Jonathan StrahanCritiques

I keep picking up various old "best of" SF anthologies at library sales and such, so this is me trying to actually read at least one of them, rather than letting them all sit aging forever on my shelves. Although part of my mind instinctively balks at referring to a book from 2003 as "old," anyway. I mean, that was only a few years ago, right? Right?

Anyway. This is a moderately chunky paperback at about 440 pages, although for that length there might be fewer stories than you'd expect, as many of them are fairly long, with I think at least a couple at or approaching novella length. As is common for this sort of thing, the editors are not particularly precious or pedantic about genre distinctions, with a number of stories here that could be perhaps more properly categorized as horror or fantasy than science fiction. (I find the inclusion of Neil Gaiman's Sherlock Holmes/Lovecraft mashup, "A Study in Emerald," particularly amusing on this front, as I think you could argue that it ticks off almost every genre except science fiction. Not that that's a complaint! I'd read that one before, but it'd been a while and I'd honestly forgotten just how clever it was, so it was nice to encounter it again.)

As usual, of course, notions of what constitutes the "best" of anything can vary enormously, and for me the contents here ranged from very good indeed to stuff that just left me cold. (Unfortunately, one of the latter, Vernor Vinge's "The Cookie Monster," which had a decent idea but an execution I found dull and unconvincing, was by far the longest one in the collection.)

It is, by the way, always kind of interesting to look for themes in these sorts of anthologies, and this one absolutely does have one, as the vast majority of these stories deal with the idea of exploitation in some way, from Paolo Bacigalupi's impressively disturbing story of young girls whose bodies are altered in horrific ways to amuse the rich to Susan Mosser's very pointed piece of social commentary about corporations who force people into indentured servitude for not being able to afford air. All of which, rather depressingly, makes the volume feel not at all dated and still very, very relevant.

It's probably also worth noting that some of the stories here have typos or weird formatting issues that make me wonder if they were poorly scanned in or possibly printed directly from emails. Then again, maybe that's about what one should expect from a book whose back cover blurb touts its main selling point as being "affordable"?½

Witches

A collection of short stories about-surprise!- dragons. Usual mix of good and bad pieces. I mostly read this because of the included pieces of poetry.. I particularly enjoyed the poem The Dragons by Theodora Goss.

This book bills itself as a collection of hard science fiction stories. Now, any collection is bound to be a little uneven. But some of the stories in here were in no way, shape, or fashion "hard" SF. And they weren't that good, either. But others particularly the first 2 and the last 1, had me thinking, "Yes! This is the stuff I fell in love with as a kid." So if you pick this book up, just know that you are in for some very disparate experiences.

In the anthology, Edge of Infinity.

The first book in The Expanse. And so my next few months of reading begins.

This is the story of how they got the super fast drives for the space ships. Good stuff.

Next up in The Expanse reading list is The Churn.

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of death, blood, and violence.

Content warnings for specific stories are as follows:

‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark – Betrayal, prejudice, ignorance, rumours, and lies.

‘Catechism for Those Who Would Find Witches’ by Kathleen Jennings – Misogyny.

‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson – Brief reference to children being stalked due to custody battles going wrong, and discussion of physical abuse.

‘Good Spells’ by Ken Liu – Corporate greed, dehumanisation of workers, alienation.

‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson – Racism, prejudice, child abuse.

‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw – Domestic abuse (physical).

‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran – Forced amputation of a child’s hands by a parent for ritual magic, genocide, brutal deaths.

‘In a Cabin, In a Wood’ by Kelly Robson – Death of a parent, discussion of death.

‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark – Prejudice, Transphobia,

‘She Who Makes the Rain’ by Millie Ho (Poem) – Reference to memory loss.

‘As Wayward Sisters’ by Hand in Hand, Indrapramit Das – Drug use, sexual abuse, racism.

‘Orphanage of the Last Breath’ by Saad Z. Hossain – Child abuse (physical), child death, mutilation, police corruption.

‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed – Ignorance, prejudice, religious zealotry.

‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh – End of life care, discussion of a day working in the ICU hospital, homophobia, ableism, hostile neighbour, threatening behaviour.

‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart – Domestic abuse (physical), gaslighting, betrayal.

‘Déjà Vue’ by Tochi Onyebuchi – Mention of infant death, woman is burned alive as a witch, prejudice, child abandonment.

‘BOTANICA: A Song in Four Movements’ by Sheree Renée Thomas (Poem)

‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter – War, reference to experimentation.

‘Nameless Here for Evermore’ by Fonda Lee – Prejudice, religious zealotry, suicide.

‘Mask of the Nautilus’ by Sheree Renée Thomas – Discussion of generation racism.

‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik – Body horror, medical trauma, hospital scenes, ableism, medical model of disability, sexual assault (off page),

‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu – Misogyny, prejudice, pack mentality, women burned alive as witches.

‘The Academy of Oracular Magic’ by Miyuki Jane Pinckard – Prejudice, transphobia.

‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng – Body horror, workplace accidents.

‘John Hollowback and the Witch’ by Amal El-Mohtar – Domestic abuse (emotional, manipulation), gaslighting, homophobia.


An anthology titled The Book of Witches, of course, caught my attention, and with such a showcase of writing talent on offer I had to check this one out. There are twenty-five stories and four poems in The Book of Witches, and I enjoyed the wide variety of subjects covered under the umbrella term of “witches”. It is always interesting to see how each writer interprets the theme of an anthology, and The Book of Witches is a splendid example of creativity. The range of settings and genres means that this is an anthology that truly does offer something for everything. From the traditional urban fantasy and paranormal themed stories, to tales of necromancers, vengeful spirits, techno-witches and dream magic.

My favourites from the anthology are ‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark, ‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson, ‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson, ‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw, ‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran, ‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark, ‘The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches’ by Garth Nix, ‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed’, ‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart, ‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter, ‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu and ‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng.

Some of these are by authors that I’ve read multiple times and know to deliver sensational short stories, such as Cassandra Khaw and Angela Slatter. While others are on my reading list (C. L. Clark and Andrea Stewart) and confirmed everything that I’ve heard about their writing. The other authors I’ve not read before, but will certainly be checking out now!

The Book of Witches begins with a well researched introduction by editor Jonathan Strahan. It’s an interesting read, however as a disabled reader I was extremely disappointed to see only BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ writers named when he mentioned diversity. This is such an ignorant perspective, and having it printed in an anthology published by a major publisher is rather upsetting. Despite this comment in the introduction, there is disability representation in The Book of Witches, most notably the excellent ‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh and the brilliant ‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik (please do check the content warnings for this one though as it is a very dark tale).

On a final note, I was disappointed by the illustrations. I didn’t feel that they were of particularly good quality nor did they add anything to the stories they accompanied.

Full list of stories and poems:

‘Seed of Power’ by Linda D. Addison (Poem)

‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark

‘Catechism for Those Who Would Find Witches’ by Kathleen Jennings

‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson

‘Good Spells’ by Ken Liu

‘The Liar’ by Darcie Little Badger

‘Escape Artists’ by Andrea Hairston (Poem)

‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson

‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw

‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran

‘In a Cabin’ by In a Wood by Kelly Robson

‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark

‘She Who Makes the Rain’ by Millie Ho (Poem)

‘As Wayward Sisters’ by Hand in Hand, Indrapramit Das

‘Orphanage of the Last Breath’ by Saad Z. Hossain

‘The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches’ by Garth Nix

‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed

‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh

‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart

‘Déjà Vue’ by Tochi Onyebuchi

‘BOTANICA: A Song in Four Movements’ by Sheree Renée Thomas (Poem)

‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter

‘Nameless Here for Evermore’ by Fonda Lee

‘Mask of the Nautilus’ by Sheree Renée Thomas

‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik

‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu

‘The Academy of Oracular Magic’ by Miyuki Jane Pinckard

‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng

‘John Hollowback and the Witch’ by Amal El-Mohtar

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Definitely worth a try

Every anthology has stories that may not match a particular Person's tastes. This collection didn't much match my tastes, but I have to say technical quality was still above average, as is the value, having close to 400 pages for $4. Def

Confused ramblings

Some weak plots, but mostly confused ramblings like "things that make you go huh?"
A couple good tales, but for the most part... NO

The Drone Pirates of Silicon Valley by Meg Elison. A wealthy teenager learns about inequality from his friend. Good.
Down and Out in Exile Park by Tade Thomson. A community if social outcasts build a thriving home on a floating island of plastic detritus. OK
Once Upon a Future in the West by Daryl Gregory. California wildfires cause trouble for some residents. Good.
Crisis Actors by Greg Egan. A climate change denier saboteur goes undercover to try and undermine a hurricane disaster support group and ends up doing good in spite of himself. Good
When the Tide Rises by Sarah Gailey. The tribulations of working for a kelp harvesting company. OK - a bit clunky.
I Give You the Moon by Justina Robson. Rather slow story about cleaning up the Namibian coastline and giving others their dreams. OK
Do You Hear the Fungi Sing by Chen Qiufan. Irritating story of a young women attempting to complete a tech project to monitor and control environmental impacts who encounters a group if nature worshippers. Dull - dnf.
Legion by Malka Older. Women create a monitoring system to observe and support each other and deter attacks. Excellent.
The Ferryman by Saad Z Hossain. In a community where brain implants and enhancements are ubiquitous a low-caste body collector learns how to make the dead of poor families live in a virtual world. Good
After the Storm by James Bradley. Dull teen-angst set against sea-level rises that manace southern Australia. OK

Only read "B is for Bigfoot".

I probably picked this up because I wanted to read some current short science fiction and saw that John Scalzi had an entry. Since I did not sit down and read it cover to cover, it looks like it took me about three years to get through it. As is typical for an anthology, some of the stories were pretty good, some not so much. I can't think of one that knocked my socks off. But most were worth the read.

I wasn't as impressed as I was supposed to be. I think I read a recommendation for this on someone's blog and figured it was time to be up-to-date in my short story reading. But this can't really be the good stuff, could it? I can't say I read a single story that really knocked my socks off. There was one about a hermaphrodite bigfoot that captured my attention and then lost my respect when the ending imploded. To top it off, I wasn't that impressed with the binding. This one gets two stars for trying, but I'm sure there are better collections out there.

Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift and Deep Navigation.

Finally it seems that Alastair has gotten the multi-universe theory nonsense bug out of his system, had a good reboot and got back to his sensible story telling.   We thank thee oh gods of literature.

Yes folks, it back to some good old Alastair short story telling. Not much sci-fi going on in this, more a human nature thing.   But it's all good and i enjoyed it.

Next up in Alastair's bibliographic time line is Thousandth Night, which is the first book in the House of Suns trilogy.   I'm certainly looking forward to a bit of long-form Alastair after all these shorties.

Merged review:

Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift and Deep Navigation.

Finally it seems that Alastair has gotten the multi-universe theory nonsense bug out of his system, had a good reboot and got back to his sensible story telling.   We thank thee oh gods of literature.

Yes folks, it back to some good old Alastair short story telling. Not much sci-fi going on in this, more a human nature thing.   But it's all good and i enjoyed it.

Next up in Alastair's bibliographic time line is Thousandth Night, which is the first book in the House of Suns trilogy.   I'm certainly looking forward to a bit of long-form Alastair after all these shorties.

You can read this for free over at Uncanny.

Once again, we return to the death of a mindship; this time the cause of death is a plague known as Blue Lily.   I've often picked up a book and found, completely by chance, that it reflected what was going on in the real world in quite an uncanny way -- this story being found in Uncanny magazine in this time of a plague known as Covid-19.

