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bahnree's review against another edition
5.0
Cookie Cutter Superhero by Tansy Rayner Roberts: 5/5
This felt like the opening chapter to a long excellent superhero book that I would like to read.
The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon by Ken Liu: 5/5
I haven't heard the "fairy tale" at the heart of this story before so I'm not sure if it's "real" or made up for this story. But it feels like a reimagining/retelling/subversion of a fairy tale I haven't heard before, and it's very well done at making the ordinary feel magical.
The Legend Trap by Sean Williams: 5/5
I loved this. It's the urban legend to end all urban legends, and scary as hell.
End of Service by Gabriela Lee: 4/5
This had an urban legend feeling to it. The protagonist's arc was well done, but besides that the story was mostly operating on shock-value.
Chupacabra's Song by Jim C. Hines: 5/5
This one is definitely one of my favorites. It's a pretty great day at the vets when you get a chupacabra and magic animal hunters all in one day. I would like a whole book about this protagonist.
The Day The God Died by Alena McNamara: 5/5
I always love stories that show what looks like an ordinary day but has one extraordinary magical thing in it. I also liked the almost-Beauty-and-the-Beast-but-TOTALLY-NOT tone.
Signature by Faith Mudge: 5/5
Rumpelstiltskin retelling forged from the fires of heaven! I loved this. I want more of this wonderful bookselling team.
The Lovely Duckling by Tim Susman: 5/5
I was impressed at the full story told here using only documents and letters, with strong impressions of the characters. It left me wanting more.
Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell by E.C Myers: 4/5
Take the Nemo pill and kiss somebody and see the ultimate WHAT-IF - unless you're Rene. Rene's visions were bleak and sometimes boring, but the overall story was really great. I liked the slow unveiling of what was going on and of Sam's story, and the hopefulness.
Vanilla by Dirk Flinthart: 5/5
Yet another story in this collection that I would read an entire book of. For most of it I was thinking "Awww I want alien cuddle-buddies!" which made the end 10-times better bahahaha. I love social commentary in a story if the story is really great, which this one is.
Careful Magic by Karen Healey: 5/5
ANOTHER FAVORITE. I love the magic system, I love the characters, I love this story, I want a five-book series. Please and thank you.
Walkdog by Sofia Samatar: 5/5
I almost put this one down in a huff, but I am so glad I didn't. The style is a little hard to read (it's told as if it's a school paper written by a student) and the protagonist is really off-putting (at first?) but there is so much going on here and a really powerful conclusion.
Celebration by Sean Eads: 5/5
Guy goes to therapy camp and everybody acts like they're possessed. No, really. This story was terrifying and I have a lot of questions about the human race tbqh but this is a very well done little thriller.
The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar: 3/5
Protagonist is sent to London to escape Middle-eastern conflicts and live with her mother, but she's not sure how to deal with her -mostly absent father and two different cultures. Also, owls. I was really confused about how much of the protagonist's powers were "real" and how much were just in her head - but I'm not sure that matters.
Krishna Blue by Shveta Thakrar: 3/5
Eating paint to get magical powers isn't something I've seen done before, but the protagonist was an angry baby and the story was a little repetitive. I'm probably too harsh- there was a lot here and it probably was not my cup of tea.
Every Little Thing by Holly Kench: 3/5
Teenage witch feels like her last resort is to use a love-spell on her crush. Just a little love-spell, just to get her crush to see the light. I liked the bits with the protagonist and her BFF.
Happy Go Lucky by Garth Nix:
Ordinary Things by Vylar Kaftan:
Double Time by John Chu:
Welcome by William Alexander:
This felt like the opening chapter to a long excellent superhero book that I would like to read.
The Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon by Ken Liu: 5/5
I haven't heard the "fairy tale" at the heart of this story before so I'm not sure if it's "real" or made up for this story. But it feels like a reimagining/retelling/subversion of a fairy tale I haven't heard before, and it's very well done at making the ordinary feel magical.
The Legend Trap by Sean Williams: 5/5
I loved this. It's the urban legend to end all urban legends, and scary as hell.
End of Service by Gabriela Lee: 4/5
This had an urban legend feeling to it. The protagonist's arc was well done, but besides that the story was mostly operating on shock-value.
Chupacabra's Song by Jim C. Hines: 5/5
This one is definitely one of my favorites. It's a pretty great day at the vets when you get a chupacabra and magic animal hunters all in one day. I would like a whole book about this protagonist.
The Day The God Died by Alena McNamara: 5/5
I always love stories that show what looks like an ordinary day but has one extraordinary magical thing in it. I also liked the almost-Beauty-and-the-Beast-but-TOTALLY-NOT tone.
Signature by Faith Mudge: 5/5
Rumpelstiltskin retelling forged from the fires of heaven! I loved this. I want more of this wonderful bookselling team.
The Lovely Duckling by Tim Susman: 5/5
I was impressed at the full story told here using only documents and letters, with strong impressions of the characters. It left me wanting more.
Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell by E.C Myers: 4/5
Take the Nemo pill and kiss somebody and see the ultimate WHAT-IF - unless you're Rene. Rene's visions were bleak and sometimes boring, but the overall story was really great. I liked the slow unveiling of what was going on and of Sam's story, and the hopefulness.
Vanilla by Dirk Flinthart: 5/5
Yet another story in this collection that I would read an entire book of. For most of it I was thinking "Awww I want alien cuddle-buddies!" which made the end 10-times better bahahaha. I love social commentary in a story if the story is really great, which this one is.
Careful Magic by Karen Healey: 5/5
ANOTHER FAVORITE. I love the magic system, I love the characters, I love this story, I want a five-book series. Please and thank you.
Walkdog by Sofia Samatar: 5/5
I almost put this one down in a huff, but I am so glad I didn't. The style is a little hard to read (it's told as if it's a school paper written by a student) and the protagonist is really off-putting (at first?) but there is so much going on here and a really powerful conclusion.
Celebration by Sean Eads: 5/5
Guy goes to therapy camp and everybody acts like they're possessed. No, really. This story was terrifying and I have a lot of questions about the human race tbqh but this is a very well done little thriller.
