All the Authors in this anthology were featured in the Aurora Award-winning Podcast, “The World Shapers”.
This anthology has sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and very good ones too. In the first story, we have Shadow Sight by Kelly Armstrong. A story about a girl, walking on a path, alone, while admiring The Shadow Moon overtake the Moon. On a dangerous first mission she can’t fail, this girl is determined to secure her place in her family’s clan. Little does she know that a terrible truth hides behind her family, a truth that might costs her life. A magical curse, or a gift that forces you to choose righteousness?
This short is the perfect beginning for this Anthology, as it makes wonder, think and become eager for more.
The second story, “Ghost and Fox” by Marie Brennan, is a complex, swift and mysterious story about a girl who died, or didn’t, and lived again.
Told quite fast, this short offers a lot to the imagination and commands attention in every word, thanks to the mysterious setting. Very well thought out with a novella-worth of implications and events told in less than 2k words. Uttermost impressive! This story will linger in our minds long after we finish reading it, and make us come back to it to relive it. Excellent!
“LETTERS FROM AN IMPRISONED WIZARD TO A YOUNG QUEEN, AND ASSOCIATED EXPLICATORY CORRESPONDENCE” By Garth Nix, the third story, is a total gem! Not only there’s drama, hyperbole, tension but there’s also a soft humor mixed in the thrilling nature of it. This fantasy story with a subtle romantic plot, stirred in a temporal misunderstanding, is refreshing. There are creatures that will make you laugh, a powerful wizard with crazy ire that is out of place, and a clueless Queen with her life at risk. Entertaining from beginning to end.
This is one of those collections that we would pay $50 for the paperback. The editor, Edward Willett , made a fabulous job in “collecting” these “cabinets of curiosity”.
