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Ride the Moon
For thousands of years, the Moon has inspired stories and legends about heroic animals, violent deities, and criminal humans. In modern times, those tales have been overshadowed by vampires and werewolves. It's time for the Moon and her denizens to take back the night. Follow us down a twisting path of fantasy and science fiction and rediscover the magic of the Moon. From Mermaids that collect souls to lunar colonies on the brink of disaster, inside these pages you will find out which lunar gods still walk among us and what new breed of monster should keep you fearful of the night. Ride the Moon contains 19 speculative fiction tales that showcase the breadth of writing styles from around the globe.
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
230 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 25, 2012
...Although not all stories worked equally well for me, there is plenty to enjoy in this anthology. Variety is the word here, I think there something for is everybody. The e-book version I've read is professionally edited and apart from a few mistakes in the page numbers it was remarkably clean as e-books go. It is always nice to see a publisher take care with the e-book edition of their books. If this is the standard Tyche Books means to keep itself to, I think we'll see some very interesting publications from them in years to come. With Ride the Moon they have certainly added a few names to my list of authors to keep an eye on.
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
February 29, 2012
When I think about the anthologies I have read, I tend to break them out into three different types: exploring a particular style (e.g.
Supernatural Noir
ed. Ellen Datlow, reviewed here), showcasing a particular sub-genre (e.g.
Steampunk
ed. Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer), or plumbing the depths of a specific theme (e.g.
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy
ed. Ekaterina Sedia). Through painstaking editorial curation, anthologists consolidate different voices and stories into a meaningful, unified whole. They can become more than the sum of their parts, and at the same time are packed full of fun, entertaining stories. And while I found that Tyche Books moon-themed debut anthology
Ride the Moon
didn’t culminate in a deeper insight into human nature, the collection of fantasy and science fiction stories was well-selected, well-organized, and definitely a fun read.
Thematic anthologies like Ride the Moon are, in my opinion, the hardest type of anthology to pull off. A stylistic exploration requires attention to style and tone, a sub-genre survey requires breadth and depth within that sub-genre, but a good thematic anthology necessitates building a TOC of excellent stories that are linked on a superficial level (the ostensible theme) and whose underlying truths are simultaneously unified in some fashion. The best example of this kind of anthology in recent times that I can think of is Ekaterina Sedia’s Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy , which (despite the weaknesses of some individual stories) still managed to offer insight into how cities are employed in modern fantasy.
Ride the Moon is the debut book published by a new Canadian small press, Tyche Books. As their launch title, it is impressive. If I hold it to a high standard, it’s because on most measures I believe it comes pretty damn close to meeting it. Most of the stories are original to the anthology, though the occasional reprint (Edward Willett’s “Je Me Souviens” I recognized) is well worth inclusion. Most of the authors are Canadian, and I strongly recommend readers who might not be familiar with SF/F north of the border to check them out. While I recognized some of the authors (notably Claude Lalumière, Edward Willett, and Marie Bilodeau), most were brand new to me.
As the title suggests, every story in this anthology somehow touches on or deals with the moon as metaphor, god(dess), monster, or setting. With its lunar theme, the anthology skews somewhat fantastical: of the eighteen stories, only six are clearly science fiction. However, the remaining twelve fantasy stories tend to blend nicely between the explicit dark fantasy of Lori Strongin’s “A Moonrise in Seven Hours” to the more science fictional fantasy of Ada Hoffmann’s “Moon Laws, Moon Dreams”.
About half of the stories – most notably C.A. Lang’s “Tidal Tantrums”, Shereen Vedam’s “Aloha Moon”, Kevin Cockle’s “The Dowser” and Amy Laurens’ “Cherry Blossoms” – wrestle with the relationships of myth and magic in a modern, technological society. And while it might be tempting to say that therein lies the anthology’s unifying truth, I’m afraid that theory doesn’t hold up when faced with the anthology’s other stories.
