Reviews

Shimmer 2017: The Collected Stories by Michael Matheson, Octavia Cade, Aimee Ogden, Martin Cahill, Mary Robinette Kowal, Malon Edwards, Heather Morris, John M. Shade, Emily Lundgren, Ashley Blooms, Lina Rather, Andrea Corbin, Sonja Natasha, Charles Payseur, Maria Haskins, Charlie Bookout, Naru Dames Sundar, Victoria Sandbrook, E. Catherine Tobler, Beth Wodzinski, Lucia Iglesias, Natalia Theodoridou, Brian Holguin, L.M. Davenport, Sonya Taaffe

octavia_cade's review

4.0

Another great annual collection from Shimmer, though admittedly I say that with bias as one of the stories in here is mine ("The Atomic Hallows and the Body of Science"). Shimmer has a very distinct aesthetic, sort of gloomy and sad and lovely, and the stories here live up to that, though I did feel this volume had a little less horror and a little more sorrow in it overall than the 2018 volume I previously read. Still there are some fantastic stories in here... I think my favourites are "The Cold, Lonely Waters" by Aimee Ogden, "Extinctions" by Lina Rather, "Dandelion" by John Shade, "Salamander Six-Guns" by Martin Cahill, "Hare's Breath" by Maria Haskins, and "The Weight of Sentience" by Naru Dames Sundar. Lovely work, all of it, and I think it just edges out the 2018 collection for me.