Мифическое путешествие. Мифы и легенды на новый лад

by Paula Guran (Editor), Пола Гуран (Editor), Дмитрий Старков (Translator)

Индейский трикстер, хитрец Койот… змеевласая Горгона Медуза, одним взглядом обращавшая людей в камень… Святой Грааль из легенд о короле Артуре… Фрейя, скандинавская богиня любви и красоты… мифический затонувший город Кер-Ис, некогда выстроенный на морском побережье Франции… Рагнарёк, сказание об уничтоженном и возрожденном мире… Аргонавты, плывущие на поиски Золотого Руна…
Логически продолжая свою предыдущую антологию, "За темными лесами", легендарный редактор-составитель Пола Гуран представляет читателям лучшие современные произведения лауреатов престижных премий, авторов бестселлеров, всем известных сказителей — Нила Геймана, Чарльза де Линта, Танит Ли, Питера Страуба, Кэтрин М. Валенте, — а также набирающих силу новых талантов. И все они предлагают читателю новые способы постижения и познания мира. Приготовьтесь! Ваше мифическое путешествие начинается прямо сейчас!

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Retellings, Adult

800 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2019

About the author

Paula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

Reviews

[Marquise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally, all the stories are decent, even if none was either catchy or that memorable for me personally. Each aims to retell myths, and most of them are from the West (Greek specifically, such as Hades & Persephone), but some are of Eastern origins, and there's also legends such as the Arthurian one. My personal favourite was Neil Gaiman's somewhat humorous take on the Grail Quest, that made me smile all the way to the end, which is rare with this author being hit-or-miss for me.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Lost Lake” – Emma Straub and Peter Straub - 3 stars. No idea what it's really about, but it's well written.

“White Lines on a Green Field” – Catherynne M. Valente - 4.5 stars. I really liked this one. Tricksters are a great part of mythology, and Coyote is one of the greatest.

“Trickster” – Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due - Myths + Sci-Fi = Good. 4 stars.

“Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” – Brooke Bolander - Strange and disturbing. 3 stars.

“A Memory of Wind” – Rachel Swirsky - This sucked. Second person POV is the devil. 1 star.

“Leda” – M. Rickert - Um. This was very oddly executed, both POV-wise and grammatically, and I didn't like it much. Two stars.

“Chivalry” – Neil Gaiman - Losing hope for this collection now. Farcical humor apparently is above my pay grade. 2 stars.

“The God of Au” – Ann Leckie - I don't know what myth this is based on (if any), but it was really well told, and I enjoyed it. 4 stars.

“Faint Voices, Increasingly Desperate” – Anya Johanna DeNiro - Well, that escalated quickly...and incredibly weirdly. 2 stars.

“Ogres of East Africa” – Sofia Samatar - Well it's a no from me. 1 star.

“Ys” – Aliette de Bodard - This was weird in a good way. 3 stars.

“The Gorgon” – Tanith Lee - Very dry. 2 stars.

“Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood” – Charles de Lint - Best one so far. I love Merlin. 5 stars.

“Calypso in Berlin” – Elizabeth Hand - This was engrossing and strange. I haven't read The Odyssey or The Iliad, so I'm not sure what the myth of Calypso is about, but I did enjoy this story. 3.5 stars.

“Seeds” – Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter - Changing the main character midstream was a strange choice. 2 stars.

“Wonder-Worker-of-the-World” – Nisi Shawl - Strange and simplistic. 2 stars.

“Thesea and Astaurius” – Priya Sharma - Oh, this was a wonderful Minotaur retelling. Loved it! 5 stars.

“Foxfire, Foxfire” – Yoon Ha Lee - I liked this, up to a point. The ending made little sense. Is this part of a longer work of fiction? May go look. 4 stars.

“Owl vs. the Neighborhood Watch” – Darcie Little Badger - This is really excellent and detailed, to be so short. Loved it. 5 stars.

“How to Survive an Epic Journey” – Tansy Rayner Roberts - Meh. Unremarkable either way. 3 stars.

