What a fun ode to one of my favorite movies. Seriously, who came up with this idea? It’s great. For the fortieth anniversary of Star Wars (now ponderously titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), forty authors who are Star Wars- or nerd-adjacent take side or peripheral characters from the original film and write short stories from their perspectives. These stories are all told in chronological order, from the death of the captain of the Tantive IV all the way to the awards ceremony at the end of the […]
Apparently Santa leaves the ass-kicking to his wife
So, this is the second time I’ve received an ARC and am reading and posting my review after the publication date. Oops. To be fair, I kept looking for this one in my email, but I somehow missed it. But then I found it, so here we go! Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say is an anthology of short stories all about Mrs. Claus. So, perfect for the holiday season! Rhonda Parrish was inspired by an ad she saw about a non-traditional Mrs. […]
Myth, history and culture collide
Ho Lin’s short story anthology was an interesting read. Each tale aimed to shed light on random moments from varying points of view. He pulls in the reader with unexpected juxtapositions of settings and tone. The collection exudes emotion as if the stories were collective memories meshed together. He rarely delves deep into any specific narratives. The stories bounced between Asia and American even within the same story. We meet an American ex-Pat in China, then a host of characters in San Francisco, while another […]
An Earworm of an Anthology
When You’re Strange edited by Sarah Vestal and Danne Boyd (2017) – I’m not sure what’s going on with the cover, but the stories in this themed anthology dramatically bring out the differences and similarities in all of us. Whether you’re an Alice tasked with tracking escapees in the real world, a young collector of souls who foolishly believes wars will be over soon, a young water witch marrying a fire warlock, or a trio of friends trapped in a video game, this collection of […]
Pick Your Poison!
Pick Your Poison – A Short Story Anthology edited by Emma Nelson and Hannah Smith (2017) – Just in time for Halloween comes a short story collection with a clever theme: toxins. Whether venomous snakes, raw almonds, quiet magic, or death by any of the other twenty-five poisonous tales in this collection, there’s a fitting demise for everyone. As with most anthologies I review, I’ll pick out several of the sterling tales that caught my squeamish attention. But all the stories are clever, well-written, and […]
Seven novellas, all are good, two are excellent.
Seven Stones to Stand or Fall is a 500ish page collection of (mostly) novellas set in Gabaldon’s Outlander universe. All but two of the novellas were previously published in short story anthologies. The remaining two are new. I do not recommend picking up this collection if you aren’t already a fan of the books. Most of the stories would be entertaining enough to read, but you’re not going to get optimal enjoyment out of them without the context of the main series (or the Lord John […]
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