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iamrainbou's review
2.0
huge disappointment, I even hated some of these stories and I didn’t particularly care for any of these characters, very annoyed but how white this is. It wasn’t a memorable anthology, I only remember like pieces of some of these stories. Nothing against the authors, but I didn’t like this one.
apostrophen's review
5.0
Loved this so much I'm going to revisit it week by week for Sunday Shorts.
First up? "More Than Anything," by Eden S. French.
First up? "More Than Anything," by Eden S. French.
sofinch's review
4.0
3.5 stars. Some highlights from my notes on the stories I felt most strongly about -
"miss me with that gay shit (please don't)" (Sacha Lamb)- Loved! Believable, charming interactions & characters, a satisfying feel-good conclusion that doesn't read as cheesy because the characters are so young. Feels natural & persuasively true, and the depiction of Jewish American youth culture rings particularly true.
(also this quote: "I was too busy trying to think of ways I could defeat Nick and steal his body for my own, leaving his dumb ass stranded in the fourth dimension.")
"Gifts of Spring" (Shira Glassman) - I had several issues with this one, but the major one is that I don't know what genre this was meant to be. Obviously genre is constructed and things can fit into multiple categories, but the issue here is that this was different genres at different times, which was jarring. It starts put as realistic fantasy (i.e. not a fairytale), then launches into a fairytale construction as the characters have multiple similar encounters along the road, and then goes right into lite erotica in the last third. There are definitely ways of combining these genres successfully but I don't think this is it.
"First Light at Dawn" (Nyri Bakkalian)- Lots of the goodreads reviewers loved this one - I did not. While the issues addressed are ripe with possibilities for a great story, this is not it. First, it's barely epistolary- one single long letter to a person that doesn't figure into the narrative of the story at ALL is a shaky ground for this story.
Second, this would be a great letter to a friend. However, as it's written, it's not a great fiction story meant for an audience/readership. The narrative is disjointed but not in a way that is guided by any internal logic- it's just the fictional letter-writer's stream of thoughts. She presents a great snapshot of what her life is like to her friend, but this is not particularly interesting to read as an actual reader, as conflict is buried and there's no sense of connection between the letter writer and the recipient, meaning any tension that might exist is buried.
Episotlary stories work because the writer needs something from the recipient -that's where all the tension and conflict come from, not from just recounting things that have happened - and that isn't present in this story. If Kate needs something from Hannah - if there is a purpose in writing her this letter other than "let's catch up"- it doesn't make it to the page.
"Dragons Do Not" (Evelyn Deshane) - What a great title. Loved this one!! Wonderful weaving in of different elements - the dragons, disability & politics, queerness & transness, ideas of knowing yourself and caring to listen to others to know them as well. My only issue is that this doesn't feel like a story that fully stands on its own- it feels like the first chapter of something at least slightly longer.
"Planchette" (Carolyn Gage) - Love love loved this one. Strong characters - one of my favorite tropes is "two people thrown together who don't get along, but the layers peel back over time and they realize how much they have in common and like each other." I thought the Rev./father's part in it was excessive in the heavy-handed gender roles doctrine (we get it, it's oppressive), and I'm certain a rewrite that doesn't even include him being a seen character (perhaps just a voice from offstage) would be possible and would make the play more efficient.
Quite a few goodreads reviewers didn't like this one for the darker content and the play format, but I found both important. First, I love reading plays, and thought this one was particularly well written - the use of the single space even as characters move in and out of it is lovely. Second, I disagree with the notion that the story doesn't fit into a collection of queer stories with happy endings because it is so dark - darkness and fear are things we still encounter when we are happy, and we can still find happiness in the face of darkness and fear.
"Birthday Landscapes" (E H Timms) - I liked this nice representation of a family created out of an aromantic mutual arrangement - however the way terminology is used seems jarring in context of a medieval fantasy, ESPECIALLY the casual use of the word "alloro" which took me a minute to remember what that was because of the setting and genre of the story. I also felt the ending was very weak - the author built up such a strong, rich world and set of characters in a short amount of time only to fall flat in the last few paragraphs.
"A Gallant Rescue" (A. P. Raymond) - Reminds me of the expansive world of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series - diverse and imaginative genders, sexualities, types of relationships, as well as complex political/social situations. Nicely plotted and serves as an intriguing glimpse into the world created here- however, as it's a short story, there isn't a lot of room for developing everything, so where the author spends time developing the structure of the planet (which I still found confusing & unclear even after so much description of the buildings) and the social climate, they miss out on opportunities to develop their characters. I would have preferred this, as what drives the plot is the characters' bonds and relationships with each other. Still a sweet and satisfying story.