The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar: 3/5
Protagonist is sent to London to escape Middle-eastern conflicts and live with her mother, but she's not sure how to deal with her -mostly absent father and two different cultures. Also, owls. I was really confused about how much of the protagonist's powers were "real" and how much were just in her head - but I'm not sure that matters.
Krishna Blue by Shveta Thakrar: 3/5
Eating paint to get magical powers isn't something I've seen done before, but the protagonist was an angry baby and the story was a little repetitive. I'm probably too harsh- there was a lot here and it probably was not my cup of tea.
Every Little Thing by Holly Kench: 3/5
Teenage witch feels like her last resort is to use a love-spell on her crush. Just a little love-spell, just to get her crush to see the light. I liked the bits with the protagonist and her BFF.
Happy Go Lucky by Garth Nix:
Ordinary Things by Vylar Kaftan:
Double Time by John Chu:
Welcome by William Alexander:
nwhyte's review against another edition
5.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3656496.html
I thought this was a tremendously strong anthology, and my money was well spent. One of the stories, Amal El-Mohtar's “The Truth About Owls”, went on to win the Locus Award, and several others were shortlisted elsewhere or included in various Year's Best volumes. All of them were good and some of them were really stick-in-the-mind good; to pick just two, Jim Hines' tale of the Chupacabra, and John Chu's about the time-travelling skater. The stories are all written with diversity as an axiom, ie none of them is about cishet white men (like me); but the point is the story in each case, and the strength of the narrative, which is considerable. Strongly recommended for those of you with YA readers, or indeed who just like stories.
I thought this was a tremendously strong anthology, and my money was well spent. One of the stories, Amal El-Mohtar's “The Truth About Owls”, went on to win the Locus Award, and several others were shortlisted elsewhere or included in various Year's Best volumes. All of them were good and some of them were really stick-in-the-mind good; to pick just two, Jim Hines' tale of the Chupacabra, and John Chu's about the time-travelling skater. The stories are all written with diversity as an axiom, ie none of them is about cishet white men (like me); but the point is the story in each case, and the strength of the narrative, which is considerable. Strongly recommended for those of you with YA readers, or indeed who just like stories.
helen3194's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
detailsandtales's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a wonderful collection of stories. I enjoyed reading nearly all of them, and I loved how there was diversity along so many axes. In particular, I appreciated that more than one of the stories featured a disabled protagonist.
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
5.0
Kaleidoscope is an anthology of diverse contemporary YA fantasy and science fiction stories that are fun, edgy, meditative, and feature diverse leads. These twenty original stories tell of scary futures, magical adventures, and the joys and heartbreaks of teenage life.
This anthology was funded by Pozible back in October of 2013 where they stated 'too often popular culture and media defaults to a very narrow cross section of the world's populace. We believe that people of all kinds want to see themselves reflected in stories. We also believe that readers actively enjoy reading stories about people who aren't exactly like them. We want see more stories featuring people who don't always get the spotlight.
The main characters in Kaleidoscope stories will be part of the QUILTBAG, neuro-diverse, disabled, from non-Western cultures, people of color, or in some other way not the typical straight, white, cis-gendered, able-bodied characters we see all over the place.
That said, these aren't going to be issue stories. The focus here is contemporary fantasy, and while the characters' backgrounds will necessarily affect how they engage with the world, we're not going to have a collection of "Very Special Episode" stories about kids coming to terms with their sexuality/disability/mental illness/cultural identity, etc. We want to see protagonists from all sorts of backgrounds being the heroes of their own journeys.'
You can find out more about this anthology from this feature on John Scalzi's 'The Big Idea', where Alisa Krasnostein (editor) discusses the anthology.
If you'd like to buy this highly recommended and enjoyable anthology, please see the publisher's website here.
"Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Firstly, I hope that this gets developed into a novel someday. Secondly, because of this I've already started my nominations list for the Hugos next year - this better get on a the shortlist! Finally - wow. How excellent is it to see a slice of comic book heroes set in Australia! Of course, this being Tansy, every chance is taken to point out how ridiculous females are often portrayed in comic-related media and it's fabulous. But on to the story.
Across the world there are superhero generator machines, though every country uses theirs differently. England hardly retire their superhero crew, whereas Japan swap theirs around every two weeks. Australia, following the US, do theirs every six months and this time the lottery has picked teen Joey, who has an arm that hasn't quite developed. In the weeks leading up to when she'll step into the machine and be transformed into a superhero, she struggles between whether she wants the machine to 'fix' her, or if she's content the way things are.
In this short story we see electric, interesting characters that are displayed to the reader effortlessly. We see slight hints of world building that make you desperate for this to become a novel. And we have the usual wit and superb way of words we can rely upon from Tansy. I say again - HUGO NOMINATION!
"Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" by Ken Liu
Yuan and Jing live in China, in an area where their love for each other - as females - isn't welcome. It's Jing's last night before she goes to America to study, and Yuan is understandably upset by the whole experience.
Through a story she tells to her younger sister so she falls asleep quickly (and Yuan can run out to see Jing one last time), we hear the tale of two lovers kept apart by things outside their control. Sometimes, though you may love someone and though it's unfair, things just don't work out. Through Liu's excellent way with words we see how love that passes still counts as love.
'You think if we're no longer in love, then that means the love we had was somehow not real. But the past does not get rewritten. Niulang was the first man I loved, and that would be true no matter how many times I fell in love after him.'
This is such an important message that I wish I'd read this when I was much younger - it would have saved a lot of grief.
"The Legend Trap" by Sean Williams
This is a story that's simply too smart for the likes of me. Though I love science fiction and Doctor Who and all that, you'd think I'd be able to 'get' the idea of travelling through space and time, and the issues that could come around through all that - how you can be yourself, but there are many other 'selves' who are you, but not you at the same time. Many, many countless different dimensions, and so forth.
This is written in Sean's Twinmaker series which I love, and I'm so happy to see so many of his recent short stories in various anthologies be set in the same world. This focuses on one of the games teens play in the d-mat booth - we see mentions of this in the series, but here we get to really focus on it. It's unsettling and odd and what an ending! Even though I don't quite 'get' this as deeply as I should be able to, I enjoyed the adventure immensely, as sad as it was.
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee
A girl barely knows her mother, because in Manila it is common to find work in other countries that pays so much better - double, triple, quadruple what you'd made at home. She grows up living with her father, and very rarely sees her mother who's practically a stranger to her. Then her mother dies, and she's expected to feel and react as though someone incredibly close has passed away - something which must be so impossible hard to come to terms with. Do you hate yourself for not feeling anything, or do you hate the situation that's the cause for why you barely know your own mother?
I like the twist in this one - it's spooky and pretty gross in how realistically this could come to happen.
"Chupacabra's Song" by Jim Hines
This is the first time I've sampled Hines' writing, I think. I mention that, because I should have read him long ago, or at least directly after meeting him at Continuum in Melbourne this year - he was excellent, and we had a good chat about the comic strip Peanuts - however, my reading has been pretty woeful this year. Hopefully this short story will encourage me to try harder because it was dang excellent.
I like a short story that doesn't specifically say what a character has - it just shows it. This shows us a young teen who works with her father in his veterinary clinic, and has the ability of using magic through music. She learns that even those you may feel similar to for what makes you different, doesn't exactly mean that automatically makes them good people. Inside, she has the courage to do what she knows is right. Altogether this is an uplifting story of a girl who does hard things because they're the right thing to do.
"The Day the God Died" by Alena McNamara
Well, this one made me cry. I can't take animals being hurt in books or tv/movies, and though this wasn't an animal, the way it was written made it damn similar. It's a simple tale where so much happens without a whole lot of plot - in a good way. The details are slipped in so simply to really compound how this is such a normal occurrence - it's simply life, nothing grand or Big Dramatic Plot about it - which makes it all so real.
This one has a lot of impact, and it's done so simply. Well done, McNamara.
"Signature" by Faith Mudge
I loved the characters in this, they were so bright and descriptive and fun. The enemy in this is so easy to hate also - everyone's probably met someone so close to this, vindictive for no reason and simply nasty - kinda like how Umbridge is more hated than Voldemort.
The resolution in this one comes a little close as being too easy, but just manages to pull it off. It's especially saved by the 'I didn't think that would work!' follow up, and the way the characters close up at the end. Priya egging on Kabir is especially sweet. This is probably one of my favourites, especially for how the bookstore is described - I want to go there!
"The Lovely Duckling" by Tim Susman
Another that's disturbing in how accurate it could be if shapeshifting were possible, and otherwise pretty spot on for transgender people, which is always sad to read and hear of. I always enjoy stories that are told through a range of mediums - in this case, memos, phone records and letters.
A good resolution that leaves you with hope - I would love to see this one expanded into a novella.
"Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell" by E. C. Myers
Ahh, drug use. It always make me a little uncomfortable to read of, but I'm glad they included it in here. The recklessness teens have when it comes to recreational drugs, but then the embarrassment and shame felt when drugs are needed for whatever reason - schizophrenia in this case - is explored as we witness typical teenagers and precognition. I really enjoyed this piece - I love the idea behind it, and how it was handled.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart
This one certainly ends in a way I wasn't expecting, and the title is really quite clever. This one shows how hard it is for those trapped between cultures. Kylie Howard - named for an Australian singer and the prime minister at the time this story is set - is Somali but born in Australia. Her father is determined for her to be considered Australian, but only by his standards - she can't dress or act the way other Aussie girls do, that's for sure.
She befriends a few individuals who are in the same boat, so to speak, as she is - aliens who have lost their planet to a disaster, and have been split up and integrated into the community in small groups. In this, Kylie is sweet and innocent, not really understanding how to act or what to do as everything that feels right is considered 'wrong' by whoever happens to be interfering at the time. Not knowing how to interact with other females is something that really spoke to me in this one.
"Careful Magic" by Karen Healey
Another of my instant favourites. I love magic in an urban setting, especially school-based. I love the characters, and I love the careful view of OCD and the confirmation that the OCD wasn't what made the protagonist so excellent at magic.
The characters are what make this sing - you see typical school personalities, the hot girl and so on, and how other kids can be so cruel, but throughout all the characters felt real and varied, like they actually existed rather than were just 'that way' because 'all schools' have the hot and popular students, and so on.
I love Karen Healey's writing. Incidentally, we need another 'When We Wake' novel!
"Walkdog" by Sofia Samatar
This is one of those short stories you aren't sure you're really on board with, until it all comes together whilst also swatting you around the head for good measure. Not exactly one of my favourites, but effective all the same. Written in essay-format, complete with extensive footnotes which really give the sassy-style of the young author, this is a powerful piece of writing.
"Celebration" by Sean Eads
One of the more shocking ones, at least in the setting of the piece - a summer program for gay males to be 'reprogrammed', mostly shocking because it's the type of thing that sadly exists in our world as it is today.
Other than that, this wasn't as strong as some of the other pieces - I didn't feel the terror of the characters, nor why they clung together - I could understand why and I felt the plot itself was rather good, but I didn't otherwise feel much for this as much as I have had for the other pieces. The message in this one - what would alien's be left to think if they came to judge whether or not our world was worthy of not - seemed to be somewhat lacking.
"The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar
A young Lebanese girl is in Scotland, and is left to deal with being another lost to cross-cultural ties. Little comments in this one like how even her interest in learning Welsh is questioned - why not Arabic?, her mother instantly asks - and just shows how one must both excel and fit into their new life whilst also embracing their heritage which doesn't leave much room for personal interests.
I loved this one for the interest in owls, a creature I also love. You really feel for the main character in this one (which is what I think I was hoping for in the previous story, where you feel for them all as a whole, but not really the protagonist). This is a strong piece where you really feel the struggle, and the simple ending is heart-warming and satisfying.
"Krishna Blue" by Shveta Thakrar
About a girl who discovers she can feed of colour itself, this is a mad and energetic rollicking tale that's quite harsh and frightening. We probably all know someone who's been quite talented with art, only for their family to be dismissive of it in terms of what they should be doing with their life longterm - if not knowing of someone like that, then as that person ourself. The descriptions of colour and the names for the colours given are magnificent, the characters are quite lovely and so real, and what an ending! You really feel for the protagonist in this one.