I think we could also do so much better if we could just give our diseases much nicer names -- like Aliette has with Blue Lily -- because Black Death, AIDS, SARS, MERS, EBOLA and now Covid-19 doesn't really help with people's mental health during these difficult, anxious and depressing times.   The last thing people need is a disease that sounds like a violent street gang, MS-13, just got more nasty and is coming to get you, yes you, just you!!!

Anyway, this was another story, like Starsong, in that as soon as i got to the end i went all the way back to the beginning and read it all again.   I really didn't understand what had actually happened after the first time through.   I'm not sure how much of this is Aliette portraying the effects of Blue Lily so well in her writing that i was as confused as someone coming into contact with a victim of this plague, or how much my mind kept on being taken away from this story and drawing certain parallels with Homo sapiens' current plague of Covid-19.   Suffice it to say that a second reading in which i paid a lot more attention to what i was reading was much better.

If you need your stories spoon fed to you then this most probably isn't for you as there's all kinds of temporal, spacial and virtual shifts going on and you really have to pay attention.   However, pay attention and you'll be rewarded with a rather good sci-fi, plague story.

And next up, we're going to be Crossing the Midday Gate.

Merged review:

You can read this for free over at Uncanny.

Once again, we return to the death of a mindship; this time the cause of death is a plague known as Blue Lily.   I've often picked up a book and found, completely by chance, that it reflected what was going on in the real world in quite an uncanny way -- this story being found in Uncanny magazine in this time of a plague known as Covid-19.

I think we could also do so much better if we could just give our diseases much nicer names -- like Aliette has with Blue Lily -- because Black Death, AIDS, SARS, MERS, EBOLA and now Covid-19 doesn't really help with people's mental health during these difficult, anxious and depressing times.   The last thing people need is a disease that sounds like a violent street gang, MS-13, just got more nasty and is coming to get you, yes you, just you!!!

Anyway, this was another story, like Starsong, in that as soon as i got to the end i went all the way back to the beginning and read it all again.   I really didn't understand what had actually happened after the first time through.   I'm not sure how much of this is Aliette portraying the effects of Blue Lily so well in her writing that i was as confused as someone coming into contact with a victim of this plague, or how much my mind kept on being taken away from this story and drawing certain parallels with Homo sapiens' current plague of Covid-19.   Suffice it to say that a second reading in which i paid a lot more attention to what i was reading was much better.

If you need your stories spoon fed to you then this most probably isn't for you as there's all kinds of temporal, spacial and virtual shifts going on and you really have to pay attention.   However, pay attention and you'll be rewarded with a rather good sci-fi, plague story.

And next up, we're going to be Crossing the Midday Gate.

I love Lafferty so much. No one has a voice quite like his.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books/Saga Press for letting me read and review this array of different, unique, and great Science Fiction stories. This is a well rounded and interesting collection of stories that cover quite a broad range in Science Fiction and has familiar, well-known authors as well as offering work of new more unknown authors also.
There's so much in anthologies, it's sometimes hard to know how or what exactly to review about all the stories and authors in them because there's so much in them. This has quite a few authors I'm familiar with and enjoy, some unknown and new to me authors that I'm more interested in checking out more of their work now and a large range of stories covering various topics. The stories range anywhere from Outer Limits to Twilight Zone types of Science Fiction.
I enjoyed a lot of the stories, but there were some that I didn't like as much and there were a few that got me emotional and a few that kind of scared me, or maybe better wording would be greatly disturbed and creeped me out. Some of the stories were very far out there with Sci-Fi, others were more mainstream type and others were uncanny with how close to our reality they are.
This is a pretty great collection of stories put together that can show you more of the authors you already love and introduce you to more new and awesome Science Fiction authors. I also enjoyed a wide range of topics and stories with the various types of Science Fiction.
If you like anthologies and Science Fiction, make sure to have this one on your list to check it out as soon as it comes out. The only CW/TW I would put here is that there's some profanity and such in some of the stories, but other than that not much.

