Crystal Sarakas

Fun. I loved RJ Blain's The Twenty-fifth Bean - because it's _so_ RJ Blain. A three-way conspiracy to make someone very happy - amd secondarily, a lot of others (the princess, his parents, her parents...). It's an interesting world, too - I'd love to see more of it, with the split between magic and science. One may hope. But all the stories are enjoyable, or at least interesting and not unpleasant (the crane one is a little nasty, but happy ending). Some of them are cute variations on familiar fairy tales; quite a few I had to think, afterward, what tale they were based on - but that's because they're such good stories in themselves the base isn't the point. The narrator one was weird and cool. I loved the firebird one - Honor, Grace, and Cordelia. Nice blend of story bases! And the Blue Manor - nasty on several levels (her poor dreams...), but overall very rich, and a good ending. The SF soldier one was seriously weird - makes me want to hear about her earlier adventures, honestly. The mirror one was a lot of fun (and makes me want to see what happens next). And... All of them were good, and worth reading, and I'm very glad I read this.… (mer)

When I picked up this anthology, I somewhat feared that the stories would become repetitive even though the theme itself intrigued me. Instead, I found that the fourteen stories here are all utterly distinct and original, each one written by a talented author whose writing made a whole world come to life within only 10-15 pages. It's rare that I can say I truly enjoyed every story in an anthology, but in this case, it's true. Although there were two or three where I didn't love the writer's style, even those stories were so vibrant and original that the reading experience itself was more than worthwhile. An added bonus is that most of these authors were new to me, and now I'm looking forward to looking up the novels that they've written.

Some of my favorites in the collection were: "Ganbold and the Best Drone in Mongolia" by Dana Berube, "This Cold Red Dust" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, "Traveling Hopefully" by Jacey Bedford, "Brewing Insurrection" by Jose Pablo Iriarte, "Sassi's Last Ride" by Alethea Kontis, and "Beneath the Pall" by Edward Willett.

I would absolutely recommend this anthology to lovers of science fiction.… (mer)