#ReadShortStories that are technomagical (16 to 20)

This batch includes the last piece from Meet Me at the Intersection, which I have already reviewed in full, but I didn't want to skip including the last story in my roundups. I also have for you this week the first three stories from a new anthology, New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl. Then I accidentally started reading the John Chu story when I was having a look at the new epub format Tor.com is using to put out bimonthly groups of their published short stories (for example, January to February is here). And that's the story of how I came to read these stories.

Border Crossings by Rebecca Lim — Another autobiographical essay, this morning me focusing on our interactions and reactions to the world, especially with respect to language. Source: Meet Me at the Intersection edited by Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina

The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias Buckell — What if a lot of different aliens all decided that Earth was a perfect tourist destination? Find out how mere humans live on the edges of a society that mainly relies on tourist income to Manhattan. Interesting parallels as well as interesting aliens. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

Deer Dancer by Kathleen Alcalá — A story about a collective living arrangement in some sort of post-apocalyptic future (climate change I think). It was mostly slice-of-life, interesting but lost me a bit towards the end. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations by Minsoo Kang — I originally started reading this story on the second of two long-haul flights and it transpired that I was far too tired to take the story in. When I restarted it later, better rested, I realised I had had no idea what it was about from the first attempt. It doesn’t help that it’s written in a very dry style, in the manner of a non-fictional historical essay, and that the story itself emerges gradually. Once established it was a very interesting and amusing read, if not exactly an exciting one. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

Beyond the El by John Chu — A story about crafting food (technomagically?) and the scare family can leave us with. And moving on. A gorgeous story, as I have come to expect from John Chu. Source: https://www.tor.com/2019/01/16/beyond-the-el-john-chu/

Hogwarts an Incomplete & Unreliable Guide by JK Rowling

Hogwarts an Incomplete & Unreliable Guide by JK Rowling is a short collection of essays about the Harry Potter universe, which I believe were mostly taken from material posted on the Pottermore website. It's one of three such short collections, each grouped according to a different loose theme. I had long been hoping that the original stuff Rowling posted on Pottermore would be collected in some sort of Harry Potter almanac (like the Discworld guides) because I couldn't be bothered reading it in website form. These books are almost the answer to that desire, aside from the part where they're split into three ebooks rather than a fancy print edition, alas. (One day…)

Pottermore Presents is a collection of J.K. Rowling’s writing: short reads originally featured on pottermore.com. These eBooks, with writing curated by Pottermore, will take you beyond the Harry Potter stories as J.K. Rowling reveals her inspiration, intricate details of characters’ lives and surprises from the wizarding world.

Hogwarts An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide takes you on a journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You’ll venture into the Hogwarts grounds, become better acquainted with its more permanent residents, learn more about lessons and discover secrets of the castle . . . all at the turn of a page.

This was a fun read. A collection of essays about various aspects of Hogwarts. Although they're not proper stories, they still evoked the world of Harry Potter very convincingly. Nowhere was this more evident than in the brief interludes/introductions written by the Pottermore editor, between Rowling's essays. Never more than a few sentences long, they were so jarringly inferior to Rowling's writing that I cringed every time I read one.

But that was really the only bad thing about reading this booklet. It was otherwise filed with interesting information, some of it familiar, most of it fleshing out details that didn't come up in the Harry Potter series. My favourite tidbit was about what wizards used to do before they copied Muggle plumbing. Which really raised more questions than it answered, especially for a parenthetical in the Chamber of Secrets entry.

I would definitely recommend this to fans of the Harry Potter books. Don't go it expecting stories though, this is strictly background world- and character-building stuff.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2016, Pottermore
Series: Pottermore presents, one of three standalone volumes (so far) that can be read in any order
Format read: ePub
Source: purchased from Pottermore website

Letters to Tiptree edited by Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein

Letters to Tiptree edited by Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein is a collection of letters written by contemporary authors to Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr published on the hundredth anniversary of her birth.

For nearly a decade, a middle-aged woman in Virginia (her own words) had much of the science fiction community in thrall. Her short stories were awarded, lauded and extremely well-reviewed. They were also regarded as “ineluctably masculine,” because Alice Sheldon was writing as James Tiptree Jr.

In celebration of Alice Sheldon's centenary, Letters to Tiptree presents a selection of thoughtful letters from thirty-nine science fiction and fantasy writers, editors, critics, and fans address questions of gender, of sexuality, of the impossibility and joy of knowing someone only through their fiction and biography.

