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(group member since Oct 07, 2023)
Dan’s
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from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.
Showing 21-40 of 58
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1965) by Roger Zelazny ★★Just as Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Melville can be considered a fishing story about a hunt for a whale told in an elevated, literary style, so too can Zelazny's highly-regarded tale here. Only instead of taking place on Earth in the mid-nineteenth century off the coast of New England, Zelazny's occurs on Venus, and the hunt is for an underwater, Venusian life-form 300 feet long.
The story won numerous awards for the time, the mid-1960s. There were not many science fiction authors of that era who could write in high literary style. Today there are, and elevated writing style alone is less valued than it once was. Ideas now count for more. This story is less of an anomaly today than it was in 1965 and would not be as highly regarded if it were being published for the first time this year.
Once Upon a Time at the Oakmont (2023) ★★★1/2Upon my first reading of this story I was very disappointed; it made so little sense. I gave it another read though, and I am glad I did because it made more sense to me on the second read. You don't have to pay to read it, incidentally; it's freely available on the internet here: https://psychopomp.com/fantasy/octobe...
The Oakmont is a New York hotel that is not anchored in time and has occupants from different times, mostly Americans from the 20th and 21st centuries. The hotel has rules, such as occupants can visit rooms of people from the past, but not the future. Occupants should not inform other residents of future events, etc.
The story has a few obvious problems and plot holes. For example, there is no explanation for why the Oakmont is not in a time, or where it came from. How do people wander in and out without affecting the time stream? Etc.
But if you can put those issues aside, what's left is a neat little romance that takes place over the span of about a century. The story is told from the point of view of its protagonist, Sara, a resident from about our time who falls in love with another resident who volunteers to serve in World War II. The impediments to their romance are unique to say the least.
Recommended for readers who pay close attention when reading and who let authors have room to play with logic.
Bad Doors by John Wiswell (2023) ★★★1/2This might be the scariest story of a stalking door ever told. The protagonist, a Gen Z young man without much to recommend him named Kosmo, refuses to be in a horror story. Scary stuff going down? He figures it's time to leave. That just means scary stuff goes on around him, which is bad enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed this strange story that never quite resolved due to protagonist cowardice. It's unique and relatable for sure. I've never heard of this author before either, but it's not his first Nebula winner. The only thing that got me down a bit about the story was how it took me back to the days of the Covid pandemic. I'm trying to erase my memories of that time, not relive them.
Or for the more horror minded: Black Cat Tales: An Anthology of Black Cats edited by Francesca Maria. This one is not due to be published until two days before we'd begin it. Talk about being on the bleeding edge!
Just to help make things interesting I'll nominate Cosmic Cats and Fantastic Furballs: Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories with Cats edited by Mary A. Turzillo.
Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200
by R.S.A. Garcia (2023) ★★★★★Tantie Merle is getting up there in years and needs a little help around the farm. Her thoughtful daughter sends her a gift of an AI farmhand to help Tantie Merle out, only nothing quite goes as planned.
What a delightful surprise! This story is a masterpiece. I seldom seek out comic fantasy or comic science fiction. It's never funny to me. What other people find comic, be it Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, doesn't make me laugh usually because it tries too hard. I love it when there's a good story to tell that in the telling can make me laugh so hard because its situation is so funny. This is one of those magic stories.
Starting May 15 we are resuming group reads with the most recent in the long Nebula Awards series. It has been annual and going since 1966. Recently the series stopped being published every year, but last March the last three years were all published almost simultaneously. We are reading the latest one, Nebula Awards Showcase 59 edited by Stephen Kotowych. I have no idea what the quality will be. No one has rated or reviewed this book on GoodReads or Amazon yet. We will be the first apparently. It's certainly affordable, just $4.99 as an eBook, triple that if you want to use trees to read.
Let's start discussion on this May 15, or even earlier if you like. I'm not a rules stickler. Please post your thoughts on this book here at this topic when you're ready, being careful to use spoiler tags if you go into a lot of plot detail. We'll read them with interest.
Great nomination, and thanks for getting the ball rolling. I've actually met the editor Kevin J. Anderson at a Dragon Con. He's a real down-to-earth guy who gave good answers at the panel I attended featuring him and a woman who was also a writer. His wife maybe? He read from one of his works that was coming out soon (as did she). It was interesting to see how he discussed his work, as if writing for him and putting down ideas on paper in such readable fashion was so automatic for him.I asked him about writing for franchises, if he put as much effort into writing a good Star Wars novel, for example, as he did his own creations. He said, yes, that if something out there has his name on it as the author, that he wanted it to be the best product he could make it. Franchise or not, it didn't make a difference in terms of effort he puts into the work.
Our group read for June 15 - July 14 will be themed. That theme is CATS. Who knows a good fantasy, horror, or even science fiction anthology or story collection that centers on cats? If you do, please nominate it (or them), maximum two nominations per member. A poll will run in the last week of May if we have more than one nomination.
Cats! That never occurred to me. I like it! Andre Norton -- we did a High Hallack collection of hers last year -- used to write a lot of stories featuring cats. They have a long history in fantasy stories, probably horror stories too come to think of it. I'd like to keep this topic open for further ideas other members may wish to contribute on other themes we can consider for future months. But I think we'll go with cat anthologies or collections of which Feisty Felines can be a nomination.
Let's do a themed nomination for the first summer month of 2025, one that's dedicated to some subject or another. What would be a good theme? Ideas that come to my mind are zombies, unicorns, dragons, elves, vampires, etc. Or maybe we could go with a sub-genre, say urban fantasy, or high fantasy, comedy horror, or science fantasy (a blend of SF and fantasy like what appeared in Planet Stories). Does anyone want to propose a good theme for us? I could run a poll on possible themes, or maybe a rough consensus will emerge. What do you all think?
The GoodReads list of Mammoth Books could suggest some good possible categories for consideration: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
In any given group, authors are usually present. Many are dying to tell others about their recent publication but are perhaps shy. They don't want to come across as spammy. Other authors join a group just to try to promote their book for a day or two and then leave. For us, it doesn't matter. We welcome all authors. We'll read whatever you have to say about your work too. And we won't consider it spam if you put it in this folder, because we're inviting you to do just that.Please keep in mind that we are a group mainly interested in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, any good genre speculative fiction of any length really. We're especially interested if it got printed in a short story collection, anthology, magazine, or some online venue or other. That's really cool! Please tell us all about your work here in this folder. Create your own topic when you do, and check back for comments. Members might have questions for you.
Thank you. If you would like to make me a moderator, I'll implement this idea. I'm not sure how much further I'll take things after that, but I love your concept for the group. Reading anthologies and discussing the short stories in them, and all. Yes, I'll put my money where my mouth is. If you make me a moderator, I'll run that poll and head the discussion of whichever Nebula Stories book wins it. Thank you!
I have a proposal. We have not been doing much this year. How about we change that?There is an anthology series in science fiction that is up to 59 now. The first book in the series, which started in 1966, was Nebula Award Stories. It was edited by Damon Knight and it contained eight awesome stories, two by Roger Zelazny, one by Larry Niven, and so on.
Not coincidentally, 1966 was 59 years ago. The series name changed to Nebula Awards Showcase in 2000, and for the first couple decades of this century was followed by the year, for example Nebula Awards Showcase 2012. A few years ago, they just switched to the number in the series and this year's is Nebula Awards Showcase 59. Isn't it strange how no one except no one has read or rated this book on GoodReads this year yet, but it has been out for over a month. Do people not know this series is still in existence?
I propose for May 15-June 14, we read a book in this series. My only question, if you like the proposal, is should we start with #1, #59, or somewhere else in the series? The advantage with starting with the latest, #59, is that the stories are topical and current, the state of SF art as it exists today. Also, the Kindle version can be had for as cheap as $4.99. The advantage with starting at #1 is that, well, you start at the beginning. The eight stories in it are written by seven classic authors, all of whom we should all be pretty familiar with, and it really is an auspicious beginning. The main disadvantage is that the only way to acquire the book is on the used book market. It is not available as an eBook. At least it's cheap. I acquired my copy for less than $10, tax and shipping included.
So, my proposal:
1) We take a poll. Who wants to and commits to reading either Nebula Award Stories or Nebula Awards Showcase 59? Yes, it's a two-choice poll.
2) We begin reading the poll winner on May 15.
Darkrose and Diamond (1999) by Ursula K. LeGuin ★★★★It took me a while to get to this novelette, in part because it's longer than a short story. Also because it's part of LeGuin's EarthSea Cycle. I read the first book in LeGuin's Cycle, A Wizard of Earthsea, some forty years ago, but there have been many stories in the cycle between that book and this story. Do I really want to read them out of order like this? Well, I'm glad to report my fears were baseless. The fact this story might be in that cycle has no bearing on its ability to stand alone. Which it does. Perfectly.
