Magic Merlin

I FINALLY finished The Mammoth Book of Merlin edited by Mike Ashley.  It took a while, but I'm finally ready to ramble about it so yay me.  The book is a short story collection about the enigmatic and magical wizard advisor to the mythical King Arthur.  The various authors spin many different takes on the man with varying measures of success, here are the ones I liked the best.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Dream Reader by Jane Yolen - Merlin is a young boy with no name in the start of this story of the young magicians childhood.  He is taken in by a traveling circus where he is shepherded and guided by a mage named Ambrosious and a singer named Viviane. Merlin learns that the dreams he has are prophetic and decides to stay with his friends.  I like the mix of innocence, simplicity, and magic in this great origin tale.

The Horse Who Would Be King by Jennifer Roberson - This was the only truly humorous story, and funny it was.  Essentially this tale attributes most of Merlin's plans to a magic horse who is much more intelligent then most people.  Deciding that no matter who is crowned King, Merlin will be the real power behind the throne, the horse comes up with a plan to put the stable boy Arthur on the throne.  Amazingly this works and we get the Sword in the Stone.

Namer of Beasts, Maker of Souls by Jessica Amanda Salmonson - This story is probably the most abstract, yet most complete...if that makes any sense.  Here we get to see Merlin in many of his mythical forms and we also get to see the Morgain, in various incantations as well.  The story is a love story, a creation story, a mythic story and an epic story.  It's hard to put into words what I liked about this particular style, but it did stick with me.

The Death of Nimue by Esther Fiesner - Here we move to a moment with the sorceress Nimue, who is now old and ready to die.  She tells her youngest daughter that she stole most of her power from Merlin and sealed him into a tomb to sleep.  Nimue is now ready to give up her power and die.  Unfortunately for her, Merlin no longer wants it and condemns her to immortality.  Nimue's daughter willingly takes on the mantle of power freeing her mother to die.  I like this one because it gives us the responsibilities and hazards of power.

Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood by Charles de Lint - Here we bring Merlin closer to the present.  In this tale, a young girl befriends a Merlin trapped in a tree in a garden that is part of an unusual house.  Her pure, unselfish love free's him and she forgets about him until becoming an adult.  All I know is this story makes me go talk to all of the cool looking tree's I can find...just in case.

The Dragon Line by Michael Swanwick - This story brings us to the present/future and Mordred, illegitimate/incestuous son of Arthur and his half sister has endured to the future and is now spending all his resources looking for Merlin to help him save the world from it's own destruction at the hands of humans.  Mordred and Merlin clearly do not get along, but Mordred needs his help.  It comes to light that Merlin killed the real Arthur as a babe and replaced him as his own son, making Mordred his grandson.  This story is dark, weird, and one of my favorite.

Overall this was not one of my favorites.  Most of the stories felt like they dragged on for quit a bit.  You may notice that most of the stories I liked the best were not even about Merlin at all.  It felt like most of the stories were pieces of much larger stories that would only really make sense or be interesting if you knew the whole thing.  I felt like the short story format did not actually work all that well for most of the stories in the collection and wanted more actual "short stories" that did not need as much background info.  I actually had to force myself to get through this collection, not because the writing was bad, just because the format did not work.  I felt if more stories had actually been written as short stories instead of pieces lifted out of a larger whole (which is what happened with most stories according to the authors notes) that this book would have worked much better.  I am disappointed because I LOVE Merlin and all his incantations and was looking forward to the different ways his story could be told.  Overall I give the collection a 5 out of 10 Swords in the Stone and wish it had been better.  Happy Reading Everybody!

There Is No Place Like Home

Yay, after much swearing, pounding of the keyboard, and a ton of coffee, I have finally gotten my technology to behave again!  In celebration of this, let's take a look at a short story collection I have recently finished.  The book is Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond, by  John Joseph Adams (Editor), Douglas Cohen (Editor).  I picked it up because I love all things Wizard of Oz, and it had some great authors contributing to it.  Here are some of my favorite stories.

The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz by Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay - The first story in the collection was a witty little bit of fun.  It puts the witches in the role of smart ladies and the wizard in a more bumbling, conniving role, loved it.

The Lost Girls of Oz by Theodora Goss - This story is all about girl power in its best form, making Oz a haven for abused girls and giving them a way to fight back.  Nell, the reporter and main character in this story is a perfect voice to let us all know what is going on.

The Boy Detective of Oz: An Otherland Story by Tad Williams - This was a strange and cool little story that placed Oz in a virtual world, making it a sort of program.  This scifi take was cool in itself, and makes me want to go pick up the Otherland novels, which is always cool.