For the context of my reading this book, I want to note that I have not read Tiptree's/Sheldon's biography (it's on my wishlist) and the only fiction of hers I've read is The Starry Rift, which certainly does not contain her most well-known stories. I did listen to the Tiptree-themed Galactic Suburbia episodes and glanced at Wikipedia, but overall my general knowledge of Tiptree and especially her fiction is low. Obviously I want to read more of her fiction, but I also didn't want to put off reading this book until such an indefinite point in the potentially distant future. So that's where I was coming from when I read Letters to Tiptree.

The first section of this book collects letters from the present to Tiptree/Alice Sheldon. These letters tackle a variety of topics, mostly in the realms of feminism and Sheldon's (gender) identity. Some letters provide analysis of one or more stories — which obviously it would probably be more interesting to read having read the stories, but now I feel oddly familiar with some of them. There were also letters talking about aspects of Sheldon's life that I was less familiar with, like her death (murder-suicide). Sandra McDonald's letter was one that particularly stood out to me on that front.

A few other letters that I marked as particularly notable were Rose Lemberg's with it's discussion of which books were translated and available in the Soviet Union (and the lack of female Soviet SF writers). Valentin D. Ivanov's letter is actually addressed to Bulgarian writer Zora Zagorska about Tiptree, which makes for an interesting read. Then there was Justina Robson's letter, which talks about feminism and the literary tradition of masculine style. Lucy Sussex's letter linked her experiences with her mother's death and her travels to Borneo with Sheldon's writing and experiences, a compelling read.

After these contemporary letters, there is some additional material in Letters to Tiptree. Some reprints of letters between Tiptree/Sheldon and Ursula Le Guin, and Joanna Russ; the introductions to a couple of story collections; excerpts from Justine Larbalestier's book The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction and Hellen Merrick's The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms; and a few other things. My favourite part of this latter material was definitely the letters between Tiptree and her contemporaries. I would love to read more of them. The focus here was on Tiptree revealing her Alice Sheldon identity to her epistolary friends but I'm sure there were many other interesting conversations for us to snoop on from the future.

If you know absolutely nothing about James Tiptree Jr, this is probably not the book for you. But if you have even a passing interest in her life or fiction, this makes for an interesting read. I would probably recommend reading Her Smoke Rose Up Forever — although I didn't — so as to better appreciate some of the discussion of stories (I think the key ones are all in there). I will be reading it at some point, but probably not too soon so that the somewhat spoilery discussions in Letters to Tiptree aren't too fresh in my mind.

4 / 5 stars

First published: August 2015, Twelfth Planet Press
Series: no
Format read: ePub
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Disclaimer: The editors (and publisher) are friends but I have nevertheless endeavoured to provide an unbiased review
Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge

A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett

A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett is a collection of miscellaneous essays written by the author. Those who, like I, didn't have the chance to read Once More With Footnotes will be pleased to learn that all the non-fiction essays in that volume are contained in this one and all the short fiction appears in A Blink of the Screen, which I have not read. I have, however, read all of the Discworld books and a few non-Discworld books written by Pratchett.

Terry Pratchett has earned a place in the hearts of readers the world over with his bestselling Discworld series — but in recent years he has become equally well-known and respected as an outspoken campaigner for causes including Alzheimer's research and animal rights. A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time the finest examples of Pratchett's non fiction writing, both serious and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf's love life, and passionate defences of the causes dear to him.
     With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself — man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orangutans and Dignity in Dying.

The essays (and transcribed speeches) are arranged into three categories, divided up as sections. The order in which they appear seems to be roughly chronological — in subject matter rather than in original publication dates. Part one, titled "A Scribbling Intruder", mostly deals with things writing- and author-related. Here you will find amusing anecdotes about signing tours (and advice about signing tours), thoughts on fantasy — his own and others' — pieces in convention booklets, introductions to things and so forth. A most memorable essay was "No Worries", an amalgamation of the Australian signing tours Pratchett had done up until then. There was much hilarity.

The second section, "A Twit and a Dreamer", is a more eclectic set of essays etc, as far as topic goes, anyway. There's one essay waxing lyrical about mushrooms and mushroom picking — "That Sounds Funghi, It Must Be the Dawn Chorus" — and another about his grandmother. There is also what I think is the oldest article, "Letter to Vector", written while Pratchett was still in school. And more introductions to things which, quite frankly, make me want to read the books they're introducing.

