumped about in a slightly confusing way was quite fitting to the subject. Delightful.
The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer tells the story of how the village of Grommin and its elder, Horley, deal with an other-worldly threat that has come to prowl in the woods. VanderMeer creates a grim picture of retribution with tones of German fairy-tales. He's more subtle and ambiguous than Jacob and Wilhelm, and incorporates more modern sensibilities and weirdness. Excellent.
The Ape's Wife by Caitlin R. Kiernan gives us a retelling of a modern myth, mixing in elements of ancient ones. There's depth here to be explored in repeat readings. What Kiernan does with time on the island and with Ms. Darrow makes for an excellent look into untold aspects of the famous story.
Lots of the stories have elements that stick in my imagination. Here are just a few.
304, Adolph Hitler Strasse by Lavie Tidhar explores a fun way to tell a story and pokes some fun and modern fandom and slash fiction. It was ultimately too grim to be excellent for me, given the Nazi holocaust references etc., but I suspect it'll be poignant for others.
Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear gave a delightful alternate take on the dragon myths. The musical dragons, modern setting, and communion with ancestors made for some memorable imagery.
Chewing Up the Innocent by Jay Lake tells of an artist who has to choose between family and talent. This one was haunting and thought-provoking, but there weren't any SF elements and it seemed most applicable to creatives. Still, on its own, it's worth a read.
Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben was probably the shortest story in the anthology, and the second about mermaids. It was applicably disturbing and left some questions which embed the story in the mind.
There's No Light Between Floors by Paul G. Tremblay was a haunting tale of disaster victims in the heat of the moment. At first I was afraid it would be set during the WTC collapses (which would have been worse for me), but it was a different setting. Good food for thought.
Moon Over Yodok by David Charlton takes a mythic look at the Oh family during their internment at the North Korean prison camp, Yodok. The setting combined with the mythic elements make for a meaningful story.
There are other good ones in here. Altogether, the stories make me look forward to reading more of the yearly collections and the zine itself.
There's one main weakness here, present in only a handful of the stories. They are ultimately applicable to other writers, so I'm not sure if they've got much broad appeal. Most don't suffer this weakness, though, so it's more than worth the read.
For my initial reactions to each story, see my status updates for this book.
There were a few stand-outs for me. I've included links so you can read the individual stories online at the Clarkesworld website.
Clockmaker's Requiem by Barth Anderson posited an interesting alternate history to the origin of clocks. The way the story jumped about in a slightly confusing way was quite fitting to the subject. Delightful.
The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer tells the story of how the village of Grommin and its elder, Horley, deal with an other-worldly threat that has come to prowl in the woods. VanderMeer creates a grim picture of retribution with tones of German fairy-tales. He's more subtle and ambiguous than Jacob and Wilhelm, and incorporates more modern sensibilities and weirdness. Excellent.
The Ape's Wife by Caitlin R. Kiernan gives us a retelling of a modern myth, mixing in elements of ancient ones. There's depth here to be explored in repeat readings. What Kiernan does with time on the island and with Ms. Darrow makes for an excellent look into untold aspects of the famous story.
Lots of the stories have elements that stick in my imagination. Here are just a few.
304, Adolph Hitler Strasse by Lavie Tidhar explores a fun way to tell a story and pokes some fun and modern fandom and slash fiction. It was ultimately too grim to be excellent for me, given the Nazi holocaust references etc., but I suspect it'll be poignant for others.
Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear gave a delightful alternate take on the dragon myths. The musical dragons, modern setting, and communion with ancestors made for some memorable imagery.
Chewing Up the Innocent by Jay Lake tells of an artist who has to choose between family and talent. This one was haunting and thought-provoking, but there weren't any SF elements and it seemed most applicable to creatives. Still, on its own, it's worth a read.
Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben was probably the shortest story in the anthology, and the second about mermaids. It was applicably disturbing and left some questions which embed the story in the mind.
There's No Light Between Floors by Paul G. Tremblay was a haunting tale of disaster victims in the heat of the moment. At first I was afraid it would be set during the WTC collapses (which would have been worse for me), but it was a different setting. Good food for thought.
Moon Over Yodok by David Charlton takes a mythic look at the Oh family during their internment at the North Korean prison camp, Yodok. The setting combined with the mythic elements make for a meaningful story.
There are other good ones in here. Altogether, the stories make me look forward to reading more of the yearly collections and the zine itself.
There's one main weakness here, present in only a handful of the stories. They are ultimately applicable to other writers, so I'm not sure if they've got much broad appeal. Most don't suffer this weakness, though, so it's more than worth the read.
For my initial reactions to each story, see my status updates for this book.
theknightswhosaybook's review
2.0
(2.5) Anthologies are always tricky to review as a whole, but this one is harder than most. There's such a wide range of stories — some I loved, some that bored me, some that horrified me.
Out of the 24 stories there were five that I deemed worthy to name my favorites:
Urchins, While Sleeping by Catherynne M. Valente
The Other Amazon by Jenny Davidson
Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear
Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben
I'll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said by Cat Rambo
I do recommend reading those if you happen to come across this book the way I did (Other Amazon, Orm, and Manticore especially!), but I personally didn't enjoy the collection much as a whole. There was one story much scarier than I would like, some hard themes to swallow — good things for plenty of people, I'm sure, just not for me.
One story in particular was a bit... shocking, I guess? 304 Adolph Hitler Strasse by Lavie Tidhar is about (from what I can tell) a German man from an alternate universe where Germany won WWII who enjoys writing antisemitic erotica. Yeah, that's the premise of the story. Underneath how purposefully gross the story is there's probably a cutting condemnation of antisemitism and romanticization of the holocaust but personally, all I think is that if someone had let me know what the story was going to be about I would have skipped it and been happier for it. Sometimes you just don't want to read that. But hey, maybe you in particular do.
Out of the 24 stories there were five that I deemed worthy to name my favorites:
Urchins, While Sleeping by Catherynne M. Valente
The Other Amazon by Jenny Davidson
Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear
Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben
I'll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said by Cat Rambo
I do recommend reading those if you happen to come across this book the way I did (Other Amazon, Orm, and Manticore especially!), but I personally didn't enjoy the collection much as a whole. There was one story much scarier than I would like, some hard themes to swallow — good things for plenty of people, I'm sure, just not for me.
One story in particular was a bit... shocking, I guess? 304 Adolph Hitler Strasse by Lavie Tidhar is about (from what I can tell) a German man from an alternate universe where Germany won WWII who enjoys writing antisemitic erotica. Yeah, that's the premise of the story. Underneath how purposefully gross the story is there's probably a cutting condemnation of antisemitism and romanticization of the holocaust but personally, all I think is that if someone had let me know what the story was going to be about I would have skipped it and been happier for it. Sometimes you just don't want to read that. But hey, maybe you in particular do.
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