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Chicks in Chainmail #4
The Chick is in the Mail
Black boards with copper colored lettering on spine and pictorial dust jacket, Collection of 15 Stories.
314 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
452 people want to read
About the author
Esther M. Friesner
264 books710 followersEsther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House.
Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.
Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.
"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.
Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.
She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.
Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.
Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.
"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.
Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.
She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 27, 2009
These books are great fun. The stories and writing range from ok to great, but the whole idea is fun and different.
January 25, 2016
Collection of short stories about women warriors. Most are of a humorous bend. Recommended
May 28, 2014
While not every story in this anthology is a smash hit, enough are that the average is very high in quality.
The book contains another in Elizabeth Moon's series of stories about a social group for women warriors, and in this story their attempt to host a fancy charity ball. What could possibly go wrong?
Other stories by Esther Friesner, Robin Wayne Bailey and others all take different concepts of women warriors and run with them, some funny and some serious, but they're all entertaining. The series is good as a whole, but this is volume may be my favorite so far.
The book contains another in Elizabeth Moon's series of stories about a social group for women warriors, and in this story their attempt to host a fancy charity ball. What could possibly go wrong?
Other stories by Esther Friesner, Robin Wayne Bailey and others all take different concepts of women warriors and run with them, some funny and some serious, but they're all entertaining. The series is good as a whole, but this is volume may be my favorite so far.
July 3, 2009
I read this one while quite sick and unable to concentrate. It was the perfect silly fun for the job!
Standouts include:
"Sweet Charity" - Elizabeth Moon
"Arms and the Woman" -Nancy Kress
"Fun With Hieroglyphics" - Margaret Ball
"Troll By Jury" -Esther Friesner
"Foxy Boxy Girl Fights Giant Monster King" - Pierce Askegren
Standouts include:
"Sweet Charity" - Elizabeth Moon
"Arms and the Woman" -Nancy Kress
"Fun With Hieroglyphics" - Margaret Ball
"Troll By Jury" -Esther Friesner
"Foxy Boxy Girl Fights Giant Monster King" - Pierce Askegren
August 28, 2009
/review to come
Favorites include:
"Fun with Hieroglyphics" Love Ball. Love love love.
"The Right Bitch"
"Sweet Charity" Moon is consistently good.
"The Case of Prince Charming" opening poem notwithstanding.
"Patterns in the Chain" Knitting armor.
"Troll by Jury" husband hunting. Thanks, Mom.
"Incognito, Ergo Sum" Griffins.
Favorites include:
"Fun with Hieroglyphics" Love Ball. Love love love.
"The Right Bitch"
"Sweet Charity" Moon is consistently good.
"The Case of Prince Charming" opening poem notwithstanding.
"Patterns in the Chain" Knitting armor.
"Troll by Jury" husband hunting. Thanks, Mom.
"Incognito, Ergo Sum" Griffins.
May 13, 2016
Hard to stop reading at just one story! So glad to see my favorite characters back--the Ladies Aid & Armor Society, Riva and the Paper Pushers, and Hallah Iron-Thighs. Silly, slapstick, ridiculous, but all in good fun. Almost every story was a winner. And the puns--oh, you will groan!
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/272062.html[return][return]A one-joke book.
November 24, 2010
"Only the glimmerings of magic were there, and glimmerings without mastery were what made the cruelty." - Nancy Kress
December 14, 2014
Another great addition to the series, highly recommended.
April 6, 2016
Light reading.
February 9, 2014
This was a reread. I've always enjoyed these stories, and sometimes- like this last week- I just need funny stories about women kicking ass.
July 7, 2014
This really was not one of my favorites. All in all, there weren't many of the stories that I really enjoyed.
March 22, 2017
A couple mediocre entries, but they definitely got better as the book progressed. The last few especially were highly entertaining and fun to read. Great set of authors.
December 24, 2010
Funny! Very funny!
September 16, 2021
The first few stories I read... the parody of Catcher of the Rye was the most memorable. were great... then I could not find another that grabbed me the same way so I put it aside. Maybe I will come back to this but for now I will mark it as done.
March 22, 2022
Two of the stories were good, but the rest were bad.
November 3, 2022
Fun selection of humorous short stories.
Read
July 8, 2017
The Chick Is in the Mail
is a collection of short stories edited by Esther Freisner. This collection is part of a series of similar volumes, all having science fiction/fantasy short stories about women in chain mail. Most of the stories also involve assertive warrior-women and all the stories are meant to be humorous (most of them succeed).
The Good
Troll by Jury: This story, by the editor herself, actually turned out to be my favorite in the book. A warrior, her husband, and their wizard friend are traveling to a young woman’s Maiden Morn Ceremony, and running late. They meet a troll friend along the way, and through a series of mishaps, they all end up in court: a distant cousin of the young woman charging the warrior for hitting him with a deadly weapon (the troll); the young woman’s mother charging the warrior with interference in her evil plan to betroth her daughter to said disreputable cousin and keep the daughter’s trust fund in the family; the young woman and the troll betrothed to each other; and various other minor infractions.
Fun with Hieroglyphics: In Margaret Ball’s story, a woman warrior from another planet is living in suburban Austin, Texas, masquerading as a writer/stay-at-home mom. Her daughter, of course, knows their off-planet heritage and exploits this knowledge for her science project. Meanwhile, a corporate drone is giving a make-over to the warrior in order to work in the company’s technical writing department. The warrior isn’t too sure about having parts of her body waxed and getting up two hours early just to put on her make up and fix her hair.