"Every Little Thing" by Holly Kench
This is another that has little Big Plot in it, and is mostly character driven - my favourite kind! The characters have explosive, identifiable personality and you get so much from this one from such few words. This is just a really sweet little story, showing how excellent friends can be and how the best people are those who put up with your little quirks. This is an engaging piece, and it's always amusing to see short stories that compliment each other in the same anthology. You want to throw a copy at the protagonist so she can read 'Careful Magic' and think twice before she performs that particular spell! This one has a nice ending to it also - nice and simple, realistic, kinda a non-event but hey, that's life, isn't it?
"Happy Go Lucky" by Garth Nix
I didn't really know what to make of this one. It didn't really grab me, but... it's Garth Nix. What is wrong with me? It takes on messages of refugees, boat people and that horrible journey in a desperate plea to a better life. It also shows that really kind of messed up Government where they can lie and throw your whole family into squalor for the wrong move.
I didn't really connect to the protagonist in this one - I couldn't really believe the way she spoke or acted in general, or interacted with her fathers.
"Ordinary Things" by Vylar Kaftan
A sad, hard story, of a girl with something similar to OCD who is struggling to cope through a breakup with a particularly nasty person. She struggles to cope with her rituals and certain things she thinks of as safe, like certain exact times shown on a clock. This one was a bit unsettling, really. It kinda ends in hope, but I would have liked to see the friendship explored in a different way - friendship and nothing else, and there remaining strong by the end also.
"Double Time" by John Chu
An interesting look at the use of technology. In a world where you can time travel for a few minutes by use of a watch-type instrument on your wrist (so is there the ability to travel longer with bigger pieces of tech, maybe?) we see it used by figure skaters in order to watch themselves perform (you can't really get an idea for speed via video, apparently) or even skate with themselves for duo performances.
We see a young girl driven hard to please her mother who never has words to show how proud she is. She steals time from herself in order to use the piece of tech to practise at doubling with herself to skate well enough to win - even though it then takes her by surprise when she manages it.
Quite bittersweet, and excellently written. But it's John Chu - like the poor girl in this piece, we expect fine, fine things from him.
"Welcome" by William Alexander
A short and sweet piece ending with hope, which is a pretty perfect end to this excellent anthology. A fantastical bridge connects the Earth to the Moon, a crossing made possible at certain times when the planet and moon drift close enough together. This is the only chance a young boy gets to see his sister and mother, and though it's filled with pain (the issue of his body not used to being on the moon) he still loves it.
Circumstance throw him and his sister out to another crossing - one that will make history - and his sister's infectious nature is wonderful.
~
Although I never would have expected it to turn out this way, I review a lot of anthologies. For 2011 and 2012 I judged the anthologies/collections category of the Aurealis Awards, before that I (like most people) picked up anthologies like Dreaming Down-Under and The New Space Opera in order to find new authors to love when I was still developing my speculative fiction tastes. Nowadays it seems I review a fair amount of anthologies. So taking that experience into consideration, let me say how much I adored this anthology. It is easily one of my favourites, right up there with The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius edited by John Joseph Adams, and Phantazein edited by Tehani Wessely.
This anthology was funded by Pozible back in October of 2013 where they stated 'too often popular culture and media defaults to a very narrow cross section of the world's populace. We believe that people of all kinds want to see themselves reflected in stories. We also believe that readers actively enjoy reading stories about people who aren't exactly like them. We want see more stories featuring people who don't always get the spotlight.
The main characters in Kaleidoscope stories will be part of the QUILTBAG, neuro-diverse, disabled, from non-Western cultures, people of color, or in some other way not the typical straight, white, cis-gendered, able-bodied characters we see all over the place.
That said, these aren't going to be issue stories. The focus here is contemporary fantasy, and while the characters' backgrounds will necessarily affect how they engage with the world, we're not going to have a collection of "Very Special Episode" stories about kids coming to terms with their sexuality/disability/mental illness/cultural identity, etc. We want to see protagonists from all sorts of backgrounds being the heroes of their own journeys.'
You can find out more about this anthology from this feature on John Scalzi's 'The Big Idea', where Alisa Krasnostein (editor) discusses the anthology.
If you'd like to buy this highly recommended and enjoyable anthology, please see the publisher's website here.
"Cookie Cutter Superhero" by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Firstly, I hope that this gets developed into a novel someday. Secondly, because of this I've already started my nominations list for the Hugos next year - this better get on a the shortlist! Finally - wow. How excellent is it to see a slice of comic book heroes set in Australia! Of course, this being Tansy, every chance is taken to point out how ridiculous females are often portrayed in comic-related media and it's fabulous. But on to the story.
Across the world there are superhero generator machines, though every country uses theirs differently. England hardly retire their superhero crew, whereas Japan swap theirs around every two weeks. Australia, following the US, do theirs every six months and this time the lottery has picked teen Joey, who has an arm that hasn't quite developed. In the weeks leading up to when she'll step into the machine and be transformed into a superhero, she struggles between whether she wants the machine to 'fix' her, or if she's content the way things are.
In this short story we see electric, interesting characters that are displayed to the reader effortlessly. We see slight hints of world building that make you desperate for this to become a novel. And we have the usual wit and superb way of words we can rely upon from Tansy. I say again - HUGO NOMINATION!
"Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon" by Ken Liu
Yuan and Jing live in China, in an area where their love for each other - as females - isn't welcome. It's Jing's last night before she goes to America to study, and Yuan is understandably upset by the whole experience.
Through a story she tells to her younger sister so she falls asleep quickly (and Yuan can run out to see Jing one last time), we hear the tale of two lovers kept apart by things outside their control. Sometimes, though you may love someone and though it's unfair, things just don't work out. Through Liu's excellent way with words we see how love that passes still counts as love.
'You think if we're no longer in love, then that means the love we had was somehow not real. But the past does not get rewritten. Niulang was the first man I loved, and that would be true no matter how many times I fell in love after him.'
This is such an important message that I wish I'd read this when I was much younger - it would have saved a lot of grief.
"The Legend Trap" by Sean Williams
This is a story that's simply too smart for the likes of me. Though I love science fiction and Doctor Who and all that, you'd think I'd be able to 'get' the idea of travelling through space and time, and the issues that could come around through all that - how you can be yourself, but there are many other 'selves' who are you, but not you at the same time. Many, many countless different dimensions, and so forth.
