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A review by jldelozier
Circuits & Slippers by Jaylee James
5.0
I love anthologies – small bits of exquisite writing I can fit into my day without the commitment of a novel. The submissions are often collated by date, carefully culled from all the short stories published within a year by an editor with her own biases (think “The Year’s Best…”) Disagree with her choices? Then surely you don’t understand art, dahling.
In Circuits & Slippers, the stories are united by a common theme – fairy tales reimagined through a sci-fi filter – leaving the reader free to love, like or hate them, guilt-free. When I learned of its imminent publication, I requested (ok, I begged) an advanced review copy in exchange for a fair review.
The writing varies from average to exquisite with good editing throughout. There were a few minor editorial issues – missed commas, typos etc. – but nothing egregious and certainly nothing which detracted from my enjoyment of the content. The layout was well-done, and – yes, I’m a geek – I loved the fonts and the symbols used for the section breaks. (You did notice the two different fonts in the cover title, right? RIGHT?)
Of the twenty stories, I adored five, two left me scratching my head, and one I simply didn’t like. The other twelve ranged from good-to-very good. The collection included a variety of fairy tales from various cultures, and the characters were refreshingly diverse in their ethnic and sexual orientations.
To me, the mark of a great story is one which sticks in my mind for days and haunts my nights. This book has two such tales. The Last is similar to a story I’ve had lolling around in my head for decades now and never wrote. I’m glad I didn’t. Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney did it so much better. You’ll never look at zoos the same way again.
As for the second, Alone and Palely Loitering is still in my head. It whispers to me in a quiet voice, “Galahad.” I never knew I could ache so badly for a computer, no matter how advanced. Exquisite.
In summary, I found this book to be well-worth my time, and, given its diversity, it will appeal to both men and women across a broad spectrum of genre preferences. While the book is aimed at an adult audience, a few of these updated fairy tales could still be read to children of our modern age, who have grown up tapping on computers. (Prina and the Pea is a prime example.) Some are too dark or too explicit, but not by much. After all, the Grimm brothers were, well, grim. And don’t get me started on Hans Christian Andersen. Read them yourselves, and let me know what you think.
In Circuits & Slippers, the stories are united by a common theme – fairy tales reimagined through a sci-fi filter – leaving the reader free to love, like or hate them, guilt-free. When I learned of its imminent publication, I requested (ok, I begged) an advanced review copy in exchange for a fair review.
The writing varies from average to exquisite with good editing throughout. There were a few minor editorial issues – missed commas, typos etc. – but nothing egregious and certainly nothing which detracted from my enjoyment of the content. The layout was well-done, and – yes, I’m a geek – I loved the fonts and the symbols used for the section breaks. (You did notice the two different fonts in the cover title, right? RIGHT?)
Of the twenty stories, I adored five, two left me scratching my head, and one I simply didn’t like. The other twelve ranged from good-to-very good. The collection included a variety of fairy tales from various cultures, and the characters were refreshingly diverse in their ethnic and sexual orientations.
To me, the mark of a great story is one which sticks in my mind for days and haunts my nights. This book has two such tales. The Last is similar to a story I’ve had lolling around in my head for decades now and never wrote. I’m glad I didn’t. Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney did it so much better. You’ll never look at zoos the same way again.
As for the second, Alone and Palely Loitering is still in my head. It whispers to me in a quiet voice, “Galahad.” I never knew I could ache so badly for a computer, no matter how advanced. Exquisite.
In summary, I found this book to be well-worth my time, and, given its diversity, it will appeal to both men and women across a broad spectrum of genre preferences. While the book is aimed at an adult audience, a few of these updated fairy tales could still be read to children of our modern age, who have grown up tapping on computers. (Prina and the Pea is a prime example.) Some are too dark or too explicit, but not by much. After all, the Grimm brothers were, well, grim. And don’t get me started on Hans Christian Andersen. Read them yourselves, and let me know what you think.