Looking for Rhonda Honda: A “public” investigator, in futuristic America, finds himself hired by some well-armored people with nice guns to find a young woman whose name right now is Rhonda Honda (“don’t worry about her real name”). Rhonda happens to ride with a motorcycle gang and the PI owns a classic bike himself, practically the only thing of value his ex-wife didn’t get in the divorce before she had a “gender morph” and became a man. William Sanders wrote a great little twist in this tale, one that I didn’t see coming, but all the clues were there.
Patterns in Chains: A fearsome creature of some sort, named Mother Berchte, sits in her rocking chair in her cave, with her pet goat, knitting chain mail for young ladies who suddenly find themselves in need of armor to rescue their kidnapped relatives and what-not. Besides dispensing armor, Mother Berchte dispenses advice, most of which goes unheeded to the young woman’s detriment.
The Case of Prince Charming: I liked this story by Robin Wayne Bailey because she plays with the classic fairy tale theme and everything is not as it seems. A warrior is hired to free Prince Charming, held in captivity by his evil stepmother, the queen. Prince Charming happens to have a deadly kind of charm, and the troll is a dear, but the masochistic falconer has the best lines.
The Bad
I liked most of the stories in this collection, though some of the stories had only a tenuous relation to the theme of women in chain mail (the only female in any sort of armor in The Right Bitch is a drug-dog who wears a “bramble protector”). I can easily overlook the theme, or lack thereof, if the story is well written and funny. And the stories are, with one glaring exception: The Catcher in the Rhine by Harry Turtledove. So Harry Turtledove has a big name in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but his contribution does not fit in with the rest of the stories. I didn’t find much humor in it either. While Looking for Rhonda Honda does not have a strong women warrior as the heroine like the other stories, at least it was entertaining. I’ve read one Harry Turtledove book, after which I decided I didn’t like his writing style. After reading this story, I think I’d rather read one of his novels than this short story again—but it’s a toss up.
Overall
I like short story collections because they don’t challenge my attention span: I can read one story and come back to the book days or weeks later and not have missed or forgotten anything because I’m reading a brand new story. This book was also great for taking with me when I had to stand in line; I could read a story or part of one and it didn’t matter if I was interrupted because I could easily reread the beginning of the story if needed I liked the theme of this collection, I liked the portrayal (usually) of women warriors, and I liked the laughs most of all. Now where is that membership form for the Bronze Bra Guild….
The Good
Troll by Jury: This story, by the editor herself, actually turned out to be my favorite in the book. A warrior, her husband, and their wizard friend are traveling to a young woman’s Maiden Morn Ceremony, and running late. They meet a troll friend along the way, and through a series of mishaps, they all end up in court: a distant cousin of the young woman charging the warrior for hitting him with a deadly weapon (the troll); the young woman’s mother charging the warrior with interference in her evil plan to betroth her daughter to said disreputable cousin and keep the daughter’s trust fund in the family; the young woman and the troll betrothed to each other; and various other minor infractions.
Fun with Hieroglyphics: In Margaret Ball’s story, a woman warrior from another planet is living in suburban Austin, Texas, masquerading as a writer/stay-at-home mom. Her daughter, of course, knows their off-planet heritage and exploits this knowledge for her science project. Meanwhile, a corporate drone is giving a make-over to the warrior in order to work in the company’s technical writing department. The warrior isn’t too sure about having parts of her body waxed and getting up two hours early just to put on her make up and fix her hair.
Looking for Rhonda Honda: A “public” investigator, in futuristic America, finds himself hired by some well-armored people with nice guns to find a young woman whose name right now is Rhonda Honda (“don’t worry about her real name”). Rhonda happens to ride with a motorcycle gang and the PI owns a classic bike himself, practically the only thing of value his ex-wife didn’t get in the divorce before she had a “gender morph” and became a man. William Sanders wrote a great little twist in this tale, one that I didn’t see coming, but all the clues were there.
Patterns in Chains: A fearsome creature of some sort, named Mother Berchte, sits in her rocking chair in her cave, with her pet goat, knitting chain mail for young ladies who suddenly find themselves in need of armor to rescue their kidnapped relatives and what-not. Besides dispensing armor, Mother Berchte dispenses advice, most of which goes unheeded to the young woman’s detriment.
The Case of Prince Charming: I liked this story by Robin Wayne Bailey because she plays with the classic fairy tale theme and everything is not as it seems. A warrior is hired to free Prince Charming, held in captivity by his evil stepmother, the queen. Prince Charming happens to have a deadly kind of charm, and the troll is a dear, but the masochistic falconer has the best lines.
The Bad
I liked most of the stories in this collection, though some of the stories had only a tenuous relation to the theme of women in chain mail (the only female in any sort of armor in The Right Bitch is a drug-dog who wears a “bramble protector”). I can easily overlook the theme, or lack thereof, if the story is well written and funny. And the stories are, with one glaring exception: The Catcher in the Rhine by Harry Turtledove. So Harry Turtledove has a big name in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but his contribution does not fit in with the rest of the stories. I didn’t find much humor in it either. While Looking for Rhonda Honda does not have a strong women warrior as the heroine like the other stories, at least it was entertaining. I’ve read one Harry Turtledove book, after which I decided I didn’t like his writing style. After reading this story, I think I’d rather read one of his novels than this short story again—but it’s a toss up.
Overall
I like short story collections because they don’t challenge my attention span: I can read one story and come back to the book days or weeks later and not have missed or forgotten anything because I’m reading a brand new story. This book was also great for taking with me when I had to stand in line; I could read a story or part of one and it didn’t matter if I was interrupted because I could easily reread the beginning of the story if needed I liked the theme of this collection, I liked the portrayal (usually) of women warriors, and I liked the laughs most of all. Now where is that membership form for the Bronze Bra Guild….
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews