The nice people at Booklist have just published this review for Eclipse Three, which made me feel rather shiny.
Eclipse Three.
Strahan, Jonathan (editor).
Dec. 2009. 304p. Night Shade, paperback, $14.95 (9781597801621).
REVIEW. First published December 1, 2009 (Booklist).
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In a brilliant, wide-ranging anthology, Strahan presents stories by authors as diverse as Karen Joy Fowler, Elizabeth Bear, and Paul Di Filippo. Ellen Klages contributes “Lotion,“ a story about imaginary numbers and the strange powers of math, in which a young girl discovers the magical potential of pure math. Ellen Kushner’s “Dolce Domum†is, perhaps, not about what its characters think it is. Bear’s “Swell†is a fairy tale about a musician seeking her voice, in which a mermaid’s gift is not as wonderful as at first glance it seems. Molly Gloss’ “The Visited Man†presents a lonely pensioner who lives upstairs from le douanier Rousseau and the relationship that develops after the painter brings the retiree a stray cat. As for the previous Eclipse anthologies, Strahan has picked stories whose authors care about both the craft of storytelling and the stories they tell. Each piece is distinctive and haunting.
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
I’ve long ago stopped trying to parse what reviewers do and don’t like . It’s all very individual.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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 Thingsâ€, and for fantasy, Peter S. Beagle’s “Sleight of Handâ€, and very possibly Jeffrey Ford’s “The Coral Heartâ€, 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.