By a bunch of people.
Another collection of short stories, and a pretty good one too!
- "Cotillion" by Delia Sherman: Tam Lin, only in the sixties with a debutante who's just met this year's tribute to hell. She may love him, she may not yet, but she's willing to give it a shot... Good story!
- "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box" by Megan Whalen Turner: When the bank advertises their new vault as a good place to store people's treasures, they didn't expect to find a baby in need of protection. Little Penny grows up within the bank, and when she turns 18, finally finds out why. Good story as well!
- "Beauty" by Sherwood Smith: Kind of an odd story about a plain-looking princess who compares herself to the other girls, and then she gets kidnapped by the guy who tried to take over her family's kingdom. Kind of an odd story, but interesting. I'm not exactly sure how "beauty" resolves itself here, other than in the princess's mental comparisons to her kidnapper, but the journey is interesting.
- "Mariposa" by Nancy Springer: When she was a teenage girl, Amy (or Aimee) lost her soul. Now she's rich and shallow and wondering how to get it back. What does a teenage girl do when she knows the time has come to conform, and where does she stash her soul? Cool metaphor for the joys of the teen years there.
- "Max Mondrosch" by Lloyd Alexander. One of the few stories I flat out did not like in this book--it's not really fantasy and it's super depressing (especially reading it in this era where tons of people are hopelessly jobless). Ugh. Just made me want to drink heavily.
- "The Fall of Ys" by Meredith Ann Pierce: A retelling of the story of a woman-hating king, his rivalry with women and the sea, and his daughter who wants to embrace her father's enemy. Odd but interesting.
- "Medusa" by Michael Cadnum: A story told from Medusa's point of view as to how she got there and how she used to be just a girl until she ticked off Athena. Not my favorite, but okay.
- "The Black Fox" by Emma Bull and Charles Vess: Illustrated story of a folk song about chasing a black fox who isn't quite what he seems. I can't say I really got this one, but maybe it's just not to my taste.
- "Byndley" by Patricia A. McKillip: Once upon a time, a wizard went to the land of Faerie and fell in love with the queen. When she didn't love him back, he stole a shiny treasure of hers and ran for it. Years later, he wants to return it, and goes to a village near Faerie to find out how. Nice twist to the story--it's probably not exactly a surprise, but it works.
- "The Lady of the Ice Garden" by Kara Dalkey: a sad tale of two childhood friends torn asunder when the boy hits puberty and turns into a giant asshole. When he runs off with the Lady of the Ice Garden, his friend tries to find him and get him back. She ends up with a surprising amount of help along the way, but when she finally finds the guy, she's very surprised. A sad story, but works for what it is.
- "Hope Chest" by Garth Nix: Very reminiscent of "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box." Coincidence? Probably. Anyway, Alice May was abandoned at a train station with a giant chest that nobody's been able to open. When she turns of age, Alice can open it...and finds a MASSIVE amount of guns, a skimpy dress, and a sheriff's star. This wigs her right out, as you'd imagine. But this is an alternate universe in which an even worse evil is taking over America in the 1930's, and Alice May ends up having to take up her guns and defend the people. Very cool story, with a bittersweet ending.
- "Chasing the Wind" by Elizabeth E. Wein: Not a fantasy story, just the tale of a preacher's kid traveling through Africa on a small plane with a rich woman, her cats, and a sad pilot who misses his estranged sister. I liked how the Biblical references to "Mary and Martha" were done--Martha is the PK who always has to do things and kind of wishes she could slack off, while Mary is the pampered rich lady. In the end, Martha decides to act as a lightning bolt to try to reconcile the siblings. I liked that bit. I'm not sure about it as a story overall--odd plot--but it's done well.
- "Little Dot" by Diana Wynne Jones: Little Dot is one of the (many) cats rescued by local wizard Henry. She's the one that can talk to both cats and humans. Their happy family gets upset when Henry suddenly gets bamboozled romantically by a cat-hating evil woman. With some help from Bastet and the other cats, Little Dot manages to save the day. I liked this one, it's fun.
- "Remember Me" by Nancy Farmer: Interesting metaphor about changelings and disabled children...both sad and with a sort of happy ending at the same time? Anyway, it's about a family where the mom is a total jerk, the older sister is presumably disabled/slow/has some kind of mental problem, and the younger sister is kind of fed up with everybody. While on a road trip. they find a strange grove where older sister Flo suddenly speaks... Very odd one. I suppose it works, but you do feel (righteously so) depressed at reading it.
- "Flotsam" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: After the death of their older sister, Becky and Jeff's do-gooder mom has fallen into a funk, and their dad has left the family. But when Becky finds a lost faerie child at the basketball court and brings him home for a shower and food, he has an effect on everyone he meets, for the better. A sweet story.
- "The Flying Woman" by Laurel Winter. Strange, creepy story about two magical children imprisoned on an island. When a winged woman lands on the island, the brother (having no one else around to be interested in and he's old enough to have hit puberty) falls for her. But the winged woman is miserable, and the younger sister would rather she just fly away already. Eeerie and kind of depressing.
Overall I'm giving this book four stars, because I did like almost every story in one way or another. That's doing pretty darn good!
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