Off to See the Emperor by Orson Scott Card - This was a twisty little story about a little boy and a girl and how the story of Oz came to be.  The idea of a snarky 9 year old girl was written to perfection, adding just the right note to this story.

The Cobbler of Oz by Jonathan Maberry - This is probably my favorite story in this collection.  It is a sweet story about a little monkey girl with stunted wings who gets a great reward after a great risk.  It also gives a potential origin for the coveted Silver Slippers.

Over all the collection was a bit meh, but a lot of the stories were really dark and I was not in the mood for dark, so that may have had something to do with it.  In the beginning they say that you do not have to have read the original books to enjoy this collection, but I must say, it definitely helps if you have.  It did make me want to read the originals again and since they are free or cheap on the e-reader you may be seeing some original ramblings pop up. Be warned that this collection is not for children, more for the over 15 crowd.  As much as I liked a few of these stories the over all feeling was a 6 out of 10 silver slippers, but your mileage may vary, depending on your style preferences.
What do you think of short stories based on classics?  Does it feel like professional fanfic?  What type of story would you write about Oz?

Faerie History

When I first read Isaac Asimov's Magical World of Fantasy: Faeries (edited by Isaac Asimov) I was in Hawaii.  We all know how I like my books to match my environment, and let me tell this book did NOT match at all. I had started it when I was still in Seattle, where it matched perfectly and continued to read it on the plane and then decided I may as well finish it, which gave me a weird, skewed memory of the whole experience...I know, I know I'm weird.  I have just finished rereading it, the lure of spring begging me to find some good tales of the Fair Folk and this anthology provides just that.  Here are my favorite stories in this collection.

How the Fairies Came to Ireland by Herminie Templeton - This story sets the tone for the book, with many of the story's being told in the old style of an oral history.  This little ditty of how fairies are angels that did not take sides in the war between Lucifer and God is told by the fairie king Brian Conner to Father Cassidy and reminds us that the line between religion and myth can be blurred.

The Manor of Roses by Thomas Burnett Swann - Epic tale, that is the best way I can think of to describe this story.  It tells of three children, each with their own stories that conflict and collide.  It tells of a kindly woman who misses her son.  It tells of a history.  It tells of the mandrake people.  It is a very well told tale that blends history, fantasy and story-telling.

The Ugly Unicorn by Jessica Amanda Salmonson - This is one of the few tales not set in Europe and is also one of my favorites in this book.  You get a sweet love story, a multitude of unicorns, miscommunication, a blind girl and of course fairies.  This story makes me smile every time I read it, and also reminds me how many other types of "fairies" their are in other countries and cultures.

Flying Pan by Robert F. Young - This is a quick and simple story.  The crux of the whole thing is a young woman's encounter with what she thinks to be a diminutive alien, who in fact turns out to be a local faerie trying to get her to return to her home.  Funny, quick and awesome.

The Long Night of Waiting by Andre Norton - I have been getting into Andre Norton lately and this haunting tale of lost children is one reason why.  It plays on the classic old fear of your children dissapering without a trace and adds an even more melancholy element of loss and fear on the part of the children.  A heart wrenching, yet wonderful story.

I like this anthology as a whole because it reads very old school to me, as in an oral history of actual events passed down.  There are some stories that take place in modern times (and even one in the future), but they are all told in a way that makes you feel as if you are sitting and listening to a history instead of reading a faerie tale.  I am glad I reread this anthology, the stories in it are classic and original and harken back to the true roots of the Fair Folk. Now I need to go find the rest of the books in this series.  I recommend this to anybody who wants to experience the true telling of tales, loves the Fair Folk, or just can't resist a good Irish accent.  I give it 7 out of 10 pots of gold.

How much does environment affect your memories of a particulate book?  Do you ever go back and reread books that you read in the wrong time or place?  Does a frying pan resemble a spaceship at all?

Just Add An Airship

Hello all, I hope you all had a great weekend cheering on your favorites at the Olympics, I know I did.  As much as I love the Olympics I had to take a break from the screen and read for a couple hours yesterday...ahh so refreshing :-)  I finally finished The Mammoth Book of Steampunk with its 30 short stories all set in the Steampunk genre.  This book took me FOREVER to get through and as I contemplated why I came up with one main reason.  Writing steampunk is hard.  I find steampunk and all its co-genres and sub-genres and parent-genres to be a very visual thing and sometimes it feels that all an author has to to is add a zeppelin and BAM steampunk.   Now this is not true for everything, in my last post I showed off some of my favorite books in the punk genre's and all of them are excellent.  A couple things I have noticed about genre books I like, the story always comes first. In all of the books I mentioned the story comes first, world building, characters, and genre conceits are all well done, but are added to serve the story, not make a book steampunk.  Here is where I veer into total personal opinion, everything I am about to say hinges sole on my own likes and dislikes as a reader, you may see things in a completely different way, which is awesome and wonderful and you should tell me all about it.

