Recensioni
I received my copy through NetGalley. My review is my honest opinion.
This anthology contained an interesting mix of stories and authors of different backgrounds, including a lot of new-to-me authors. Most of the stories tackled colonial themes in one way or another and most of them took cues from Just So Stories (mind you, I haven't read the other book since I was a child and even then I'm not sure I read all of it, so my opinion on that point is unreliable). A lot of the stories engaged with difficult themes and were emotionally challenging to read, which is why I found myself breaking up the anthology with other unrelated short stories and a couple of novels.
My favourite stories, in table of contents order, were: "How the Spider Got Her Legs" by Cassandra Khaw, which did the thing where the starting situation was quite far from what we now think of as the status quo and made the story more interesting for it; "Best Beloved" by Wayne Santos, which was heartbreaking and powerful; "How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic" by Jeannette Ng, which was told on a grander scale than the other stories for all that it focussed on a specific tree; "The Cat Who Walked by Herself" by Achala Upendran, which was also heartbreaking and which ended in a way I didn't foresee from the start. As you can see, I liked a lot of the stories. Some didn't grab me as much, but that's to be expected in an anthology.
By the time I got to the end of the anthology, I did find the arrangement of the stories a little peculiar. Not only was it odd to find the only two cat-centric stories next to each other, but I also found the last few stories engaged with ideas of colonialism a lot less strongly than the earlier stories. That didn't necessarily make them bad stories, but a lot of the last part of the anthology didn't feel like it fit in with what the first part had set the book up to be. I think it would have worked better if the stories had been more intermixed and set up the expectation of varying engagement with colonial ideas earlier. As it was, I felt faintly confused reading three of the last four stories, even though they were perfectly fine stories in their own right.
Overall this anthology was filled with solid stories that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone interested in the themes and ideas it explores. The authors come from a variety of backgrounds so the anthology does not lack in diversity on that front. (It could have stood to be a bit more gender diverse, however.) I very much like the concept of Not So Stories and recommend it to all readers to whom the basic premise appeals.
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How the Spider Got Her Legs by Cassandra Khaw — Probably my favourite Khaw story so far. Told in the style of Kipling/traditional children’s cosmology stories as suggested by the title. It was also a bit longer and more complicated than I might have expected with a few acts to the story rather than just one simple origin explanation of how the spider got her legs. Anyway, I rather liked it.
Queen by Joseph E. Cole — A story about slavery and human cruelty. Not exactly an enjoyable read but not a bad story either. It didn’t particularly grab me but it was still told in an evocative way (and I think I spotted several references to Just So Stories).
Best Beloved by Wayne Santos — A Singaporean guardian of the living against the dead has taken up with a British official while still finding time for her duties. Until those duties become more difficult and she learns more of what the British are up to. A powerful story of love and devastation.
The Man Who Played With the Crab by Adiwijaya Iskandar — A father and daughter come across a westerner killing animals and demanding to be taken to their sacred crab so that he can kill it. A story that’s about as positive as possible, given colonial history.
Saṃsāra by Georgina Kamsika — A story set in the present day about a mixed race teenager reconnecting with her Indian heritage as she and her mother clean out her late grandmother’s home. It feels a bit out of place among the other Not So Stories I’ve read so far, but then so does the protagonist in her life, and maybe that’s the point.
Serpent, Crocodile, Tiger by Zedeck Siew — This is more like a few stories that ended up being tied together in a way I didn’t predict from the start. It tells Malay folktales as well as giving a few different modern perspectives on the tales and on the people having perspectives. It gives an interesting cross-section of views and various cultural influences. I enjoyed it although I found the sections that were academic excerpts a little too dry.
How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic by Jeannette Ng — A story telling the history of a wishing tree in Hong Kong and, by necessity, the history of the people and the place. A sweeping story of gods and history told in the style of a bedtime story. I enjoyed it.
How the Ants Got Their Queen by Stuart Hotston — A clear metaphor for colonialism, it’s ills and aftermath. Although the story was not subtle, I still found myself enjoying it. And the direction of the ending was not overly telegraphed, which was nice. Not a cheerful story (of course), but a good read.
How the Snake Lost its Spine by Tauriq Moosa — As you can guess from the title, this is another creature-origin type story. I liked the ideas in it, but I didn’t find it to be as strong as some of the others. The writing could have been tighter where I found it a little dull in places. Not bad overall, just not one of the best.
The Cat Who Walked by Herself by Achala Upendran — This story is about how common domesticated animals, as well as Man and Woman found their place. I found this story quite upsetting in how it just kept escalating in patriarchal (not sure that’s the right word) terribleness. The ending was satisfying but didn’t erase what went before.