The stories that I enjoyed most invariably did something fresh with both the lunar theme and their storytelling. Isabella Drzemczewska Hudson’s “Husks” is a beautifully written dark fantasy. The prose is lyrical and flowing, and Hodson’s imagery just draws you in. Her use of omniscience in the storytelling works to great effect: despite the omniscient narrator, I found myself embedded in the characters and their experiences. A. Merc Rustad’s “With the Sun and Moon in His Eyes” employs excellent characterization with tight prose. Both the subject matter and story structure reminded me of N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy, and appealed to me in many of the same ways. Shereen Vedam’s “Aloha Moon” and Ada Hoffmann’s “Moon Laws, Moon Dreams” both do a great job of drawing the reader into their characters, though I found the plot resolution of “Aloha Moon” a little too convenient. The biggest stand-out for me, however, had to be Edward Willett’s “Je Me Souviens”: a quiet, emotional, and intensely powerful story about mourning, loyalty, remembrance, and faith.
Some of the other stories, notably Krista D. Ball’s “On the Labrador Shore, She Waits”, Tony Noland’s “Sunset at the Sea of Fertility”, and Lori Strongin’s “A Moonrise in Seven Hours” didn’t work for me. In most cases this was because I found their characters and plot structures fairly predictable. They were well executed for what they were…I just found that they didn’t appeal to me, and were otherwise unmemorable and unremarkable.
In sum, I would say that Ride the Moon is an entertaining, well-written, and well-structured anthology. Despite their significant differences, the stories flow into each other nicely. I enjoyed reading it and – perhaps most importantly – it has turned me onto a number of authors who I might not otherwise have encountered. This is an anthology well worth picking up if only for those two traits. And as a debut from Tyche Books, it makes Tyche a small press that I’m going to be paying attention to going forward.
Thematic anthologies like Ride the Moon are, in my opinion, the hardest type of anthology to pull off. A stylistic exploration requires attention to style and tone, a sub-genre survey requires breadth and depth within that sub-genre, but a good thematic anthology necessitates building a TOC of excellent stories that are linked on a superficial level (the ostensible theme) and whose underlying truths are simultaneously unified in some fashion. The best example of this kind of anthology in recent times that I can think of is Ekaterina Sedia’s Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy , which (despite the weaknesses of some individual stories) still managed to offer insight into how cities are employed in modern fantasy.
Ride the Moon is the debut book published by a new Canadian small press, Tyche Books. As their launch title, it is impressive. If I hold it to a high standard, it’s because on most measures I believe it comes pretty damn close to meeting it. Most of the stories are original to the anthology, though the occasional reprint (Edward Willett’s “Je Me Souviens” I recognized) is well worth inclusion. Most of the authors are Canadian, and I strongly recommend readers who might not be familiar with SF/F north of the border to check them out. While I recognized some of the authors (notably Claude Lalumière, Edward Willett, and Marie Bilodeau), most were brand new to me.
As the title suggests, every story in this anthology somehow touches on or deals with the moon as metaphor, god(dess), monster, or setting. With its lunar theme, the anthology skews somewhat fantastical: of the eighteen stories, only six are clearly science fiction. However, the remaining twelve fantasy stories tend to blend nicely between the explicit dark fantasy of Lori Strongin’s “A Moonrise in Seven Hours” to the more science fictional fantasy of Ada Hoffmann’s “Moon Laws, Moon Dreams”.
About half of the stories – most notably C.A. Lang’s “Tidal Tantrums”, Shereen Vedam’s “Aloha Moon”, Kevin Cockle’s “The Dowser” and Amy Laurens’ “Cherry Blossoms” – wrestle with the relationships of myth and magic in a modern, technological society. And while it might be tempting to say that therein lies the anthology’s unifying truth, I’m afraid that theory doesn’t hold up when faced with the anthology’s other stories.
The stories that I enjoyed most invariably did something fresh with both the lunar theme and their storytelling. Isabella Drzemczewska Hudson’s “Husks” is a beautifully written dark fantasy. The prose is lyrical and flowing, and Hodson’s imagery just draws you in. Her use of omniscience in the storytelling works to great effect: despite the omniscient narrator, I found myself embedded in the characters and their experiences. A. Merc Rustad’s “With the Sun and Moon in His Eyes” employs excellent characterization with tight prose. Both the subject matter and story structure reminded me of N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy, and appealed to me in many of the same ways. Shereen Vedam’s “Aloha Moon” and Ada Hoffmann’s “Moon Laws, Moon Dreams” both do a great job of drawing the reader into their characters, though I found the plot resolution of “Aloha Moon” a little too convenient. The biggest stand-out for me, however, had to be Edward Willett’s “Je Me Souviens”: a quiet, emotional, and intensely powerful story about mourning, loyalty, remembrance, and faith.