The biggest problem I have with written steampunk, especially in short stories is that it gets really really dense.  The authors seem to get caught up either in trying to describe every little cog and wheel or they meander into over inflated pseudophychology/philosophy of deepness/scientificology (those are all real words I swear).  I love the idea of exploring alternate universes and timelines and I understand this means discussing various ideas of those times, but when you sound like a jumbled pretentious book your overly academic professor assigns you in how to sound like a rambling jerk class it is no longer enjoyable to me (yep I have actually taken that class before). The books and stories tend to get caught up in minutiae or

vagueness or vague minutiae when all you want is to know what is going on.  Again I think that part of the problem is that steampunk is so visual, if I say steampunk what pops into your head is probably images of top hats and goggles, clockwork limbs, the ever present airship, the genres seems to be most easily defined by its visual aesthetic and when a writer tries to write to that you end up with a jumbled mess.
On the other hand their is some wonderfully written steampunk(ish) out there, oddly enough most of them are in the YA section (as I am sure you noticed in my last post).  I think this is because YA novels are allowed to be about the story or characters, while adult genre sometimes feels it needs to be thought-provoking and deep, and gritty, and "real"  all of the time.  This is not to say that YA stories are all perfect, or you cannot get a good adult steampunk book, in my humble opinion I just have an easier time finding it in the YA section.  I have also found that a lot of books fall into the steampunk (or sub-genre punk styles) without us even realizing it.  Many of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne books could be now considered steampunk (though back when it was written it was plain old science fiction).  I mean how can you read The Time Machine and not think clockwork and science, or how about my personal favorite 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which has to be at least one of the inspirations for the octopus/seahorse steampunk aesthetic.

Overall I guess I have to say that I prefer my stories first and then genre second.  If you can use cogs and wheels and steam and alternate history to tell me a great story then I will love you all that much more for it.  But if the only way you can make a book steampunk is by overly descriptive phrases stating exactly what each automaton or air ship looks like, or use it as a platform to pontificate on an alternate philosophy then I will let somebody else enjoy it.  As for The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (on which this post was supposed to be a rambling) it has some good little stories like Icebreaker by E. Catherine Tobler, Clockwork Fairies by  Cat Rambo, The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar by Shweta Narayan Numismatics in the Reigns of Naranh and Viu by Alex Dally MacFarlane and Lady Witherspoon's Solution by James Morrow.  I found these stories to have a good mix of story and atmosphere and in a few a good bit of humor.  This book is full of variety so if you have any interest in steampunk, science fiction or short stories go ahead and pick it up, just be warned it is not a sit down and read straight through collection, but more of a keep it at hand for when the mood strikes.  I give it 5 out of 10 clockwork gear airships.

What part of steampunk most appeals to you?  How defined do you think the steampunk or any specific genre or sub genre should be? Do you sometimes think that I am just a wind-up bot that types until my spring runs down?

Christmas Aliens

I'm BAAAAACK!  Did you all miss me?  You did notice I was gone right... I had the best week ever.  Got to play with lil G, got to know baby L a bit better (they are both awesome little weirdos), got to see the WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY and shared a hotel room with most of them.  Trekked down south to visit Mom and Dad J and continued to get spoiled absolutely rotten. Seriously best Christmas ever.  On top of all the family and the getting spoiled and the driving (so much driving!) I also finished four books and started a fifth Ahhh bliss. So get ready for many a rambling on a varied number of books.
 Since it is Christmas week I will start of with my new Christmas book, Miracles and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Williams.  It took me forever to find this years Christmas book, after last years disaster I was a bit leery.  I got this book on several recommendations and the fact that it was short stories which usually works well for me, oh and there was supposed to be a sci-fi element to some of the story's.  I started reading it all curled up on my MIL couch in my new fluffy spa robe (felt like being wrapped in a warm cloud) sipping a cup of egg nog infused coffee.  I have to tell you folks, this book was perfect.  I will start by listing some of my favorite stories.

Miracle-The title story is awesome, it references the classic Christmas movies, has an eco-friendly spirit who turns expensive dresses into leaves, a sweet and plausible love story, and just a bunch of Christmas heart.  A sweet story that perfectly walks the line between sentimental and hilarious.