Some good short stories in here, looking at the theme of 'witches'.

I did find the book as a whole a bit difficult to finish since some of the stories were less well written than others.

very lame and generic stories.
not really military scifi, either.

4 stars is the maximum, not the average.

Jonathan Strahan is probably the most prolific editor currently working in the science fiction and fantasy genres. As such, he has considerable influence on what these genres are and where they are headed. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year series, for example, helped define the market from 2006-2019. Volume 12, which collects stories published in 2017, draws stories from online magazines and e-publishers. It offers a strong response to the “Sad Puppies” movement, which offered right-wing slates for the Hugo Awards from 2013-2016. The stories are replete with characters representing under-represented cultures and gender orientations. Several stories offer commentary on race, caste, and class. There are stories by such familiar writers as Samuel R. Delany, Daniel Abraham, Greg Egan, and N. K. Jemisin. I especially enjoyed “Sidewalks” by Maureen McHugh, which tells us of a speech therapist who encounters a woman speaking Old English. Recommended. 4 stars.

This was just okay. So many stories, I skipped over. The best of the ones I read was "The Things," by Peter Watts.

I have read this before--pre-Goodreads. Haldeman is a capable and prolific author, and I have so far enjoyed all of his short stories and novels. Here are summaries of the stories that struck me especially:

Anniversary p.71: a million years in the future, future man is getting ready to celebrate the millionth anniversary of the written word. However, barely anybody reads anymore, so a time trawler picks up a newly married couple on a beach in 1952. Their task is to read the classics ( like Faust) so the future-humans can telepathically share what it feels like. And sex--nobody has sex anymore--but future-man doesn't let on that that will also telepathically be shared.

Lindsay and the Red City Blues p. 129: Why do American tourists act so stupid? This particular one goes to marrakesh and lets a boy lead him into a market for a beer. He can't find his way out without the boy, but he tries. He hooks up with a hooker, and gets beaten and robbed. Think that's bad? Wait for the ending. Best story for a misandrist.

More than the Sum of His Parts p.163: Shades of Flowers for Algernon. An electrical engineer working for a mining operation on the moon accidentally walks through aluminum vapor and 3/4 of his body is burnt away. Drs and scientists replace and create parts with cybernetics. His developing power goes to his head and a monster is created. But he kept two diaries and the secret one was discovered by a Dr. Fascinating plot.

Seasons p. 216: A friendly, Pacific alien is observed by explorers for 4 seasons: however, it wasn't realized until the next expedition that there're 6 seasons--the fifth one is where they become...well...alien. Fast-paced, a lot of sex (I suppose if you have a chance of dying, you get horny).

For White Hill p. 383: 27 artists are chosen from the inhabited planets, to do an artwork commemorating Earth, on Earth, in Amazonia, after Earth has had all animal and plant life exterminated by a "virus" set down by the enemy. Two of the artists fall in love and then find out the enemy has accelerated Sol's death. Well, if you believe in "love," this might make you unhappy. Me? Meh.

The Mars Girl p.472: This story is entertaining and fun. It's about a 16-yr-old girl who, along with her family, gets to migrate to the Mars colony. She is working at an online degree (she's advanced) and has to work, helping to build new modules for the colony. When the colony's leader (who hates kids) humiliates her for the second time in front of all the colonists, Carmen takes out her anger by going for a night walk on Mars' surface. Falling through a lava cone, she breaks her ankle and a rib or so, and breaks her suit's heater. She figures she's going to die, but wakes up to a "hospital room" with two Martian"doctors." They cure her and bring her back to the colony, but nobody will believe her story. Then she gets sick with a lung fungus growing and making her cough up blood. Carmen decides that since she caught it from the Martians, maybe they can cure her, and tries to signal them. It works, but when the colonists misunderstand and try to laser open their airlock, things could be bad...

Given the tight restriction on the subject matter and that all the stories were written for the anthology, there is some variety of tone and view, but not enough unless read over 3 or 4 months.½