November, Sharyn, ed. - Firebirds
Tue, Dec. 30th, 2003 02:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterA nice batch of short stories that provided me with a few more names to look out for.
There was usually something I liked about every story. Particularly striking stories for me were:
- Delia Sherman's "Cotillion," an interesting take on Tam Lin in the 60s. I loved the blend of Faerie and music (which is pretty normal) and debutante ball of the 60s (which is definitely not).
- I loved the idea of Megan Whalen Turner's "Baby in the Night Deposit Box" and the details of growing up in a bank.
- Although I didn't fall in love with "Mariposa," the first few lines made me put down the book and giggle: "I've lost my soul?" Aimee repeated, almost losing her usual perfect control. The doctor nodded. "I think so. Probably in early adolescence. It happens more commonly than you might think." It sounds like such a Buffyverse type thing.
- Lloyd Alexander's "Max Mondrosch" creeped me out because that's how I felt during the job hunt, and so I don't think I'll be rereading that one for quite some time.
- Charles Vess is never bad.
- Really loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Byndley," a lovely faerie story that is near-traditional, with gorgeous language.
- I smiled the entire way through Kara Dalkey's "The Lady of the Ice Garden" for the sheer love of it and the weaving in of Japanese myth. IMHO, it's so hard to do Asian cross-over fantasies right, because too often the characters sound like Zen Masters or totally humble: "This unworthy person blah blah blah." Makes me roll my eyes. Technically, it might be a good translation, but I can never get over the awkwardness of it and the feeling of exoticism/fetishization. This lovely little story managed to perfectly weave in The Snow Queen with Heian Japan by only subtly alluding to the culture without having to shove it into the reader's face. And I loved the ending ^_^.
- Garth Nix's "Hope Chest" has been living in my head for a few days, even though (or most likely, precisely because) it scared the hell out of me and I desperately want it out of my head. Good story, creepy as hell.
- DWJ's "Little Dot," highly enjoyable, like all DWJ =). And, great cat voice.
Still very excited about the new imprint ^_^.
Links:
-![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
rilina's review
There was usually something I liked about every story. Particularly striking stories for me were:
- Delia Sherman's "Cotillion," an interesting take on Tam Lin in the 60s. I loved the blend of Faerie and music (which is pretty normal) and debutante ball of the 60s (which is definitely not).
- I loved the idea of Megan Whalen Turner's "Baby in the Night Deposit Box" and the details of growing up in a bank.
- Although I didn't fall in love with "Mariposa," the first few lines made me put down the book and giggle: "I've lost my soul?" Aimee repeated, almost losing her usual perfect control. The doctor nodded. "I think so. Probably in early adolescence. It happens more commonly than you might think." It sounds like such a Buffyverse type thing.
- Lloyd Alexander's "Max Mondrosch" creeped me out because that's how I felt during the job hunt, and so I don't think I'll be rereading that one for quite some time.
- Charles Vess is never bad.
- Really loved Patricia A. McKillip's "Byndley," a lovely faerie story that is near-traditional, with gorgeous language.
- I smiled the entire way through Kara Dalkey's "The Lady of the Ice Garden" for the sheer love of it and the weaving in of Japanese myth. IMHO, it's so hard to do Asian cross-over fantasies right, because too often the characters sound like Zen Masters or totally humble: "This unworthy person blah blah blah." Makes me roll my eyes. Technically, it might be a good translation, but I can never get over the awkwardness of it and the feeling of exoticism/fetishization. This lovely little story managed to perfectly weave in The Snow Queen with Heian Japan by only subtly alluding to the culture without having to shove it into the reader's face. And I loved the ending ^_^.
- Garth Nix's "Hope Chest" has been living in my head for a few days, even though (or most likely, precisely because) it scared the hell out of me and I desperately want it out of my head. Good story, creepy as hell.
- DWJ's "Little Dot," highly enjoyable, like all DWJ =). And, great cat voice.
Still very excited about the new imprint ^_^.
Links:
-
rilina's review
Spamming your LJ
Wed, Dec. 31st, 2003 03:03 am (UTC)There are only two Sagamore books, which may be why you feel like you can't find the entire trilogy. ;) I don't like them, though; I don't think Dalkey is at her best with comedy.
I agree with you *entirely* about *Dragonsbane*. I think it is her best book. I read the first two sequels and have done my best to wipe them from my memory. *Sisters of the Raven* is just okay; I offer it as a subject rec and not a book rec, if that makes sense.
Midori Snyder hasn't done a novel with Asian influences yet, although there are some in her Bordertown stories.
Oh! Asian dragon book -- have you read R.A. MacAvoy's *Tea with the Black Dragon*? I have very mixed feelings about the sequel, *Twisting the Rope*, but *Tea with the Black Dragon* has a Chinese dragon in it and is wonderful.
There is a little more fantasy if you widen Asian to include Indian or Polynesian (you could even get Earthsea in, since the Archipelagans are racially Polynesian), but there still isn't a lot. The other Chinese SF novel I know about is Paul McAuley's *Red Dust* (Chinese cowboys on Mars), but I haven't read it yet. And an SF novel that was translated *from* Chinese was recently published by Columbia, I think, but I haven't given it much of a look because it's only in a fairly expensive hardcover.
Oh -- there's that Chung Ko series by David Wingrove which I've never tried because it looks absolutely awful.
I'm told Somtow Sucharitkul/S.P. Somtow's *Jasmine Nights* is set in Thailand, but he often gets too horrific for me, so I haven't read it.
Is it really dumb to ask if you've read Maxine Hong Kingston as well as Amy Tan? (I haven't actually read Amy Tan.)
Re: Spamming your LJ
Wed, Dec. 31st, 2003 03:08 am (UTC)Re: Spamming your LJ
Wed, Dec. 31st, 2003 03:36 am (UTC)And am now realizing that the stupidity of me has reared its head again. Ah well, was bound to show up eventually ;).
I picked up Dragonsbane randomly back in maybe middle school? hrm. We were lucky and had an English teacher who loved SF/F and donated a lot of her old books to the school library. I suspect otherwise I would have been stuck with nowhere to go after finding Tolkien! I loved Dragonsbane, still do. Was so excited when I found out there was a sequel, and then, well, it just got worse. It reminded me a lot of Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty for some reason -- I think the tone, or the incredibly dismal future.
Oooo! Dragon! Mm, summary sounds good. Plus, it's set in San Francisco. I always associate San Francisco with the turn of the century for some reason, and I love that aura. Not that that had anything to do with the story... It reminds me a little of that Ursula K. LeGuin short story that of course I have forgotten the name of. Dragon disguised as man, lives under a hill (I think), is eventually found out (I think by Ged?).
Translated Chinese SF -- that's awesome! Don't hear much about that back at home. Usually the Chinese SF/F sections of the bookstores back at home are all translations. I have a theory that the martial arts books are the Chinese equivalent of fantasy, at least.
Not dumb at all, considering I haven't read her! I only read Tan because we had to read Joy Luck Club for a class, and I just kept going for two or three more books. Strangely, I wasn't that into Asian-American lit. I think I can get annoyed with authors working out their Asian identity issues (esp. Tan) because their issues can sometimes be very different from mine.