This is written in Sean's Twinmaker series which I love, and I'm so happy to see so many of his recent short stories in various anthologies be set in the same world. This focuses on one of the games teens play in the d-mat booth - we see mentions of this in the series, but here we get to really focus on it. It's unsettling and odd and what an ending! Even though I don't quite 'get' this as deeply as I should be able to, I enjoyed the adventure immensely, as sad as it was.
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee
A girl barely knows her mother, because in Manila it is common to find work in other countries that pays so much better - double, triple, quadruple what you'd made at home. She grows up living with her father, and very rarely sees her mother who's practically a stranger to her. Then her mother dies, and she's expected to feel and react as though someone incredibly close has passed away - something which must be so impossible hard to come to terms with. Do you hate yourself for not feeling anything, or do you hate the situation that's the cause for why you barely know your own mother?
I like the twist in this one - it's spooky and pretty gross in how realistically this could come to happen.
"Chupacabra's Song" by Jim Hines
This is the first time I've sampled Hines' writing, I think. I mention that, because I should have read him long ago, or at least directly after meeting him at Continuum in Melbourne this year - he was excellent, and we had a good chat about the comic strip Peanuts - however, my reading has been pretty woeful this year. Hopefully this short story will encourage me to try harder because it was dang excellent.
I like a short story that doesn't specifically say what a character has - it just shows it. This shows us a young teen who works with her father in his veterinary clinic, and has the ability of using magic through music. She learns that even those you may feel similar to for what makes you different, doesn't exactly mean that automatically makes them good people. Inside, she has the courage to do what she knows is right. Altogether this is an uplifting story of a girl who does hard things because they're the right thing to do.
"The Day the God Died" by Alena McNamara
Well, this one made me cry. I can't take animals being hurt in books or tv/movies, and though this wasn't an animal, the way it was written made it damn similar. It's a simple tale where so much happens without a whole lot of plot - in a good way. The details are slipped in so simply to really compound how this is such a normal occurrence - it's simply life, nothing grand or Big Dramatic Plot about it - which makes it all so real.
This one has a lot of impact, and it's done so simply. Well done, McNamara.
"Signature" by Faith Mudge
I loved the characters in this, they were so bright and descriptive and fun. The enemy in this is so easy to hate also - everyone's probably met someone so close to this, vindictive for no reason and simply nasty - kinda like how Umbridge is more hated than Voldemort.
The resolution in this one comes a little close as being too easy, but just manages to pull it off. It's especially saved by the 'I didn't think that would work!' follow up, and the way the characters close up at the end. Priya egging on Kabir is especially sweet. This is probably one of my favourites, especially for how the bookstore is described - I want to go there!
"The Lovely Duckling" by Tim Susman
Another that's disturbing in how accurate it could be if shapeshifting were possible, and otherwise pretty spot on for transgender people, which is always sad to read and hear of. I always enjoy stories that are told through a range of mediums - in this case, memos, phone records and letters.
A good resolution that leaves you with hope - I would love to see this one expanded into a novella.
"Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell" by E. C. Myers
Ahh, drug use. It always make me a little uncomfortable to read of, but I'm glad they included it in here. The recklessness teens have when it comes to recreational drugs, but then the embarrassment and shame felt when drugs are needed for whatever reason - schizophrenia in this case - is explored as we witness typical teenagers and precognition. I really enjoyed this piece - I love the idea behind it, and how it was handled.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart
This one certainly ends in a way I wasn't expecting, and the title is really quite clever. This one shows how hard it is for those trapped between cultures. Kylie Howard - named for an Australian singer and the prime minister at the time this story is set - is Somali but born in Australia. Her father is determined for her to be considered Australian, but only by his standards - she can't dress or act the way other Aussie girls do, that's for sure.
She befriends a few individuals who are in the same boat, so to speak, as she is - aliens who have lost their planet to a disaster, and have been split up and integrated into the community in small groups. In this, Kylie is sweet and innocent, not really understanding how to act or what to do as everything that feels right is considered 'wrong' by whoever happens to be interfering at the time. Not knowing how to interact with other females is something that really spoke to me in this one.
"Careful Magic" by Karen Healey
Another of my instant favourites. I love magic in an urban setting, especially school-based. I love the characters, and I love the careful view of OCD and the confirmation that the OCD wasn't what made the protagonist so excellent at magic.
The characters are what make this sing - you see typical school personalities, the hot girl and so on, and how other kids can be so cruel, but throughout all the characters felt real and varied, like they actually existed rather than were just 'that way' because 'all schools' have the hot and popular students, and so on.
I love Karen Healey's writing. Incidentally, we need another 'When We Wake' novel!
"Walkdog" by Sofia Samatar
This is one of those short stories you aren't sure you're really on board with, until it all comes together whilst also swatting you around the head for good measure. Not exactly one of my favourites, but effective all the same. Written in essay-format, complete with extensive footnotes which really give the sassy-style of the young author, this is a powerful piece of writing.
"Celebration" by Sean Eads
One of the more shocking ones, at least in the setting of the piece - a summer program for gay males to be 'reprogrammed', mostly shocking because it's the type of thing that sadly exists in our world as it is today.
Other than that, this wasn't as strong as some of the other pieces - I didn't feel the terror of the characters, nor why they clung together - I could understand why and I felt the plot itself was rather good, but I didn't otherwise feel much for this as much as I have had for the other pieces. The message in this one - what would alien's be left to think if they came to judge whether or not our world was worthy of not - seemed to be somewhat lacking.
"The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar
A young Lebanese girl is in Scotland, and is left to deal with being another lost to cross-cultural ties. Little comments in this one like how even her interest in learning Welsh is questioned - why not Arabic?, her mother instantly asks - and just shows how one must both excel and fit into their new life whilst also embracing their heritage which doesn't leave much room for personal interests.
I loved this one for the interest in owls, a creature I also love. You really feel for the main character in this one (which is what I think I was hoping for in the previous story, where you feel for them all as a whole, but not really the protagonist). This is a strong piece where you really feel the struggle, and the simple ending is heart-warming and satisfying.
