https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/ancient-ancient-by-kiini-ibura-salaam-and-the-dr...

Ancient, Ancient, uniquely for the Tiptree Award, is a collection of stories by a single author, Kiini Ibura Salaam. I hugely enjoyed this, a sexy and angry collection of short pieces, the longest and perhaps most effective being the last, “Pod Rendezvous”, which has a richly and economically depicted alien society. You can get it here. ( )

Tiptree winner 2012. I couldn't even get through the first story. It seemed to be trying for a mythopoeic vibe but didn't have the vibrancy, humour and darkness of many actual mythologies. There are plenty of writers who have done this much more successfully. ( )

In Ancient, Ancient, Kiini Ibura Salaam presents one of the most inventive and creative collection of science fiction and fantasy stories that I’ve read in a long time. I hardly even know how to describe some of these stories without giving everything away, the worlds and universes presented are so unique. Salaam’s writing often has a sensuality to it, which is quite lovely.

While I didn’t connect with all of the stories, here are the ones I loved.

"Pod Rendezvous" was my favorite story in the collection. Laki feels trapped by her fate of having to join a mother-unit and decides to throw a last hurrah party in the Velvet Stretch, while her sister Se-Se works feverishly to help Laki find an escape. It’s a smart and moving coming of age story in set a strange future (or maybe an alternate world altogether). I resonated quite a bit with both Laki and Se-Se.

“Desire" is the story of a woman named Sené who has an encounter with the god of desire, Faru. As with any encounter with the gods, it has wonderful and dangerous results. This is a poetically written and superbly sensual tale.

I also loved "Debris," in which a family skeletal beings take a visit to the earth during Día de Los Muertos celebrations. I can’t say more without giving the entire story away, so I’ll just say that I loved it.

The titular story, "Ancient, Ancient," is one of the shortest in the collection. It tells the story of an ancient being awakening through the body of a young woman. Though short, it is packed with layers of imagery in a rather poetic fashion, making it just as fulfilling as many a longer tale.

"Battle Royale" is the story of a young man who is punished by his grandfather for taking part in a semi-dangerous set of games involving dancing through a mock battle. The punishment involves the young man being forced to experience the lives and deaths of several people faced with subservience and slavery in history, each one stranger and more brutal than the last. This was so strange, powerful, moving, and I wanted so much more. I found myself both loving the story and being unsatisfied with the ending. All I can say is that I hope she continues the story elsewhere. ( )

There was something really captivating about this, a combination of the cerebral and the sensual, science fiction with a mythic feel to it. ( )

I was completely inspired and thrilled by “Ancient, Ancient” a short story collection by Kiini Ibura Salaam that covers science-fiction, fantasy and horror in the most unique ways. Her storytelling is original, organic and mesmerizing. The opening story, “Desire” is like magical poetry, telling the fable of a woman dried out by life and what happens when she is caught in a conflict between deities.
I loved the stories (the first is “Of Wings, Nectar & Ancestors”) involving the aliens (whose language was body movement) that gather human nectar and transform the human at the same time.
“Bio-Anger” was raw science-fiction and written in a style that is so unique its almost another language.
I was sad when the last story ended. I didn’t want to leave the multi-faceted universe spun from Salaam’s fantastic and exceptional imagination. You have to read this book!