"miss me with that gay shit (please don't)" (Sacha Lamb)- Loved! Believable, charming interactions & characters, a satisfying feel-good conclusion that doesn't read as cheesy because the characters are so young. Feels natural & persuasively true, and the depiction of Jewish American youth culture rings particularly true.
(also this quote: "I was too busy trying to think of ways I could defeat Nick and steal his body for my own, leaving his dumb ass stranded in the fourth dimension.")
"Gifts of Spring" (Shira Glassman) - I had several issues with this one, but the major one is that I don't know what genre this was meant to be. Obviously genre is constructed and things can fit into multiple categories, but the issue here is that this was different genres at different times, which was jarring. It starts put as realistic fantasy (i.e. not a fairytale), then launches into a fairytale construction as the characters have multiple similar encounters along the road, and then goes right into lite erotica in the last third. There are definitely ways of combining these genres successfully but I don't think this is it.
"First Light at Dawn" (Nyri Bakkalian)- Lots of the goodreads reviewers loved this one - I did not. While the issues addressed are ripe with possibilities for a great story, this is not it. First, it's barely epistolary- one single long letter to a person that doesn't figure into the narrative of the story at ALL is a shaky ground for this story.
Second, this would be a great letter to a friend. However, as it's written, it's not a great fiction story meant for an audience/readership. The narrative is disjointed but not in a way that is guided by any internal logic- it's just the fictional letter-writer's stream of thoughts. She presents a great snapshot of what her life is like to her friend, but this is not particularly interesting to read as an actual reader, as conflict is buried and there's no sense of connection between the letter writer and the recipient, meaning any tension that might exist is buried.
Episotlary stories work because the writer needs something from the recipient -that's where all the tension and conflict come from, not from just recounting things that have happened - and that isn't present in this story. If Kate needs something from Hannah - if there is a purpose in writing her this letter other than "let's catch up"- it doesn't make it to the page.
"Dragons Do Not" (Evelyn Deshane) - What a great title. Loved this one!! Wonderful weaving in of different elements - the dragons, disability & politics, queerness & transness, ideas of knowing yourself and caring to listen to others to know them as well. My only issue is that this doesn't feel like a story that fully stands on its own- it feels like the first chapter of something at least slightly longer.
"Planchette" (Carolyn Gage) - Love love loved this one. Strong characters - one of my favorite tropes is "two people thrown together who don't get along, but the layers peel back over time and they realize how much they have in common and like each other." I thought the Rev./father's part in it was excessive in the heavy-handed gender roles doctrine (we get it, it's oppressive), and I'm certain a rewrite that doesn't even include him being a seen character (perhaps just a voice from offstage) would be possible and would make the play more efficient.
Quite a few goodreads reviewers didn't like this one for the darker content and the play format, but I found both important. First, I love reading plays, and thought this one was particularly well written - the use of the single space even as characters move in and out of it is lovely. Second, I disagree with the notion that the story doesn't fit into a collection of queer stories with happy endings because it is so dark - darkness and fear are things we still encounter when we are happy, and we can still find happiness in the face of darkness and fear.
"Birthday Landscapes" (E H Timms) - I liked this nice representation of a family created out of an aromantic mutual arrangement - however the way terminology is used seems jarring in context of a medieval fantasy, ESPECIALLY the casual use of the word "alloro" which took me a minute to remember what that was because of the setting and genre of the story. I also felt the ending was very weak - the author built up such a strong, rich world and set of characters in a short amount of time only to fall flat in the last few paragraphs.
"A Gallant Rescue" (A. P. Raymond) - Reminds me of the expansive world of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series - diverse and imaginative genders, sexualities, types of relationships, as well as complex political/social situations. Nicely plotted and serves as an intriguing glimpse into the world created here- however, as it's a short story, there isn't a lot of room for developing everything, so where the author spends time developing the structure of the planet (which I still found confusing & unclear even after so much description of the buildings) and the social climate, they miss out on opportunities to develop their characters. I would have preferred this, as what drives the plot is the characters' bonds and relationships with each other. Still a sweet and satisfying story.
misssleepless's review
4.0
I think the first three stories and the one with the dragons were my favourites but I liked all of the stories
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