A review by foomple
Jim Baen's Universe Volume 1 Number 1 by David Drake, A. S. Fox, Marissa Lingen, Jo Walton, Elizabeth Bear, Travis S. Taylor, Ray Tabler, Mark L. Van Name, Sarah Zettel, John Barnes, John Ringo, Tony Frazier, George Phillies, David Brin, Mark Twain, Gregory Benford, Julie E. Czerneda, Gene Wolfe, Bob Shaw, Andrew Dennis, Charlie Stross, Eric Witchey, Lawrence Person, Alan Dean Foster, Pamela Uphoff, Dave Freer, Eric Flint

5.0

This review is solely for the Elizabeth Bear story The Cold Blacksmith. I don't think I've ever heard Bear refer to this story, and it certainly (to my chagrin) wasn't included in her "Best of" collection. I don't have any way of knowing whether that's because of copyright intricacies or because she considers it a rougher, early story of hers. I think it might be my very favorite. I have so many favorites from among her short stories --but I come back to this one again and again. I am a sucker for stories that refer, obliquely or overtly, to characters from myth and folklore, but that's not all of it and I can't even say what the extra pieces are; I just love it.