Comments on: Booklist on Eclipse Three

By: Peter Nel

Peter Nel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:20:53 +0000

I posted this at Asimov’s:

A quick report back on Eclipse Three:

As always, the standout stories will differ from one reader to the next. For me, Peter S. Beagle’s tale of heartbroken widow who is given a choice that may change everything, was the one I enjoyed the most. It’s pure fantasy, of course, but for those who insist on their SF fix, I would recommend the Maureen McHugh story about a woman who lives alone with her dog and battles to cope with a future where no one’s been nuked, but things just aren’t going very well. No fireworks, but quietly effective and a Year’s Best candidate, for sure. I was well entertained by Pat Cadigan’s story of strange goings-on in Madagascar, found the opening story by Karen Joy Fowler gripping in the manner of a prison drama, and enjoyed the eerie realism of the Molly Gloss story, despite its setting in the early 19th century.

There are no weak stories here, although, of course, some worked better for me than others. My personal picks for annual honors: for SF, Maureen McHugh’s “Useless Things”, and for fantasy, Peter S. Beagle’s “Sleight of Hand”, and very possibly Jeffrey Ford’s “The Coral Heart”, a high fantasy with a vicious twist that made me flinch.

Oh, and spare a thought for Paul Di Filippo’s freewheeling crazy quilt of a story, set in a sort of alternate history in which some things are familiar, and some aren’t. JFK’s Cuban Seafloor Colony crisis, anyone? The story almost lost me, but in the end I was quite caught up in the lives of the commune of oddball characters; there was even a trace of fatalistic sadness towards the end.

Overall, great stuff. My reading is skewed towards SF, but if the stories are this good, I won’t complain.

By: Night Shade News & Notes at Night Shade Books

Night Shade News & Notes at Night Shade Books — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:01:36 +0000

[...] Booklist reviews ECLIPSE THREE edited by Jonathan Strahan: – "A brilliant wide ranging anthology." [...]

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:50:32 +0000

Hi Susan – I’m delighted you enjoyed the book so much. I’m really proud of it, and pleased that so many people are liking it too.

By: Susan Loyal

Susan Loyal — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:44:56 +0000

Eclipse 3 was the first anthology that I’ve read through, cover to cover in the order presented, in many years. I was struck primarily by the evenness of the quality, which made the book impossible to put down but also made it hard to pick favorites. They keep dancing around and changing places in my head. Generally, I find anthologies tend to contain three or four stories that are obviously stronger than the others and benefit greatly by comparison to the rest of the TOC. Not true here. This may lead to less concensus than usual, but I view it as a strength. Many thanks for much delight!

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:58:01 +0000

I’m delighted. I look forward to your comments. Some folk are disappointed with the low SF content – which I understand – but I’m happy with the book.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:58:01 +0000

I’m delighted. I look forward to your comments. Some folk are disappointed with the low SF content – which I understand – but I’m happy with the book.

By: Peter Nel

Peter Nel — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:59:55 +0000

Indeed it is. I’m slowly working my way through the book, and to my considerable surprise, I’m enjoying it even more than Eclipse 2. I’m pleased to see a positive review, but they seem to have got the best stories all wrong :), although I have yet to read some of them! Will give my overall impressions when done.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:43:30 +0000

I’ve long ago stopped trying to parse what reviewers do and don’t like . It’s all very individual.

By: Rich Horton

Rich Horton — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:33:16 +0000

Nice review — curious, though, that the stories they single out are none of them the “consensus” top stories (Fowler, Griffith, McHugh, I would think).

That’s a good thing, in a way — if they can NOT mention those and still have such nice things to say, then, wow, eh?

Anyway — I’m not carping, I just found it interesting. (And I will say in reading reviews of my books I have found that if you get enough of them you will find that every story in the book is among someone’s favorites!)

–
Rich