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wealhtheow's review
3.0
Lesbian speculative fiction, most of it very good.
My favorites:
"To Follow the Waves" by Amal El-Mohtar. Hessa is a dream-crafter, but when someone commissions her to create a dream of the sea, she is at a loss. She doesn't like the sea, or salt water, or beaches. Her art at a stand-still, Hessa goes to a cafe for a break--and there sees a woman so desirable that Hessa is truly inspired for the first time. Beautifully told, with an emotionally complex plot. I've never read anything like it.
"Ours is the Prettiest," by Nalo Hopkinson, is a wonderful mixture of urban and fairy, set in Bordertown.
"D is for Delicious," by Steve Berman is the tale of one school nurse's struggle between starvation and eating children. It's delightfully macabre.
"God in the Sky" by An Awomoyela. A new and unexplained astronomical phenomenon appears, and an astronomer tries to work out what to think. Thoughtful without being preachy or clear-cut.
My least favorite:
"Feedback" by Lindy Cameron is hackneyed old-school cyberpunk. Nothing feels believable, the main character has basically no personality beyond "would-be noir," and the writing is clunky and hard to follow, with more than its fair share of imaginary "futuristic" slang.
My favorites:
"To Follow the Waves" by Amal El-Mohtar. Hessa is a dream-crafter, but when someone commissions her to create a dream of the sea, she is at a loss. She doesn't like the sea, or salt water, or beaches. Her art at a stand-still, Hessa goes to a cafe for a break--and there sees a woman so desirable that Hessa is truly inspired for the first time. Beautifully told, with an emotionally complex plot. I've never read anything like it.
"Ours is the Prettiest," by Nalo Hopkinson, is a wonderful mixture of urban and fairy, set in Bordertown.
"D is for Delicious," by Steve Berman is the tale of one school nurse's struggle between starvation and eating children. It's delightfully macabre.
"God in the Sky" by An Awomoyela. A new and unexplained astronomical phenomenon appears, and an astronomer tries to work out what to think. Thoughtful without being preachy or clear-cut.
My least favorite:
"Feedback" by Lindy Cameron is hackneyed old-school cyberpunk. Nothing feels believable, the main character has basically no personality beyond "would-be noir," and the writing is clunky and hard to follow, with more than its fair share of imaginary "futuristic" slang.
corrie's review
5.0
I love the Heiresses of Russ anthologies. This is the second one in the series (they started in 2011) and all novella-length stories included are the best of what speculative fiction has to offer that year.
There is pure science fiction with Feedback by Lindy Cameron - a hard-edged novella of far-future technology, crime, and law enforcement, God in the Sky by An Owomoyela - about an unexplained astronomical phenomenon and The Thick Night by Sunny Moraine - where African villagers in need of aid are sent automatons instead of Peace Corps workers to help them farm their land.
We have steampunk, like In Orbit by Katherine Fabian - that deals with the construction of orreries as balance wheels for the creation of golems, Amphitrite by S.L. Knapp - where a mermaid aids a female submarine pilot escape to safe waters and To Follow the Waves by Amal El-Mohtar where the protagonist imbues crystals with dreams-made-to-order by means of the traditional art of gem-cutting.
There’s urban fantasy with Tides of the Heart by David D. Levine - where a plumber who possesses superpowers when it comes to water in pipes rescues a figure from classical mythology, while Daniel by Emily Moreton is a traditional pirate tale with weather-magic thrown in.
The more magical (witchy) stories are Thirteen Incantations by Desirina Malkovitch - two teenaged girls sample magical memory spells formulated into exquisite (and exquisitely described) perfumes, Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness by Lisa Nohealani Morton - a far future science fiction, with spaceports and law-enforcement “Angels” wearing technological wings and laser eyes in a repressive dystopian culture; and witchcraft, with a protagonist who gains strength from the hair she cuts and styles so skillfully for her customers and Ours Is the Prettiest by Nalo Hopkinson about an otherworldly carnival.
La Caída by Anna Meadows is a vampire story about a fallen angel and a family of sisters in Mexico with their own tradition of using their inherited taste for blood to punish the evil rather than corrupt the good.