Some of the other stories, notably Krista D. Ball’s “On the Labrador Shore, She Waits”, Tony Noland’s “Sunset at the Sea of Fertility”, and Lori Strongin’s “A Moonrise in Seven Hours” didn’t work for me. In most cases this was because I found their characters and plot structures fairly predictable. They were well executed for what they were…I just found that they didn’t appeal to me, and were otherwise unmemorable and unremarkable.
In sum, I would say that Ride the Moon is an entertaining, well-written, and well-structured anthology. Despite their significant differences, the stories flow into each other nicely. I enjoyed reading it and – perhaps most importantly – it has turned me onto a number of authors who I might not otherwise have encountered. This is an anthology well worth picking up if only for those two traits. And as a debut from Tyche Books, it makes Tyche a small press that I’m going to be paying attention to going forward.
February 25, 2012
The topic, stories about the moon, has lead to a fun collection of wide ranging stories.
My favourite of the shorts in here is probably Moon Dream, a touching portrayal of a dream that I myself have, and hope to work for, but never with the commitment that the protagonist has. Rebecca Senese's powerful ending brought tears to my eyes.
I also rather liked Kevin Cockle's short "The Dowser", living in Calgary myself, this wry take on my town and the way our industry runs is darkly amusing. In re-reading this story I have continued to find more depth and fun subtleties.
Shara's Path by David Craddock casts some moonlight on gender issues and tells a refreshingly funny love story, which I rather enjoyed.
Marie Biladeau has a chilling and exciting tale "Buried Moon", bringing out the darkness in rural communities.
But even darker is Tony Noland's science fiction short "Sunset at the Sea of Fertility." A stark view of the sort of crisis that can strike a lunar colony.
I've enjoyed Jay Ravens' work elsewhere (see Creatures of the Night, and his story "Blood Money"), and I rather enjoyed his creative take on the Wiltshire myth in "Bitter Harvest". Specifically, I feel that he's portrayed criminal behaviour and fatherhood rather well, especially for such a short work.
Shereen Vedam's 'Aloha Moon' portrays an interesting view of a girl finding herself, her family and her identity.
Chrystalla Thoma's "The Black Mermaid and the Moon", to me, is a fascinating inversion of the Little Mermaid story that took two reads to fully comprehend (well, perhaps there's more, but I didn't entirely understand it the first time). A charming and well written story.
"Je Me Souviens" by Ed Willet seems to be the only previously published story. A strong story that grew on me with the second reading. He handles the topic of age quite gracefully, especially how aging is often not graceful. There's deep meaning in this story, especially how much we tend to forget. I reflected specifically on events from my life that seem so important that future generations will view as 'just boring history'.
I'll try to post some comments on the other stories later.
My favourite of the shorts in here is probably Moon Dream, a touching portrayal of a dream that I myself have, and hope to work for, but never with the commitment that the protagonist has. Rebecca Senese's powerful ending brought tears to my eyes.
I also rather liked Kevin Cockle's short "The Dowser", living in Calgary myself, this wry take on my town and the way our industry runs is darkly amusing. In re-reading this story I have continued to find more depth and fun subtleties.
Shara's Path by David Craddock casts some moonlight on gender issues and tells a refreshingly funny love story, which I rather enjoyed.
Marie Biladeau has a chilling and exciting tale "Buried Moon", bringing out the darkness in rural communities.
But even darker is Tony Noland's science fiction short "Sunset at the Sea of Fertility." A stark view of the sort of crisis that can strike a lunar colony.
I've enjoyed Jay Ravens' work elsewhere (see Creatures of the Night, and his story "Blood Money"), and I rather enjoyed his creative take on the Wiltshire myth in "Bitter Harvest". Specifically, I feel that he's portrayed criminal behaviour and fatherhood rather well, especially for such a short work.