"Krishna Blue" by Shveta Thakrar
About a girl who discovers she can feed of colour itself, this is a mad and energetic rollicking tale that's quite harsh and frightening. We probably all know someone who's been quite talented with art, only for their family to be dismissive of it in terms of what they should be doing with their life longterm - if not knowing of someone like that, then as that person ourself. The descriptions of colour and the names for the colours given are magnificent, the characters are quite lovely and so real, and what an ending! You really feel for the protagonist in this one.
"Every Little Thing" by Holly Kench
This is another that has little Big Plot in it, and is mostly character driven - my favourite kind! The characters have explosive, identifiable personality and you get so much from this one from such few words. This is just a really sweet little story, showing how excellent friends can be and how the best people are those who put up with your little quirks. This is an engaging piece, and it's always amusing to see short stories that compliment each other in the same anthology. You want to throw a copy at the protagonist so she can read 'Careful Magic' and think twice before she performs that particular spell! This one has a nice ending to it also - nice and simple, realistic, kinda a non-event but hey, that's life, isn't it?
"Happy Go Lucky" by Garth Nix
I didn't really know what to make of this one. It didn't really grab me, but... it's Garth Nix. What is wrong with me? It takes on messages of refugees, boat people and that horrible journey in a desperate plea to a better life. It also shows that really kind of messed up Government where they can lie and throw your whole family into squalor for the wrong move.
I didn't really connect to the protagonist in this one - I couldn't really believe the way she spoke or acted in general, or interacted with her fathers.
"Ordinary Things" by Vylar Kaftan
A sad, hard story, of a girl with something similar to OCD who is struggling to cope through a breakup with a particularly nasty person. She struggles to cope with her rituals and certain things she thinks of as safe, like certain exact times shown on a clock. This one was a bit unsettling, really. It kinda ends in hope, but I would have liked to see the friendship explored in a different way - friendship and nothing else, and there remaining strong by the end also.
"Double Time" by John Chu
An interesting look at the use of technology. In a world where you can time travel for a few minutes by use of a watch-type instrument on your wrist (so is there the ability to travel longer with bigger pieces of tech, maybe?) we see it used by figure skaters in order to watch themselves perform (you can't really get an idea for speed via video, apparently) or even skate with themselves for duo performances.
We see a young girl driven hard to please her mother who never has words to show how proud she is. She steals time from herself in order to use the piece of tech to practise at doubling with herself to skate well enough to win - even though it then takes her by surprise when she manages it.
Quite bittersweet, and excellently written. But it's John Chu - like the poor girl in this piece, we expect fine, fine things from him.
"Welcome" by William Alexander
A short and sweet piece ending with hope, which is a pretty perfect end to this excellent anthology. A fantastical bridge connects the Earth to the Moon, a crossing made possible at certain times when the planet and moon drift close enough together. This is the only chance a young boy gets to see his sister and mother, and though it's filled with pain (the issue of his body not used to being on the moon) he still loves it.
Circumstance throw him and his sister out to another crossing - one that will make history - and his sister's infectious nature is wonderful.
~
Although I never would have expected it to turn out this way, I review a lot of anthologies. For 2011 and 2012 I judged the anthologies/collections category of the Aurealis Awards, before that I (like most people) picked up anthologies like Dreaming Down-Under and The New Space Opera in order to find new authors to love when I was still developing my speculative fiction tastes. Nowadays it seems I review a fair amount of anthologies. So taking that experience into consideration, let me say how much I adored this anthology. It is easily one of my favourites, right up there with The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius edited by John Joseph Adams, and Phantazein edited by Tehani Wessely.
slolley's review against another edition
3.0
Listened to this from Lavar Burton Reads. I really enjoyed parts of this story others left me feeling flat. Good story, not great.
macthekat's review against another edition
5.0
“Cookie Cutter Superhero” by Tansy Rayner Roberts and it was wonderful. I really would love to read more in that universe. I want more of our main character! She is wonderful. Read my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/cookie-cutter-superhero/
“Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon” by aka Ken Liu which was really touching. It actually somehow took me by surprise when the fantastical element showed up because I was enjoying the story so much by that point
"“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams: I am not a particular fan of horror, so this was far from my favourite story. It did hit a lot of emotional notes with me but really I would rather that it hadn't. Full review http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/the-legend-trap/
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee: Aya just lost her mom, who has been living as a migrant worker, somewhere else. Her mom has never been home much and that is making the grief process harder on Aya, who does not know what to think and feel. A good story, but it didn't quite connect with me.
See my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/end-of-service/
“Chupacabra’s Song” by Jim Hines: This story is about a teenager, Nicola Pallas, with some sort of disorder, that makes it hard for her to concentrate. Music is extremely important for her and for the story. It is also a story set around a veterinarian clinic where Nicola helps her dad. Nicola meets someone like her self for the very first time and that sets off the story. This story works around the idea we have in our heads, that people who are like us in one accept must be like us in others - that people who has the same interest as us, like the same thing or has the same job as us, must be good people. And why should they be any better than other people - well it of course turns out that might not be. I don't think I can say more about the story without spoiling it. I liked the story, though it was not one of my favourites in the collection. As always with Hines' stories it is very emotional and made me feel what Nicola was feeling, which was what made it work for me.
“The Day the God Died” by Alena McNamara: For me this was not a very satisfying story. Mostly because as it says, it is not a story - or rather it doesn't follow a conventional narrative path. As the title says, this is the story of a dying god. It is also a story of young quiltbag man, choosing not to deal with his sexuality. Choosing not to be himself. To me the story left me sad and unsettled, which was probably the intent of the story. But that sadly means that I will not be recommending this one to anyone.
“Signature” by Faith Mudge: As a child the story of Rumpelstiltskin, was one of the many stories my aunt told us. She is quite the storyteller - always telling stories form memory, never reading them aloud like my mom would do. So this story instantly resonated with me. Not only was it a modern take on Rumpelstiltskin, the protagonist, Priya Gowda, adores books. I will not tell you a lot of the plot, because it is great. I greatly enjoyed the story and I found a lot of emotional resonance with this one. I very much recommend this one!
“The Lovely Duckling” by Tim Susman: This is the story of Mara Pachacutec who wants to be a shapeshifter, so she applies to shapeshifter school (because of course there is such a thing). Her conservative father, really does not want her to go. That is the main conflict of the story. The story is told as the school files on her application and their correspondence with the school. The form really add to the story, but does make the ending a bit awkward. There is a cute little fairytale in the material as well. I really liked the story, it was very emotional and rather enjoyable.
“Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell” by E. C. Myers: Rene is a medicated schizophrenic and a totally normal teenager in high school. This story is all about teenage life as well as about memory and precognition. Both the protagonist and the other main character is not really good people - or at least they didn't use to be. However they have both grown and are still growing over the course of the story. The story is also about substance use and about sexuality. I enjoyed the story and I really felt with the characters.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart: To me this was a really brave story. The story is about an Australian-somali teenage girl, Kylie Haward, who befriend some alien creatures who settled on Earth after their world was destroyed. The story is very much one about friendship, about being an outsider, about belonging and about identity. I really enjoyed the story and I really felt for Kylie. Great story. Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-tK
“Careful Magic” by Karen Healey: This was definitely one of my favourite stories of the anthology. Helen is such a wonderful protagonist and I was sad when the story ended. Not because it was a sad ending, but because it ended. That's what you want from a short story isn't it? Helen has some sort of OCD, she is also a mage and a really good one at that. It is not her disorder who makes her good at that - it is her talent and her eye for detail - which is great. To me it was a super enjoyable story. Read my full review:http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/careful-magic/
“Walkdog” by Sofia Samatar*: About half way though this story I was about to declare that i didn't particularly like it. But then it really kicked into gear. In many ways it reminded me of "If you were a Dinosaur my Love" by Rachel Swirsky. It had the same kind of twist to it, where all the sudden it turned a lot darker. It pretty much kicked me in the gut. That is one of the things I like about short stories, they can pull tricks like this because you are more likely to read them to the end than a novel, that don't catch you in the first third. The essay style story really worked for this story. Like Swirsky's story it is really hard to talk about without spoiling. Even sharing the themes of the story would really be spoiling it. I suggest you read it your self.
“Celebration” by Sean Eads: This was another sad story - at least to me. I find it heart wrenching that parents refuse to accept that their children's sexuality is something other than what they would want it to be. That they can bring themself to send their children off to have other people "cure" them of their deviance. I really liked the protagonist, Jim, he seems like such an awesome kid.
“The Truth about Owls” by Amal El-Mohtar: I adored this story! This is another story about a child of immigrants and about her struggle with identity. It is also a story about owls and about fairytales. It is a story about the power of belief and a story about the power of language. The story really filled me with emotion and made me feel with and for Anisa. I loved the ending. And yeah owls!
“Krishna Blue” by Shveta Thakrar: I liked the meat of this story, but I really didn't particularly liked where the story was going or where it was ending. I liked the prose and I liked the descriptions of art and color. I liked Naha as a character. But the ending left me kind of cold.
“Every Little Thing” by Holly Kench: Uh I liked this one. I really liked Many and her friend Natasha. They seemed like very real and kind of awesome teenagers. I can definitely recognize both from my classroom. The plot (if you can call it that) was sweet and I really enjoyed the ending. I find myself liking stories with happier endings better than the ones with unhappy endings. I like stories about friendship - especially female friendship and was that. Yeah!
“Happy Go Lucky” by Garth Nix: This story I did not particularly like. I thought the exposition was a bit clumsy and the setup for the story was not fully developed enough to care much about the characters change from Lucky to Unlucky. To me it felt like a clumsy analog for poverty. It was also another sad story in a stack of sad stories - here the order of the stories didn't do the stories any favours.
“Ordinary Things” by Vylar Kaftan: Kate has OCD (or something a lot like it) but she does not recognize that she has it. She just perform rituals. Kate also has a girlfriend who is not what she need at all. Throughout the story she tries to deal with the stress in her life. It is not a fluffy story at all - it is quite dark and grim. But it is also very much a story about friendship. I liked the story but it was quite sad - and wasn't really what I needed at that point.
“Double Time” by John Chu: This story is about ice skating, about parental pressures, about achieving success and about freedom. Shelly has a mother who really pushes her to achieve everything she can be and then some. The mother pushes to the point where Shelly no longer enjoy skating and this is where the story starts. It was a really neat story and I liked how the sci-fi element was just sneaked in there without any fuss.
“Welcome” by William Alexander: "Antonio sailed to the moon" now that is a great opening! This story is almost a fable isn't it? But it is also a story about family relationships. Again this was not my favourite story, but it was quite enjoyable. It ends the anthology on a sad but also joyas note.
Read my full review of the anthology here: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/reading-kaleidoscope/
“Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon” by aka Ken Liu which was really touching. It actually somehow took me by surprise when the fantastical element showed up because I was enjoying the story so much by that point
"“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams: I am not a particular fan of horror, so this was far from my favourite story. It did hit a lot of emotional notes with me but really I would rather that it hadn't. Full review http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/the-legend-trap/
"End of Service" by Gabriela Lee: Aya just lost her mom, who has been living as a migrant worker, somewhere else. Her mom has never been home much and that is making the grief process harder on Aya, who does not know what to think and feel. A good story, but it didn't quite connect with me.
See my full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/end-of-service/
“Chupacabra’s Song” by Jim Hines: This story is about a teenager, Nicola Pallas, with some sort of disorder, that makes it hard for her to concentrate. Music is extremely important for her and for the story. It is also a story set around a veterinarian clinic where Nicola helps her dad. Nicola meets someone like her self for the very first time and that sets off the story. This story works around the idea we have in our heads, that people who are like us in one accept must be like us in others - that people who has the same interest as us, like the same thing or has the same job as us, must be good people. And why should they be any better than other people - well it of course turns out that might not be. I don't think I can say more about the story without spoiling it. I liked the story, though it was not one of my favourites in the collection. As always with Hines' stories it is very emotional and made me feel what Nicola was feeling, which was what made it work for me.
“The Day the God Died” by Alena McNamara: For me this was not a very satisfying story. Mostly because as it says, it is not a story - or rather it doesn't follow a conventional narrative path. As the title says, this is the story of a dying god. It is also a story of young quiltbag man, choosing not to deal with his sexuality. Choosing not to be himself. To me the story left me sad and unsettled, which was probably the intent of the story. But that sadly means that I will not be recommending this one to anyone.