Strays Like Us by Zina Hutton — A story about Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, who no longer has a place in the world, and a stray kitten. The story was fine, but I’m not sure how well it fits with the other stories in the anthology. It put me more in mind of various forgotten/unworshipped god stories more than colonialism per se.
How the Simurgh Won Her Tail by Ali Nouraei — A lovely story within a story. A grandfather visiting his sick (cancer, I think) granddaughter in hospital and telling her the titular story. It was very heartwarming, despite the depressing hospital setting and the hints of life outside the hospital.
There is Such Thing as a Whizzy-Gang by Raymond Gates — A story about a boy in Australia, his uncle that likes to (mostly) benevolently tease him and the Whizzy-Gang that attacks him. Not a bad read, but I didn’t really spot any direct engagement with colonialism.
How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off by Paul Krueger — If not for the title itself, this story would feel quite unresolved, which I have mixed feelings about. I didn’t mind the story overall, but I again didn’t find it to be quite what I expected. It’s about animals fighting (or not) for worker rights.
4 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
Characters from A Midsummer's Night Dream, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and others are skillfully woven into a series of stories that the final story 'On the Twelfth Night' uses to explain them all.
I especially enjoyed 'Coral Bones' and 'The Course of True Love', but all of the stories are wonderful. Shakespeare fans will enjoy this great collection.
This was an interesting read, even when the stories touched upon Shakespearean plays I was not very familiar with. My favourite story was definitely the opening one, "Coral Bones" which extended the story of The Tempest beyond where the play ended and included some neat genderfluid characterisation. My second favourite story was probably the closing one, "On the Twelfth Night", mainly for the way it played with narrative by writing in the second person. That story would not have really made sense without all the stories preceding it, however. I was particularly impressed by how the later stories seemed to be aware of events in the earlier stories. An excellent feat of narrative planning.
I definitely recommend this anthology to fans of Shakespeare and fans of fantasy fiction generally. And theatre. These novellas push Shakespeare's plays into new territory, giving them some modern sensibilities without literally modernising the settings. As always, individual comments on the stories are below.
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"Coral Bones" by Foz Meadows — What happens after The Tempest. Miranda has left the island, but the real world did not bring her as much joy as she hoped. Luckily, she still has Ariel, the genderfluid fairy who helped raise her and keep her sane. This was a very strong start to the anthology, which had me wanting to come back for more every time I had to set it aside. The main story is neatly intertwined with flashbacks to the island, which serve to build up our understanding of and sympathy for Miranda's relationship with Ariel. In the meantime, we also see quite clearly Miranda learning about herself and the world and, thanks to Ariel's influence (or really, just her presence from an early age), questioning her place and identity in it.
"The Course of True Love" by Kate Heartfield — This novella involves some of the characters from Midsummer Night's Dream but mainly focused on a hedge witch (well, a wyrtwitch) who stumbles upon a prisoner of Titania's and ends up helping him out. This wasn't a bad novella but I just didn't love it as much as the previous one, which set the bar quite high. I suspect if I'd read it in isolation without the comparison, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it was well written enough, but didn't push the envelope like "Coral Bones" did.
"The Unkindest Cut" by Emma Newman — A young woman is fated to marry her love in an alliance that will end a war. But even though it has been foretold, nothing is straightforward when Prospero is involved, or the cursed knife from Macbeth. Not a bad story, but I thought it ended a little abruptly. I didn't dislike the ending, but wouldn't've minded seeing more, or more immediately before the end. (Also, it was a depressing ending, which I wouldn't have wished upon the main character. :-/ ) It was a nice touch to have the Miranda from "Coral Bones" appear and I am impressed with the planning that must have gone into this anthology.
"Even in the Cannon’s Mouth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky — I felt a bit lost during the middle of this story. I think it might have been because of the more theatrical/script-like scene changes the author used. It took me a little while to get used to paying attention to them properly. That said, I liked the version of Macbeth that appeared in this one (and had sort of been mentioned in earlier stories, but not nearly as clearly). I especially loved the ending as it involved Macbeth. Not to be too obvious with the spoilers, but a favourite loophole-fail is resolved. I also got the impression that this story was leading into some sort of climax in the last story...
"On the Twelfth Night" by Jonathan Barnes — This last story was fascinating in many ways. It did sort of tie up some of the weirder elements of the plot brought up in the previous story, but that wasn't what really made it stand out. Usually, it was written in second person... and (very minor spoiler) the second person was Shakespeare's wife. Not quite the wife of the Shakespeare that we know, though, but rather a non-playwright from a parallel universe. I found it quite a compelling read (especially compared with the previous novella, which did not hold my interest). Unfortunately, for readers who might have picked these novellas up individually rather than in the collected volume, I'm not sure that this novella would work as well as a standalone. But it does make an excellent conclusion to this anthology.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
Journal of the Plague Year: A Post-Apocalyptic Omnibus, by Malcolm Cross, C.B. Harvey and Adrian Tchaikovsky (Abaddon Books, $9.99).
