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A review by thegothiclibrary
Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2014 edition by Paul Stevens, Ellen Datlow, David G. Hartwell, Peter Joseph, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Ann VanderMeer, Carl Engle-Laird, Marco Palmieri, Liz Gorinsky
4.0
Finally got around to finishing this...it's quite long. The book is a collection of a large number of sci-fi & fantasy stories. Some of the stories are absolutely amazing, and others...less so.
One of my favorite stories was called "A Kiss With Teeth" by Max Gladstone--a really cute story about a vampire trying to be a normal father. I also really enjoyed "Unlocked: And Oral History of Haden's Syndrome" by John Scalzi which basically read like World War Z meets I-Robot.
Others I enjoyed included:
-"The Mothers of Voorhisville" by Mary Rickert
-"In the Site for Akresa" by Ray Wood
-"Daughter of Necessity" by Marie Brennan
Some of the stories were a bit too cerebral or too surreal...or just too out there. "A Cost-Venefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the overhaul of the Barricade" was kind of interesting, but the premise was just far too complex to be properly set up in the limited space of a short story. I spent the first third of it trying to even wrap my head around what was going on before I could get invested. "Where the Trains Turn" by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskeleainen was some weird surreal thing with no real plot about trains that come alive. This one was part of the reason why it took me so long to finish this book, because I put the book down for months while in the middle of it, uninterested in finishing.
My recommendation: If you're finding yourself uninterested in one of the stories, just skip it. There are far too many stories in this book to obsess over finishing each one just for the sake of completion. And you don't need to muddle through the ones you don't like just to get to the gems.
Brief summary for my own benefit and others:
"As Good as New" by Charlie Jane Anders--post-apocalyptic, last woman alive kind of thing, but things take an interesting turn when she finds a genie
"The End of the End of Everything" by Dale Bailey--trippy futuristic world where the social elite are obsessed with suicide and self-mutilation
"Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch" by Kelly Barnhill--love story between a woman and a sasquatch
"Sleep Walking Now and Then" by Richard Bowes--Futuristic director creates interactive theater piece in a hotel
"Daughter of Necessity" by Marie Brennan--A retelling of part of the Odyssey from Penelope's persective
"Brisk Money" by Adam Christopher--A robot who has his memories erased each day begins to question his past actions and secret motivations
"A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade" by John Chu--rather complicated story about architects who build things with their minds
"The Color of Paradox" by A.M. Dellamonica--government agents on time travel mission
"The Litany of the Earth" by Ruthanna Emrys--involves the Cthulhu mythos, about a girl who is part of a persecuted religious/supernatural group that worships the Deep Ones
"A Kiss with Teeth" by Max Gladstone--cute feel good story about a vampire dad
"A Short History of the Twentieth Century..." by Kathleen Ann Goonan--The life story of a girl who grows up obsessed with astronauts and the Tomorrowland ride at Disney
"Cold Wind" by Nicola Griffith--A lesbian woman encounters a succubus-type creature, but she has some supernatural secrets of her own
"The Tallest Doll in New York City" by Maria Dahvana Headley--Buildings come alive and find love. It's weird.
"Where the Trains Turn" by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen--surreal thing about sentient trains that come of the tracks and the strained relationship between a train-obsessed boy and his straight-laced mother
"Combustion Hour" by Yoon Ha Lee--Another surreal thing about the characters who live inside a tapestry
"Reborn" by Ken Liu--about the complex political and interspersonal relationships between humans and the dominating alien race
"Midway Relics and Dying Breeds" by Seanan McGuire--A travelling circus set in the future
"Anyway: Angie" by Daniel Jose Older--a chauffeur discovers something terrible has been happening to the sex workers she transports
"The Mothers of Voorhisville" by Mary Rickert--One summer, almost all of the women in this small town get pregnant at once by a mysterious stranger
"Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome" by John Scalzi--A disease spreads that leaves many trapped in their own bodies, which leads to the creation of robot surrogates
"Among the Thorns" by Veronica Shanoes--A Jewish girl takes revenge on the man who killed her father and the town that let it happen
"The Insects of Love" by Genevieve Valentine--A girl's love of butterflies and search for her missing sister
"Sleeper" Jo Walton--A biographer discovers (or recreates?) the fact that one of her heroes was a secret Communist agent
"The Devil in America" by Kai Ashante Wilson--A young black girl struggles to resist her families nature magic and the alluring promises of the Devil
"In the Sight of Akresa" by Ray Wood--set in an exotic past, a royal woman falls in love with a tongue-less former slave
"A Cup of Salt Tears" by Isabel Yap--the relationship between a grieving woman and a kappa who haunts the hot springs
One of my favorite stories was called "A Kiss With Teeth" by Max Gladstone--a really cute story about a vampire trying to be a normal father. I also really enjoyed "Unlocked: And Oral History of Haden's Syndrome" by John Scalzi which basically read like World War Z meets I-Robot.