The final section is entitled "Days of Rage", which makes more sense if you've read the introduction to the collection, written by Neil Gaiman. (I don't often enjoy introductions, but this one was well worth it.) This last section deals with orangutans, the NHS, Alzheimer's and assisted dying. If you've been following Pratchett's progress at all, you'll be aware of his early-onset Alzheimer's (a rare variant that leaves him able to think perfectly well, but unable to type or do up his seatbelt). The last few essays are very much about Alzheimer's and his quest to legalise assisted-dying. It was interesting to read in more detail than I previously had about these issues (and reassuring in terms of wanting more Pratchett books, just saying).

So as not to end on a dark note, the collection does contain one more amusing essay: Terry Pratchett's footnotes to life.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to Pratchett fans and also anyone interested in reading something autobiographical about him. Of course this is not a proper autobiography and skips many topics that a biography would usually cover, but it does reveal Pratchett's thoughts on many subjects and does sketch out aspects of his early life — mostly through anecdotes as part of speeches. It was a good book to dip into in not-too-large doses. I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it straight through as I found similar topics/ideas/anecdotes come up in a few essays which usually end up grouped together (since they are indeed on a similar topic). They were always presented in a different way, but could still come across as being slightly repetitive; one of the dangers of collecting previously published essays, I think.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2014, Doubleday
Series: No
Format read: eARC, US edition (the UK/Commonwealth cover is more sedate)
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction written by Jeff Vandermeer and with design and illustrations by Jeremy Zerfoss. As you may have gathered from the subtitle, it's not fiction, but rather a guidebook to writing fiction, specifically speculative fiction. It was shortlisted for a Hugo this year and the sample of it that was in the Hugo voter packet led me to pick it up when I saw it in a bookshop and not put it back down.

This all-new definitive guide to writing imaginative fiction takes a completely novel approach and fully exploits the visual nature of fantasy through original drawings, maps, renderings, and exercises to create a spectacularly beautiful and inspiring object. Employing an accessible, example-rich approach, Wonderbook energizes and motivates while also providing practical, nuts-and-bolts information needed to improve as a writer. Aimed at aspiring and intermediate-level writers, Wonderbook includes helpful sidebars and essays from some of the biggest names in fantasy today, such as George R. R. Martin, Lev Grossman, Neil Gaiman, Michael Moorcock, Catherynne M. Valente, and Karen Joy Fowler, to name a few.

I've read a lot of writing advice in my time, mainly online, I have to admit, and the lack of an SFF perspective has often bothered me. Generic writing advice is great up to a point, but eventually I felt like I'd read most of it before, in one form or another; I had already gotten what I could out of it. And it rarely addressed some of the issues that can come up in writing science fiction (I don't really write fantasy, I should mention up front).

What's really great about Vandermeer's book is that it starts with the assumption that you're writing some form of speculative fiction. It covers some generic writing advice as well, but puts everything in the context of spec fic, even while using examples from more realist fiction. The chapters cover key elements of fiction writing: "Inspiration and the Creative Life", "The Ecosystem of Story" (including narrative elements and so forth), "Beginnings and Endings", "Narrative Design", "Characterisation", "Worldbuilding" (which, obviously, is much more central in spec fic than real-world fiction), "Revision", and some extra stuff and writing exercises in the appendices.

Other than the focus on fantasy, what really stands out about Wonderbook are all the gorgeous illustrations. The book's accompanying website (which I have not explored in detail) gives a good idea of the aesthetic. The whole thing is trade paperback sized (I don't think there's a hardcover version) and filled with glossy pages. To give you a clearer idea of the illustrations, I've taken a few crappy photos with my four-year-old phone. At night. With a paper Ikea lampshade doing most of the lighting. We have the endpaper + inside cover, an illustration of story structure (more or less), and the journey of a writer. Click to embiggen (but not really to enhance much).

 

The only thing I didn't love about Wonderbook was that it did focus more on fantastical fiction (rather than science fiction). This mostly came across in specific examples, so it wasn't a huge problem and there were some SF examples. But I felt there was a bit of an emphasis on degrees of surreal fiction — reflective, I think, of what Vandermeer writes. People looking for specific subgenre advice (other than what I've mentioned) won't quite find that here. But that did not, for me, diminish the value of the book. I will definitely come back to it as a reference down the line.

