A Distillation
Nov. 25th, 2024 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidkmThe Lone Star Stories Reader, edited by Eric T. Marin
Marin, Eric T., 2008, The Lone Star Stories Reader: LSS Press (www.lsspress.com), paperback, ISBN 978-0-9817819-0-7, 267 p.
The Lone Star Stories Reader contains 15 stories reprinted from Lone Star Stories (http://literary.erictmarin.com/archives/Issue%2029/index.htm), plus an introduction by Sherwood Smith. Smith introduces us to the editor, the magazine, the book, the stories, and indeed the entire field of genre publishing. And he does it in less than five pages. I have never cared about nutshell story summaries in book introductions. I'm holding the book and I can look at the stories. Not that such summaries don't have their place: many people read them to find out quickly what the stories are about. That's fine. But Smith also talks about how publishing has evolved. We all have our own ideas about this, but I am still fascinated to learn more about the changes wrought in the publishing world by economics, television, and the Internet. Smith's take on this is concise and clear.
"Wolf Night" by Martha Wells is set in an alternate Wild West in which magic and magical creatures are real. Who is killing travelers in a remote valley and who besides the protagonist will survive? Straightforward adventure well told. Kind of reminds me of Robert E. Howard's tale of a zuvembie, "Pigeons from Hell." Pacing and mood are similar, but here we add mutual fear and mistrust.
In "Seasonal work" Nina Kiriki Hoffman presents a strangely changed world in which the mundane conspires with the impossible for a wicked surprise.
Gavin J. Grant is represented by "Janet, meet Bob." In this self-referential story (I have always liked self reference) Janet does meet Bob. But the story is really about the reader meeting a whole bunch of people, or nonpeople, because the story won't let you forget that it's a story. Oh, and there is action, lots of action.
In M. Thomas's "The great conviction of Tia Inez," Americans take advantage of illegal immigrants from Mexico: sounds like a documentary. Did I mention the ghosts? Yeah and don't expect ghosts to behave sensibly like living people do, or even senselessly like living people do. Ghosts are ghosts. They are not us, even though they used to be. This is what I find most successful and interesting about this story: becoming ghosts changes people. And why shouldn't it?
Marguerite Reed 's "Angels of a desert heaven" surprised me. I didn't expect to be deeply moved by a story about a rock guitarist who consulted a Native American spiritual adviser. Even when the story was told from the point of view of the medicine woman. But I was. Reed's storytelling and characterization drew me in. She used many of the elements one would expect: singer addicted to drugs, meeting of two very different worlds, and so on, but she didn't treat them as if they were expected. I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed learning about the Hopi and their beliefs.
"The disemboweler" by Ekaterina Sedia: Eww. Not really. The title's both misleading and accurate, like what Hari Selden said about the location of the Second Foundation. I won't describe this story, because I don't want to give away the surprise. I will say the "what if" of this particular tale is remarkable.
"A night in Electric Squidland" by Sarah Monette is a tale of black magic and old-fashioned noir detective work. I have to say those are two points in its favor with me. Throw in a couple of nods to the Cthulhu Mythos and some nicely developed characters and you can stir up a good story. I probably would like this story even better if it really was a Mythos yarn, but you can't have everything.
"Thread: a triptych" by Catherynne M. Valente is a retelling of the story of the Minotaur. I always felt sorry for the Minotaur, enslaved by the king of Crete.
Tim Pratt 's "The frozen one" is a parable, and it reminds me a lot of those classic short stories from the 60s, you know the ones by Ted Sturgeon and people like that, the stories filling anthologies edited by Groff Conklin, or a single author collections with titles like "X by Y," where "X" is a single digit integer and "Y" is a famous science-fiction author who's probably dead now. The books cost $.35 to $.50 when they were new, and now you can read stuff like that for free online.
Sarah Prineas ' "Dragon hunt" was rendered less enjoyable for me by the heavy-handed denial of the existence of the dragon. A child of six would know this meant there was a dragon. The strength of the story is in the language, especially the descriptions. Prineas' attention to accurate and believable detail brings you right into the story and keeps you there.
Samantha Henderson has given us "Manuscript found written in the paw prints of a stoat." I wasn't sure whether the paw prints would form the letters or words of this manuscript or whether tiny letters would be found inside the paw prints. Of course it was neither of these things. This relatively long story is a mythic journey of self-discovery, full of strange creatures that are also people, some of whom have surprising powers.
"Giant" by Stephanie Burgis turns around the stories of fairytale giants, because it's from the point of view of a giant. The author does that well, but I have a problem. Burgis mentions things in a first person narrative and says that they are being ignored. I understand what she's trying to do. Real people can notice things and ignore them. People reading stories are not easy to fool in this way. If you want the reader to notice something and notice that the protagonist is ignoring it, and believe that, well, this is very difficult. I don't think it's carried off in this very short story.
"When the rain comes" by Josh Rountree mixes Native American magic and a traveling wild west show. I like the character of the protagonist and the magic system he describes. The only wrong note for me is the slightly far-fetched idea that every single member of a freak show would be a kind and loving person. I'm willing to go with it; when it makes for a nice story.
Jay Lake tells of a world containing real angels in"The hangman isn't hanging." Would you really want to live in such a world? Check out this story; it might help you decide.
The last story in the book is "The Oracle opens one eye" by Patricia Russo. If an Oracle really does have the truth, does that make things better in the world? Russo gives us a clear view of one possible answer.
This is a really good book. "Lone Star stories" is known for publishing high-quality material, and this really is the cream of the crop.