The protagonist of the novelette is a boy named Diamond. That is a name only the father was happy about. He values wealth and wanted to call his son something he thinks worth even more than gold--Dad's name is Golden--and Diamond is the result. I mention this because it establishes the pattern. Dad calls the shots in Diamond's life. He's not a complete autocrat about it. But he does call every shot when there's no one else important to make the call. And women in this society are never deemed important.
The plot of the story is essentially centered around the question what profession will Diamond have when he grows up, and who decides that? That's all. For me, that's not a particularly interesting question to center any plot around. And the reason this story doesn't get another star is because LeGuin can't get around the smallness of the plot's scope. Like on the cosmic scheme of things, what does it matter what some dude named Diamond chooses for his profession?
Still, even though the plot theme may lack lasting significance, I do like LeGuin's writing. She is a master storyteller. And I do enjoy reading about the complex characters she has created, their thoughts, their conflicted motivations, especially the love interest's, named Darkrose. It's ultimately an enjoyable romance story that pretty much justifies its extra length.
The Valley of the Worm (1934) by Robert E. Howard ★★★
This is the third of the four novelettes that start this anthology, meaning it too is slightly longer than a short story. It's quite a contrast to LeGuin's story, which I imagine is why the editor juxtaposed them. As small as the scope of LeGuin's plot was ("What will I be when I grow up?) is as large as Howard's is. Howard is ultimately writing a justification for regarding the Aryan race as superior. I don't know how widely that's recognized, and I imagine Howard fans might take issue with my characterizing the story that way. But that's how I see it. I think Hitler would have loved the story if it had been translated to German and he had read it. That makes me uncomfortable.
Putting its obvious racism aside, if that's possible, the story, although worded well and well told, has other problems, too. It's protagonist, Niord (a typical Aryan Nordic Viking warrior we should all look up to kind of guy) is as hollow in characterization as Diamond in the preceding story is nuanced. The story has characters as stand-ins for races and is really all about the vicissitudes of entire races and tribes, not individuals. Talk about your grand scope!
But ultimately the point is as meaningless as can be. Who cares what a race of people or nation accomplishes (Nordics against the Picts here), or why or how they do it? Three stars for the artistry of the story-telling, the consistency, and word choices. But no more than that because the story is so limited at the same time in terms of theme and point. Howard's story here is a weird contrast between the previous story in terms of plot scope, character individualization, as well as what a story is supposed to accomplish (its theme).
Falcon Blood (1979) ★★★ The Sulcar are a seagoing race introduced early on in the Witch World series. A Sulcar woman is shipwrecked, and the only other survivor she finds on the shore is a man from a race of falconers, who disdain women (except for purposes of breeding stock). They set off together anyway, from necessity, and come across a ruined falconer castle, where we learn the cause of falconer misogyny.
The writing is not sharp in this story, and after the initial drama hard to track at points. I found my mind wandering repeatedly as I read the last half. The story was okay, but not a favorite. Misogyny, or disliking anyone for insignificant reasons, has always seemed like a pointless error and easy enough to see the folly of without a story needing to be based on such a theme to point out the error.
The Dowry of the Rag Picker's Daughter (1988) ★★
I have my doubts this is truly Andre Norton's writing, but it's possible. The story is about two daughters, one a hideously ugly (due to a spell) ragpicker's daughter, the other a shrewish daughter of an Arab harem master, both needing to be married off by their fathers. I didn't much care for the writing style of this story--it was hard to follow--and I couldn't care less about dowries and such, or the problems of two women in this society finding suitable arrangements for marriage.
All Cats are Grey (1953) ★★★★
This is very early Andre Norton--1953. She had published her first science fiction novel Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D the year before under her legal name, Andre Norton. This short story was published in the August - September issue of the pulp magazine Fantastic Universe, only it's second issue in fact, under the Andrew North pseudonym she used for science fiction short stories. Also published this issue were stories by Poul Anderson, Clifford D. Simak, and Richard Matheson, so Norton wasn't being published in a second-string magazine by any means. This was the third of six works she used the Andrew North pseudonym for. Her two earlier science fiction short stories, written as by Andrew North, were “The People of the Crater” (1947) and “The Gifts of Asti” (1948), both of which had been well-received.
Up until now, Norton had mainly written adventure stories, westerns, and historical fiction or folkloric stuff, none of which had garnered her significant recognition. Writing science fiction was still something of an experiment. This short story marks huge improvements in style upon her earlier two. It was clear from the first story that world-building was her strongest suit, but she still had distance to travel in terms of plotting and narrative voice. Her narrative voice in this story is the main improvement. It's very different from her earlier efforts. Here, it's casual, self-assured, and oddly enough, distinctly male, like one of the boys at the club filling another one in on what's going on.
