3
Dec
Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
Bare Bone #6 edited by Kevin, L Donihe
Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2004
ISBN: 0974503185
Available: New and used
Bare Bone #6 is a solid collection of horror tales and poetry, all well written and entertaining to the point where it’s hard to pick standout stories. Inside, readers will find subtle and dark tales of unexpected killers, unspoken of traditions that befall children, as well as two holiday tales, “Daddy Didn’t Forget” by Mollie Burleson that mirrors The Nutcracker and “Don Huavaca’s Dia De Los Muertos” by Kendall Evans which offers a tongue-in-cheek, but dark look at the tradition of honoring the dead. Between the former story and “Momma’s Lesson” by Tanya Twombly there’s a delightful variety in cultural point of views as well.
Bare Bone #6 would make an excellent addition to private and public collections, and between the variety, solid writing and slim, but not skinny size it makes for an easy, enjoyable read.
The Queer Wolf collection kicks off with “Wolf Strap” by Naomi Clark. Ayla gave up a lot to be a lesbian, like her entire family, who raised her to believe her role was to get married and pop out a lot more werewolves for the good of the species. But when a child, a member of her family pack, is killed she and her partner Shannon head back to her childhood home. Its clear that things have changed since she left, but how much have they changed in this city where the human and wolves used to live in peace? The only flaw in “Wolf Strap” is that it’s too short. The plot and setting could have held a full novel and while the pacing doesn’t feel rushed it’s hard not to want more of everything Clark has to offer.
“Moon Sing” by Laramie Dean is a beautiful love story between a wolf and a witch. Acting as a metaphor for being queer in a straight world, even Drew’s pack can’t accept him falling for someone not of the Breed. It doesn’t have much plot outside the romance, but that alone is taken to a haunting, yearning level that’s purely magnificent.
“Wolf Lover” by Michael Itig is a cruder, more raw, sex-centered tale of fetishism and, of course, werewolves. Nige is an impatient, sex-charged gay man with a passion, shall we say, for werewolves. So much so that he lures them to his home and tricks them into shape shifting during sex. But the man he meets at a club for those trolling for werewolf hook ups turns out to be something else altogether. “Wolf Lover”gives readers a more raw look at the psyche of a gay man, but doesn’t feel cliché, preachy or stereotypical in the end.
“Shy Hunter” by Ginn Hale centers on David, scent dog and queer man, and not sure how to balance the two. Until he falls for a man who is being stalked by the monster who attacked David and turned him into a werewolf. This is another excellent tale, with equal parts action, emotion and mystery.
Anel Viz’s “The Stray” is the lightest tale of the book so far, making nearly every canine joke and pun, without being completely cheesy as it tells the story of a couple making a major commitment to each other.
“New Beginnings” by Cari Z focuses on the only pack that accepts gay wolves in this paranormal world and a bitter curmudgeon of a wolf, Michael, who finds himself attracted to and depended on by their newest rescue. But exile wasn’t enough for Tori’s family. They want him dead and Michael must keep him safe in this action-adventure-romance.
Jerome Stueart’s “Where the Sled Dogs Run” is another lighter tale, focusing less on the romance angle and more on creating a sweet sense of wonder. In this story the werewolves are a group of shamans, immortal, reluctant and shy, who want to reconnect with the world around them rather than hide from it, but they don’t know how. It fits the anthology, but it could have been found in a number of other fantasy-themed magazines just as easily.
“Pavlov’s Dog” by Andi Lee shifts straight back to hardcore erotica, and is nothing but. This tale is all set up, Josh and Caleb have just been approved to start their own pack and decide to celebrate. It’s not bad, there just isn’t much story to it.
Charlie Cochrane’s “Wolves of the West” is the most civilized story of the book, a tale of a pack that meets in an English museum for what is far from a mess of drooling, carnivorous monsters. Here Rory and George, who put the pack together and have run it for quite some time, work to create a haven for both their fellow queers and werewolves and must work to keep certain indiscretions from public light. It’s an amusing, but meaningful addition to the collection’s theme.
“Family Matters” by Moondancer Drake is another example of a solid piece, featuring a lynx and wolf lesbian family and pack, that feels less like a short story and more like an opening to a book. This piece could easily be stretched and expanded, in fact there are fight scenes that are glanced over and while werebadgers, lynxes, Fae and witches are all mentioned they aren’t very fleshed out. Drake is a good writer though, so one can only hope more than this story comes from her world.
