Picture of author.

Navah Wolfe

Forfatter af The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales

5+ Works 727 Members 28 Reviews

Om forfatteren

Image credit: Navah Wolfe with Hugo, 2019.

Værker af Navah Wolfe

The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (2016) — Redaktør — 330 eksemplarer
Robots vs Fairies (2018) — Redaktør — 228 eksemplarer
The Mythic Dream (2019) — Redaktør — 167 eksemplarer

Associated Works

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter (2017) — Redaktør, nogle udgaver1,407 eksemplarer
Uncanny Magazine Issue 13: November/December 2016 (2016) — Bidragyder — 21 eksemplarer

Satte nøgleord på

Almen Viden

Medlemmer

Anmeldelser

Retellings of myths and fairy tales = my cup of tea. I enjoyed this short story collection very much. The trouble with anthologies is usually that you find a couple of gems among mostly "meh" stories and have to go through 300-600 pages to do so. (Yes, I might have had bad luck.) Anyway, this was not the case here - mostly gems and just a few stories that were simply ok.

These were my favourites:

"Phantoms of the Midway" by Seanan McGuire (Hades and Persephone) - I loved the carnival setting and a rather unexpected look at a well-known myth.

"Fisher-Bird" by T. Kingfisher (The Labors of Hercules) - FUN. Hilarious.

"Labbatu takes command of the flagship Heaven Dwells Within" by Arkady Martine (Inanna takes command of Heaven/Inanna & Enki) - I think the world needs a masterclass with Arkady Martine, on how to take fragments of Sumerian poetry and turn them into badass space opera. I'd come running.

"Live Stream" by Alyssa Wang (Artemis and Acteon) - Women in gaming and a predator asshole who gets what's coming to him. Yes.

"Buried deep" by Naomi Novik (Ariadne and the Minotaur) - Naomi Novik weaves her magic web of words. Again.

"Florilegia: or, some lies about flowers" by Amal El-Mohtar (Blodeuwedd) - I was not familiar with the original myth, so there was a pleasure of discovery as well. A beautiful, poetic, furious tale, and a fitting conclusion to The Mythic Dream.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Alexandra_book_life | 4 andre anmeldelser | Dec 15, 2023 |
I was provided an ARC of this anthology for review by Saga press.
First, lovely cover art. Not that it matters to the reader per se, but in terms of shelf appeal its nice.
As the title implies, this anthology of short fiction consists of stories about fairies and robots of various kinds, sometimes both being incorporated into single stories. While at times it seems the editors possibly intended to alternate between perspectives (deemed, 'team robot' and 'team fairie') this breaks down at some point.
Like any anthology, this collection had its high points and low points. Honestly, and unfortunately, the introduction was one of those low points. Especially in an anthology of disparate authors, the introduction can be a place for the editor to share their overall vision for the collection, thoughts on the process and final product, or even explain why particular authors or pieces may have been chosen. It needs to be either informative or entertaining, and I don't think that was adequately achieved here. That being said, the editor did a good job of selecting pieces for the collection. In terms of thematic consistency, beyond the obvious from the title, I can't say there's a definite through line though. The closest we come is a the pretty consistent, and expected given the genre, of warnings of the potential dangers as well as benefits of technology and artificial intelligence/robots. The fairy stories are a lot more all over the map in terms of theme, and a few of the authors of both do seem to be trying to make a connection between the two as an expression of inhumanity (both man-made and organic), though I don't know that its consistent enough to shine through.
If I am honest, a big point of attraction for me to this collection was the inclusion of John Scalzi, as I am a big fan of the Old Man's War series. I was pretty unfamiliar with the rest of the authors prior to reading this. Scalzi's contribution, while a highly entertaining welcome breath of lighthearted silliness between much heavier fair, was disappointingly brief for me as a fan.
A few of the stories did struggle a bit to hold my attention, and unfortunately after the introduction the first story was one of those. However, other than a few speedbumps the collection as a whole holds up well, and there are definitely a few standout stories that have energized to seek out their authors other works.
Quality Time by Ken Lieu was really helped pull me back into the collection after the intro and first story, thankfully. If you're a Star Trek fan, you're going to love all the Darmok and Gilad deliciousness here, and Ken does a great job of playing with that metaphorical communication style in the real world.
The Blue Fairies Manifesto by Annalee Newitz gives an interesting re-interpretation of Pinnochio to apply to robots, and contains a lot of topical themes dealing with current political and social thought, as well as internet culture and how it disseminates and manipulates ideas.
Bread and Milk and Salt by Sarah Gailey could easily have been included in a horror anthology, and as such is pretty memorable here. Its use of point of view while leaving us no sympathetic characters but still a 'happy ending' of sorts is great.
Ironheart by Johnathan Mayberry again deals with some modern day issues in the form of health care, the economy, and the treatment of veterans. Certainly meant to pull at our heartstrings, I think it may have benefited if the author had a little more length play with in telling his story.
Sound and Fury by Mary Kowal incorporating themes of being an implicit collaborator by working for an imperialistic regime, and the suppression/destruction of indigenous cultures and ways of life as part and parcel of that.
Workshadow/Shadow work by Madeline Ashby is a heartwarming tale straddling the fairy and robot worlds.
Ostentation of Peacocks by Delilah Dawson/Lila Bowen. I'm a sucker for good genre fiction/movies set in historic time periods. The author took a world and character from an ongoing series they're already working on and dropped in the fae. It'd come across as a bit of a cop-out, save that its a really fun inclusion of western iconography and tropes into a collection that is overwhelmingly high tech.
All the Time We've Left To Spend is a great, heart-wrenching, lgbtqia, psuedo-cyberpunk piece incorporating a lot of Korean pop/cultural elements.
Adriftica by Mariah Dahvana Headley was one of one of my favourites here, and one of two that are spins on Shakespearean plays. Shakespeare is a cornerstone of modern literature, and I love to see his ideas played with in new ways. Even better, this is an interpretation of my favourite of his plays (much to my undergraduate advisor's chagrin back in the day), Midsummer Night's Dream. Beyond Shakespeare fans, I think fans of music and music journalism will find a lot of interest here. The story is told through the eyes of a slightly past his prime music journalist, and I think Mariah does a great job of emulating that style of writing to really give him unique voice here. If I had to pick only one story from the collection to read, this would be it.
To a Cloven Pine by Max Gladstone is the other story here playing with Shakespearean themes, this time The Tempest which also ranks in my top five. I can only assume the editor placed these back to back on purpose. Thematically, its almost the Tempest meets Inception (though obviously a number of Shakespeare's pieces play with that same idea of layered reality and what is real vs. what is a dream). Let yourself get carried along in this really interesting robot/a.i. framed spin on a classic tale. Definitely my number two pick here.
A Fall Counts Anywhere by Catherine Valente (any relation to zach valente of some podcast fame?) is, like Scalzi's contribution, a no holds barred (it is WWE themed, after all) fun romp through the ideas they've been given to play with. A great, funny way to end the collection.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
jdavidhacker | 7 andre anmeldelser | Aug 4, 2023 |
All-star cast, including an early, short version of Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik; other authors are Charlie Jane Anders, Aliette de Bodard, Amal El-mohtar, Jeffrey Ford, Max Gladstone, Theodora Goss, Daryl Gregory, Kat Howard, Stephen Graham Jones, Margo Lanagan, Marjorie Liu, Seanan McGuire, Garth Nix, Sofia Samatar, Karin Tidbeck, Catherynne M. Valente, and Genevieve Valentine. Many of the tales from which the stories take inspiration are familiar from the Western canon, but the takes are mostly innovative and of course often push back on the misogyny encoded into so many of them. Well done.… (mere)
 
Markeret
rivkat | 14 andre anmeldelser | Aug 18, 2022 |
The best speculative short story collection I have ever read.
 
Markeret
awesomejen2 | 4 andre anmeldelser | Jun 21, 2022 |

Lister

Hæderspriser

Måske også interessante?

Associated Authors

Jeffrey Ford Contributor
Seanan McGuire Contributor
Kat Howard Contributor
Max Gladstone Contributor
Naomi Novik Contributor
Amal El-Mohtar Contributor
Sarah Gailey Contributor
Alyssa Wong Contributor
Karin Tidbeck Contributor
Aliette de Bodard Contributor
Garth Nix Contributor
Marjorie M. Liu Contributor
Daryl Gregory Contributor
Theodora Goss Contributor
Margo Lanagan Contributor
Stella Bjorg Illustrator
Sofia Samatar Contributor
Madeline Ashby Contributor
Lila Bowen Contributor
John Scalzi Contributor
Tim Pratt Contributor
Lavie Tidhar Contributor
Jonathan Maberry Contributor
Jim C. Hines Contributor
Annalee Newitz Contributor
Ken Liu Contributor
Leah Cypess Contributor
Rebecca Roanhorse Contributor
Arkady Martine Contributor
Ursula Vernon Contributor
Neon Yang Contributor
Indrapramit Das Contributor
John Chu Contributor
Ann Leckie Contributor
Carlos Hernandez Contributor
Benjamin Carré Cover artist
Vault Designer
Lizzy Bromley Cover designer
Amy Sol Cover artist
Serena Malyon Cover artist

Statistikker

Værker
5
Also by
2
Medlemmer
727
Popularitet
#34,931
Vurdering
3.9
Anmeldelser
28
ISBN
12

Diagrammer og grafer