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A review by history_bot
Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Winters by Wendy Nikel, Andrew Dana Hudson
4.0
**Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of this anthology from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
When I saw this title available for download on Netgalley I was ecstatic! I have been interested in and part of the Solarpunk community since around 2015, but I haven’t always managed to get my hands on the short story anthologies, so I was really excited to read this one. Of course, with any short story collection, it becomes challenging to review, since there are so many different voices and stories, but I chose to rate this book by rating each story individually, and then averaging all of them together, which came out to 3.7 stars, which I will round up to 4 stars, especially since I think the editing and order of the stories was spot on. I won’t go into every story individually, but I’ve listed each story’s rating at the end of this review.
I would like to highlight a few of my favorite stories, in order of appearance. First was The Fugue of Winter by Steve Toase. I really enjoyed the premise of this story, since it took into account things that other stories did not, like what would happen to extremely fragile wooden instruments as temperatures dropped. Within the limited word count, Toase managed to give us a strong sense of place, high stakes, and a meaningful message.
Next, Glâcehouse by R. Jean Mathieu. This is another one where the sense of place was really strong for me, and being fluent in French I also enjoyed it and thought the bilingual parts were done pretty well. In particular, I liked how this story flipped the script of many of the other stories—instead of it being set in a world in which climate change had veered toward another ice age, it explored people who tried to preserve the winters of the past in a warming future (Black Ice City also did this, but I think it was not as effective). I also liked how Mathieu left some details out, details which would have made an appearance if it were a full length novel, but which would have been extraneous in a short story (for example, why Corriveau is an ass and why he’s famous. It’s intriguing, but ultimately not as important).
The bilingual/French aspects in several of these stories really appealed to me, which leads me to my next 5-star story—On the Contrary, Yes by Catherine F. King. In this story, the Solarpunk aspects didn’t jump out at me as much as in other stories, but I really loved the characters and the situation in which they found themselves. I liked how this story featured the arts instead of the sciences, or politics, and I liked how the characters found meaning in each other’s works at the end.
The last story I’d like to highlight is Set the Ice Free by Shel Graves. This story, I’d like to see more of. I would love to see it turn into a full novel. I just think the concept is so cool—the people who choose to stay behind on Earth while others search the galaxy for another home. There were essentially two storylines in this short story, which is of course challenging with such limited space, but Graves did it really well. I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the plot. This is definitely my favorite story in the book.
All in all, I had a wonderful time with Glass and Gardens and would highly recommend. I’d be happy to talk about any of the stories more in depth, and if you’ve just finished this anthology and would like to become more active in the Solarpunk movement and would like to be a part of our Discord, let me know and I can contact a mod for you!
Wings of Glass by Wendy Nikel - 4 stars
Halps’ Promise by Holly Schofield - 3 stars
A Shawl for Janice by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan - 4 stars
The Healing by Sarah Van Goethem - 3 stars
The Fugue of Winter by Steve Toase - 5 stars
The Roots of Everything by Heather Kitzman - 4 stars
VIAM INVENIEMUS AUT FACIEMUS by Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio - 2 stars
Recovering the Lost Art of Cuddling by Tessa Fisher - 3 stars
Oil and Ivory by Jennifer Lee Rossman - 4 stars
Orchidaceae by Thomas Badlan - 3 stars
The Things That Make It Worth It by Lex T. Lindsay - 3 stars
Glâcehouse by R. Jean Mathieu - 5 stars
Snow Globe by Brian Burt - 3 stars
Rules For a Civilization by Jerri Jerreat - 4 stars
On the Contrary, Yes by Catherine F. King - 5 stars
Set the Ice Free by Shel Graves - 5 stars
Black Ice City by Andrew Dana Hudson - 3 stars
When I saw this title available for download on Netgalley I was ecstatic! I have been interested in and part of the Solarpunk community since around 2015, but I haven’t always managed to get my hands on the short story anthologies, so I was really excited to read this one. Of course, with any short story collection, it becomes challenging to review, since there are so many different voices and stories, but I chose to rate this book by rating each story individually, and then averaging all of them together, which came out to 3.7 stars, which I will round up to 4 stars, especially since I think the editing and order of the stories was spot on. I won’t go into every story individually, but I’ve listed each story’s rating at the end of this review.
I would like to highlight a few of my favorite stories, in order of appearance. First was The Fugue of Winter by Steve Toase. I really enjoyed the premise of this story, since it took into account things that other stories did not, like what would happen to extremely fragile wooden instruments as temperatures dropped. Within the limited word count, Toase managed to give us a strong sense of place, high stakes, and a meaningful message.
Next, Glâcehouse by R. Jean Mathieu. This is another one where the sense of place was really strong for me, and being fluent in French I also enjoyed it and thought the bilingual parts were done pretty well. In particular, I liked how this story flipped the script of many of the other stories—instead of it being set in a world in which climate change had veered toward another ice age, it explored people who tried to preserve the winters of the past in a warming future (Black Ice City also did this, but I think it was not as effective). I also liked how Mathieu left some details out, details which would have made an appearance if it were a full length novel, but which would have been extraneous in a short story (for example, why Corriveau is an ass and why he’s famous. It’s intriguing, but ultimately not as important).
The bilingual/French aspects in several of these stories really appealed to me, which leads me to my next 5-star story—On the Contrary, Yes by Catherine F. King. In this story, the Solarpunk aspects didn’t jump out at me as much as in other stories, but I really loved the characters and the situation in which they found themselves. I liked how this story featured the arts instead of the sciences, or politics, and I liked how the characters found meaning in each other’s works at the end.
The last story I’d like to highlight is Set the Ice Free by Shel Graves. This story, I’d like to see more of. I would love to see it turn into a full novel. I just think the concept is so cool—the people who choose to stay behind on Earth while others search the galaxy for another home. There were essentially two storylines in this short story, which is of course challenging with such limited space, but Graves did it really well. I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the plot. This is definitely my favorite story in the book.
All in all, I had a wonderful time with Glass and Gardens and would highly recommend. I’d be happy to talk about any of the stories more in depth, and if you’ve just finished this anthology and would like to become more active in the Solarpunk movement and would like to be a part of our Discord, let me know and I can contact a mod for you!
Wings of Glass by Wendy Nikel - 4 stars
Halps’ Promise by Holly Schofield - 3 stars
A Shawl for Janice by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan - 4 stars
The Healing by Sarah Van Goethem - 3 stars
The Fugue of Winter by Steve Toase - 5 stars
The Roots of Everything by Heather Kitzman - 4 stars
VIAM INVENIEMUS AUT FACIEMUS by Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio - 2 stars
Recovering the Lost Art of Cuddling by Tessa Fisher - 3 stars
Oil and Ivory by Jennifer Lee Rossman - 4 stars
Orchidaceae by Thomas Badlan - 3 stars
The Things That Make It Worth It by Lex T. Lindsay - 3 stars
Glâcehouse by R. Jean Mathieu - 5 stars
Snow Globe by Brian Burt - 3 stars
Rules For a Civilization by Jerri Jerreat - 4 stars
On the Contrary, Yes by Catherine F. King - 5 stars
Set the Ice Free by Shel Graves - 5 stars
Black Ice City by Andrew Dana Hudson - 3 stars