Shereen Vedam's 'Aloha Moon' portrays an interesting view of a girl finding herself, her family and her identity.
Chrystalla Thoma's "The Black Mermaid and the Moon", to me, is a fascinating inversion of the Little Mermaid story that took two reads to fully comprehend (well, perhaps there's more, but I didn't entirely understand it the first time). A charming and well written story.
"Je Me Souviens" by Ed Willet seems to be the only previously published story. A strong story that grew on me with the second reading. He handles the topic of age quite gracefully, especially how aging is often not graceful. There's deep meaning in this story, especially how much we tend to forget. I reflected specifically on events from my life that seem so important that future generations will view as 'just boring history'.
I'll try to post some comments on the other stories later.
March 30, 2012
Juliet Taylor, the narrator of Julian Gough's Juno and Juliet, delineates the vices of both Victorian and modern writing. The Victorians, per Taylor, are overly given to sentiment, while the moderns are too fond of irony. Ride the Moon has a nice mixture of both the sentimental and the ironic.
M. L. D. Curelas's freshman book has an astonishing breadth of style and subject matter. In its pages one may find changelings- albeit very definitely non-traditional changelings, a Lovecraftian horror or two, complete with a reference to Howard's "The Black Stone", hard SF tragedies, folkloric picaresques, and many, many more. I personally enjoyed "The Dowser", "Small Seven's Secrets", and, "Moonrise in Seven Hours" most, but I can guarantee that any fan of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, or Weird Fiction will find a great deal to like about this book. I look forward to more exciting publications from Tyche Books!
M. L. D. Curelas's freshman book has an astonishing breadth of style and subject matter. In its pages one may find changelings- albeit very definitely non-traditional changelings, a Lovecraftian horror or two, complete with a reference to Howard's "The Black Stone", hard SF tragedies, folkloric picaresques, and many, many more. I personally enjoyed "The Dowser", "Small Seven's Secrets", and, "Moonrise in Seven Hours" most, but I can guarantee that any fan of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, or Weird Fiction will find a great deal to like about this book. I look forward to more exciting publications from Tyche Books!
December 14, 2016
The authors contributing on this anthology provide quite a varied interpretation of the theme of the moon. A few stories that stood out for me were "Husks", "With the Sun and the Moon in his Eyes", "On the Labrador Shore, She Waits" and "Moon Dream". Most of the stories are more on the dark side, going from melancholic to frightening without resorting to the usual suspects of moon related creatures. I'm still undecided about "The Dowser"...
February 25, 2012
A great read! Each story has its own perception of the moon. For some, it's simply where the action happens and for others it causes the action or perhaps it is the action itself. The stories have different tones and you go from one to the next never knowing where the roller coaster is going to take you.
But don't take my word for it...
But don't take my word for it...
April 16, 2014
My favourite in this eclectic collection of moon stories is Aloha Moon, which features a mysterious dragon character who wears glasses.
May 20, 2013
This collection of short stories was an eclectic mix of happy and sad. The moon was featured in several different ways, more than just the average outerspace feature or mythical goddess.
I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection. My favourites were:
- Small Seven’s Secret by Billie Milholland – This would make an intriguing full length story. It was centered around the message “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
- Cherry Blossoms by Amy Laurens – This was a sad story about waiting too long for something and having life pass you by.
- Je Me Souviens by Edward Willett – This was a poignant reflective on the importance of remembering history.
Overall, I enjoyed the somber stories in the collection more than the joyful. They were more powerful and emotional. Each seemed to have a theme or message that made for more than just a brief moment of entertainment.
I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection. My favourites were:
- Small Seven’s Secret by Billie Milholland – This would make an intriguing full length story. It was centered around the message “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
- Cherry Blossoms by Amy Laurens – This was a sad story about waiting too long for something and having life pass you by.
- Je Me Souviens by Edward Willett – This was a poignant reflective on the importance of remembering history.
Overall, I enjoyed the somber stories in the collection more than the joyful. They were more powerful and emotional. Each seemed to have a theme or message that made for more than just a brief moment of entertainment.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews