My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy
by
Ekaterina Sedia ,
Forrest Aguirre (Goodreads Author) , Hal Duncan , Richard Parks (Goodreads Author) , Cat Rambo (Goodreads Author) , Jay Lake (Goodreads Author) , Greg Van Eekhout (Goodreads Author) , Cat Sparks (Goodreads Author)
,
more...
This anthology of 21 original fantasy stories explores humanity’s most dynamic and forceful creation—the city. Featuring tales from fantasy heavyweights such as Hal Duncan, Catherynne M. Valente, Jay Lake, and Barth Anderson, the collection whisks readers from dizzying rooftop perches down to the underpasses, gutters, and the sinister secrets therein. Mutilated warrior wom...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
April 1st 2008
by Senses Five Press
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
440)
Carolyn F.
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone who is depressed on the verge of suicide
Shelves:
library-book,
anthology
I can't take it anymore!!! I have to stop reading this book. It is so depressing and awful!!! Most of the stories I read were not good at all or just fair. I feel that some of these authors submitted story projects that they couldn't flesh out as a full length novels and started calling them a short story. And when some of the stories are less than 10 pages - one was about 5, you lose plot and character development. I had a hard time making myself keep reading it and then finally I had to j...more
view 2 comments
Henrik
rated it
Recommends it for:
those enjoying odd fantasy stories with a dark twist
Recommended to Henrik by:
Weird Tales Magazine ad
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy was a book I stumbled upon on Amazon.com while searching for books or stories Catherynne M. Valente (or without the M.) has written so far. This collection includes a short story by her, that was the starting point for a full-fledged book that is being released next year in February. Score!
I also finally checked this book out because I read a book by the editor Ekaterina Sedia and thought it was good, and decided her choice of authors/sho...more
I also finally checked this book out because I read a book by the editor Ekaterina Sedia and thought it was good, and decided her choice of authors/sho...more
Of twenty-one stories, I liked five:
Cat Rambo's "The Bumblety's Marble." Two youngsters retrace their steps to find a magic marble. I actually believed in the city, and the characters.
Jay Lake's "Promises; a Tale of the City Imperishable." A girl gives up her name, her infant, her breasts--all to become one of the city's protectors. But there is one more test before she becomes a Grey Lady, and it may be too much for her.
Greg van Eekhout's "Ghost Ma...more
Cat Rambo's "The Bumblety's Marble." Two youngsters retrace their steps to find a magic marble. I actually believed in the city, and the characters.
Jay Lake's "Promises; a Tale of the City Imperishable." A girl gives up her name, her infant, her breasts--all to become one of the city's protectors. But there is one more test before she becomes a Grey Lady, and it may be too much for her.
Greg van Eekhout's "Ghost Ma...more
I had read the back cover, so I knew not to expect "urban fantasy" in any of its older, more genre-specific senses; Sedia simply looked at "urban" settings for a range of traditional to futuristic fantasy. Unfortunatly, as with many (particularly modern) short story collections, I found this a very mixed bag. There was one that was absolutely unreadable (and I can read nearly anything, and for the length of a short story usually will) and another that I skimmed most of, hav...more
I find that I really love Urban Fantasy, I love walking through weird cities in my mind. There are some truly awesome stories in this collection, where an amazingly deep and lively world is created in just a handful of pages. I hope some of the authors decide to write novels set in their cities.
Some notable highlights from the collection:
Hal Duncan's The Tower of Morning's Bones. In true Hal Duncan fashion, it's rather hard to say what the hell it is about..it seems to be abo...more
Some notable highlights from the collection:
Hal Duncan's The Tower of Morning's Bones. In true Hal Duncan fashion, it's rather hard to say what the hell it is about..it seems to be abo...more
Anthologies are a great way to sample new authors or genres. Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, though I often get frustrated with the epic-style multi-book series that populate the field. After completing a lengthy universe of a read, a small book of short stories helps me kick the brain back in to normal-lit gear.
Paper Cities is a collection of fantastic stories set in urban landscapes. Having recently read a few of China Mieville's works (which I would place firmly into the urban ...more
Paper Cities is a collection of fantastic stories set in urban landscapes. Having recently read a few of China Mieville's works (which I would place firmly into the urban ...more
So, so beautiful. This is a collection of short stories based on the theme of Urban Fantasy. The stories are alternately rich, intoxicating, funny, and dark. If you like de Lint's or Gaiman's work, you will probably like this book very much.
I'm sure that I grabbed this off a "highlight" shelf at the library and it was worth it. Nice collection of stories and styles. Anthologies sometimes are bound together by strict themes, sometimes, editor's favorites, and often loose themes, but based on "best" available.
This collection falls towards the latter. I don't subscribe to any fiction magazines, so books like this will introduce me to authors (and authoresses) who I might not otherwise have a chance t...more
This collection falls towards the latter. I don't subscribe to any fiction magazines, so books like this will introduce me to authors (and authoresses) who I might not otherwise have a chance t...more
Paper Cities is an anthology of urban fantasy short stories. When I hear "urban fantasy" I tend to think of novels by Jim Butcher or Charles de Lint, who write about present day cities where fantastical happenings take place. The editor of this anthology, Ekaterina Sedia, has a broader view of the sub-genre - fantasy stories that take place in a city, regardless of the time period. From the collection's first story, it becomes clear what the problem with this loose description is ...more
While the most famous fairy tales take place in forests or isolated castles, there is plenty of fantasy in urban settings if you know where to look for it. In Paper Cities, 21 authors give brief and fascinating glimpses of fantastical cities where dogs lead gangs, sleep walkers are assassins and the tears of a young girl are more addicting than cocaine. Some of the stories were really interesting and some were very scary. I read through all of them very quickly, and I will look at my own city di...more
Though the title seems like a book I would like, I would never have bought this book from a bookstore. (I read a library copy.) I don’t know the publisher, editor or very many of the writers. Most of the stories I read I didn’t much care for. One I did like was Steve Berman’s “Tearjerker,” an homage to Samuel Delaney, where the characters are addicted to a prostitute’s tears.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was a book club pick for me... there were only a few stories that I enjoyed of the large amount of short stories this contained. I still will not pursue any of the authors featured in this work. Just not my kind of thing. I did finish it, though... would have set it aside if not for being a book club.