In “Wrong Turn” by Stephen Osborne a young gay man finds more than he bargained for when he stops at a bar for directions and a drink and ends up smack in the middle of a werewolf tift. This falling in love story is simple and sweet, with a wrap up that seems to come too soon.
“Leader of the Pack” by Robert Saldarini is a historical werewolf tale, told by flashback, about a pair of men who survived World War II. Being steeped in the time period adds a weight of interest and credibility, but again, the tale’s flaw is its brevity.
“War of the Wolves” by Charles Long is the first to include (by a brief mention) an intersexual character. This tale also takes a more fantasy-angled approach, embedding a strong sense of the surreal into a story of people coming together, not just trying to find their place in the world, but willing to fight for it.
Lucas Johnson’s “Flip City”is a more traditional horror take on werewolves, a cliched take, unfortunately. The first real hiccup in the book the lead is not gay, so much as a borderline rapist and killer. Luckily the speed of this one is stuck on fast forward, burning through the story with little depth.
In “Night Swimming” by RJ Bradshaw, Joseph is indulging in a secret night swim when a wild-living werewolf finds him. They catch scents and Todd, the wild-wolf insists that he can smell that they are meant to be lifemates, and also proposes that they begin their life together by spending half the year in the city and winter helping Todd’s pack in the woods. After some thought Joseph agrees, they hash out the details, and unfortunately that’s all there is to this tale.
“In the Seeonee Hills” by Erica Hildebrand leads with a lesbian who contracted lycanthopy from a lover who got a bit too rough in bed. Claire is new to the paranormal world and caught between two packs who want to use her for ill means. It’s part Romeo & Juliet and part something all it’s own. Like some of the other tales there is room for more expansion, but it doesn’t feel unfinished or sped up for the sake of the short story form.
“A Wolf’s Moon” by Quinn Smythwood is certainly different. But three pages in I had no real clue what was going on or what the characters were hinting at, which left me feeling completely disconnected from the story and the characters. A depressingly weak end to this collection of tales.
Overall, there is a lot of good in Queer Wolf. It manages to represent the scope of urban fantasy, from a queer angle, though it leans heavily toward m/m paranormal romance. I really would have liked to see more f/f or even a transgender or bisexual story or two. From a genre point of view I’d have liked to see more mystery, traditional fantasy and even horror-based tales. But that’s what second volumes are for.
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Unspeakable Horror is a standout anthology with a unique focus on queer-themed horror tales. There’s a lot to recommend, from tales where horror takes a back seat to the characters and musing tales of their challenges, to stories starring vampires, zombies, ghosts, evil faeries, doppelgangers, and more who complicate already conflicted lives. These tales do not isolate or exclude, but rather put readers in the heads of those who feel lost, struggling with ideas of society, sexuality and themselves… Read the rest at MonsterLibrarian.com
Diamonds is the Sky is a science fiction anthology spawned by the National Science Foundation, which taught a class on astronomy to a collection of science fiction writers. In turn, the writers’ stories have been developed into a free anthology for edu-tainment use.
The contents listing is here.
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The Garden State Horror Writers kick off their latest anthology, Dark Territories, edited by Gary Frank and Mary SanGiovanni, with “Dream Girl” by John R. Platt. A passive tale, it follows a man who is steeped in his childhood memories of a girl, one who has recently done something to rise to the top of many people’s thoughts.
“Forty-Nine Cents” by Dan Foley is a tale of a child’s brush with the devil…
Full review at The Fix.
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The Parasitorium: Parasitic Thoughts is the latest collection from the Yahoo writers’ group, The Parasitorium. This one is collection of nine tales of insanity and shocking violence.
“My True Name” by John Claude Smith kicks off the collection by setting the thematic mood. A gory tale of Triggerboy and Bill DeathDaughter, a pair of men who are outside of the throes of reality, and whose true names define themselves and their place in life. Triggerboy embraces his chaotic roll, but Bill shows some remorse, immediately following it up with a “but it’s not really my fault”. However, one day their morbid exploits come to an end when they meet a family at a rest stop that seems to know much more than they should and appear willing to share, for all the sense it makes. This tale exists somewhere between hard gore, bizarro and Cthulhu Mythos but never makes a solid decision as to what it wants to be.
Nancy Jackson’s “Cocked and Ready” is sex crazed story of a gorgeous woman too dim to live and Damien, the porn store clerk with a one track mind who is more than willing to see her to that nasty end. That the lovely, naive Christy follows Damien through a dank, foul subway tunnel to a concrete room beneath the city (that has a phone) kills any sympathy the reader might have with her as a character. Ultimately “Cocked and Ready” is a familiar mix of torture porn and exploitation tale without any last minute saves.