“Signature” by Faith Mudge: As a child the story of Rumpelstiltskin, was one of the many stories my aunt told us. She is quite the storyteller - always telling stories form memory, never reading them aloud like my mom would do. So this story instantly resonated with me. Not only was it a modern take on Rumpelstiltskin, the protagonist, Priya Gowda, adores books. I will not tell you a lot of the plot, because it is great. I greatly enjoyed the story and I found a lot of emotional resonance with this one. I very much recommend this one!
“The Lovely Duckling” by Tim Susman: This is the story of Mara Pachacutec who wants to be a shapeshifter, so she applies to shapeshifter school (because of course there is such a thing). Her conservative father, really does not want her to go. That is the main conflict of the story. The story is told as the school files on her application and their correspondence with the school. The form really add to the story, but does make the ending a bit awkward. There is a cute little fairytale in the material as well. I really liked the story, it was very emotional and rather enjoyable.
“Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell” by E. C. Myers: Rene is a medicated schizophrenic and a totally normal teenager in high school. This story is all about teenage life as well as about memory and precognition. Both the protagonist and the other main character is not really good people - or at least they didn't use to be. However they have both grown and are still growing over the course of the story. The story is also about substance use and about sexuality. I enjoyed the story and I really felt with the characters.
"Vanilla" by Dirk Flinthart: To me this was a really brave story. The story is about an Australian-somali teenage girl, Kylie Haward, who befriend some alien creatures who settled on Earth after their world was destroyed. The story is very much one about friendship, about being an outsider, about belonging and about identity. I really enjoyed the story and I really felt for Kylie. Great story. Read my full review: http://wp.me/p40HVI-tK
“Careful Magic” by Karen Healey: This was definitely one of my favourite stories of the anthology. Helen is such a wonderful protagonist and I was sad when the story ended. Not because it was a sad ending, but because it ended. That's what you want from a short story isn't it? Helen has some sort of OCD, she is also a mage and a really good one at that. It is not her disorder who makes her good at that - it is her talent and her eye for detail - which is great. To me it was a super enjoyable story. Read my full review:http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/careful-magic/
“Walkdog” by Sofia Samatar*: About half way though this story I was about to declare that i didn't particularly like it. But then it really kicked into gear. In many ways it reminded me of "If you were a Dinosaur my Love" by Rachel Swirsky. It had the same kind of twist to it, where all the sudden it turned a lot darker. It pretty much kicked me in the gut. That is one of the things I like about short stories, they can pull tricks like this because you are more likely to read them to the end than a novel, that don't catch you in the first third. The essay style story really worked for this story. Like Swirsky's story it is really hard to talk about without spoiling. Even sharing the themes of the story would really be spoiling it. I suggest you read it your self.
“Celebration” by Sean Eads: This was another sad story - at least to me. I find it heart wrenching that parents refuse to accept that their children's sexuality is something other than what they would want it to be. That they can bring themself to send their children off to have other people "cure" them of their deviance. I really liked the protagonist, Jim, he seems like such an awesome kid.
“The Truth about Owls” by Amal El-Mohtar: I adored this story! This is another story about a child of immigrants and about her struggle with identity. It is also a story about owls and about fairytales. It is a story about the power of belief and a story about the power of language. The story really filled me with emotion and made me feel with and for Anisa. I loved the ending. And yeah owls!
“Krishna Blue” by Shveta Thakrar: I liked the meat of this story, but I really didn't particularly liked where the story was going or where it was ending. I liked the prose and I liked the descriptions of art and color. I liked Naha as a character. But the ending left me kind of cold.
“Every Little Thing” by Holly Kench: Uh I liked this one. I really liked Many and her friend Natasha. They seemed like very real and kind of awesome teenagers. I can definitely recognize both from my classroom. The plot (if you can call it that) was sweet and I really enjoyed the ending. I find myself liking stories with happier endings better than the ones with unhappy endings. I like stories about friendship - especially female friendship and was that. Yeah!
“Happy Go Lucky” by Garth Nix: This story I did not particularly like. I thought the exposition was a bit clumsy and the setup for the story was not fully developed enough to care much about the characters change from Lucky to Unlucky. To me it felt like a clumsy analog for poverty. It was also another sad story in a stack of sad stories - here the order of the stories didn't do the stories any favours.
“Ordinary Things” by Vylar Kaftan: Kate has OCD (or something a lot like it) but she does not recognize that she has it. She just perform rituals. Kate also has a girlfriend who is not what she need at all. Throughout the story she tries to deal with the stress in her life. It is not a fluffy story at all - it is quite dark and grim. But it is also very much a story about friendship. I liked the story but it was quite sad - and wasn't really what I needed at that point.
“Double Time” by John Chu: This story is about ice skating, about parental pressures, about achieving success and about freedom. Shelly has a mother who really pushes her to achieve everything she can be and then some. The mother pushes to the point where Shelly no longer enjoy skating and this is where the story starts. It was a really neat story and I liked how the sci-fi element was just sneaked in there without any fuss.
“Welcome” by William Alexander: "Antonio sailed to the moon" now that is a great opening! This story is almost a fable isn't it? But it is also a story about family relationships. Again this was not my favourite story, but it was quite enjoyable. It ends the anthology on a sad but also joyas note.
Read my full review of the anthology here: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2014/08/reading-kaleidoscope/
dms's review against another edition
5.0
http://dms.booklikes.com/post/1117393/review-kaleidoscope-diverse-ya-science-fiction-and-fantasy-stories
amalelmohtar's review against another edition
5.0
Full disclosure: I have a story in this, and finished reading the book on the last train leaving Gretna Green after witnessing the elopement of one of its editors. I am in no way impartial. But I have excellent taste.
I haven't the time just now to review this as I'd like, but it's SO AMAZING. I laughed, I cried, I furrowed my brow, I recoiled in horror. It's been fascinating to read reviews of the book and see which stories that worked for me didn't work for others and vice versa, which I think is the mark of an anthology that's genuinely succeeded at diversity.
I haven't the time just now to review this as I'd like, but it's SO AMAZING. I laughed, I cried, I furrowed my brow, I recoiled in horror. It's been fascinating to read reviews of the book and see which stories that worked for me didn't work for others and vice versa, which I think is the mark of an anthology that's genuinely succeeded at diversity.