3.5⭐

I really enjoyed the idea, but I wish there was a bit more of the story. I would have probably loved a full length novel. ( )

An enjoyable little short story. It holds a lot between the lines of these pages, painting a much bigger picture than what we witness in the story. I dearly hope this airship crew pops back into our parallel again in the future. ( )

3.5 stars

This was good, but short. Would have loved to read more.

Kept waiting for everything to implode and bad things to happen. Nothing strange about disaster, part and parcel of adventure; but peaceful adventuring makes me nervous. You can't trust peace - there's always a monster lurking.

Which sort of explains why captain is so suspicious. Seasoned adventurers always know the cost. ( )

Cute short story about travelers from parallel universes traveling to our version of Manhattan and visiting the Flatiron building while the Tor offices are still there. Highly amusing in parts, a bit of fan-service for Tor folk* in others, but it adds up to a fun story set in a world I wouldn't mind reading more about. (Though Seanan is already busy enough with her current series.)

* I wonder who the Tor people she described are supposed to be? I don't know any of the authors / publishers / etc well enough to know who at Tor meets the group on the roof. ( )

{Short story, stand alone. Fantasy}

A short story commemorating the move of Tor.com away from the Flatiron Building in New York:
https://www.tor.com/2019/06/05/any-way-the-wind-blows-seanan-mcguire/?utm_source...

The unnamed Captain of an airship (nicknamed Stubby and which looks, in the accompanying illustration, remarkably like the Tor logo) sailing between parallel Earths and mapping them visits our Earth and meets the folks at Tor.com - who are, of course, delighted to meet people who could be straight out of the stories they publish.

The story is narrated in the first person by the Captain and for some reason, I identified them as female. Although, given that there are green skinned and even multi-headed crew members picked up from different parallels, they/ it could be any gender or race.

I like the tasty metaphor that McGuire uses for the parallel worlds:

First, it’s basically a sheet of baklava that hasn’t been cut. Layer upon layer of reality, all resting lightly atop one another, all sweet and delicious and ready to be devoured. And trust me when I say there are things out there that are totally into the concept of devouring existence as we know it, one crunchy, nut-filled bite at a time. Worlds that aren’t watched have a tendency to blink into nothingness and be forgotten, filling the belly of some cosmic terror, creating yet another hole in the pastry. When a world gets eaten and a hole opens up, it’s easier for the baklava-eaters to shove their nasty little hands in and pry more pieces loose.

And I have to agree that when we read about or watch human vs alien interaction, it tends to be

If one world opens a window on another, they view themselves as peaceful explorers. If a world has a window opened on it, they view the people on the other side as hostile invaders.

So it's nice to read a story from the 'alien' point of view.

The Tor.com characters, while not named either, are obviously based on real people but I felt at a disadvantage not knowing who they are. I'm sure they must be well chuffed to see themselves on the other side of the book cover.

A delicious vignette featuring a glimpse at another version of our world.

3*** ( )