musingaloud | Review of REALMS OF FANTASY

Review of REALMS OF FANTASY - December 2008

Just because I enjoy the magazine and just because I find it good practice to try writing a synopsis about a short story.

"Harry and the Monkey" by Euan Harvey

The story takes place in modern-day Vietnam and is interspersed with snippets of newspaper accounts of missing children and stories of urban legends. A father's trick of distracting Harry, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, by telling him to look for a monkey backfires when the boy acts as if he truly can see the monkey and can point out the monkey's current location. One day Harry disappears from the yard, and the father runs down the street, panicked. He sees a black van, just like the ones that have been seen when the children went missing, and chases after it. He finds it at the side of the road, his son standing beside it crying, and the door partially open with the handle bent around like a pretzel. And leading away from the van and into a clump of bamboo, large footprints--not shoe prints, mind you, but footprints. "Daddy, monkey," Harry calls out, pointing. True story, the author claims. I loved this story, it was a very entertaining read with a folksy story-telling voice to it, and the antics of four-year-old Harry were believable and cute, as were those of the father. And doesn't every parent want to believe a five hundred pound gorilla is watching out for their child? My favorite story of this issue, it was a good choice for the lead story.

"Achilles, Sulking in His Buick" by Jay Lake

In which Achilles and Agamemnon (Aggie), street general for the Achaens, square off, one with a '47 Buick Roadmaster, the other with a '51 Lincoln Continental with the "CLEOS" plates, because Aggie has two-timed with Achille's girlfriend, Brisei when Aggie's girlfriend Chryseis was grounded by her old man. This was a short short, very entertaining, especially if you know your history.

"The Milagroso Trail" by Clinton Lawrence

Rumors of a strange village deep in National Forest land in northern California has two couples hiking into the deep woods during Christmas, everyone hoping to find a little magic. They don't find the village, although they do find several people who choose to live alone deep in the forest, most in houses, one in a cave. None of these people know where Milagroso is, nor even if it exists, although one of them does know the legend of its founding. While they don't find Milagroso, they do find the unexpected.

"Late in the Day" by Gregory Frost

A man wakes up. He has a list of questions, the first of which is, "Where am I?" Hospital, he realizes. Next item on the list: "I did this yesterday, too." The rest of the questions lead him to recall some of his surroundings, although he still doesn't know who he is or why he's there. When he follows the instruction of item #4 and looks in the mirror, he discovers he's a very old man. He has snippets of memory, but they don't mean much to him. Item #5 instructs him to try to call again, but who? After looking in the mirror again, he finds a small girl beside his bed, and she has small wings on her back and her eyes and face were the gold and lavender he's seen in a dream--or where? In the process of finding his memory, he also finds his escape. This story was my second favorite story of this issue. I felt I was on a journey of discovery along with Marsh (he does recall his name along the way) and the ending was very fitting.

"Fragments of a Fantasy Mind" by Josh Rountree and Mikal Trimm

This story had one of the most unusual beginnings I've read, and it certainly drew me in right away. Julia is following a path of body parts through the woods, picking up the pieces of her husband and son and stuffing them into her bag, not knowing why she does so, but knowing that somewhere at the end of the path, all that remains of her family will come together again. As she picks up body parts, the memories come. Julia doesn't know what is real and what is her imagination anymore, and her perfect life may not have been so perfect after all. But the question remains: Can she turn her back on it?

"Pumpkin Jumper" by William H. Wandless

When the Anderson family moved to Poplar Hollow, it was in the midst of a hectic harvest season, so their new neighbors forgot to warn them about leaving something out for Pumpkinjumper. Nothing big or expensive, perhaps some knitting for the raven to unravel, or a pouch of acorn caps. When Pumpkinjumper stops by and discovers nothing, he leaves a whistle on the front stoop so they can re-gift it to him if they choose. Mandy Mae finds it and says, "Finders Keepers" and drops it in her pocket. The next night, Pumpkinjumper gives the family another chance and leaves his own jack-o-lantern sweater, because it's a very fine sweater and he would be happy to receive it again. But the next morning, Mandy Mae finds the sweater and takes it in because it's a perfect fit for Buster Bear. The next night, Pumpkinjumper arrives again, and finding nothing on the stoop, flies around the house until he finds the article he wants to claim. And so he taps on Mandy Mae's window.

"The Olverung" by Stephen Wodworth

The Olverung is an ugly bird, entirely unremarkable, until it's tortured and hurt, and then it sings its pain in a voice so beautiful, the listeners weep in sympathy, and want nothing else except to hear it again and again. The King owns the Olverung, but that doesn't stop others from coveting it. A thief, who is also a magician, is commissioned to steal the bird from the king's banquet. During the performance, the rogue witnesses the bird's torture and is moved by its song. He manages to steal the bird, and although chased, does escape with it. He refuses to give the bird to the man who commissioned its theft. This was an entertaining story. The ending was a trifle too realistic for my fantasy sensibilities though. When the thief refused to turn over the bird for more torturing, I had high hopes he would rise above mankind's base instincts. I won't tell you if he does or not, you'll have to read for yourself.