The plot was a huge surprise for me, distinctly intriguing. The antagonist for the story is what is so interesting. He (or it) is so horrifying that he's kept pretty much off-camera and out of focus for the entire story, despite the fact he should be at the center of it. Let me explain. This antagonist is an early version of what came to be the antagonist in The Predator movies, an alien being who can seem invisible to us for the same reason as in Predator. This one, too, really likes to kill people.
It's strange for Norton to come up with an antagonist this horrific. I'm amazed she came up with the Predator concept so many years earlier, than the film. This is the first use of it I can find. It's unfortunate Norton wasn't yet sufficiently developed in her writing to make better use of her idea. Norton, oddly enough, does everything she can to downplay the horror and thus minimize the excitement. She makes what should be the heart of her story almost a subplot. Talk about working against yourself!
However flawed in some respects this story may be, the concept contained in it is still amazing, well worth a careful read.
By a Hair (1958) ★★★½Andre Norton's best and most famous work, Witch World, was published in 1963. With its publication, Norton moved into the top tier of speculative fiction writers. Before this she was still trying to break in.
This is the first early Norton story of the collection, and it's a good one. She published it in an extremely obscure magazine devoted to weird tales called Phantom. I've never heard of any of the eight co-authors featured in this magazine, and I've heard of a lot of authors from this period.
Accordong to SF Encyclopedia (online) this magazine was a UK, large-digest, Magazine, consisting of 16 issues, and was published monthly, April 1957-July 1958, by Dalrow Publications, Bolton, Lancashire. "Short-lived, Phantom was at the time the only UK magazine devoted entirely to Supernatural Fiction. It concentrated on Ghost Stories, but did cover other traditional supernatural themes, especially Werewolves and Witchcraft. From #4, through the influence of Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008) and August W Derleth, who served as agents providing the bulk of the material for the magazine, Phantom began to contain more reprint material, mostly from Weird Tales. Of special interest is the final issue, which included new stories by Sophie Wenzel Ellis, Andre Norton, Bob Olsen (1884-1956) and Idella P Stone (1901-1982) among the reprints. The UK material was minor and mostly by local authors." "By a Hair" is the new Andre Norton story.
I enjoyed it, although not much of it deals at all with the supernatural, or weird genre. It's more a historical tale set in some unnamed mountainous east European area during World War II, or just after it. The story consists of a lover's triangle centered on a woman named Dagmar Llov. Her motivation is power and she'll go with the man she thinks she can get it through. At first this is Ivor Kark, but he is an idealist, therefore inconsequential, and thus falls out of favor. Dagmar then becomes interested in Colonel Andrei Veroff, a socialist who comes to power in Eastern Europe after the war, who mainly just wants a son. Dagmar is willing to oblige, but is opposed by Countess Ana.
The end is really strange. Andre Norton appears by what she writes in the last four sentences to believe she adequately explained her ending. Perhaps she did; but if so, I don't get it. Anyhow, the ending is the first and only time, I think, something supernatural may have happened in the story.
It was an interesting read and had me riveted by its characters all the way through. I'm deducting somewhat for the end's lack of clarity and for it being less in the weird fiction genre than it purported to be.
The Gifts of Asti (1948) ★★★★1/2
This is Norton's second published story in the speculative fiction genre, nominally a science fiction story. It has a strong fantasy feel to it as is typical of much of Andre Norton's work, this cross-blending of genre. Norton's first speculative fiction story, "The People of the Crater," was published in 1947, and does not feature in this collection. It too was excellent, not unflawed, but a very fun read even still. Both stories appeared under her Andrew North pseudonym when they were published.
This story was published in the third issue of Fantasy Book, which had an eight-issue run from 1947-1951. The short-lived magazine was not a major pulp, but was by no means obscure either. It's possible today to pull up any or all of the eight issues here: https://readitfree.org/FZ/SP.htm#FB and read them for free, if desired. I suspect there are some forgotten gems in the run.
This story was an odd surprise. It has way too much packed into it to be a short story like this. There is easily a novel's worth of material and depth here. I suspect there were plans for just that, but that Norton wrote this shorter version to perhaps test the waters, to see if there was interest in her themes and ideas for a longer version later. Most of the ideas in this story are expanded upon in her Time Traders tetralogy. This story becomes something like the background story for that series.