Existing within the “Afterblight” universe, this collection of novellas occur during and immediately after a rampaging epidemic—the Cull—kills roughly 96% of the population.
Why such a high mortality rate? Well, it attacks everyone who has a blood type other than O Neg. The universal donors turn out to be the only survivors.
In this case, the first and last novellas are much, much stronger than the one in the middle. C. B. Harvey’s “Dead Kelly,” set in the Australian Outback, was just a touch too Mad Max for me.
But the other two? Fantastico.
In “Orbital Decay,” Malcolm Cross writes a novella of intense humanity (not to mention madness and pure human fuckery) as the six astronauts on the International Space Station are stuck in orbit while the world dies beneath them. With tense pacing, excellent characterization, and a few good surprises, it also reveals some interesting bits of information about the nature of the Cull, and was, for my money, the best of the three novellas.
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “The Bloody Deluge” invokes some powerful ghosts—the title refers to the powerful Swedes attempt to roll right over the top of Poland in the 17th century—in a tale of a wannabe-Charlemagne conquering in the name of holy … something. Is it a real religious revival? Not at the top.
But when the religion-fueled, backward-looking armies of the new order chase a scientist who’s probably the last true prince of reason to the doorstep of a warrior abbot, they get more than they expected.
While I haven’t read all the Afterblight books, I did enjoy School’s Out Forever, and have Hooded Man in the queue.
Reviewed on The United States of Armageddon: www.kelmunger.tumblr.com
Two Hundred and Twenty One Baker Streets: An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space, edited by David Thomas Moore (Abbadon Books, $9.99).
The sleuth in the deerstalker hat isn’t back; he never left. Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective is the taproot of mystery and crime fiction, and, as anthology aptly demonstrates, he’s equally good in any dimension, time, or on any planet.
We’ve been prepped for this by the popular BBC series Sherlock and the almost-as-popular CBS series Elementary, so Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets isn’t nearly as surprising as it might be.
That said, this collection offers us Holmes and Watson as teenaged girls, aliens, cowboys, muscle-y sword-wielding barbarians, and wizards. What’s more, the premise works in almost every story, which probably tells us that Holmes and Watson also set the standard for buddy movies.
Bottom line: To solve a mystery, it takes two. And the cap, cape and pipe aren’t all that necessary.
Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com
Mature-Content Rating: Language, Violence, Drugs, Mention of Rape, Homosexual themes
Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets is an anthology of fourteen Holmesian stories all written in a variety of genres and times.
While some of the stories focus on the mystery like the original books, others focus on the familiar yet outrageously creative characters of Sherlock and Watson or the new worlds constructed by the author. Even Ms. Hudson has a go at being a bioengineer instead of her mildly fascinating landlady persona. And how is a collection complete without a few gender-bending fics in which Sherlock and Watson are teenage schoolgirls? College campuses, 70’s New York, modern day London, a traveling circus, and many other times and places are included in this anthology.
As for the plots, some of the authors created their own mysteries, some reinvented old ones, and others had a combination of both. How can you have an anthology of Holmesian stories without at least one touching on how Sherlock survived The Reichenback Fall? Answer: You can’t, and it was brilliant. One story had a strong philosophical feel to it when Watson and Sherlock were forced to question the world they lived in and their own existence within it.
One thing that disappointed me was in the title it states that it is ‘An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space’, and although it contains plenty of the ‘across time’ part I was really disappointed that it didn’t have a Sherlock space opera. One story did touch on space but it didn’t have enough of that futuristic feel to be completely counted as a ‘space’ story.
Overall, Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets has a story for everyone. It’s full of brilliantly written tales that any fan of Sherlock can appreciate.
(Advance copy provided by NetGalley.)
The first story, Orbital Decay by Malcolm Cross, was the strongest of the three, and was very tense. The American and Russian crew of the International Space Station are watching events unfold on the ground, events that are decimating the human race. Additional details and happenings on the ISS (and on the ground) made this a real page turner!
The second story, Dead Kelly by C. B. Harvey, I didn't like at all, and ended up skipping ahead to story #3.
The third story, The Bloody Deluge by Adrian Tchaikovsky, was interesting in that it wasn't set in a "normal" environment: western Poland. Other twists make this a good read, too.
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However, I just didn't find the stories in the collection to be especially memorable or interesting to read. too many of them was just frankly boring to read, with very few of them catching my interest.
So, in the end, this was just not a collection that suited me, there were some stories that were a bit better than the rest, but not really any fantastic stories.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!