Marin, Eric T., 2008, The Lone Star Stories Reader: LSS Press (www.lsspress.com), paperback, ISBN 978-0-9817819-0-7, 267 p.
The Lone Star Stories Reader contains 15 stories reprinted from Lone Star Stories (http://literary.erictmarin.com/archives/Issue%2029/index.htm), plus an introduction by Sherwood Smith. Smith introduces us to the editor, the magazine, the book, the stories, and indeed the entire field of genre publishing. And he does it in less than five pages. I have never cared about nutshell story summaries in book introductions. I'm holding the book and I can look at the stories. Not that such summaries don't have their place: many people read them to find out quickly what the stories are about. That's fine. But Smith also talks about how publishing has evolved. We all have our own ideas about this, but I am still fascinated to learn more about the changes wrought in the publishing world by economics, television, and the Internet. Smith's take on this is concise and clear.
"Wolf Night" by Martha Wells is set in an alternate Wild West in which magic and magical creatures are real. Who is killing travelers in a remote valley and who besides the protagonist will survive? Straightforward adventure well told. Kind of reminds me of Robert E. Howard's tale of a zuvembie, "Pigeons from Hell." Pacing and mood are similar, but here we add mutual fear and mistrust.
In "Seasonal work" Nina Kiriki Hoffman presents a strangely changed world in which the mundane conspires with the impossible for a wicked surprise.
Gavin J. Grant is represented by "Janet, meet Bob." In this self-referential story (I have always liked self reference) Janet does meet Bob. But the story is really about the reader meeting a whole bunch of people, or nonpeople, because the story won't let you forget that it's a story. Oh, and there is action, lots of action.
In M. Thomas's "The great conviction of Tia Inez," Americans take advantage of illegal immigrants from Mexico: sounds like a documentary. Did I mention the ghosts? Yeah and don't expect ghosts to behave sensibly like living people do, or even senselessly like living people do. Ghosts are ghosts. They are not us, even though they used to be. This is what I find most successful and interesting about this story: becoming ghosts changes people. And why shouldn't it?
Marguerite Reed 's "Angels of a desert heaven" surprised me. I didn't expect to be deeply moved by a story about a rock guitarist who consulted a Native American spiritual adviser. Even when the story was told from the point of view of the medicine woman. But I was. Reed's storytelling and characterization drew me in. She used many of the elements one would expect: singer addicted to drugs, meeting of two very different worlds, and so on, but she didn't treat them as if they were expected. I enjoyed that, and I enjoyed learning about the Hopi and their beliefs.
"The disemboweler" by Ekaterina Sedia: Eww. Not really. The title's both misleading and accurate, like what Hari Selden said about the location of the Second Foundation. I won't describe this story, because I don't want to give away the surprise. I will say the "what if" of this particular tale is remarkable.
"A night in Electric Squidland" by Sarah Monette is a tale of black magic and old-fashioned noir detective work. I have to say those are two points in its favor with me. Throw in a couple of nods to the Cthulhu Mythos and some nicely developed characters and you can stir up a good story. I probably would like this story even better if it really was a Mythos yarn, but you can't have everything.
"Thread: a triptych" by Catherynne M. Valente is a retelling of the story of the Minotaur. I always felt sorry for the Minotaur, enslaved by the king of Crete.
Tim Pratt 's "The frozen one" is a parable, and it reminds me a lot of those classic short stories from the 60s, you know the ones by Ted Sturgeon and people like that, the stories filling anthologies edited by Groff Conklin, or a single author collections with titles like "X by Y," where "X" is a single digit integer and "Y" is a famous science-fiction author who's probably dead now. The books cost $.35 to $.50 when they were new, and now you can read stuff like that for free online.
Sarah Prineas ' "Dragon hunt" was rendered less enjoyable for me by the heavy-handed denial of the existence of the dragon. A child of six would know this meant there was a dragon. The strength of the story is in the language, especially the descriptions. Prineas' attention to accurate and believable detail brings you right into the story and keeps you there.
Samantha Henderson has given us "Manuscript found written in the paw prints of a stoat." I wasn't sure whether the paw prints would form the letters or words of this manuscript or whether tiny letters would be found inside the paw prints. Of course it was neither of these things. This relatively long story is a mythic journey of self-discovery, full of strange creatures that are also people, some of whom have surprising powers.
"Giant" by Stephanie Burgis turns around the stories of fairytale giants, because it's from the point of view of a giant. The author does that well, but I have a problem. Burgis mentions things in a first person narrative and says that they are being ignored. I understand what she's trying to do. Real people can notice things and ignore them. People reading stories are not easy to fool in this way. If you want the reader to notice something and notice that the protagonist is ignoring it, and believe that, well, this is very difficult. I don't think it's carried off in this very short story.
"When the rain comes" by Josh Rountree mixes Native American magic and a traveling wild west show. I like the character of the protagonist and the magic system he describes. The only wrong note for me is the slightly far-fetched idea that every single member of a freak show would be a kind and loving person. I'm willing to go with it; when it makes for a nice story.
Jay Lake tells of a world containing real angels in"The hangman isn't hanging." Would you really want to live in such a world? Check out this story; it might help you decide.
The last story in the book is "The Oracle opens one eye" by Patricia Russo. If an Oracle really does have the truth, does that make things better in the world? Russo gives us a clear view of one possible answer.
This is a really good book. "Lone Star stories" is known for publishing high-quality material, and this really is the cream of the crop.