In “Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds” by Jodi Lee the lead tells the reader at the opening that she’s crazy, to put it lightly. In fact she doesn’t know much, other than she’s crazy and she’s hearing voices in a house. She’s not just hearing the voices of the tortured and murdered children that live between the walls, but there’s an impostor named Maya who looks like her doing horrible things. The drama is turned up pretty high on this one, it’s successfully moody and dark, but the concreteness of the “house” is open to interpretation, which could work for or against the tale depending on the reader’s views.
“Father’s Pride” by Keith Gouveia is the tale of Jim, a blatant hick terrified that his son is gay (to the point of needing a psychiatrist to assuage his fears) and his son, who has reason to be scared of girls. Jim’s determination to make his boy a man (and deny his own past explorations) leads him to a strip club back room (even though his son is a minor) where an aging whore attempts to service the teen and where Jim’s true feelings about his son are revealed. Flat and depending on stereotypes “Father’s Pride” is a fast paced and twisted sex tale.
“Interloper” by Spider has most of the plot of Fran Friel’s “Mama’s Boy” but none of the subtlety. Rudy rushes to a diner at the wee hours of the morning only to find his friend Jake shaking and ranting, claiming the most bizarre things. Then he helps Jake home to disastrous consequences. Readers can probably guess what the men find, and what happens next in this Goosebumps style tale for grown ups.
“Keepsakes” by Jane Gwaltney is a poetic piece, a slice of thought bit of the mind of a murderous crazy woman. Like one of the previous stories boiled down to the strongest imagery it benefits from the short punchiness.
Also by Jane Gwaltney “Triad” starts out with a touch of dark humor, just as it’s predecessor ends. The twisted, parasitic tale of a man torn between siamese twins it’s one of the best in the collection.
In “Gemini Rising” by Scott E. Hancock Jason is pulled home from a conference in Vegas by police with the horrifying news that his wife has been killed. While he tries to move forward with his daughter he’s haunted by his own actions while asleep and when he seeks help from his daughter’s psychiatrist he discovers the truth about his wife’s death and his little girl. A fantasy tale of multiple personality disorder it also touches on Lovecraftian themes.
Last up is “Mind Games” by Paul Harris which looks at another form of psychosis outside of voices and sociopathy. Paranoia tinges this tale of an agoraphobic, housebound man whose hallucinations might just be real. It’s a gushing end to an anthology about sex, violence and extreme insanity that goes for fast, hard horror rather than slow building dread.
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“Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss is a fairy tale at its heart. It’s beautiful in imagery and language and has an exotic feel that’s easy to relate to a heroine trying to earn the right to marry her love through cleverness. The story threads a delicate line between familiar and legendary.
“The Witch’s Headstone” by Neil Gaiman is actually a chapter from his upcoming release, The Graveyard Book, about a boy growing up in a graveyard. In this tale Bod ventures outside of the graveyard in a quest to get a witch her very own headstone. What he finds instead is human greed and a curiously shaped curse. Gaiman is a master of creating characters readers can relate to, spinning vivid worlds and lining his fantasy with morbid curiosity. “The Witch’s Headstone” is no exception.
A tale straight out of an episode of The Universe, “Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter is an exceedingly sad tale of The Big Rip, that is a wormhole swallowing the Galaxy. Told primarily through conversations between a woman and her daughter, both scientists, it’s beautifully written and heart ripping at the same time. A very human take, it might be the most graceful story of The Epic End out there.
“Jesus Christ, Reanimator” by Ken MacLeod is a satirical look at the Second Coming. The world’s disillusionment in Christ is equally matched by his disillusionment at the world. As he himself points out: “I am the embodiment of the Logos, the very logic of creation, or as it was said in English, ‘the Word made flesh.’ Just because I am in that sense the entirety of the laws of nature doesn’t mean I know all of them, or can override any of them.” Story events unfold ironically close to the original stories, but most satisfying of all is how MacLeod, like many other authors in this book, adds a level of humanity to the character and events, using the contrast between the possible reality and the version of religion that extremists want others to believe in as a framework for the story.
“Sorrel’s Heart” by Susan Palwick is a startlingly dark tale that opens up with a young girl laying in the dirt trying to cut off her own heart. It continues from there morbid bits flung casually at the reader wrapped around a surprisingly powerful love story between freaks and outcasts in a future world where normal people hunt those born different in very obvious ways.