If nothing else, I would come back for some of the writing exercises, of which there are several (and of which I only attempted a few). I should also note that I found the process of reading Wonderbook inspiring in itself. It inspired one short story semi-directly and helped me finish another that I was part-way through. The main text is also broken up with short essays from other writers on specific topics, which I can also see being useful references to come back to.

I highly recommend Wonderbook to writers of speculative fiction looking for an extra push. Or to beginning writers wanting to learns skills through something other than trial and error. As you might guess, it's not the kind of book you read straight through without stopping but it is a book worth reading all of. Including the appendices, which contained a very interesting interview with George RR Martin. Or, really, you could just buy it for the pictures.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2013, Abrams Image
Series: No.
Format read: Paper! Illustrated! Pretty!
Source: Purchased from a real-life bookshop, and also a present

Shadowhunters and Downworlders edited by Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters and Downworlders is a collection of essays edited by Cassandra Clare, about her Mortal Instruments universe and characters. I have to admit, this is the first collection of essays about fiction that I've read and I'm not entirely sure it was my thing. I actually started reading it a long time ago, but kept put it down for long stretches twice. I think these sorts of essays are the sort of thing I, personally, prefer to consume in internet (blog, etc) form, rather than book form. Nevertheless, I was inspired by the City of Bones movie to come back to it and I'm glad I did because some of the essays were pretty entertaining.

My favourite essays were the most educational ones. I particularly felt I learnt something from  "Simon Lewis: Jewish, Vampire, Hero" by Michelle Hodkin, "(Not) For Illustration Purposes Only" by Rachel Caine and "Brotherly Love" by Kendare Blake. These essays also made me think about their various topics outside of just the Shadowhunter world.

I also enjoyed reading the two most light-hearted essays, which also happen to be the last two of the bunch: the conversation between Holly Black and Kelly Link on the nature of immortality, and Sarah Rees Brennan's, er, rant about desire, mostly.

I'm not sure I'll be picking up another essay collection any time soon, but if you are the sort of person that enjoys reading analyses of your favourite books, then by all means, there's much to like about Shadowhunters and Downworlders. And now for a bit about each essay.

~

"Unhomely Places" by Kate Milford

A love letter to New York. Reminded me how starkly I'm not American and have never been to New York. Not American particularly because they (or at least this essay) seem to have a somewhat different definition of city to me. Melbourne is my city, made up mostly of sprawling suburbia. But in America, the suburbs aren't the city. In Australia, our cities are made of suburbs (ignoring the colloquialism of calling the CBD "the city").

"The Art of War" by Sarah Cross

About how Clary isn't a traditional hero. She isn't the special chosen one who can fight better than anyone else. Instead she uses her art to first escape her troubles in a mundane way and then to fight back directly. Author makes an interesting point that while Clary fights back in any way she can, Valentine doesn't recognise what she's doing as fighting back. Ultimately it's this underestimation of his that leads to his downfall.

"Sharper Than a Seraph Blade" by Diana Peterfreund

About Jace using humour as a weapon. Peterfreund pointed out the dichotomy of jokey / mopey Jace corresponding to unpossessed and possessed Jace the first time around and how this confuses Clary in Heavenly Fire. That actually helped me see the situation from Clary's point of view. Initially, I read her in Heavenly Fire as making many poor decisions. But in this light I can better see where she was coming from.

"When Laws Are Meant to Be Broken" by Robin Wasserman

About the strict rules of the clave, rebellion and lack thereof on the parts of the teenage protagonists, and choices. Points out that a lot of rules are merely social contracts rather than immutable laws and how, for the most part, the rebellious behaviour we witness (outside of the climaxes) is very minor in the scheme if things.
"Simon Lewis: Jewish, Vampire, Hero" by Michelle Hodkin

My favourite essay so far. Hodkin talks about the origins of vampirism (as a myth in our culture) and about Judaism. It was both educational and fascinating. She discusses Simon's identities as the everyman mundane human in the shadowhunter's world, as a Jew, as a vampire. In each role he is the "other" but for different reasons. It also goes into how his Jewishness informs his character, even after he becomes a vampire and can't even utter holy words. A most enjoyable essay.

"Why the Best Friend Never Gets the Girl" by Kami Garcia

Like the title says, this essay outlines the trope of the guy never getting the girl if the girl happens to be his best friend. Amusing examples from 80s movies provided.