“Simargl and the Rowan Tree” – Ekaterina Sedia - This was stupid and the language was so choppy that I didn't enjoy it much at all. 2 stars.

“The Ten Suns” – Ken Liu - I admit you got me on this one. 4 stars. Thought the anachronisms were bad...turns out they're not.

“Armless Maidens of the American West” – Genevieve Valentine - Blech. Second person POV. 1 star.

“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream” – Maria Dahvana Headley - Wonderfully strange retelling of the minotaur myth. 3.5 stars.

“Zhyuin” – John Shirley - Could have been good, but badly executed. 2 stars.

“Immortal Snake” – Rachel Pollack - Unreadable. 1 star.

“A Wolf in Iceland Is the Child of a Lie” – Sonya Taaffe - Also unreadable, as well as nonsensical. One star.

Not the best anthology I've read...by a long shot. Overall, 2.5 stars.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because it has a story by Anya Johanna DeNiro. That one, "Faint Voices, Increasingly Desperate", did not disappoint me. I only sampled a few others, and the one I most remember enjoying was "Leda", by M. Rickert. That particular myth was always rather odd, and this story really leans into how odd it is.

I'm sure there are plenty of other good stories here. I'm just a bit tired of anthologies at the moment.

[Kerith · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a treat! I snagged this off the library shelf on a whim, which I rarely do these days. I love retold myths, and short stories seemed like just the thing. It was like a box of chocolates. Some really good stuff in here.

[Anna Schubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-chosen collection of modern myths and retellings.

Favorites: "White Lines on a Green Field" for an evocative Coyote tale, "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies", "The Gorgon", "Merlin Dreams in Mondream Wood", "Thesea and Astaurius", "Foxfire, Foxfire", "The Ten Suns", and Armless Maidens of the American West."

I have mixed feelings about Neil Gaiman's "Chivalry." Part of me enjoyed the quotidian approach to myth, and part of me pushed back because the whole point of myth is that's it's not perfunctory, and when you make it so, even in jest, a tiny part of what makes the world magical disappears.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reprint anthology (with one original story) of modern variations on old myths. It was good to see some non-European myths included, from China, Africa, and other parts. These are reliable authors. I picked this up to cherry-pick authors I enjoy - Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Hand, Ann Leckie, Yoon Ha Lee, Nisi Shawl, Mary Rickert, Rachel Swirsky, Ken Liu. I had already read the stories by Catherynne Valente and Sofia Samatar. The editor, Paula Guran, provides a helpful introduction that describes the referenced myths in case the reader is unfamiliar with the originals.

[Lyri Ahnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping variety of stories fill the pages of Mythic Journeys drawn from many different cultures and told in a wide range of styles. There are Coyote tricksters, reimaginings of African, Asian, Celtic, and Greek myth, and stories less obviously drawn from established sources.
Many of the authors are widely published titans in the speculative fiction field, and though I’ve previously read most, I wasn't familiar with all of them. I didn’t resonate with every story, but did enjoy the anthology as a whole. Here are some highlights:

“White Lines on a Green Field” by Catherine M. Valente is a Trickster story where Coyote appears as a football star and Homecoming king. He embodies that star role and then some, getting pregnant with most of the girls, and taking a losing football team to the state championship, casting a collective enchantment over the entire high school. Because it’s a trickster story, chaos reigns and once Coyote departs consequences come calling.

Brooke Boander’s “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” is a delicious tale told from a winged harpy’s point of view. She is attacked by a man while “playing at being mortal” because she loves cigarettes and shawarma. I love that the narrator refuses to give into the objectification so common in hero stories and remains grounded in her power throughout the short tale. She says: “This is my story, not his. It belongs to me and is mine alone.”

“Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman is a fun story of a woman who discovers the Holy Grail at a thrift store and puts it on her mantel. A Galahad character comes to claim the cup, but the narrator likes it on her mantel and refuses to part with it. The two of them negotiate back and forth over the grail. At the end of the story, she finds a magic lamp in the thrift store . . .