Inn - This story has a completely different feel (in a good way) from the first one.  In this one a suburban soccer mom is faced with the original Christmas story in a very very real way.  Again combining a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy feel with a true Christmas story, loved every word of it.

In Coppelius's Toyshop - This story was a bit creepy and drives home the point that mean people who don't get the spirit of Christmas get what they deserve.  In this semi-horror story a grinchy single urban man gets what is coming to him when he snarls his way through the magical toy store of Dr. Coppelius.  Also I really want to visit this store!

Cat's Paw- This is the authors homage to the classic Christmas Mystery with a bit of a futuristic twist.  In our tale we have apes who act as humans, their sweet, smart and slightly naive keeper, an heir who is up to his eyeballs in debt, an animal liberation terrorist organization, a pompous detective and his assistant who just wants to get to his sisters for a country Christmas. This one is just really cool.

Newsletter- This is probably my favorite.  This is the first story I have ever read to successfully combine aliens and Christmas and still retain what makes both genre's/feelings/atmosphere so unique and special.  Somehow the author manages to tell a sci-fi story with aliens and research and conspiracy theories and STILL retain a feeling of holiday cheer, amazing!

I think what struck me most about this collection is the authors real love of Christmas.  A lot of authors in this genre tend to take a jaded and cynical look at the holidays, or completely discount the original story as impossible and absurd, but she really has a feel for it.  She successfully put out several stories spanning a ton of genre's and in each one kept to the feeling of Christmas without once getting overly sappy.  The author also obviously loves books and referenced so many amazing ones throughout her stories, some playing an important role, some just there because they are beloved books. Also her grasp on old school sci-fi movies is quit impressive. Her ability to mention Jesus and the Bible without being apologetic, but not falling into preaching territory is such a refreshing read compared to the over sanitized politically correct versions or purposefully inflammatory crap that has been out there around Christmas lately.  I understand the need to not offend...but if you don't like Christmas and all the parts that go with it, don't read Christmas books, problem solved.  Overall I loved, loved, loved this collection, I felt like it was written just for me being the Christmas loving, book adoring, sci-fi geek that I am, this hit the spot perfectly.  I recommend it for any body who loves both the tradition of Christmas and appreciates a twist on an idea.  I give it 10 out of 10 candy canes and will probably reread at least a couple of the stories every year.  Happy Reading Everybody!

What is your favorite Christmas story?  Do you like your Christmas stories in novel length or short story form?  Who would have thought combining aliens and Christmas would work so well?

Witching Hour

Had an amazing weekend with family and friends and am now ready to face the week head on! I am almost finished with my October/Halloween list and am starting to move on to my cold weather/preholiday list, but first lets finish out the week with some good old fashioned scares shall we.

Today I would like to talk about the short story collection Under my Hat: Tales from the Cauldron.  This was a random find as I was walking through the bookstore and seemed like the perfect October short story collection for my desk side reading.  After realizing that it was edited by Jonathan Strahan (who edited one of my absolute favorite collections The Starry Rift) I was sold.  This is a collection for children and teens, spooky without being overly dark (for the most part).  It is not ooey gooey by any means, and a couple of the tales are in the creep side, but nothing that I would consider over the top.  Over all it was a great collection and with all short story anthologies there were some that really stuck with me.

A Handful of Ashes by Garth Nix-I think this is my favorite story in this collection.  It is a complete story set in a complete world and I really want to read more stories about this place and these characters which is pretty hard to do in 20 or less pages.  This story about servant/witches in a Jane Austin type society school is a pretty great story with just the right amount of humor.

The Education of a Witch by Ellen Klages- I have to admit the biggest appeal of this story is the little girls obsession with Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, she has always been my absolute favorite witch ever!  Also the fact that this story is about a little girl who is not so much into the fairy tale princesses, and finds a way to gain some control over her small world is pretty cool as well.

The Threefold World by Ellen Kushner and Anderson's Witch by Jane Yolen-Both of these stories touch on real people, Elias Lonnrot who put together a collection of Finnish history and lore called the Kalevala and Hans Christian Anderson who collected/wrote fairy tales.  Both of these stories deal with how these men may have potentially been influenced by witch type figures, resulting in these historical works of literacy.

Which Witch by Patricia A. McKillip-I loved this punky, rockstar story of a literal band of young witches and there familiars.  This is a case where the music and clothes are just as important as the spells and potions.  The part where we get to switch over to the animal/familiar perspective is pretty cool too! I love a story that can mix up settings and give us a glimpse at the next generation of the supernatural.

