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
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.