This is one of those collections that I’ve stopped and started multiple times. Because sometimes that’s what I do with a short story collection. And yet, I have enjoyed reading it almost every step of the way. There’s always something fun and interesting about a collection edited by Ellen Datlow.
Vampire stories are one of those things that I’m very much on the fence about. I mean, I often enjoy them. But because of the naughties, they became something that was slightly overdone. Probably one of the reasons this book came in and out of my shelves so much – I enjoyed it but didn’t want to overdo it either.
The stories in this run the gambit of vampire characterisation. Some are classical. Some are romantic. Some are just a little bit bizarre. But every story was fun and worth reading again.
Title: The List of Definite Endings Author: Kaaron Warren In: Teeth: Vampire Tales (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Vampires Dates read: 27th July 2021 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Harper Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: With the thought of Joel a dull ache and Ken very much on her mind, Claudia walked down to the seawall, enjoying the wind on her face and the smell of the salt.
Claudia never really fit in when she was human… now that she’s a vampire… well, she still doesn’t quite fit in. But at least she has her list.
This was a nice, easy duck out of water kind of story. I’m still not totally sold on the vampire fad. But stories like this are kind of fun. I loved all the ways that Claudia didn’t fit in. Because it was probably some of the same reasons I felt that way at nineteen.
A lot of information was packed into this very short story. Not only did it give Claudia a great characterisation. Buy it also told of her relationships, friendships, turning and morals in life. A whole heap of information in very few pages. But told in such a fun way that I couldn’t help but smile.
I’ve read a few short stories by Kaaron Warren. And honestly, I’ve enjoyed every one. They’re light, easy, but with a great moral core at the very centre of the story. Even when the story features a vampire out of water.
Gaslamp fantasy, or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. Many wonderful novels, such as Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest, ower their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers, including Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, and Anthony Trollope. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature from and inspired by this period.
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves neo-Victorian fiction and modern fantasists using vintage settings, characters, and themes. Their approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen- and Trollope- inspired works known as fantasy of manners. The result is eighteen stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, main-stream, and young-adult fields, including both bestselling writers and exciting new talents, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth century enhance (or cursed!) with magic.
This is an absolutely brilliant collection. One that I didn’t want to put down and introduced me to a whole new genre. It’s my first ever Gaslamp collection, and although I found some of the stories throughout a little weird and intense… I also loved the vast majority of them. Enough so that I plan to read this again and again in the future.
I was expecting a pretty simple and balanced collection. I
really wasn’t expecting such a convoluted and twisted set of stories. But, as
I’ve often found in life, it’s those unexpected surprises are the best and most
exciting aspects of life. They’re the moments that you don’t want to forget
because they were unplanned. And this anthology kind of felt like that.
I tend to read a lot of short stories late at night. Or when
I’m just needing a quick little break from the many complexities of my PhD. This
is not the collection that does that for me. It’s seriously intense, completely
unexpected and very full on. The kind of short stories that you want to read
when you have your concentrating brain working… not when it’s late at night and
you just want some easy entertainment…
In a house of unwanted women, the Grey Ladies have decided to make their presence known. But these unwanted wives don’t really know what the cost is going to be… will it be too late when they find out the truth?
This is kind of a strong story. It intertwines death, feminism
and the choices we make in life. And it truly asks the question: what is right
and what is wrong? Where are the shades of grey? Or in the case of this story,
where are the shades of the Grey Ladies? After all, they haunt through this
story in an eerily familiar way with each flick of a page.
The mix of a tale about women attempting to find their power
and place in the world. the five women in this story are all unwanted by their
husbands for one reason or another. In some circumstances, I think that this
unwantedness is completely understandable (there was a potential murderer among
them). But in others it is just kind of tragic. At the beginning of the story,
all of these women are kind of just gliding through life with no real aims or decisions
as to where they want to go in the world. By the end, that has changed and
there is a sense of purpose and desire in all of their actions.
The use of the cholera outbreak and a mass murder gave this
tale an entirely haunting feeling. And one that made you feel a little less
comfortable with the decisions that are being made by the unwanted women of
surrey. Yet, it also provides a great placement in history as this was a moment
that actually happened. And houses provided for married, yet unwanted women was
also quite a common occurrence within this time period. The fantastic blend of
historical fact, and the fantastical nature of the Grey Ladies completely swept
me away.
From Master Anthologist Ellen Datlow comes an all-original book of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.
Between the hallucinogenic, weird, imaginative wordplay and the brilliant mathematical puzzles and social satire, Alice has been read, enjoyed, and savored by every generation since its publication. Datlow asked seventeen of the most brilliant and acclaimed writers working today to dream up stories inspired by all the strange events and surreal characters found in Wonderland.
I began my obsession with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in childhood, but kind of forgot about it until the last year – when I finally got around to reading the original story! And then my obsession began to take a bit of a turn for the… well, obsessive… so I bought this collection as soon as I found it. And opened the page within days of receiving it.
This collection takes all of the many aspects of Alice in
Wonderland and turns them around and around until your dizzy. From cute poems,
to horrific ideals about Alis and retellings
of particular aspects of the original. This collection of short stories and
poems has it all. And it is just impossible to put down!
My only piece of advice with this amazing collection is to
maybe not read these tales when you’ve been drinking. I tried a few times and it
just makes you feel incredibly tripped out. And confused. And just not really
sure where reality is situated… kind of like the original.
Title: Eating the Alice Cake Author: Kaaron Warren In: Mad Hatters and March Hares (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Easy reading, Fantasy Dates read: 7th March 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Tor Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: For my uncle’s wine.
The Mock Turtle keeps reminding Alice of her horrible past. But, what if it’s something that she doesn’t want to think about?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is twisted. No matter which way you look at it, there is a lot of twisty-ness to the original story. This Alice in Wonderland story is twisted too. Just in a more… disturbing way.
The Mock Turtle always seemed like something that was a
little dour and depressing. Something that highlights everything that you don’t
like about yourself. So a short story that focuses on this aspect of the
original made me really quite happy. The fact that the depressing moments in
Alice’s life aren’t so nice… well, that made me less happy.
I thought that the end of this story was kind of incredibly…
cruel. Which worked well with the theme. After all, it’s a twisted version of
Alice’s Wonderland and the Mock Turtle. And it ends kind of twisted too.
Earth and Skye 