Michael Swanwick’s “Urdumheim” is a creation tale every bit as vivid as the stories found in Greek, Norse or Egyptian myths. Strange, and sometimes cruel(though no crueler that the Greek story of a god swallowing his children, or the Norse story of Odin forming the world from the blood and bones of a giant), this is an epic story of how the world came to be, solid enough to base a mythos on.
M. Rickert’s “Holiday” takes child pageants to a whole new place with a tale of a murdered pageant queen who begins to haunt (and perform for) a writer who is ill prepared to add the baffling problems of a murdered child to his already struggling life. There’s a real sinister mix if innocence and wickedness in this tale. It certainly sticks out even from the others in this book, leaving the reader unsettled and unsure, wondering if they were supposed to enjoy the story at all.
“The Valley of the Gardens” by Tony Daniel combines science and superstition (or outright magic) in curious ways, building a world that is tech heavy, but has every bit of the magic woven into the prior fantasy tales. Here are the twin tales of a man fighting a horrible enemy that seeks to destroy all life in our galaxy and a farmer whose memories are literally tied to the land who falls in love with a woman from the wilds of desert where strange magic/technology grows rampant. The two and their worlds are more closely related than the reader might suspect. This gem of a tale transcends both genres yet is firmly rooted in epic space opera, transporting readers into a magical world far beyond our future.
“Winter’s Wife” by Elizabeth Hand is a tale of the strangely exotic set in a small town with something familiar for most everyone, even if they aren’t familiar with Maine woods. Justin, friended before birth through his mother, has a close bond with Winter, a modern imagining of the wizard of the woods. The friendship leads to Justin being immediately accepted by Winter’s rather unique bride and treated as an adopted child. The close bond leads Justin through several extraordinary events that could make readers believe that magic does still exist in the woods of America.
Chris Roberson’s “The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small” has exotic down pat with a tale of a Chinese researcher who travels to a prison each day to hear the reminiscent tale of a prisoner who once traveled across the sea to Mexica to study the people there. A tale to remind readers that aspirations and man’s imagination and spirit are essential parts of science this one is satisfied to suggest a future of star traveling and leave those imagined stories to other authors.
“Orm the Beautiful” by Elizabeth Bear is sheer magic, the tale of a dying dragon who will take with him more than just his life, but will also relinquish control of the world to men and technology. Here Bear sets the beauty of fantasy to war with the potential of science fiction. But it also shows how the genres can work together as Orm the Beautiful, last of the dragons, goes to the humans to protect his species’ memories from other humans. Another sweet-sad tale in this collection the prose in this one echoes in the readers head like a nearly forgotten song.
Finally comes “The Constable of Abal” by Kelly Link, a complex tale of respectability, ghosts and blackmail. Zilla, famous in a society recently struck by plague for making charms that draw ghosts to the fashionable remains of the town, also happens to be using her daughter, Ozma to gather the secret evidence that Zilla uses to blackmail the highest of Abal. Until the day that Zilla, in a terrible temper, kills the constable, sending herself and her daughter into flight. But Zilla’s escape is truly a quest, as she drags Ozma and others through strange events in her search for something even she can’t put words to. It sets a fitting tone for the end of the anthology, not an end of sadness, such as “Orm the Beautiful” or “Last Contact”, but one that can lead readers to feel as if the stories in this book have at last released them to live their life anew.
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*I am splitting this review into two parts, 12 stories to be posted today and the other 12 will be posted to tomorrow, to make the review more reader friendly. This is part one.
Impressive and, honestly, intimidating this tome of stellar science fiction and fantasy features masters of the genres at their best in twenty four dazzling tales of other worlds. If readers want some of the most impressive recently published tales of the SF/F genres without having to hunt them down through the multitude of anthologies and magazines printed this year this is an excellent buy.
If the first tale, Ted Chiang’s “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, is any indication then this anthology is one to savor like a fine box of chocolates. When a merchant stumbles upon a strange shop in Baghdad that is home to a gateway between the past, future and present he is treated not just to a triad of tales about what other visitors have found inside the gateway, but he also gets the opportunity to travel back to his own past, to find closure to the one event in his life that haunts him. A rare gem of a story it expertly straddles the line between fantasy and science fiction as well as tragic and hopeful.
“The Last and Only, or Mr. Moskowitz Becomes French” by Peter S. Beagle seems to be more of a philosophical study on identity than a tale that’s recognizable fantasy. No one knows why, but Mr. Moskowitz began (“from the bones out”) to turn French. So much so that even those born in France sought out his approval. Strange and well written, it still didn’t capture my interest as much as I’d hoped.
