Ms. Bishop is known for several wonderful fantasy series including her Black Jewels, Landscapes of Ephemera, and The Others. This short story collection features stories set in all those series plus a bunch of others. The book is sectioned into The Early Stories, The Fairy Tales, Black Jewels, The Landscapes of Ephemera, The World of the Others, New Places, and Potpourri.
By her own foreword, she included her early stories for those readers interested in knowing how she honed her craft. By that very nature, these are not indicative of her current quality; don't expect too much.
The title story is actually a take on Snow White so I'm not sure why it wasn't included in her Fairy Tale section. It is told entirely in third-person which, in my opinion, is a tell that the author isn't very experienced; published in 1989, it is definitely a very early story. The second story "Bear Trap" is a lightly amusing short tale that isn't really amusing if you think about it for a minute. "Not a Princess" is a silly take on Rapunzel.
"The Weapon" was quite a bit better. A strange story that begins with a couple guys dressed up and doing a Civil War re-enactment; or so you start to think. It doesn't take too long until Bishop has dropped enough info that you realize it's actually well into the future. And there's a lovely twist with a hint of Star Trek's eugenics program and maybe a bit of Serenity, as well. A sad piece.
The next one, "Hotting Fuggam and the Dragon" is obviously an exercise in writing although it did see publication. I think it's supposed to be a little funny; I found it annoying. "The Tunnel" would have been an exercise to get published in an SF magazine (which it was) and I think it had unrealized potential.
"The Match Girl" was quite a bit longer and worth every word. The story is bleak and the ending a bit anticipated but the writing was much better. This one was selected for an anthology titled Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears. The next one in the Fairy Tale section is titled simply "Rapunzel" and was also selected for an anthology Black Swan, White Raven. This story is much more imaginative than that early take, and it has a very grounded fairy tale twist and ending. And I also enjoyed "The Wild Heart" although I'm not familiar with any fairy tale trope that might have been the inspiration. It was a solid fairy tale with a great ending.
And, of course, the Fairy Tale section includes one titled "The Fairest One of All" - guess which tale that comes from… But it's a rather dour feminist viewpoint - that beauty really is skin deep and men don't look past the skin. I'm not sure I completely understood the ending.
The next section was what I was really looking forward to: Black Jewels. There are three stories in this section and one has never been printed before. And since this is one of my most favorite universes, I can forgive a lot to have three more stories. I can see why they might have been cut from a longer novel but they certainly stand on their own as short stories. No amateurish writing in any of these. We get to see Surreal at work, Lucivar being scared to death by young Jaenelle (always fun), and yet another with Surreal and Ranier - this was a great story.
The Landscapes of Ephemera series only gets one story in this collection, titled "The Voice." It was a very engaging story, even though I know I've read a couple stories in my life with this plot but can't bring them to mind right now. It's basically the story of how one person becomes the repository of all the negative emotions of a village allowing everyone else to feel lighter and happier. In this one, one girl growing up in the village and doing what everyone does to dispose of their unhappiness, starts to think about how not every unhappiness can be wished away for someone else to deal with. She starts to wonder why this one person was selected to be the village's scapegoat. And she starts to realize that the village elders know exactly what they're doing and they don't like an uppity girl unsetting their pretty status quo. The only trouble with this story - and it's really a fine story - is that it doesn't feel much like an Ephemera story. So, a little disappointment there.
The next section was the other one I was really looking forward to: The World of the Others. This had two stories (one is brand new!) and one of them has one of my favorite heroines, Meg, in it. So, Huzzah! It's a typical story for this series, so nothing new here but I still enjoyed seeing Meg and Simon again. Meg has a vision, which typically is snippets and not a whole picture, so Simon has to piece together information to make sure two of Meg's human friends are not harmed. It doesn't hurt that some of the Others love Meg and will go out of their way to help humans that normally wouldn't even interest them. The second story "The Dark Ship" helps pay for this book. It was terrific. It's in the world of Others but doesn't include any familiar faces. It takes place in a small fishing village being shook down for protection money by a nasty human ship's Captain. A young girl who senses things takes a huge chance with her own life to save a horse trapped on the beach. We, the readers, know what the horse is but the girl doesn't. She simply sees a creature in need and responds. Fortunately for her, there is an Other who watches and sees. And he's curious enough to want to know why she sensed the danger and why she helped. And then he gifts her a token intended for her to use for herself. He's surprised when she uses the token to save a shipful of stolen children and keeps nothing for herself. She's surprised to learn that she has much more value to The Others than she ever did to her abusive parents or uncaring village.
The next section is titled New Places and it's fun. Our heroine lives and works in a unique little town. Unique because of its water which only allows the town's citizens to have just two children…ever. Why? No one knows which adds an unsolved little mystery to this tale. But more to the point of this story, the water causes a bit of confusion to the newly dead who don't always realize they're dead. So, our Cecily works as a corpse catcher; it's her job to go collect the newly dead but not completely deceased and put them someplace safe and happy until they finally wind down. Her life gets a bit complicated when her mother's bestest friend, "Aunt" Vera, calls for a favor; a really big and secret favor. Apparently, she was murdered and she's determined to find the one responsible. Since her mother and Aunt Vera have a toxic and combative relationship, handling both of them and discovering just who killed them both is not on the top of Cecily's fun list. This was a lovely little detective story and I wouldn't turn up my nose at any additional stories in the weird little town of Neuterville.
The last section is appropriately titled Potpourri. Ms Bishop is more forthcoming in this foreword giving us more context as to where these pieces came from. "The Day Will Come" is a brief testimonial to the 9/11 event. "Truth and Story" is a brief parable. "Stands a God Within the Shadows" is a very complex tale of how strange it would be for an alien to pretend to be human; it would be the smallest things that would trip them up. Well, maybe they aren't actually alien in the strictest sense of the word but they are now the inheritors of a blasted and barren earth and only the few remaining humans can give them a semblance of life. A very clever idea and well done.
"She Moved Through the Fair" is a substantial ghost story told over a couple of generations and it is a typical ghost murder mystery. But it was lovingly told and I totally enjoyed it. "A Strand in the Web" may be the best in the lot (despite my love of Black Jewels and The Others). A solid SF story about the crew of a city-ship that wanders space restoring habitats and biospheres to planets where they no longer exist. It is the fate of those scientists to never leave their ship and use automated machines to do the actual work of bioengineering flora and fauna to create a viable ecosystem; never setting foot on the planet to enjoy their own work. They see themselves as Atoning although it is never explicitly stated what they are atoning for. This is a story of what happens when the aged ship finally starts breaking down. Will our heroes be able to create a viable ecosystem for themselves before all the machines quit working? And will they be able to overcome their cultural conditioning long enough to take a chance on leaving the ship even if it means they, also, will become extinct… Loved this story!
Overall, while there were some meh offerings, there were plenty of quality stories. I am always happy when an author who publishes their short stories elsewhere finally collects them all in one place; especially when I missed a couple of those published! ~~ Catherine Book
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