9/27/2000
Years Best Fantasy and Horror 13th
Collection ed by Ellen Datlow and
Terri Windling.
[Note: I had been reading this series since #3].
“Darkness and Diamond” by Ursula K Le Guin
Nice to
read a story where the girl lashes out at the guy because he excepted her to
wait quietly for him. Rose’s response to
him was especially enjoyable.
But why
is it always a choice? You can’t have
magic and love; it must be one or the other.
Rose didn’t feel that way, neither did Di’s mother. Is she right, is it easier for women to
multi-task then it was for a man? Do
years of having to oversee the children, cook, wash, and churn became genetically
imprinted and past along to the daughters though their own mothers. It would be nice to think so. It would also explain a bit.
“The Chap Girl” by Ian R MacLeod
This
is a very sad story. It is interesting
how a woman’s magic conceals man’s (of course, we don’t know if he is truly
dead). Magic tale without the constant
hitting of fantasy over the reader’s head.
It has the sense of realism about it.
Woman’s
magic is death but man’s magic is luck, not life. Though luck and life are connected. Walt is known for his luck.
Good strong narrative voice, you can see it happen, as it
possibly did.
Were the
woman actually unlucky in choosing the man or were they witches who based their
bad luck on the men they chose to be with?
“The Girl Detective” by Kelly Link
A
rather strange story. Is the girl
detective is all of us? Conclusion is
priceless. “She came over and stood
under the tree. She looked a lot like my
mother. ‘Get down out of that tree this
instant,’ she said, ‘Don’t you know it’s time for dinner?” (54).
Is the
speaker merely having a fantasy?
“The Transformation” by N Scott Nomady
This
story doesn’t stick with me for some reason
“Carbosse” by Delia Sherman
I’m
not sure if I see the fairy tall in the same way. How can you give one fairy git and yet
another. Poem becomes confused
there. The thought about briars seems to
make sense.
“A man
who would be her mate,
Not her
mast” (59)
“Harlequin Valentine” by Neil Gaiman
Harlequin gets his componence as well as wish.
How did she know to eat it? She
seems more cruel than Harle. It works because we don’t see her in her true
light, just though Harle’s eyes of love.
“Toad” by Patricia A. McKillip
Read
before.
“Washed in the River” by Bechin Fitz Goldberg
He’s
perfectly correct. Readers like fairy
tales because they can identify with the heroes not those that are
punished. Every eldest child feels a
little pain as the eldest children is punished in most stories.
“The Dinner Party” by Robert Girard
I
really didn’t get this story. It seems
to be that if a story is surreal it is considered great, which is always the
case.
“Heat” by Steve Resnic Tam
Okay. Its possible but I didn’t like it.
“The Wedding of Esperanza” by Linnet Taylor
Enchanting
story. The use of dancing to stop the
fighting as opposed to song reads like one of those myths passed down from
generation to generation. Also the
determination of the two women as well as the poor of faith.
“Redescending” by Ursula K Le Guin
Finally
a happy ending. Better novelist than
poet, I think.
“You Don’t Have to be Mad” by Kim Newman
There
is something about Newman. He writes
believable women. This short story stuck
me as PTL variation. [Note: I honesty have no idea what I meant here].
“The Paper-Thin Garden” by Thomas Wharton
Theme
of artificial versus reality. What does
make true beauty? The emperor’s desire
to have everything made possibly points to a desire to be control. The leaf book he cannot control because he cannot
control. He can’t pay for it like he does his workers. He cannot shelve it like a book.
“The Anatomy of a Mermaid”
Good
“The Grammarians Five Daughters” by Elenor Arnasr
I
love the lesbian second daughter.
“trudging
along wormfully” (136); Love it.
“The Fru is my Hat” by Gene Wolfe
Ick.
“Welcome” by Michael Marshall Smith
This
is a well done story but the ending seems weird because he is too accepting of
things.
“Pathos of Genre” by Douglas E Winter
Why
do people think King is greatest writer in the world?
“Shatsi” by Peter Crowther
“Keepsakes and Treasures” by Neil Gaiman
Couldn’t
get though either of these. Unusual
because I usually like Gaiman. Same is
true with “What You Make It” by Michael Marshall Smith.
“The Parwat Ruby” by Delia Sherman
Very
Trollope in execution if not in plot.
But the turn of phrases seem very much like him. “A horse in a flaxen wig” (225).
“Odysseus Old” by Geoffrey Brock
Much
gentler portrayal of an old Odysseus than Tennyson.
“The Smell of the Deer” by Kent Myers
Can’t
really see the connection to Diana and Acteon.
After all, Diana is not a slut, she is a virgin. While the theme of revenge, esp. via the dog
is good, the whole wood sequence seems very much out of place. Unclear who is
Diana and who is not The Huntress in the
wood does not seem to be Diana, unless the deer are there who she is connected
to.
“Charon and the Pleiades” by Sarah Can Arsdale
Okay
“Crosley” by Elizabeth Engstrom
Why are the foreigners, the mysterious ones, always
seen as enchanting and desirable?
Crosley seems marked for death with his ship and clothing colored
black. It is not surprising hearing of
his death, if he is ever truly died.
Francine seem to condescend to Winston.
Yet he seems to be overwhelmed by her.
This is getting to be cliched.
The same is true with Steve Millhouse’s “The Disappearance of Elaine
Coleman” that idea has been overused since it was use in Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
“Naming the Dead” by Paul J McUaley
Rather
depressing when you think about it.
“The Stork Man” by Juan Gaytisolo, and “Tanushi” by Jan
Hodgeman
Both
animal fables, animals helping people with the problems of life. Why no stork women? “Tanushi” I liked better of the two, probably
because of the female character.
“White” by Finn Leblan
Couldn’t
read it
“Dear Floods of her Hair” by James Sallis
Just
plain strange.
“Mrs. Santa Decides to Move to Florida” by April Silley
Don’t
we all question our own reality and what is reality or real to us?
“At Reparata” by Jeffrey Ford
Wonderful language but characterization fails
at some level. I’m not sure how, but it
does. Lost interest halfway.
“Skin, so Green and Fine” by Wendy Wheeler
Read
already.
“Old Merlin . . . “ by Jane Yolen
Not
really sure why it is in this collection when other excellent stories seem to
be there. Yolen’s short stories are
better than her poetry.
“Sailing the Painted Ocean” by Denise Lee
Alice
in Wonderland?
“Grandmother” by Laurence Snyder
For
some reason, I’m not surprised it was written by a guy. It’s a good poem, but I don’t think a woman
would write it.
“Small Song” by Gary A. Braunbeck
Couldn’t
finish it.
“The Emperor’s Old Bones “ by Gemma Tiles
This
is cross of Empire of the Sun with the short story in an earlier volume
about the chef cooking a human meal.
Perhaps by the same author. Do
like the British line.
“The Duke of
Wellington Replaces His Horse” by Susanna Clarke
I want more Wall stories! This one is too funny.
“Halloween
Street” by Steve Resnic Tem
Another story that seems to be a variation
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
“The Kiss” by
Tia V Frarris
More of a mystery than anything else. I
wonder if Frank Sinatra would like it.
“The Beast” “The Hedge” by Bill Lewis
Liked “The Hedge” much better. He mentioned Angela Carter!
“Pixel Pines”
Again a lose a little interest, but the
ending, not many truer words then, “I hate computers . . . NO it’s when they
seem to have a mind of their own. The
keyboard freezing for no apparent reason.
Getting an error message that you’re out of disc space when you know
you’ve got at least a couple gigs free . . . Sometimes its enough to make you
went to pick up the nearest component of the machine and fling it against the
wall” (469).
“Falling Away”
by Elizabeth Birmingham
Another one I couldn’t get though.
10/1/2000
The Temple and The
Stone by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
Couldn’t finish it. It seems too cliché. Too much a Dreyni book but using the Templars
instead. The only seemingly original
idea is not having the Christian Church.
The Templars spend too much time telling us how good they are as well. World stage paints a different viewpoint.
Comments
Post a Comment