Tanith Lee weaves a tale of Medusa told by a curious man who journeys to find her on an isolated island in “The Gorgon.” The narrator is half in love with her but realizes only later: “She despised me. She despised all of us who live without her odds, who struggle with our small struggles, incomparable to hers.”

“Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood” by Charles de Lint is the Merlin myth told as a tale of a childhood imaginary friend. The enduring nature of love and friendship reside in the story’s quiet heart. The tale moves back and forth in time, with the narrator in the present unable to fully remember her past until the story’s conclusion.

Elizabeth Hand’s “Calypso in Berlin” imagines the Greek goddess Calypso as a bohemian artist with a long history of male lovers who leave her. In this story she weaves an enchantment that transforms her lover and her art. It’s a haunting story of magic, love, and betrayal—and the lengths artists go for their art.

“How to Survive an Epic Journey” by Tansy Rayner Roberts is a fabulous retelling of Atalanta, the Greek heroine who could outrun any man and joined the Argonauts. Some favorite lines:
* “We all know men like Jason. He was tall and muscled and golden: it was easy to believe he was favored of the gods.”
* “We hoped to do great deeds, and be remembered as . . . Heroes. Instead we ended up as supporting characters in Jason’s tragic romance with himself.”
* “I did not care a wet fart about the Golden Fleece.”
* “There was nothing humble about our Jason: he was all piss and arrogance. Every step he took was in the expectation of an embroidered carpet sliding beneath his foot.”
* “She was smart, Medea, but young, and she crumbled beneath the golden boy’s charm.”
* “Corinth . . . had need of a new king, as long as he did not mind setting Medea aside to marry a nubile young princess. Jason, you will be shocked to learn, did not mind that in the least.”

“Give Her Honey when You Hear Her Scream” by Maria Dahvana Headley tells the story of the Minotaur in the labyrinth, sort of. It’s also a tale of star-crossed lovers, of cuckolded lovers, of revenge, and of true love. There’s a magician who pulls rabbits out of his wife’s mouth and a witch who is bereft when her man falls in love with another. Things get interesting with the magician and the witch team up.

Rachel Pollack’s story, “Immortal Snake,” is a layered tale reminiscent of the thousand and one tales of Scheherazade nested inside a story of the sacrificial sacred king, which is nested inside a story of empire-building.
The sacrificial king is given every indulgence: “There were carpets woven from the wings of butterflies. There were bottles of wine sprinkled with the tears of old women remembering the kiss of the first person who’d ever loved them.”
The storyteller is equally magical: “Great Lord,” [he] said, “your command is my blessing.”
When he speaks: “his voice soft yet somehow touching every ear. Like perfumed smoke.”

If you enjoy mythic fantasy (and science fiction), Mythic Journeys has much to satisfy.

[Milena Kushka]

Пола Гуран, как мне кажется, стабильно составляет антологии хорошего качества, а уж попадется что гениальное или нет - это вопрос второй, тут как повезет.
У меня в активе эффектные истории современной Медузы ("Горгона" Танит Ли) и Калипсо ("Калипсо в Берлине" Элизабет Хэнд), обе немножко такие себе триллеры. Горгона живёт на крохотном островке рядом с райским уголком для туристов, и напоминает самим фактом своего присутствия о том, что иногда да, угроза и опасность кажутся сексуальными, только вот кто ж его знает, какими глазами смотрит на тебя тот, кто излучает эти самые угрозу, опасность и притягательность. Калипсо - современная художница, переехавшая в Берлин, и хотя мужчина в истории присутствует, как положено, с потерей-трагедией-и-все-такое, но вообще-то получилось о большой и настоящей любви к Берлину. БЕсть еще Персефона, которая вдруг не про замужество, а про взросление, и это неожиданно получается абсолютно в десятку, ведь сейчас на два дома живут не наспех выданные замуж юные девицы, а дети разведенных родителей ("Затерянное озер��" Эммы и Питера Страуб). Прийя Шарма переделала миф о Минотавре, сделав Тесея девушкой, и очень изящно переконструировала сюжет, но мне вообще не зашло. И захваленная в рецензиях "Леда" М.Рикерт, решающая историю появления Елены Прекрасной как последствия буквального изнасилования, мне тоже не понравилась( А вот сюжетом "Аргонавтов", рассказанным от лица женщины-аргонавта, Аталанты, я прониклась, потому что очень точно подмечено то сочетание страшно-архаичного, человечного и практичного до цинизма, которое мне изначально и виделось в самом мифе ("Как уцелеть в эпических странствиях" Тэнси Райнер Робертс, рекомендую).
Но.
Я так понимаю, главная проблема сборника там же, где и гарантия его качества - многие из этих рассказов мы читали раньше. Иначе я бы начала с того, что волшебный рассказ Нила Геймана про бабулечку и Святой Грааль любой сборник превращает в праздник (тут он называется "Сказание о странствующем рыцаре", и хоть я его в 50-й раз перечитывала, он становится только лучше, не спорю, но все равно, как бы это сказать, он не принадлежит этому сборнику, - он принадлежит нам всем, и уже давно). А вот, к примеру, Валенте про трикстера в футбольной команде ("Белые линии на зелёном поле") я не читала раньше, - всплеск чистейшей радости.
* Сказала бы, что надо смотреть на имена, но моя любимая Альетт де Бодар выдала "Кер-Ис", который мне показался нестерпимо ходульным, так что нет, просто смотреть на имена недостаточно, увы.