Like most anthologies, some good, some bad.
Highlights:
"Promises; A Tale of the City Imperishable" by Jay Lake: The dark sister order sound interesting, and this tale makes me want to read more.
"The One That Got Away" by Mark Teppo: An interesting Unicorn hunt story. I enjoyed this one alot.
"Tearjerker" by Steve Berman: An interesting little world with strange addictions.
Lowlight:
"The Tower of Morning's Bones" by Hal D...more
Highlights:
"Promises; A Tale of the City Imperishable" by Jay Lake: The dark sister order sound interesting, and this tale makes me want to read more.
"The One That Got Away" by Mark Teppo: An interesting Unicorn hunt story. I enjoyed this one alot.
"Tearjerker" by Steve Berman: An interesting little world with strange addictions.
Lowlight:
"The Tower of Morning's Bones" by Hal D...more
Eh.
A hit-or-miss, mostly forgetable anthology. I enjoyed a couple of the stories, and love one of them dearly, but for the most part I was disappointed by this collection.
A hit-or-miss, mostly forgetable anthology. I enjoyed a couple of the stories, and love one of them dearly, but for the most part I was disappointed by this collection.
I thought Urban fantasy meant more modern fantasy. Fantastical things happening in today's setting. But apparently not, urban fantasy can mean fantasy happening in a city setting, and not necessarily a modern city. The first three stories are very traditional, old-fashioned fantasy, which I found very boring, so I skipped over them. I really like Somnambulist by David Schwartz. It was an odd little tale. I also liked The Bumblety's Marble by Cat Rambo and Tromies; A Tale of the City Imperishable...more
Jay Lake's "Promises; A Tale of the City Imperishable" was good.
Vy Kaftan's "Godivy" was highly weird.
Vy Kaftan's "Godivy" was highly weird.
If you're looking for urban fantasy short stories as Urban Fantasy is currently defined (i.e., wizards, vampires, werewolves, fae, etc. in a modern (real) city setting) than this is not the collection for you.
This collection is more fantasy stories set in an urban setting, in any particular time, in any particular place.
The stories themselves are hit and miss... some were good, others were so-so. One gave me shivers. But none of them knocked my socks off.
This collection is more fantasy stories set in an urban setting, in any particular time, in any particular place.
The stories themselves are hit and miss... some were good, others were so-so. One gave me shivers. But none of them knocked my socks off.
An okay, at times brilliant, collection of short stories that really left me wondering what any of them had to do with Urban fantasy. I really hate the term urban fantasy as I want to like the subgenre (or mode or mood or what have you) but usually find myself just annoyed. None of these stories really captured the city as a character, and most fell into the camp of weird to be weird, not weird to evoke that I find annoying in so called new weird authors.
Jim
added it
GOT THIS OUT OF THE LIBRARY. LOOKS WONDERFULfff.
1st Story is very good. 2nd story has some astonishing language in it, but I may have to re-read it to appreciated what I just read. Excellent Anthology. I don't have the book with me for a story-to-story rating. but some of them were excellent. I remember likeing the Jay Lake one enought that it inspires me to read Madness of Flowers. (already read the 1st novel inthe series)
1st Story is very good. 2nd story has some astonishing language in it, but I may have to re-read it to appreciated what I just read. Excellent Anthology. I don't have the book with me for a story-to-story rating. but some of them were excellent. I remember likeing the Jay Lake one enought that it inspires me to read Madness of Flowers. (already read the 1st novel inthe series)
I really enjoyed these very strange stories. The story "The One that Got Away" was very sad for me, since I love unicorns. I loved the story "Down to the Silver Spirits" which seemed very original (though also reminded me a bit of "Children of the Damned.") Godivy was just plain weird with the photocopiers... I'm looking forward to reading "Palimpsest" soon:-)
Uneven, but there are some strange, beautiful stories.
The collection has quite a few gems, but a few disappointments from writers I've enjoyed in the past. When the stories work, they worked! The ones I didn't enjoy seem to have one thing in common--IMO, they seemed too "writerly" in the wrong places.
Somehow I came to this book with the preconceived notion that the stories would be about modern cities. However, most of the stories are set in a more Victorian time period. Some good, some not so good - I would have given a 2.5 rating if possible.
a very interesting collection of relatively current urban fantasy. a pretty broad sample of styles and subject matter. issues i may have with specific stories contained here are balanced by other stories in the volume. some good territory to explore.
This is "urban fantasy" as in, fiction with a fantastical bent in or about urban settings, not "urban fantasy" as in werewolves and vampires in the modern world, which is what I was expecting. Still, a good collection of short stories.
A really mixed bag of stories, unfortunately. There are a few that are beautiful, well-written, touching and exquisite ... and, unfortunately, more than a few that don't come anywhere near the same level of quality.
There wasn't a bad story in the bunch, just one or two mediocre ones. The good ones were astounding, and plentiful. This is a great anthology, collected by a good editor from good authors.
Krissy
marked it as to-read
Another "fantasy" I'm willing to try...Hoping that one of these days I'll find something that both John and I will be willing to read!
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Ekaterina Sedia is also credited as E. Sedia.
More about Ekaterina Sedia...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
