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Sky Songs II: Spiritual SF

Steve Stanton (Editor),

Cherith Baldry (Contributor)

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Mar 25, 2008 Werner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories, science-fiction

As the Goodreads description above indicates, this is a sequel to the first Sky Songs anthology published three years earlier. The venues from which the stories are taken, as noted, range more widely; only three years worth of issues of Dreams and Visions likely wouldn't have furnished enough material for a collection of comparable quality. And the quality is comparable --IMO, the average quality of the stories here is even higher than in the original book, though there are fewer that stand out As the Goodreads description above indicates, this is a sequel to the first Sky Songs anthology published three years earlier. The venues from which the stories are taken, as noted, range more widely; only three years worth of issues of Dreams and Visions likely wouldn't have furnished enough material for a collection of comparable quality. And the quality is comparable --IMO, the average quality of the stories here is even higher than in the original book, though there are fewer that stand out as exceptional masterpieces. My general descriptive comments about the scope and characteristics of the stories, and about the contributors, in my review (which see) of the first anthology would apply to this one as well. (The only contributor who lives outside the U.S., Canada, or Britain, Arthur Powers, is American-born, but has lived in Brazil since 1969). This volume has an appendix with brief information about each of the 17 writers --though it does have at least one factual error; Seddon's Imperial Legions is historical fiction, not SF. Besides Seddon, the authors from the first collection who are represented here as well include editor Stanton himself, Cherith Baldry, Donna Farley, Michael Vance, and Fred McGavran.

As noted in the description, some of the stories have won or been nominated for significant awards: McGavran's "The Butterfly Collector," Farley's "TreeDance," and Douglas Smith's Japanese-flavored fantasy "The Red Bird;" the latter two are among my personal favorites here. Other favorites include Seddon's "Call Up the Dawn" (one of that writer's best works, IMO) and Neil Ellis Orts' "Roach," which both envision very dark --but not hopeless!-- futures for humanity, even though they're quite different futures, and Baldry's "The Unicorn Cup," another quality work of fantasy. Michael Vance's "Off the Hook" is also worth mentioning; it has a more Lovecraftian flavor than the two tales showcased in the previous collection. But all of the selections here are well worth a read! ...more

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