Charles Stross’ “Trunk and Disorderly”, as one might guess is a humor piece. Completely out of control (much like its lead, “Ralph MacDonald Suzuki… a genuine Japanese Highland Laird from old Scotland…”) “Trunk and Disorderly” is a hilarious adventure of debauchery, nobility and robots gone wrong that’s best read without any drinks nearby.
“Glory” by Greg Egan sums itself up with a line from its own prose, “There’s more to life than mathematics…but not much more.” A hard science fiction love note to math, and the sciences that heavily rely upon them, this tale of alien exploration and archeology is at times mind boggling in level and at other times, perfection down to the last little atom. Despite the heavy importance of the math the story is told in the characters’ actions, allowing the story to reach the reader and not be lost under the weight of technicality.
Daryl Gregory’s “Dead Horse Point” is very personal, heart wrenching and incredibly interesting. Julia is a special woman. Incredibly brilliant she’s breaking new ground in science and on the verge of something world changing. But her brilliance comes with a downside. She lives an autistic-like life, completely aware, capable and down right normal one moment and mentally gone, incapable of even the simplest of tasks, completely lost in a mental world of science and unbreakable concentration. Gregory captures the strength and potential inside what many others would consider to be a horrible disease in desperate need of a cure. He also shows the effects it can have on even the most loyal of caretakers, the years slowly wearing them down. It’s very exciting to see a well written, thoughtful tale dealing with a neural-atypical mind, another facet of our current world that could easily lend itself to speculative futures.
“The Dreaming Wind” by Jeffrey Ford takes readers into a fairy tale, from its image invoking opening to an end that answers none of the questions. “The Dreaming Wind” is beautiful tale of the intimidating, raw power of creativity that’s likely to spark a few strikes of inspiration of its own.
Continuing the streak of fantasy is “The Coat of Stars” by Holly Black. It’s yet another beautiful story, a modern fairy tale of a gay man who learns his childhood love was stolen by fairies. In trying to win his love back he must also come to terms with himself and his family. Not moralistic, but the kind of story one can picture being told along side Grimm’s most popular, it’s stories like these that will become the classic short stories of our generation’s portion of the fantasy genre.
“The Prophet of Flores” by Ted Kosmatka takes on evolution, creating a world where it’s been debunked and religion rules science. This isn’t a horror tale however, but a scientific one, not just about the evolution of life, but about the evolution of religion as well.
Alex Irvine’s “Wizard’s Six” is a delightfully classic fantasy tale, the kind you forget how much you enjoy after reading more in vogue subgenres like science fantasy and urban fantasy. Paulus, at the behest of a wizard, is traveling across the land to stop an apprentice’s quest to collect “his six”, six people with magical potential that the apprentice needs to become a full wizard. But this apprentice is dangerous and has been denied by the guild, which would put his six in great danger should he succeed in collecting them, and make the apprentice himself much harder to control once he gained his full power. A true example of the best of fantasy, this is the kind of story that leaves the characters and reader changed.
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham is a tale for the puzzle lovers. When bored nobleman Lord Iron approaches cambist (money exchanger) Olaf he admits that he’s just bored, and that Olaf is simply in the wrong place at the right time. Destroying the cambist will provide a momentary distraction. Until Olaf manages to exchange the exotic bills from a tiny, distant, nearly unknown foreign land, stunning and impressing Lord Iron. Of course Olaf’s feat of intelligence just ends up getting him pulled into greater challenges, with higher stakes. The last challenge of all lays a human soul bare with enough honesty and need to make readers shiver with its strength. Every bit as human and soul-filled as the first story, Ted Chiang’s “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, this tale is an excellent example of the best of fantasy.
“By Fools Like Me” by Nancy Kress is a tale writers and passionate readers can get behind. A Post-Apocalypse fantasy tale it centers on a young girl’s discovery of old fashioned print books (the kind trees were sacrificed for), and the books’ power many, many years later, to still entrap the mind. In a world where see-o-two clouds and destructive ash are among the worst hazards, not immediately destroying the books is a moral sin. But the true story in this tale is how the human spirit can corrupt all things, and even rules meant to guarantee survival in a harsh world, can go too far.
Bruce Sterling’s “Kiosk” is the first miss so far. This futuristic tale strongly focuses on the socio-political-economic truths of society rather than invoking the universal human feel of the other stories. A midstream switch from telling the story from a close third view of a kiosk owner and savvy businessman to a wide, fast forward, history book feeling approach killed my interest. The story failed to regain it when it focused on the lead character again for an attempt at a tight end. Surrounded with the present day politically poisoned media this tale just didn’t offer me the escape I found in other tales.