The Carved Forest by Tim Pratt-This story about a witch who cares too much was wonderful and just a bit different.  We are so used to witches being evil, or sparkly that we sometimes forget that it is possible that they are just people with a particular talent.   This story shows us what happens when a witch who loses her family decides to adopt a town to replace them.

These are my absolute favorites in this collection, but there are many other wonderful stories in there as well.  I would recommend it for some quick Halloween/October reading if you like witchy/magicy/different stories.  I give it 7 out of 10 cauldrons of potion.

What is your favorite scary story collection?  Do witches always have to be evil?  What counts as a witch?  Do I enjoy Halloween way to much?

Werewolves, Unicorns and Carnivorous Ink Blots OH MY!

Do you know what I love (I mean besides books, coffee, sparkly things, sleeping in, vodka, etc.)?  I love an unexpected happiness.  You know those times when you go to the mail and some relative you forgot even existed decided to send you a birthday check this year, or your favorite store has a random sale on just that item you were looking for, you know small things that seem to just happen, usually when you need it the most. 

That is how I feel about this short story collection I just finished reading, Unnatural Creatures with stories selected by Neil Gaiman.  This was one of those random buys, it was sitting on a shelf in the wrong section, just tossed there by somebody who had changed there mind, and for some reason, without even looking at the title I put in my to buy pile.  I cracked this book open and immediately fell into some of the best short stories ever, so so so many awesome, different, amazing, cool, funny, weird, scary, stories. The theme of this book is creatures who should only exist in ones imagination.  Lucky for us that is a pretty broad theme and the stories in this collection push this idea to the very edges (think living coat hangers).  There is talk of the Museum for Unnatural History and the creatures that may inhabit it sets the stage for our stories.  I could seriously go on and on and on about this book, but instead I'm going to try (and this is going to be pretty impossible) to give you a quick taste of my favorites (favorite being relative because every single story in here was awesome in its own way).

**__**  by Gahan Wilson-Ok so the story I start with has an impossible title as it is more of an inkblot then words, but that totally goes along with this story of a spot that grows and moves anytime one is not watching it.  This story is only 15 pages long and is both hilarious and creepy, perfect start to this book.

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu-This story pretty much has everything one could want from a short story.  There is politics, power struggles, war, genetic breeding, cartography, anarchy, and oh yeah it all plays out between the bees and wasps.  After reading this I will never look at those black and yellow insects the same way again.

Gabriel-Ernest by Saki-This is a super short, super horrific, super awesome werewolf/untamed beast story that will give you more chills per page then anything I have read in a while

The Flight of the Horse by Larry Niven-This story cracked my up.  I loved the whole premise of it, I loved the scifi element of it, I LOVED the humor of it...just so much to love.  Pay close attention when you read this story and you may "learn" where some of our own myths and legends come from.

The Smile on the Face by Nalo Hopkinson-This story really got to me.  It is in the voice of a teenage girl trying to find a way to accept herself and it is a story any human can relate to.  Our girl finally finds her inner hamadryad and learns to accept it.  If I were a teacher, I might be tempted to make this one required reading.

I think there is a two fold strength to this collection.  The first being the selection of the authors from Diana Wynne Jones through Nalo Hopkinson to Larry Niven to so many more made this book truly one of many view points.  The other strength is that the stories were taken from so many time periods, the oldest story in this collection was published in 1885 and the newest being first published in this anthology in 2013 so you not only get a variety of authors, but a huge variety of style and glimpses into other times and places and people. Ok I lied there is a third strength and that is the illustrations by Briony Morrow-Cribbs at the beginning of each story add the perfect touch to each creation.  As an added bonus buying this book resulted in money being donated to 826DC which is a program works with the 6-18 crowd (and there teachers) to inspire the art of creative writing which is awesome and has the added benefit of making sure there are still decent authors around in my old age :-) I recommend this book to anybody and everybody, but especially you quirky people who love a good, twisty short story. This is without a doubt going on my favorites bookshelf, I give it 9 out of 10 Carnivorous Ink Blots.

What is your favorite unnatural creature?  What constitutes an unnatural creature?  Do reading stories like this make museums super scary (yet oddly thrilling)?

I Heart Tolkien

If I ever had chance to wonder what my ultimate favorite highly specific genre is, this collection of short stories cinched it for me. The collection is called After the King edited by Martin H. Greenberg, and is a collection of stories written in honor of J.R.R. Tolkien.

