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“The Call in the Dawn”

Okay, this one is fine. This story keeps its mystery while volunteering all of the usual particulars of the Sargasso Sea. The refrain that the sailors are searching for adds a haunting, dark wonder to the lonesomeness of the aquatic world, paired with Hodgson’s sheer appreciation for the stark splendor of the sea.

“The Finding of the Graiken”

Another squid story, but it’s a bit fresher because the owner of the ship is held captive as his friend hijacks the boat in some sort of altered fugue state, because his girlfriend / betrothed / whatev was lost at sea, and he somehow knows it was in Sargasso. Okay, whatever. I’m kind of over the whole Sargasso Sea if it’s nonstop squids and octopi.

“The Thing in the Weeds”

This is one of the more successful encounters against the horrors of the Sargasso, in this case the crew suffering from and then battling a giant squid. It’s pretty obvious when people seemingly vanish out of thin air, especially as these shorter stories eschew supernatural horrors. Idk, I could go for another jaunt in the Land of Lonesomeness.

“The Mystery of the Derelict”

More uncannily natural antics in the Sargasso. In this case, a third ship witnesses another crash into one of the ancient Sargasso derelicts, after which a drama is seen only by gunfire. The observing crew dispatches a boat to see what all the ruckus was… and then promptly wishes that they hadn’t. Rats!

“From the Tideless Sea Part Two: Further News of the Homebird”

This might as well be a marooned in space story with a hidden, horrible monster. Well, it’s not so bad in the end, as we get a rational explanation for the terror of the night, but the narrator raises questions as to what kind of animus the source of the peril had. Was there something more hideous than the crabs at work, here?

“From the Tideless Sea Part One”

Another account of the Sargasso Sea. This one details one of the ships, like the one rescued by the boats of the “Glen Carrig”, except it boils down to two survivors, the narrator and the Captain’s daughter, who have enough supplies to last 17 years, with a distinct open ending. This gives me distinct Hellstar Remina vibes.

“The Boats of the “Glen Carrig””

So, I can see why people dislike this story once the survivors make contact with the weed hulk. There is a distinct change in tone that mimics the relief at meeting other humans in the desolation of the Sargasso Sea. It’s not bad, but I could have read 1,000 more pages of Weird Sea Travelogue. The horror part of the book owns bones.

I like this but at this point the handicrafts undermine the unsettling horror that the land of lonesomeness carried. We have crossed over into a Jules Verne survival story with a sort of sword fighting action sequence against the briny ghouls.

Miss Rosalie is a Real One, LOL. Agnes has struck up a companionable relationship and Rosalie is hell-bent on seducing and spurning as many men as she can, just because she can… but there is a bit of envy in the way she makes time with Agnes’s LI. And it’s hard with Agnes because she just sits there and takes it and lets all of the social engineering go on, like she is waiting out a storm.

Agnes’s second family isn’t as bad as far as her first but she still lives an unsatisfying life as governess as her efforts to educate are not supported by the parents. Mr. Weston enters and, by the word of other people, Agnes sees a fellow compatriot of House Abnegation. I get that this won’t be a whirlwind romance, but what is a former shut-in Bibleophile gonna do??? Ride a tiger through the moors???

As far as this being a governess novel goes, I appreciate that this is semi-autobiographical and a fairly uncompromising account of how being a governess sucks. In the two worlds of “romances” vs. “novels” this feels firmly ensconced within the latter as you hear how beastly the children and the adults are and how horrific everything is, like “kill baby birds before the boy can torture them to death” bad.

I am suspicious that Mrs. Tanios was the first guilty party and was badgered into it by her husband, who did the second job. BUT I really have no freaking clue!!!

these are always slow comfy starters with family drama but now that Mrs. Tanios is in potential danger (and I see a future chapter title) it has a bit of the thriller about it. I also can’t wait to see how the dog factors in!!!

It’s a Hastings story! Greeeeeaaaaaaat. It is kind of cute how Hastings imagines the voice of the dog.

This stretch has, against all odds, a questing maiden looking for her enchanted prince. It also has a prime WTF moment with the tale of the old man who marries his daughters to the sun, the moon, and a raven. Ravens are apparently pretty important and make for the most handsome princes. Oh, there was a vampire story, too! It’s in such broad strokes that it lacks any horror but still!! A vampire!!!!

This stretch has, against all odds, a questing maiden looking for her enchanted prince. It also has a prime WTF moment with the tale of the old man who marries his daughters to the sun, the moon, and a raven. Ravens are apparently pretty important and make for the most handsome princes. Oh, there was a vampire story, too! It’s in such broad strokes that it lacks any horror but still!! A vampire!!!!

maybe there is a bit of psychohistory to be had in the fact that Grimm’s tales are full of princesses who meet magic princes whereas the Russian tales are dominated by men who manage to marry beautiful, magical women who solve all of their problems.

This stretch of tales had a lot of goofy retreads, a few subverting the normal process of the three maiden kingdoms story, but the last couple consist of senseless animal violence dark comedy. The tale of the two Ivans is notable as it does not have a happily ever after ending. The brothers are warned not to yield to a wicked enemy, but they do, and pay the ultimate price in a downbeat coda.

The Baba Yaga story of Vasilisa the Beautiful is one that stuck with me from the Enchanted World library that I read. Mainly the bit where Yaga hands her the skull with the light, which results in the deaths of the unworthy. If the telling I first read was also derived in part from Cinderella, well, I definitely didn’t pick up on it at the time. I wonder if that one also had the blessed doll???

The first one of these is a crazy one where a witch almost succeeds in getting a prince to marry his sister. And he doesn’t even think there’s anything wrong with this!!! Not for a minute!!! But the fairy tale world conspires to rescue his helpless sister. Another one of these mixes the “three maiden” story with the courtship portion of the Aladdin tale in a fairly novel amalgam.

at this point all of Russian fairy tales has become an enormous blur. I did appreciate the shaggy dog story of the man who feared nothing, who is capable of impossible feats until a couple of fisherman play a prank on him by putting live fish down his shirt while he is sleeping. I guess it’s notable that the favored mode of execution is being dragged to death behind a horse, which is pretty brutal.

Three, six, nine, and twelve-headed dragons are a definite Thing and usually come in that order. The story about Frolke instead has five, seven, and twelve, which stands out given how rigid the formula has been. Also a handful of stories in this one where a clever fox who helps the hero out is nonetheless punished for, uh, being a fox, I guess.

“Ivan the Cow’s Son” is a Paul Bunyan-esque character who slays an army with a single wave of a soup ladle and speedruns a whole gamut of fairy tale tropes. Russian folk tales take Grimm’s base, add in a certain amount of pragmatism, and then pour in a liberal amount of tall tales and wife beating.