The New Voices of Fantasy is a collection (edited by Peter S.
Beagle) of some of the best short fiction from ‘up and coming’ fantasy authors.
There’s some Nebula and Hugo award nominees and winners amongst these stories –
and if awards aren’t the only indicator of quality, still they’re suggestive.
The work as a whole is of a very good standard, and there’s some interesting
themes explored, and questions asked – and, occasionally, answered.
There’s a range of stories here, from the hard-edged sentiment
of Max Gladstone’s “A Kiss with Teeth”, where Vlad the Impaler struggles to
relate both to the modern world, and to his family, to the lyrical modern mythology
of Usman T. Malik’s “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn”, or the quiet
secrets and gentle romance of Amal El-Mohtar’s “Wing”. Given there are nineteen
stories in the collection, there’s always going to be some that fit a
particular reader more than others, but the overall quality is very high. I won’t
go through them all, but there are definite highlights.
I have a lot of affection for Alyssa Wong’s “Hungry Daughters
of Starving Mothers” – a young woman who feeds off negative emotions is slowly
drawn towards monstrous acts. Wong portrays a fragile, confused, powerful
woman, unsure of who she is and wants to be – and the sacrifices she’s willing
to make whilst working that out.
“Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” from Sarah Pinsker is a
piece of fantasy in the modern day, exploring why people are prepared to take
risks, to fall with and for each other. In this case, the fall is literal, as
inhabitants of a town leap into a possibly bottomless pool. Not all of them
return, but the exploration of why people would jump in the first place is compelling
and emotionally evocative.
Ben Loory’s “The Duck” is a heartwarming piece, ostensibly
about a duck who falls in love with a rock. The other ducks are perhaps less
than supportive of this decision. The piece is a pleasant allegory, exploring
what it means to fit in, or to deliberately not do so. It wants to examine what
people are willing to do for each other, and for love, romantic and otherwise.
It’s likely to raise both a chuckle and a smile or two.
Maria Dahvana Headley’s “The Tallest Doll in New York City”
is an enjoyablu whimsical piece where the buildings of New York are both sentient
and mobile. It’s a love story of architecture, with a thirties thread running
through it. The protagonist, at least nominally, is a waiter in one of the
buildings, who is also on the lookout for romance in this Valentines Day modern
fable.
Those are, of course, just a sample. There’s more here, from
the wry, ironic and often darkly appalling “Here Be Dragons”, tracking a pair
of con-men in a sword-and-sorcery world, now trying to fit back in to village
life with their wives and children, to the travelogue-esque “My Time Among the
Bridge Blowers”, a story which is putatively a description of a small mountain
society, but which also explores the ideas around power, formation of narrative
and colonialism.
As I say, there’s probably going to be some stories here
which you find better than others, but the sheer diversity of work on display
here, and the excellent overall quality, make this a collection that’s
certainly worth exploring.
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