This collection of stories is mostly written in the style of high fantasy and the vast majority of these stories manage to convey a huge sense of a world in just a few pages.  As short as they were almost every story in this book instantly took me to far off places and looking up from the pages was almost heartbreaking in the realization that the mundane world was still here.  It's this type of story telling that made me fall in love with reading in the first place.  The ability to take a reader somewhere, anywhere else and let them inhabit these other places and people for a short while is a true gift.  High fantasy is my most favorite of all the genre's, as much as I love to read and explore other types of books, when I am in need of a for sure fix, high fantasy it is, it rarely disappoints and always gives me the escape I look for when I am reading.  This collection stands out for several reasons.  The first reason is that most of the stories are written in the style of Tolkien.  I always found him to be less of a linear beginning to end person and more of a telling a story that's a piece of a larger story that takes place in a bigger universe.  I always felt that this style gave one many options, to be able to tell small personal stories and still have a sweeping epic over all tale.  Many of the stories in this collection give you that same feel.  The second reason is that every story in this book is good, true I enjoyed some more then others, but that's like saying I like dark chocolate sea salt carmals better than coconut truffles, I still love them both, I just have a slight preference for one over the other. Anyways all of the stories are very well written and I would pick up a book by any of these authors (many of which I already have).  I will tell you about of a few of my favorites, just to give you an idea.

A Long Nights Vigil at the Temple by Robert Silverbert-This story kind of blew my mind.  The author actually figured out a way to make aliens high fantasy.  I know, I know it's crazy I tell you, but seriously the care that went into crafting this tale was apparent and the result a work of art that makes one stop and think of how people view religion, stories, myths, fables, prophecies, strangers, etc. So much in so short a story!

The Dragon of Tollin by Elizabeth Anne Scarborough-This tale of inevitability, combined with some amazing verbiage that paints spectacular descriptions of a world that has been destroyed is just lovely.  The ability to convey a whole history through something as simple as a conversation between two strangers is amazing, and of course there is a dragon, which makes this essential fantasy reading. This haunting tale stuck with me for days after I had read it.

The Halfling House by Dennis L. McKiernan-I loved this story right off the bat.  It has a great sense of humor about it and gives homage to every fantasy character you that owes it's existence to the stories of Tolkien.  There are halfings, hobbits, warrows, pixies, leprechauns, gnomes, elves, dwarfs and every other creature you could possibly imagine.  Even better the story itself gives nods to the classic stories.  You can tell that the author has a real love for the stories that proceeded him.

Faith by Poul and Karen Anderson-This is the kind of story nine year old me would have read over and over and over.  It loses no magic now that I am an adult, but growing up I loved stories where kids around my age were the hero's.  This story has the potential to get very dark, but the ending is uplifting and hopeful and just everything you want it to be.  The goblins were terrifying, the kids had courage and the adults were just there to ensure the perfect ending, loved it.

Nine Threads of Gold by Andre Norton-This tale from a master of story telling was probably the most Tolkien like to me.  It was an origin tale, the start of a strong and powerful fellowship that you knew would go on to have many adventures. This story really felt like it was pulled from a longer saga and as great a story as it was on its own, feels like it would fit right into a greater tale.  These kind of stories remind me of the old sagas like Beowulf where the whole was made up of smaller stories.  Incredible.

Ok I could probably write something awesome about every story, but I really want you all to go pick this up and read it.  If you like fantasy in any way, shape or form than you really need this on your shelf.  I can already tell I am going to go back and pick this up and read my favorites over and over again any time I need an escape from the big bad world. I give it 8 out of 10 One Rings.  Happy Reading Everyone!

Explaining The Unexplainable

Read an interesting short story yesterday in the collection Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears.  The story is called The Fox Wife by Ellen Steiber.  What really caught my interest (besides it being a good little story) is that she says she was inspired by medical accounts in Japan in 1892.  She took these records and married them with the kitsune lore in Japanese culture.  The point of this being that before people knew about certain illnesses, especially of the mental variety, many times they were attributed to something magical.  Since I find the human body and mind fascinating, and I love reading I decided to do some digging around and see if I could find some other common threads in the illness/magic realm  (yeah that didn't quit make sense to me either).  As I was digging around, I found many instances where historians, doctors, researchers and bloggers with too much time on their hands have found lines linking folklore, fairy tales, and legends to real life diseases, illnesses and injuries.  Here are a few examples.