... Короче, хороший, добротный, приятный сборник, и развлечение, и размышление, и сердцу умиление... но мне кажется, что "За темными лесами" был лучше))) хотя, может, этот не хуже первого, просто другой? В Love, Death & Robots из первого попал только один, про стимпанковскую лису-оборотня, но просился ещё пяток; а тут в основном очаровательны те рассказы, где в фокусе - внутренние монологи. Например, "Память ветра" Рэйчел Свирски про Ифигению чудесная, и за пару десятков страниц уделывает "Песнь Ахилла" - легко, легко (хотя кто бы, кхм, не уделал "Песнь Ахилла", но неважно). Пока Калипсо проживает свою драму в Берлине, Фрейя, оказывается - в Вене ("Негромкие голоса, звучащие все отчаяннее"), но там все ужасно грустно, не уверена, что хочу такую экранизацию.
А вот зато "Бессмертный Змей" Рэйчел Поллак - такое ощущение, что уже видела невероятно прекрасный мультфильм, пока читала, эх. Этакий гибрид купринского "Аль-Исса" и "1001 ночи", но при этом по-хорошему неожиданный.
Редактора-составителя любим, она заслуживает нашей читательской преданности и всяческого уважения. А вот редактору русского перевода, надеюсь, плохо спится ночами; если "байдары" у меня вызывают вопросы, но я готова признать, что это вкусовщина, то вот "пара носок" - это несомненный эпик фейл, конечно. Плачем и расходимся.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love folktales. I love buying ones with stories from around the world, which is harder than you think. It's far easier to buy ones based on ethnicity or countries especially Greek. Oddly enough, hard to find one for America. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this country is based on the backs of different cultures. With things hopefully changing, maybe we can get a book based on Native American, black, Chinese stories?

Anyways, Mythic Journeys started out well but then faltered. The problem with books like these is there's going to be stories that you inevitably don't like. That's usually fine, because most of them are short enough. The problem here is that a lot of the stories are super long and I find those are the ones that drag. I think one, maybe two held my interest. I liked a lot of the short ones but there weren't enough of them.

What I thought this book might have or should have also done was give info on each of the stories. At the end of each story, there should have been a paragraph or page of which folktale it was based off of. Because the stories were so long and dragged on, I honestly forgot what I was reading about.

There are a lot of big names here. They probably should have stuck to their bigger, longer work. I generally like to keep books like these around, but I'm donating this one.

[Houlcroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collections of stories from authors not only familiar with myths, but from the detail and passion which they include , clearly in love with mythology as well. There are some tales that will be familiar ,and are reworkings of existing myths, and others completely unrecognisable, either so far removed from the source material that they appear new, or are actually new myths created for a current or future world. Some fall flat in parts, and one or two try too hard to be clever, but even these few exceptions are lifted up by the incredible overall quality of the storytellers in the collection.
“White Lines on a Green Field” by Catherynne M. Valente and “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” by Brooke Bolander were two early favourites, drawing upon recognisable source materials in stunning and unexpected ways, and introducing me to two incredibly talented authors. Whereas “Armless Maidens of the American West” by Genevieve Valentine, “The God of Au” by Ann Leckie and “Immortal Snake” by Rachel Pollack offered an insight into the creation of new myths, and the ways in which this can be done.
A carefully curated collection of stories that engage, entertain and, most importantly, educate.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5
This anthology does a great job of collecting a diverse set of stories that retell myths and legends from across the world. There were only a few stories that I didn't care for and there were far more that I absolutely loved. A few highlights include "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman, "Thesea and Astaurius" by Priya Sharma, "Armless Maidens of the American West" by Genevieve Valentine, "Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream" by Maria Dahvana Headly, and "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies" by Brooke Bolander. But again, flipping back through this collection, there are so many stories that were excellent and only two or three that I didn't care for. If you like retellings and short fiction, this is a great anthology to satisfy both of those interests.

[Jesús · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

It's hard to rate an anthology, because the stories are diverse and some can be great, some can be... not-so-great.

From the 30 stories, I will recommend, with no particular order:

- The Ten Suns by Ken Liu
- Owl vs. the Neighborhood Watch by Darcie Little Badger
- Chivalry by Neil Gaiman
- Zhyuin by John Shirley
- Calypso in Berlin by Elizabeth Hand
- Trickster by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this Anthology were hit and miss. Among the highlights, "The Gorgon" by Tanith Lee &"Leda" by M. Rickert. I liked the fact that the stories were drawn from multiple cultures and not just the Western (i.e. European) canon. I wish the editor had put a brief introduction to the myth/legend at the beginning of each story. She did provide the information in the Introduction but it would have been better spread out among the stories.

[Olga Werby · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best fantasy short story collections I've read in a long time.

Not all stories are great, some are too pretentious, some too glib. But the majority are excellent and provide a cool take on some old fairytales. These are not kid stories. They deal with adult themes, all in very unique ways. Strongly recommend this collection.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of mythology, so when I saw this at my library, had to get it =p On the majority, I liked it, though there were some hit or miss stories that didn't really make the scale. Some stories were really cool, some I didn't really touch. But I'm picky about my anthologies. It was a good read, however, and should be enjoyed by someone that mythology as much as I do =D

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most anthologies, this one is hit or miss. A few weak ones, but the stories are short enough that the few I didn't care for were over quick. Overall, I enjoyed these modern retellings of myths & legends.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Myths spin through time, through history. Spinning, dancing, movement. These are retellings, recreations, redreamings. Join these storytellers by the ancient fires and hear these new tales. Go forth on an adventure

[Alexis Stankewitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good mix of stories, although "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies" by Brooke Bolander was definitely my favorite. I will definitely be checking out more of her work.

[Salamah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short stories.

[Lori Sheats · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good stories mixed in with mostly poor ones. Would not recommend

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many excellent stories, a few good stories, one very, very strange story.

[Leonca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating based on averages of individual stories- 3.2/5. Several good ones, but only a few outstanding enough to be memorable.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a lot of fun. As always with an anthology, some stories were better than others, but I tore through this and really enjoyed it.

[Venu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half of the stories are read-worthy. A few are pure platinum gold. I skipped/skimmed over four or five.

[Ricki]

Great collection of short stories based on myths from around the world.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this 4.5 stars as I loved every story except the last one, but that's on me not really understanding it.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not always consistent in quality and some of the myths are barely recognizable, but ultimately enjoyable and a good lesson in how material can be adapted in creative and fun ways.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing collection of folklore, some old-fashioned, some with a modern spin.

[Devinne W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Geof Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.9 rounded down. Definitely better than the same editor's fairytales retold anthology but the misses were hard misses unlike everything being just an utter disappointment.