John Klima (1) (1971–)

What an uneven collection. It's not even just the wide variation of quality (although there IS a wide variation in quality), but it seems like the stories chosen have only a glancing association with the ostensible theme. This is particularly notable given the hubris expressed in the introduction that this will be the ur-collection of modern faery tales (Klima goes as far as to imply that it is the ONLY collection of this sort, which is laughable, given that not only are almost all of these stories pulled from other, similar, anthologies, but the vast majority of them have been published in one of the Ellen Datlow/Terri Windling anthologies.) Its also poorly organized, with adjacent stories doing nothing to build or communicate with each other and some stories on the same faery tale are close to each other, while others aren't. The theme is also poorly defined, with some stories being modern interpretations of faery tales, some being retellings without a change in setting, and yet others seem to come from a universe where the words "faery tale" have no meaning.

All of that notwithstanding, there are some excellent stories:
-Wil McCarthy's He Died That Day, in Thirty Years is one of those rare pieces: a sci-fi short story that actually is satisfying. It stood on it's own and yet was clearly related to Alice in Wonderland. It was rich and provocative and wholly original. Perhaps particularly remarkable is how every little detail of the story was rich with information.

-Michelle West's The Rose Garden was something that I wanted to hate. I hate Beauty and the Best as the exemplar of the Bad Boy genre -- that horribly insidious, misogynist trope by which women should cleave to cruel, angry men and by their love covert them into some sort of paragon. But The Rose Garden, while not being a full inversion, was raw and honest about its intentions. And, I'm a sucker for platonic romance, so...

-Robert J. Howe's Pinocchio's Diary is terrifying, brutal, and an absolutely fascinating retelling. I loved his exploration of "realness" and bullying and othering. This is faery tale telling at it's best -- using a tale familiar to all of us, to tell a moral familiar to all of us, but to also tell a story that feels real and visceral and to twist it into something new that has a new moral.

There are also some completely AWFUL stories
-Howard Waldrop's The Sawing Boys is completely impenetrable. You see it's a modern twist on the faery tale in which a bunch of Yiddish gangsters are finally thwarted by a Klezmer band playing construction equipment. No? No hint of recognition? Maybe it will help if they only speak in roaring twenties slang, which is converted into Pig Latin such that you both have to decrypt every utterance and then further deduce it's meaning based on the glossary at the end of the story? No? Yeah, me neither. Also, apparently Yiddish is the new black in faery tales, as it also seems to infiltrate Leslie What's The Emperor's New (and Improved) Clothes for no clear reason, too.

-Gregory Maguire's The Seven Stage a Comeback, which unfortunately starts this collection, may work as a play, but as written media is completely god-awful. It's impossible to keep the dwarfs straight, as they have no names; only numbers, therefore there is no character development evident.

The rest is mostly pretty cliched and unmemorable. (I do love Neil Gaiman's The Troll Bridge, but I've already read it in a different collection, so it doesn't count)… (meer)

Contains:
CHIAROSCURO: "The Chiaroscurist" by Hal Duncan
LYCEUM: "Lyceum" by Liz Williams
VIVISEPULTURE: "Vivisepulture" by David Prill
ECZEMA: "Eczema" by Clare Dudman
SACRILEGE, SEMAPHORE: "Semaphore" by Alex Irvine
SMARAGDINE: "The Smaragdine Knot" by Marly Youmans
INSOUCIANT: "A Portrait in Ivory" by Michael Moorcock
CAMBIST: "The Cambist and Lord Iron:
A Fairy Tale of Economics" by Daniel Abraham
LOGORRHEA: "Logorrhea" by Michelle Richmond
POCOCURANTE: "Pococurante" by Anna Tambour
AUTOCHTHONOUS: "From Around Here" by Tim Pratt
VIGNETTE: "Vignette" by Elizabeth Hand
SYCOPHANT: "Plight of the Sycophant" by Alan DeNiro
ELEGIACAL: "The Last Elegy" by Matthew Cheney
EUDAEMONIC: "Eudaemonic" by Jay Caselberg
MACERATE: "Softer" by Paolo Bacigalupi
TRANSEPT: "Crossing the Seven" by Jay Lake
PSORIASIS: "Tsuris" by Leslie What
EUONYM: "The Euonymist" by Neil Williamson
DULCIMER: "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss
APPOGGIATURA: "Appoggiatura" by Jeff VanderMeet… (meer)

This was produced via kickstarter apparently. I didn't know that until I happened across a review, I think it was Tor.com I initially read about it. It's an Anthology that asked for submissions with a prompt of,

"Roller Derby, nightclubs, glam aliens, (literal) party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, debauchery, etc."

...which sounded like heaven to me. So I bought it for next to nothing on 'smashwords', about $3.95 or something I think, which was a steal considering one or two of the stories are worth more than that on their own.

I won't go through each story individually due to them all being well written and wonderful in their own way, but of course in every Anthology their are always the stories that you love more than others. For me I particularly enjoyed the ones that dived right into the whole 'Roller Derby' scene complete with various aliens and other strange goings on. It sent me right back to the '80s when we'd go daily to the hall in our local sports centre and stumble around the large wooden-floored hall there in an attempt not to go arse-upwards in time to the music that blasted out. I remember one lad that gained one hell of a reputation for being the best skater that ever lived. He was there all the time, whenever we arrived he would already be whizzing around, jumping over the fallen with unnatural ease and generally being a god of the rink.

I've never seen a real, proper Roller Derby but some of these stories really make me feel as though I have, while at the same time hoping I'll get the chance for real one day.

There are a few stories that didn't hit the spot with me at the time, the more serious ones usually, or those few that only very subtly hint at the whole 'Roller Derby, nightclubs, glam aliens...' prompt given to those submitting. However, I would jump at the chance to see a 'Glitter & Mayhem 2' enter the fray and will be keeping an eye out on their website just in case another kickstarter appears. If it does, do yourself a huge favour and jump right on it ASAP. I certainly will be. In the meantime, do yourself another favour and head on over to smashwords(or any number of other sites) and download the best time you'll have since those dim and distant memories of the '80s.

Fantastic Anthology. Highly recommended. Buy it now...!

… (meer)

As with every collection of short stories there were some which I did not enjoy, but there were fewer disappointing tales in this collection than normal. I've never liked Gregory Magiure's narrative style, so I wasn't surprised when I found his retelling of the Snow White story quite dull. Of course I loved the Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, and Garth Nix stories, but the surprising best of collection award goes to the surprisingly wondergul "Like a red, red rose" by Susan Wade. "Pinnochio's Diary" and "The Faery Handbag" were also charming and each brough different elements to the collection (seriousness and whimsy respectively), so overall I would say the collection was very well rounded.… (meer)