And some real supernatural horror with The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven by Laird Barron a brooding and foreboding werewolf story and D is for Delicious by Steve Berman where a retired schoolteacher discovers the benefits of being a witch.
There are 6 anthologies available on Scribd, don’t miss out.
f/f
Themes: superb storytelling
5 stars
There is pure science fiction with Feedback by Lindy Cameron - a hard-edged novella of far-future technology, crime, and law enforcement, God in the Sky by An Owomoyela - about an unexplained astronomical phenomenon and The Thick Night by Sunny Moraine - where African villagers in need of aid are sent automatons instead of Peace Corps workers to help them farm their land.
We have steampunk, like In Orbit by Katherine Fabian - that deals with the construction of orreries as balance wheels for the creation of golems, Amphitrite by S.L. Knapp - where a mermaid aids a female submarine pilot escape to safe waters and To Follow the Waves by Amal El-Mohtar where the protagonist imbues crystals with dreams-made-to-order by means of the traditional art of gem-cutting.
There’s urban fantasy with Tides of the Heart by David D. Levine - where a plumber who possesses superpowers when it comes to water in pipes rescues a figure from classical mythology, while Daniel by Emily Moreton is a traditional pirate tale with weather-magic thrown in.
The more magical (witchy) stories are Thirteen Incantations by Desirina Malkovitch - two teenaged girls sample magical memory spells formulated into exquisite (and exquisitely described) perfumes, Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness by Lisa Nohealani Morton - a far future science fiction, with spaceports and law-enforcement “Angels” wearing technological wings and laser eyes in a repressive dystopian culture; and witchcraft, with a protagonist who gains strength from the hair she cuts and styles so skillfully for her customers and Ours Is the Prettiest by Nalo Hopkinson about an otherworldly carnival.
La Caída by Anna Meadows is a vampire story about a fallen angel and a family of sisters in Mexico with their own tradition of using their inherited taste for blood to punish the evil rather than corrupt the good.
And some real supernatural horror with The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven by Laird Barron a brooding and foreboding werewolf story and D is for Delicious by Steve Berman where a retired schoolteacher discovers the benefits of being a witch.
There are 6 anthologies available on Scribd, don’t miss out.
f/f
Themes: superb storytelling
5 stars
tregina's review
3.0
I liked this collection well enough. And I don't mean that to sound lukewarm when I say it—I genuinely enjoyed it and I am very glad this series exists. There actually weren't any stories I disliked...but also really only a couple that were something special for me.
coffeeandink's review
3.0
Disappointing. The only story I loved was Amal el-Mohtar's "To Follow the Waves" and balancing it out was a story I -- well, I didn't hate it, but I intensely disliked it: "Feedback" by Lindy Cameron. I loved "To Follow the Waves" when I first read it in Joselle Vanderhooft's Steam-powered and was glad to see it here; a dream-crafter falls in love with her own creation (the issues of consent here are handled well) . "Feedback" is cumbered by exposition-heavy dialogue in which the characters sound like encyclopedia entries, and the narrator is a bigot who feels justified in using ablist insults as long as the other person makes an ablist insult to her first (different disabilities). The story does not appear to question this. It also elides the same significant consent issues "To Follow the Waves" examines.
The rest of the stories are decent but unexceptional. I suspected that Wilkins' taste would not accord with mine when the other story she selected from Steam-Powered was S.L. Knapp's "Amphitrite," not Shweta Narayan's "The Padishah Begum's Reflections". I would recommend both last year's volume (also co-edited by Joselle Vanderhooft) or Steam-Powered 1-2 over this if you're looking for a strong collection of recent lesbian speculative fiction.
The rest of the stories are decent but unexceptional. I suspected that Wilkins' taste would not accord with mine when the other story she selected from Steam-Powered was S.L. Knapp's "Amphitrite," not Shweta Narayan's "The Padishah Begum's Reflections". I would recommend both last year's volume (also co-edited by Joselle Vanderhooft) or Steam-Powered 1-2 over this if you're looking for a strong collection of recent lesbian speculative fiction.
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