REALMS OF FANTASY - October 2008
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musingaloudREALMS OF FANTASY - October 2008
"The Purple Basil" by M.K. Hobson
Ms. Hobson's command of language never fails to amaze me. One of my favorite sentences: "I babble the words, chatter and chew them until they are ragged..." Oh, and the stories aren't too bad, either. This one is about a middle-aged witch, cynical of her life as a witch, but yet still caught up in the spell of Him. She makes the trek to the Valley of the Valley on the Eve of St. John, even though she'd rather stay home and tend her garden. But when all is said and done, she cannot resist the chance to dance with Him, to be chosen by Him. At her home by the sea, she tries to talk the young girls out of speaking their spell for the first time. She wishes her foundling daughter, Butterfly, to find another path. I really enjoyed this story for its characterization and beautiful language and descriptions.
"The Luckiest Street in Georgia" by Vylar Kaftan
Miss Minette is 83 and spends her time sitting on her porch, watching. She watches her street and the people and things on it. She watches the future, of things that will come and she watches the present, but she doesn't watch the past. Sometimes she catches a glimpse of Tom, an old man who built the big house across the street, in his upstairs window, watching her. Tom died a long time ago. Was he a watcher too, in his own time? Did he watch her? A really nice story, I enjoyed this one a lot.
"Under the Skin" by Greg O. Weatherford
Anna's father is a wolf, but he only takes his man skin off on the full moon. Anna's mother left them a long time ago, but not because she wanted to. Anna has to keep to herself, but she doesn't mind. Or does she? Anna's father begins dating a woman, Linda, who Anna doesn't like. Linda begins giving Anna rides home from school, but when Anna's father finds out, he's furious that Anna may have told Linda about him. Anna is terrified and promises to not see Linda any more. Normally I don't care much for werewolf stories because I feel they've been done to death, but I thought this one was well done. I couldn't help but feel for Anna, even though she told me there was really no need to feel sorry for her. Or was there?
"The Horned Tad in the Hubcap" by Joe Murphy
Walter doesn't like being touched, and he can't speak, and his Ma and Pa cried when the doctor talked to them. Sprokly, a wooden girl with a big heart, gave Walter words by writing them in moonbeams. That was a year ago, when Sprokly ran away one night from Grampser. Now Walter has a problem: his hubcap, which used to show him all manner of beautiful places when he flipped it, only shows him a brown horned toad. Walter wants his beautiful places back, and Sprokly is the only one who can help him. I was really pleased to see Realms publish another Sprokly tale.
"All Beautiful Things" By Sharon Mock
Alaudrine, daughter of the Queen, longs to escape her mother's realm. When a human emissary to their court arrives, Alaudrine prepares a plan. Because of the human invaders, their realm has shrunken to encompass only the Queen's Inner Court, which she keeps protected by charms and spells. Alaudrine longs to return to their city, V, where the buildings are sentient, and with the human's help, she does. The years of human occupation have not been kind to the city, and the Queen's influence reaches farther than Alaudrine thought.
"The Claw Unseen" by Euan Harvey
Baqir adores Jawalhir, his doe-eyed jewel of Quysayrah. He convinces her to go with him to the Ladder of Ibrahim, a stairway to the World Above, just to look around. What he doesn't tell her is he owes money to Fat Ma'mun, for gambling debts. He hopes to find an artifact that he can sell in order to pay back the money. On the stairway, they find blood--lots of fresh blood. Soon they find a dead youth, his throat ripped out. It's not much farther before they find a score of dead warriors, all with their throats ripped out, surrounding a huge, muscular man. Baqir also finds a ruby-studded, gold statue that he secretes under his robe. On their way back to the city, they see a patrol is giving chase, but they manage to lose them. Baqir grows short-tempered with Jawalhir, and she leaves him. Great story, set in an exotic locale, full of flavor, intrigue, maimings, blood and gore, love that endures. What more can a fantasy reader want?
