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I have to admit - I wasn't a big short story fan. You couldn't (I thought) lose yourself in a short story the way you can in a long novel. Nothing is as well-rounded, there just isn't enough space. A short story captures a brief moment in time - not nearly as interesting.
Boy was I wrong.
On a whim, as I'd been collecting the Datlow & Windling anthologies for my favorite authors, I picked up Firebirds - the 2003 anthology edited by Sharyn November (that's![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sdn) which celebrates, in its own words "original fantasy and science fiction."
I picked it up because it had names I recognized in it - Delia Sherman, Patricia McKillip, Charles Vess, and Nancy Farmer (who, along with Patricia and Sharyn, was a guest at The Witching Hour last fall) - but it was just so incredibly good that I read all the way through, most of it in two days. I discovered Megan Whelan Turner and Diana Wynne Jones. I finally got to read some Garth Nix without tackling one of those intimidating-sized volumes in the Coop.
First of all, hats of to Sharyn November, who put together a great anthology that focused on the amazing stories these authors had to tell where the only theme was excellence. I'm seriously impressed, and will obtain Firebirds Rising and first opportunity. And speaking of the stories, let me rave about a few selections:
( Delia Sherman's Cotillion )
( Megan Whalen Turner's The Baby in the Night Deposit Box )
( A few comments about some others. )
( Patricia McKillip's Byndley )
( Charles Vess & Emma Bull's The Black Fox )
There are a few others, but really people should go an explore this for themselves. It is sheer beauty in 421 pages. I can't say that everything hit me the right way, but I can say that it all left a mark, and I'm now obsessively devouring more short stories - currently up, The Faery Reel.
Boy was I wrong.
On a whim, as I'd been collecting the Datlow & Windling anthologies for my favorite authors, I picked up Firebirds - the 2003 anthology edited by Sharyn November (that's
sdn) which celebrates, in its own words "original fantasy and science fiction."I picked it up because it had names I recognized in it - Delia Sherman, Patricia McKillip, Charles Vess, and Nancy Farmer (who, along with Patricia and Sharyn, was a guest at The Witching Hour last fall) - but it was just so incredibly good that I read all the way through, most of it in two days. I discovered Megan Whelan Turner and Diana Wynne Jones. I finally got to read some Garth Nix without tackling one of those intimidating-sized volumes in the Coop.
First of all, hats of to Sharyn November, who put together a great anthology that focused on the amazing stories these authors had to tell where the only theme was excellence. I'm seriously impressed, and will obtain Firebirds Rising and first opportunity. And speaking of the stories, let me rave about a few selections:
( Delia Sherman's Cotillion )
( Megan Whalen Turner's The Baby in the Night Deposit Box )
( A few comments about some others. )
( Patricia McKillip's Byndley )
( Charles Vess & Emma Bull's The Black Fox )
There are a few others, but really people should go an explore this for themselves. It is sheer beauty in 421 pages. I can't say that everything hit me the right way, but I can say that it all left a mark, and I'm now obsessively devouring more short stories - currently up, The Faery Reel.