I should describe the story a bit. Barbarians on a planet named Erb have invaded and are ransacking and burning a village. In a temple in the mountains above the village, Varta, the last Virgin maiden of Asti, a God barely worshipped any more, and her companion, a telepathic reptile and probable descendant of Erb's original inhabitants, flee into hidden passages in the mountain. What they discover in an interior lake becomes the heart of the story, is a lot of fun to read about, so I won't spoil anything by elucidating further.
For those who reach the end, like this story, and wish Norton had done more with it, a common urge perhaps, the good news is she did. Sort of. Check out the following:
The Time Traders
Galactic Derelict
The Defiant Agents
Key Out of Time
That Which Overfloweth (1992) ★★1/2I really have no idea where this fits into anything else Andre Norton wrote, if it's a Witch World story, or something else entirely. I also had a very difficult time at first figuring out what the story was about, even after two readings. One thing I try in such situations is to make a list of characters and places and what is revealed of each. So, I did a third reading and mapped it out like this:
(view spoiler)
Now I could track the story. So I stopped my mapping here.
Apparently, a palace or some such is being raided or sacked by men looking for a treasure of some sort. A woman wants to protect two small girls during the raid and has them hide in an enclosed space where they stay undetected. We get everything from the perspective of the older of the two hiding girls. (view spoiler)
This story is clearly a fragment of some longer piece, something perhaps that was entirely discarded. It doesn't really work as a fragment like this. There's too much missing. But it's not completely without interest as an isolated scene.
Earthborn: A Witch World Story (2004) ★★This story was originally published under the title "Earthborne" in Masters of Fantasy.
Oh boy. Time to introduce the reader to a sad fact about Andre Norton's writing. For the last twenty years of her life, approximately, say 1985-2005, Norton wrote very little material solely attributed to her. Remember, she would have been 73 years old in 1985. Norton had a coterie of co-writers whom I suspect did the great majority of the actual writing. These latter works are not highly regarded. If another Norton fan can name a single really good Norton novel written after 1984, solely by her, or even co-written, I'd be interested to know about it. That's one reason why the opening story in this collection was such a treat. Although published in 1995, that one read like Norton's style, and a good example of it at that!
The style in this story is nothing like Norton's. I suspect its actual author is Mary H. Schaub. Schaub "co-wrote" The Magestone, not to mention some other Norton works. This short story looks like a scrap that could have been tossed off from Schaub's Witch World novel. Mereth was a character in it, and Lormt the land it took place in.
This all acknowledged, what about the story itself? I don't know. I read about some vague troubles Mereth has to contend with taking place in Lormt, strange characters like a sheperdess in disguise, and a carter's son named Rober who wishes to harm Mereth. But I couldn't ferret out much in the way of a motive. (view spoiler) This story had a little potential, but finished as a nothing burger. Maybe if I had already read The Magestone I could better appreciate this additional story in that novel's setting.
I hope people will realize that Andre Norton before 1985 or so is a Norton well worth reading, and not blame her too much for letting her fans and friends use her name to co-write with her in order to get their less worthy writing in publication. At least, by reading this story you can well see why their writing is generally not well regarded.
The Sword of Unbelief (1977) ★★★This is a novelette set in the highly developed Witch World of Andre Norton. Essentially Witch World breaks down into two series based on its two continents. There is the Estcarp stories, comprised of the earlier Witch World novels (written mostly in the 1960s) and set on the older continent. Then there are the High Hallack stories, more of which were written in the 1970s. It's set on the newer continent. Like North America maybe. This story is a High Hallack story, although its protagonist, Elys, is the descendant of Estcarp refugees.
This story takes a long time to get going. One has to read closely to discover that Elys is trying to track down and reunite with her lover, Jervon, who has been captured and moved by his captors into a wasteland. It is not, despite the fact that many pages are devoted to it, the story of a love between a woman and her horse, named Fallen, then Fallon, and by the end of the story once again Fallen. Sloppy.
I like the fact the story was told in first person. I usually find those stories easier to follow. This one had antagonists that were too vague to really excite me. Too much of the story took place in Elys's perceptions rather than reality. But still, by the end there was a reasonably suspenseful and enjoyable battle.
This story appeared as an original story in a 1977 anthology that had some heavy hitters for co-authors, Ramsey Campbell, Manly Wade Wellman, and Tanith Lee to name the most prominent. That anthology looks like it would be worth a read itself: Swords Against Darkness II.
We have yet to make the acquaintance of a story that would cause a newcomer to Norton to gasp with excitement.
