And my natural optimism returns!
So, guys. My rant the other day? A tad premature. I am now halfway through the book, and have found a couple of great stories by authors I'd never heard of, and I'm reminded of why I bought this book in the first place. (Ok, that's a lie, it was totally for Neil Gaiman. But still! I wanted to try new authors!)
Have any of you read: Kage Baker, Tad Williams, or Elizabeth Hand? I liked theirs. None of the catharsis I talked about, but satisfaction, and the feeling that maybe I should try to read their novels. Baker's short story, "The Ruby Incomparable", was fairly typical and yet felt fresh, the story of a girl (the daughter of the Saint of the World and the Master of the Mountain, the most good of the witches and the most evil of the wizards, who married) who wants to learn magic for its own sake and winds up in love with a man who has none. The girl is interesting, as you watch her go in pursuit of knowledge and disregard everyone along the way. It's sweet and simple and classic and delightful.
Williams's is similar in feeling, if not plot, but with more personable characters (not more likable, exactly, but with a different flair to them). It's called "The Stranger's Hands", and it's simultaneously sweet and tragic, where the villain is also the hero and also a victim (in the simplest and sweetest way possible, not the complex epic way in which you understand why he does what he does, but in a short straightforward way), and you really don't like the Hero, because, honestly, he's kind of a jerk. But neither of them are the main characters; those are more like Aziraphale and Crowley, but less snarkily entertaining. Great last few lines, too. These stories have both got that medieval-alternate-universe-with-magic feel to them, which I like, and their styles are similar. Both very nice.
I also liked Hand's "Winter's Wife", which is bizarre and modern and first-person and made me cry (which, well, it's kind of absurd what I cried over, but it is tragic, and I have a strange sense of tragedy). It's simple, with regards to plot and style and themes, but with some very nice details in there, and it manages to be both tragic and hopeful. I liked it; I didn't love it, but then I don't really love this style of story, so that's pretty good.
I have more hope for the rest, now. I still don't understand all the hype about Jane Yolen and Patricia A. McKillip; I've never been unduly impressed by their books, and their short stories were nothing spectacular, and yet people wax lyrical over them. I don't know. Oh well. Hopefully I'll find some more enjoyable stories in this book!
Also, I signed up for Space Club. And fencing. I am such a geek. :D
Have any of you read: Kage Baker, Tad Williams, or Elizabeth Hand? I liked theirs. None of the catharsis I talked about, but satisfaction, and the feeling that maybe I should try to read their novels. Baker's short story, "The Ruby Incomparable", was fairly typical and yet felt fresh, the story of a girl (the daughter of the Saint of the World and the Master of the Mountain, the most good of the witches and the most evil of the wizards, who married) who wants to learn magic for its own sake and winds up in love with a man who has none. The girl is interesting, as you watch her go in pursuit of knowledge and disregard everyone along the way. It's sweet and simple and classic and delightful.
Williams's is similar in feeling, if not plot, but with more personable characters (not more likable, exactly, but with a different flair to them). It's called "The Stranger's Hands", and it's simultaneously sweet and tragic, where the villain is also the hero and also a victim (in the simplest and sweetest way possible, not the complex epic way in which you understand why he does what he does, but in a short straightforward way), and you really don't like the Hero, because, honestly, he's kind of a jerk. But neither of them are the main characters; those are more like Aziraphale and Crowley, but less snarkily entertaining. Great last few lines, too. These stories have both got that medieval-alternate-universe-with-magic feel to them, which I like, and their styles are similar. Both very nice.
I also liked Hand's "Winter's Wife", which is bizarre and modern and first-person and made me cry (which, well, it's kind of absurd what I cried over, but it is tragic, and I have a strange sense of tragedy). It's simple, with regards to plot and style and themes, but with some very nice details in there, and it manages to be both tragic and hopeful. I liked it; I didn't love it, but then I don't really love this style of story, so that's pretty good.
I have more hope for the rest, now. I still don't understand all the hype about Jane Yolen and Patricia A. McKillip; I've never been unduly impressed by their books, and their short stories were nothing spectacular, and yet people wax lyrical over them. I don't know. Oh well. Hopefully I'll find some more enjoyable stories in this book!
Also, I signed up for Space Club. And fencing. I am such a geek. :D