Changelings/Autism- It is amazing how closely the symptoms of autism (especially the more sever forms) match up with old descriptions of changelings.  Imagine that you have this lovely child that seems to be perfectly healthy, then one day you start to notice your once loving child refuses to be touched.  The child pulls away from it's family, has outbursts over the oddest things, seems to hyper-focus on seemingly pointless tasks.  With no frame of medical reference, it would make sense to feel that your child had been replaced by a strangers baby.  Other illnesses that tend to manifest in childhood may also have contributed to the changeling myth.  What I personally find so fascinating about these clear descriptions of autism (excuse me while I climb my up on my soap box for a moment) is that it seems to point towards autism being around for a lot longer then people think.  I know many a child that has not been immunized because somebody convinced them that autism wasn't around until we started immunizing our kids, or that autism is new and contingent on pollution and environmental factors.  While certain environmental factors may play a role (we still don't know a lot about autism) stories about changelings and their dead on descriptions show us that in all probability kids have been afflicted with autism for much longer then anybody realizes, and definitely long before immunizations (getting down of my soapbox now).

Epilepsy/Demonic Possession - Anybody who has had, or witnessed a seizure can tell you it is pretty terrifying.  As an EMT I have dealt with many many many seizures and every time it hits you how crazy it looks.  We know for the most part what causes seizures, but can you imagine back before we had a name and a cause for it, seeing a person just start contorting, flailing, uttering strange sounds, eyes rolling into the back of their heads.  It is no wonder that people were convinced an evil spirit had taken possession of a loved one.  It got even worse when a person had a disease like epilepsy that caused seizures on a regular basis.  It's one thing for a person to suffer one seizure (caused by a high fever or extreme illness), but then be "rid of the demon" and never have another episode.  It would be quit another back in the day to continue these seizures even after a ceremony to excise the demon.  This also lead to a lot of unnecessary incarcerations and even deaths.

Ergotism/Witchcraft-Who would have thought something as innocent as rye flour could be a possible cause for the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials?  Among the usual jealousy, over zealousness, and greed which is really all a group of people really need to persecute their fellow man, a theory that a crop of rye may have been infected with a fungus that when consumed produces some very interesting effects.  There is an LSD like hallucinogen affect for some people.  A person could suffer from debilitating stomach pains, akin to being stabbed in the belly (which many "victims" of the "witches" described during the trial"  There may be sores, neurological issues, and mania.  Any time a large number of people had unexplained pain or illness, they just attributed it to witchcraft, because really what else could it be.  The biggest problems came when there was no obvious cause for the pain, if I accidental cut myself and see it bleed and feel the pain, it is not witchcraft, if my stomach feels like somebody is stabbing it, but I don't see any marks or can find no cause, then it might be witchcraft. It is interesting to see in history how people can take even the most minor of things and blow them out of proportion.

Oh man there are so many more of these especially when you start dealing with things like schizophrenia, OCD, porgeria, just so many illnesses that we now if nothing else can name as a scientific disease.  This is why it is so important to keep writing stories and keep reading books, it gives us a glimpse into the past and shows us that we are dealing with some of the same things today as people did hundreds of years ago.  It will be int resting in 100 years for future humanity to read our books and stories and say "hey I think they were talking about (insert name of some undiscovered ailment here), can you believe this is what they thought it was?"  Humans have a need to have an explanation for everything, especially when things go wrong. Before we had science and wide spread education, people used magic to try and explain the unknown. Thinking over some of the more contemporary books I've read, I think this generation tends to write about more intangible illnesses, mostly of the mental variety.  Liar is a good example of a modern folk lore take on a potential mental illness.  It is written in the same feel and style as a way to explain something that may not yet be explainable.

What diseases/illnesses do you recognize in your favorite folk tale?  What diseases do you think future generations will look back at us and shake their heads over?  Do I read way to much into simple stories?

O. Henry Book

The weather is beautiful at the moment, making me want to get outside and explore.  This sculpture, which is part of a three piece set, is in honor of the author O. Henry

O. Henry Book Sculpture

O. Henry is famous for stories such as The Gift of the Magi which has been retold in many forms through out the years. I love artwork like this because it combines my love of books with my insatiable need to be out doors.

Zombies VS Unicorns

It's October!!!!! This is my favorite month of the year, it's my birthday month (and yes we will be celebrating every day of the month), fall is in full swing, and this year October is zombie book month. So if you see more zombies than normal you know why :-)

To kick of this month of birthday, autumn, zombie madness I present to you Zombies Vs. Unicorns. Young adult authors Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier have put together a gruesomely humorous blow by blow battle of these two epic creatures in the form of short stories.  Each story is prefaced by the two authors arguing their position (Holly is team Unicorn and Justine is team Zombie) in a very compelling manner.  I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, The Children of the Revolution was my favorite zombie story and Princess Prettypants was a great take on a lot of unicorn tropes. A couple of the stories in here I did not feel were appropriate for the under 15 crowd, but since I am definitely a smidge over 15 it was all good, but parents be warned.  Over all the girls utilized several wonderful young adult authors to come up with a funny, witty, unique spin on a short story collection. Also the cover is super cool awesome and even if I never read it I would still want it on my bookshelf.   I will have to give it 8 out of 10 zombie unicorn princess crowns.