Others I enjoyed included:
-"The Mothers of Voorhisville" by Mary Rickert
-"In the Site for Akresa" by Ray Wood
-"Daughter of Necessity" by Marie Brennan
Some of the stories were a bit too cerebral or too surreal...or just too out there. "A Cost-Venefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the overhaul of the Barricade" was kind of interesting, but the premise was just far too complex to be properly set up in the limited space of a short story. I spent the first third of it trying to even wrap my head around what was going on before I could get invested. "Where the Trains Turn" by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskeleainen was some weird surreal thing with no real plot about trains that come alive. This one was part of the reason why it took me so long to finish this book, because I put the book down for months while in the middle of it, uninterested in finishing.
My recommendation: If you're finding yourself uninterested in one of the stories, just skip it. There are far too many stories in this book to obsess over finishing each one just for the sake of completion. And you don't need to muddle through the ones you don't like just to get to the gems.
Brief summary for my own benefit and others:
"As Good as New" by Charlie Jane Anders--post-apocalyptic, last woman alive kind of thing, but things take an interesting turn when she finds a genie
"The End of the End of Everything" by Dale Bailey--trippy futuristic world where the social elite are obsessed with suicide and self-mutilation
"Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch" by Kelly Barnhill--love story between a woman and a sasquatch
"Sleep Walking Now and Then" by Richard Bowes--Futuristic director creates interactive theater piece in a hotel
"Daughter of Necessity" by Marie Brennan--A retelling of part of the Odyssey from Penelope's persective
"Brisk Money" by Adam Christopher--A robot who has his memories erased each day begins to question his past actions and secret motivations
"A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade" by John Chu--rather complicated story about architects who build things with their minds
"The Color of Paradox" by A.M. Dellamonica--government agents on time travel mission
"The Litany of the Earth" by Ruthanna Emrys--involves the Cthulhu mythos, about a girl who is part of a persecuted religious/supernatural group that worships the Deep Ones
"A Kiss with Teeth" by Max Gladstone--cute feel good story about a vampire dad
"A Short History of the Twentieth Century..." by Kathleen Ann Goonan--The life story of a girl who grows up obsessed with astronauts and the Tomorrowland ride at Disney
"Cold Wind" by Nicola Griffith--A lesbian woman encounters a succubus-type creature, but she has some supernatural secrets of her own
"The Tallest Doll in New York City" by Maria Dahvana Headley--Buildings come alive and find love. It's weird.
"Where the Trains Turn" by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen--surreal thing about sentient trains that come of the tracks and the strained relationship between a train-obsessed boy and his straight-laced mother
"Combustion Hour" by Yoon Ha Lee--Another surreal thing about the characters who live inside a tapestry
"Reborn" by Ken Liu--about the complex political and interspersonal relationships between humans and the dominating alien race
"Midway Relics and Dying Breeds" by Seanan McGuire--A travelling circus set in the future
"Anyway: Angie" by Daniel Jose Older--a chauffeur discovers something terrible has been happening to the sex workers she transports
"The Mothers of Voorhisville" by Mary Rickert--One summer, almost all of the women in this small town get pregnant at once by a mysterious stranger
"Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome" by John Scalzi--A disease spreads that leaves many trapped in their own bodies, which leads to the creation of robot surrogates
"Among the Thorns" by Veronica Shanoes--A Jewish girl takes revenge on the man who killed her father and the town that let it happen
"The Insects of Love" by Genevieve Valentine--A girl's love of butterflies and search for her missing sister
"Sleeper" Jo Walton--A biographer discovers (or recreates?) the fact that one of her heroes was a secret Communist agent
"The Devil in America" by Kai Ashante Wilson--A young black girl struggles to resist her families nature magic and the alluring promises of the Devil
"In the Sight of Akresa" by Ray Wood--set in an exotic past, a royal woman falls in love with a tongue-less former slave
"A Cup of Salt Tears" by Isabel Yap--the relationship between a grieving woman and a kappa who haunts the hot springs