"A Prayer for Captain La Hire" by Patrice E. Sarath - This is a story of four of the companions of Joan of Arc years after the war. It is based on real historical characters and facts about their life.
It is not just good, not just fantasy, it is a Christian story. I am stunned. It may be worth the entire rest of the slag heap to have found this. (Yes, it's not all been a slag heap, but much of it.)
"Origin of the Species" by James Van Pelt - Theoretically, this is a story about a young werewolf, but that's a paper-thin cover for a story about adolescence and romantic jealousy. For good measure, it has a nice helping of "this woman don't need no help from a stupid man" at the end.
Look, I don't mind symbolism and allegory, but I do mind the author standing over your shoulder the entire time pointing and saying, "It's a metaphor. Do you get it? It's a metaphor for [insert subject here]."
Again, a good fantasy story should take us out of our world into something strange and wonderful. This story, like a couple of others in this anthology, instead takes magic and makes it humdrum and everyday. It's just . . . *sigh*
"Tread Softly" by Brian Stableford - In England in the aftermath of World War I, a gravely-injured war medic finds a rare magical artifact that can influence dreams. This one appears to be corrupted, but he makes restoring it his mission in life. However, a series of disasters befall him and those around him and he ends up losing even that.
It's fantasy. It's not just an obvious metaphor for some other issue. It's even modern fantasy, and genuinely creative, which makes it a cut above at least half of this book.
But...
I hate the main character/narrator. He is solipsistic and self-righteous to an unbelievable degree. Possibly Stableford intended him to be unlikable, in which case, he succeeded, but I find it difficult to enjoy stories with such an unlikable main character.
For comparison, try to imagine the inside of Gollum's mind. That's about how slimy this guy feels.
Interesting premise. But, wow, what a horrible person the narrator is.
"How It Ended" by Darrell Schweitzer - A medieval lord and knight returned from the crusades is troubled by terrible dreams and discovers that his life is not what he thought it was.
At the start, I thought this was going to be "middle ages stupid, Christianity bad, crusades evil" ham-handed propaganda. We've certainly had some like that in this collection. I was mistaken. I feel a little troubled by the ending, but it's definitely not the cheap, stupid propaganda piece I had feared.
"Hide and Seek" by Nicholas Royle - A fairly short horror story. Horror, of the right variety, is a kind fantasy. Ok. The concept is a disturbing one. But for some reason, and maybe it was just my own mood, it just did not land for me. I see what he was aiming for, but it just didn't work. Maybe that was on my end, though.
"Death in Love" by R. Garcia y Robertson - It's hard to explain how obnoxious this is as a finish to the book. It took me a while to recognize it, but the main character is a hard Mary Sue. She is the ruler of an island keep guarding the straits to a sea which is an important trading zone. She is supposedly the demi-goddess of death, but that appears to be merely a title, as she has no supernatural capabilities. Everyone treats her, though, as if she is some mystical creature.
She is fantastically good at everything: She is a diplomat, a warrior, a doctor, a ruler, and great at all of them, and all men desire her. Also, literally everyone, including rulers of tribes she had only heard of three or four days ago, recognizes her on sight and respects her. Even if she was some marvelous being, this is not how the world works before modern communication methods.
The only reason this story is in this book is because it's childish feminist trash.
So, what's the verdict on this book as a whole?
It is a disaster. I count seven stories that are worthy of any kind of recognition. Seven out of twenty-nine. A few of the stories here are pure political poison. A lot of it is just stupid and boring. "Aren't I clever. It's a metaphor. Do you understand the metaphor?" Yes. You have all the subtlety of a two-year-old running around with a hammer.
There were a couple of bright spots. But it was like finding a diamond underneath an outhouse. You have to sort through a lot of excrement to get there.
It seriously makes me wonder how I didn't see how bad some other things published around the same time were. It's all managed by the same people. Much of it had to be the same dross.
Those people are not going to change. If we want better, we must look elsewhere, build elsewhere, and vigilantly keep them out.
As a final note, be sure to read A Prayer for Captain La Hire. It is excellent, and a gem among this trash heap.