Also this month I will be posting my potentially impossible wish list...cause it's my birthday month...and my blog so I can do whatever I want :-)

Pavone Lux Venetian Mask

How beautiful is this!!!! I can see wearing this to the fae masquerade ball in Hunters Moon

What team are you on, Zombie or Unicorn?  What is your favorite young adult author?  What is your favorite monster to read about?  What do you think a Zombie Unicorn Princess would look like?

Short and Sweet

As mentioned in a previous post I love a good short story.  As I look around I realize I have them everywhere, my desk, in my backpack, in my magic traveling bag (that is my purse substitute) at the fire station, in my bathrooms, in the car, in the truck, pretty much anywhere I might have a few spare minutes to devour a story.  After reading so many collections I thought I would share with you some of my favorites.

The Faery Reel: Tales From the Twilight Realm- This is my ultimate short story collection, I have read it numerous times and tell some of these stories to my nephews.  Contrary to the title this has nothing to do with glittering vampires and lovelorn werewolves :-)  These are some of the most incredible, imaginative, magical stories I have ever read.  They are based all over the world, using every type of creature out there in every setting and time period possible.  If you like fantasy even a little bit, or like me love a story that takes you far far away then get this book because it is chock full of amazingness. I guarantee there is a story in here for everyone.  The only down side to this one is it is sometimes hard to find, online is probably your best bet.

The Green Man: Tales From the Mythic Forest- Another collection from Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.  These stories are all set in a nature type setting...which does not always mean your typical elfin forest.  Again the stories are varied and the different authors really use every ounce of imagination in dealing with what could be a very stereotypical theme.  The stories in here tend to be a bit more deep and calming then some other short stories I've read.  I really really love this one.


Firebirds, and Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction- Both of these books were great, they are different from a lot of collections because they include both scifi and fantasy.  These stories are aimed at the young adult crowd, but even someone who..ahem...may not be quit that young of an adult any more will still really enjoy these stories.  The mix is great, and the combination of genres keeps things moving pretty well. Both book were equally enjoyable which makes them that much better.

Sherlock Holmes-What you say, Sherlock Holmes is a classic, a tale for the ages!  All true, also the majority of Sherlock Holmes is short stories.  I am totally hooked on these little mysteries.  It's a nice change of pace from the mostly fantasy short stories I read, and it's fun to see if I can figure out the mystery in my little lunch break.  Anybody who wants to read a classic, but doesn't have the patients for some of the tomes out there should get into these nifty little stories.


I have read many, many, many short story collection many of them very good, but the above are ones I would recommend to everybody, weather they are into the genre or not.

What is your favorite short story collection?  Do you like them short and sweet, or do you prefer a more fleshed out story?  What authors have you been inspired to pick up because of a short story?  Have you ever stayed in the bathroom a tad longer then necessary to finish up that story?

I Love A Good Short Story

Lately I've been into short story collections, I like to keep them at my desk and when I have few minutes read one or two.  Short stories are so different from full length novels and books in they only have a few pages to get a whole point across, they don't have the luxury of setting up long detailed plots, minimal character development, almost no history, and sparse settings.  Yet even with all of these restrictions some of the best, saddest, funniest, intriguing and touching stories I have ever read are short stories.  I guess when I think about it, most fairy tales, myths and legends that we are all so familiar with when written down are in reality just short stories.  One of my other favorite things about short stories is the sheer variety you can get from a single topic.  I am in the middle of reading a collection of short stories that are rewritten classic fairy tales called Happily Ever After. In this book is on of the most AMAZING retelling of Beauty and the Beast that I have ever read called Rose Garden, and believe me I have read countless fairy tell rewrites. This story while still recognizable as Beauty and the Beast takes a different meaning of love, in this case of a child to break the spell. This is a story that would only work in short story form, that if was to be expanded would lose its flavor and conciseness (is that even a word?)  I think it takes immense talent to be able to get across a great story when you are limited to such few pages, it makes you really decide what is important to the story, what cannot be left out, and what may not be needed. What is your favorite type of book/story ?