"Brotherly Love" by Kendare Blake

An interesting essay about the incest taboo and Clary and Jace's relationship. I liked that she brought in issues of science, explaining  genetics and sexual attraction, as well as talking about the cultural taboo of incest. Quite an interesting read.

"Asking for a Friend" by Gwenda Bond

Talks about the importance of friendship in the series. Not just Clary's and Simon's, but all the friendships that exist or form in the course of the series between all the teen characters.

Relationships are power in the Mortal Instruments, and friendship has a place of pride, treated as carefully and with the same respect as familial bonds and true love. This is a series about a family chosen, not just born.

"(Not) For Illustration Purposes Only" by Rachel Caine

A very informative essay about tattoos and Shadowhunter runes. Caine briefly recaps the history of tattooing, drawing parallels between various cultural traditions and Shadowhunter runes. I was quite interested to learn about the different ways tattoos have been perceived throughout the ages and across cultures. Another of my favourite essays.

"The Importance of Being Malec" by Sara Ryan

Talks about the importance of two different kinds of reading experiences: books that provide a mirror to our lives and books that provide a window into the lives of characters different from our own. She goes on to discuss how minorities (and the focus is obviously on the queer community given the context) don't have many mirror books to choose from. That, then, is the importance of including Magnus and Alec in the Mortal Instruments series. She also dissects their relationship a bit.

"Villains, Valentine and Virtue" by Scott Tracey

A discussion of the author's love of villains and why Valentine makes a particularly good one. Most interesting to me was the discussion of the human condition and the competing aspects of compassion and destruction. The following quote both amused me and sums up Tracey's opinion well.

This is part of why I love Valentine so much as a villain. Take away the supernatural elements, the behavioral disorders, and his “unique” views on parenting, and he’s the kind of villain we see every day.

"Immortality and Its Discontents" by Kelly Link and Holly Black

This one is presented as a dialogue between the two authors. The informality of this format makes it one of the more fun essays to read. Some choice quotes:

We all want what we can’t have. Magnus immerses himself in humanity to keep himself human. Talking about this helps me understand better why, in books, immortals—especially vampires—like to hang around with young adults. If your baseline condition is one of stasis, you might need regular jolts of chaos, change, extremes. Teenagers are to the immortal as cups of coffee are to the writer

and:

...the risk of dying young, being a Shadowhunter, being mortal, gets associated with divin- ity, with the way that things should be. And on the other hand, immortality is linked to the infernal. Only Downworlders get that gift—warlocks, faeries, and vampires—so it must be a by-product of their de- mon blood. Werewolves are the only Downworlders to miss out on the immortality boat. So doesn’t that imply that immortality is tainted in some way, more burden than boon?

Although I must say, I disagree with their conclusion that most of us would choose immortality, no matter the disadvantages. One need only look to Jennifer Fallon's Tide Lord quartet to find plenty of deal-breaking disadvantages to true immortality.

"What Does That Deviant Wench Think She's Doing? Or, Shadowhunters Gone Wild" by Sarah Rees Brennan

Probably the most irreverent essay out of the bunch, and a great note to end the book on. The deviant wench of the title is, I'm pretty sure, Cassandra Clare, rather than Clary. As you may have gathered by now, this is also the essay that takes itself least seriously, making it entertaining to read. The main topic of the essay, by the way, is desire and all the different forms it can and has taken in Clare's books, and — separately — familial love and acceptance (more generally).

3.5 / 5 stars


First published: January 2013, BenBella Books
Series: Not as such
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett

I debated reviewing The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett and with illustrations/cartoons by Gray Jolliffe. It’s neither fiction nor narrative. It is hilarious however (as though we would expect less from early Pratchett).

The book reads as an information guide about Real Cats as opposed to, well, unreal cats. From the flap-jacket:

Real cats never wear flea collars… or appear on Christmas cards… or chase anything with a bell on it.

Cats with ears that look like they have been trimmed with pinking shears are Real cats.

Real cats do eat quiche. And giblets. And butter. And anything else left on the side if they think they can get away with it. They can hear a fridge door opening two rooms away.

Real cats don’t need names. But they often get called them. ‘Yaargeroffoutofityarbastard’ does nicely.

It’s divided into section such as “How to get a cat”, “Feeding cats” and “Schrodinger cats”. Each presents an entertaining and non-typical view of the subject. Interspersed anecdotes are what really make it.

It’s a very quick read and had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion.