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Gorgon: Stories of Emergence

Sarah Read (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

Richard Thomas (Goodreads Author),

Gwendolyn Kiste (Goodreads Author),

C.M. Muller,

Maria Haskins (Goodreads Author),

Beth Cato (Goodreads Author),

Annie Neugebauer (Goodreads Author),

Luke Spooner (Illustrator),

more…

4.20 · Rating details · 15 ratings · 6 reviews

Be changed. Gorgon: Stories of Emergence contains 42 transformative stories spanning all genres from both emerging and new voices alike, with all new stories by Gwendolyn Kiste, Richard Thomas, Annie Neugebauer, Eden Royce, Beth Cato, D.A. Xiaolin Spires and more, and featuring 10 illustrations by Luke Spooner.

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Kindle Edition, 178 pages

Published February 15th 2019 by Pantheon Magazine (first published February 4th 2019)

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Average rating 4.20 ·

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· 15 ratings · 6 reviews

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Mar 19, 2019 Jackie McCarthy rated it really liked it

Short stories have been my jam lately. Life got you down? Read a quick tale about a girl who can turn you to stone with a single touch. Fight with your partner? Take 5 minutes and read about how a single airplane trip can alter you forever. Boss giving you hell? Close your door and enter the world of a woman with a magically transforming tattoo.
The tales in Gorgon: Stories of Emergence range from the supernatural to the mystical all the way through to the truly beautiful. Each with a central t Short stories have been my jam lately. Life got you down? Read a quick tale about a girl who can turn you to stone with a single touch. Fight with your partner? Take 5 minutes and read about how a single airplane trip can alter you forever. Boss giving you hell? Close your door and enter the world of a woman with a magically transforming tattoo.
The tales in Gorgon: Stories of Emergence range from the supernatural to the mystical all the way through to the truly beautiful. Each with a central theme of transformation and emergence, there are 42 different tales to discover. As with any large collection, there are a few misses and some truly phenomenal ones.
My current author crush, Gwendolyn Kiste has a gut wrenching fable about a girl reminiscent of Kings “Carrie”. Titled “Tips For How To Deal With Your Daughter When She’s Become A Monster”, Mom gives us advice about what to do when we come home from a night out and see our daughter has turned 3 teenage boys to stone in their family basement. I related to this in such a huge way: not the turning boys to stone (although that would have been awesome!), but the overall theme. This one tore at me.
Carina Bissett has the other 5 star gem in here with “Burning Bright”. I'm not sure if i just read too much into this one but it had all the feels struggling through an abusive relationship, and likening it to a tiger trapped in a circus just felt brutally real.
My final favorite was “Amazon” by Tori Cardenas. Josefina is a breast cancer survivor, trading her left breast for her life and replacing it with a beautiful peony, beginning to bloom. When the tattoo starts to actually bloom right there on her skin, Jo is bewildered and intrigued. After learning that the artist remembers Jo and remembers tattooing her, she is steadfast in her stance that she did not do THIS tattoo. What could it all possibly mean?
I truly recommend this work, simply because the stories are so varied and meaningful. It takes a special skill to pack so much thought, passion and power into such a short tale.
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Mar 13, 2020 Suz Jay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sfands

https://www.scifiandscary.com/gorgon-... ...more

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May 29, 2019 Beth Cato added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, anthology, fantasy

Not a review. Contains my story "Awaken My Bones Old and New." ...more

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May 31, 2019 Vanessa rated it it was amazing

This is an anthology of flash stories of emergence, of transformation—of people transformed into birds, tigers, snakes, monsters, gods, flowers, and even a boat. People who have powerful encounters with transformation. People who emerge into something new. People who experience emergence and transformation on a profound psychic and spiritual level, if not always physically.

It’s a gorgeous collection of tiny stories, sparkling with vivid imagery like jewels. Some of them are tiny pieces of horror This is an anthology of flash stories of emergence, of transformation—of people transformed into birds, tigers, snakes, monsters, gods, flowers, and even a boat. People who have powerful encounters with transformation. People who emerge into something new. People who experience emergence and transformation on a profound psychic and spiritual level, if not always physically.

It’s a gorgeous collection of tiny stories, sparkling with vivid imagery like jewels. Some of them are tiny pieces of horror; some are hopeful, and some are sad. Nearly all are filled with longing and strangeness. With 42 stories in this collection, many of them by some of my favorite writers, choosing favorites is difficult. But in a collection of strange and lyrical beauty, some of the standouts were J. Ashley Smith’s wonderfully mysterious “The Face God Gave,” a story of an airplane flight that ends most unexpectedly; Alex Shvartsman’s “The Goddess of Birds and Wind,” and A.T. Greenblatt’s “Gods of Empty Places,” which both speak of yearning and a journey into empty, wild places; the amazingly creepy “Only the Mirrors Tell You,” by Rhonda Eikamp; the poignant “She Shells” by Eden Royce; Eugenia M. Triantafyllou’s story, “Her Blood Like Rubies in the Ground,” which is both creepy and heartbreaking; Maria Haskin’s gorgeous, luminous piece of loss and heartache, “Bioluminescence;” and Sharon Jimenez’ strange and lovely tale of sisters, snails, and a peacock in “Green.”

Flash fiction (that is, very short fiction—usually defined as 1000 words or less) lends itself to the experimental, to unconventional forms, and Gorgon showcases that here. Though there’s a range of tones and style, the stories are united by their lyricism (although it takes different forms) and, of course, by the theme of transformation. It’s a collection that I read slowly, a few stories at a time, treating myself to bite-sized pieces of beauty before bed and in snatches of time. This collection reminded me strongly of another anthology of strange and lovely flash pieces: An Alphabet of Embers, edited by Rose Lemberg (although Gorgon has a stronger leaning toward horror). Both anthologies present stories that glow with mystery and beauty, pieces that often read like prose-poems. Both are highly recommended.

Edited to add: the interior illustrations for Gorgon (and for that matter, An Alphabet of Embers as well) are also gorgeous and really add to the stories. This is a physically beautiful book. ...more

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May 14, 2019 Gareth rated it it was amazing

Sarah Read has gathered an exceptional collection of 42 stories in this themed anthology of transformation. I really liked the diverse story telling genres, but what struck me most was the topics that the writers had chosen to weave into their fiction.

Two special mentions, first for the cover illustration by Daniele Serra showing ‘the Gorgon’ eyes down cast, off to one side blending into the background cutting a sad and very lonesome figure. Secondly for the story illustrations by Luke Spooner, Sarah Read has gathered an exceptional collection of 42 stories in this themed anthology of transformation. I really liked the diverse story telling genres, but what struck me most was the topics that the writers had chosen to weave into their fiction.

Two special mentions, first for the cover illustration by Daniele Serra showing ‘the Gorgon’ eyes down cast, off to one side blending into the background cutting a sad and very lonesome figure. Secondly for the story illustrations by Luke Spooner, for capturing the essence and emotional impact. There are two that I think deserve particular praise they are She Shells, and Iris and Chiarsocuro.

I enjoyed all the stories a couple to highlight are
‘Tips For How to Deal with Your Daughter When She Becomes a Monster’ by Gwendolyn Kiste an emotional horror story dealing with the trauma following an attempted date rape, told from the perspective of her mother. A masterful story by Kiste that does not shy away from uncomfortable confronting thoughts of victim blame.
‘Seen and not Heard’ by Barbara A Bennett a tale of a curator in a museum that trying to follow their dream despite her mother, but now coming up against gender inequality at work and male chauvinism giving jobs to the boys. The transformation is going to be epic.
‘Bluebeard’s Surrender’ by Julie C.Day a wonderful story of a teenager with a lifelong fascination of snakes, Day neatly sows in aspects of the snake behaviour and biology that will bear fruit.
‘Burning Bright’ by Carina Bissett is a par excellence weird fantasy a something that is something else, that highlights the abuse suffered by victims of domestic violence.
‘Her Blood Like Rubies on the Ground’ by Eugenia M. Triantafyllou a sad and heart-breaking tale of grief for a child.
‘Of Talons and Teeth’ by Brent Baldwin told as a series of desperate messages by a gene-splicing scientist to her imprisoned husband as the army of the enemy approaches.

This is a collection plays with the idea and concept of transformation, as with the cover the Gorgon as a monster is only part of the person.
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