One Small Step: An Anthology of Discoveries

by Tehani Croft Wessely (Editor), Jo Anderton (Contributor), Deborah Biancotti (Contributor)

Sixteen stories of discovery from Australia's best writers. Each story in some way addresses the idea of discoveries, new beginnings, or literal or figurative "small steps", but each story takes you to places you far beyond the one small step you imagine... Journey through worlds and explore the reaches of the universe with this collection.
"Sand and Seawater" by Joanne Anderton & Rabia Gale
"Indigo Gold" by Deborah Biancotti
"Firefly Epilogue" by Jodi Cleghorn
"The Ways of the Wyrding Women" by Rowena Cory Daniells
"The ships of Culwinna" by Thoraiya Dyer
"Shadows" by Kate Gordon
"By Blood and Incantation" by Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter
"Ella and the Flame" by Kathleen Jennings
"Original" by Penny Love
"Always Greener" by Michelle Marquardt
"Morning Star" by DK Mok
"Winter's Heart"by Faith Mudge
"Cold White Daughter" by Tansy Rayner Roberts
"Baby Steps" by Barbara Robson
"Daughters of Battendown" by Cat Sparks
"Number 73 Glad Avenue" by Suzanne J Willis

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Speculative Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Tsana Dolichva · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Small Step: an anthology of discoveries is edited by Tehani Wessely and has just been launched by FableCroft at Conflux, this year's National SF Convention.

The theme of One Small Step is addressed quite diversely between the stories. My personal favourites (in a very subjective way) were the ones that dealt with discovery in a more literal kind of way. "Always Greener" by Michelle Marquardt opened the anthology strongly with human colonists on another planet and I felt it set the tone of expectation for what followed. The idea of deadly grass also stuck with me. "Firefly Epilogue" by Jodi Cleghorn about scientific discovery also struck me. "The Ships of Culwinna" by Thoraiya Dyer is another story that really stuck with me. Very well done, it's a story about old discoveries but, I thought, freshly told. "Morning Star"by DK Mok was another space-based journey of discovery and quite an emotional note to end the anthology on. Although they were quite different stories, there was some symmetry between the opening and closing; a search for safety in a hostile universe.

I also quite enjoyed the stories by Deborah Biancotti and Rowena Cory Daniells for their ties to other stories of theirs I've read as much as the great writing. And Tansy Rayner Roberts's story made me smile for certain references sprinkled throughout. "Sand and Seawater" by Joanne Anderton and Rabia Gale was also one of my favourites, with its richly painted setting. (I fully acknowledge that this paragraph is quite biased of me, since they're all authors I was a fan of a priori.)

Because I can't mention every story, I've included some brief comments/notes below that I made as I finished reading each of them. And author name links go to my other reviews of their works.

One Small Step is a showcase of some really great Aussie spec fic. (And, as I just learnt, it's the first all-female Aussie spec fic anthology.) I highly recommend it to fans of the genre or to anyone looking to sample a variety of spec fic authors.

~

"Always Greener" by Michelle Marquardt — colonists on a difficult frontier world. There are aliens and hardship, but at least the grass is greener.

"By Blood and Incantation" by Lisa L Hannett and Angela Slatter — Loosely speaking a story about motherhood and magic and things going horribly wrong.

"Indigo Gold" by Deborah Biancotti — A journalist in the same universe as Bad Power. Over much too soon. Would love to see a novel in this world.

"Firefly Epilogue" by Jodi Cleghorn — a surprisingly sweet story about fireflies in Malaysia and brain waves.

"Daughters of Battendown" by Cat Sparks — a post-apocalyptic story set in a well realised world. A story of hardship and hope.

"Baby Steps" by Barbara Robson — grabbed me from the start. A fairytale told though emails.

"Number 73 Glad Avenue" by Suzanne J Willis — A story of time travel and the twenties. Like if the Doctor was a woman and also threw parties (so quite dissimilar to Doctor Who).

"Shadows" by Kate Gordon — Quite readable. About a girl who sees shadows. Thought it ended a bit abruptly.

"Original" by Penelope Love — Post-human people, spread throughout the the galaxy, come face to face with an original human.


"The Ships of Culwinna" by Thoraiya Dyer — People of a primitive culture encountering other cultures less and more technologically advanced.

"Cold White Daughter" by Tansy Rayner Roberts — A tale of the Frost Queen's daughter, carved of ice. Inspired by Narnia, I suspect.

"The Ways of the Wyrding Women" by Rowena Cory Daniells — One of the longer stories. A tale of power, loyalty and plots. Set, I believe in future world of the Outcast Chronicles.

"Winter's Heart" by Faith Mudge — A woman goes in search of a sorcerer for help. Interesting shift of perspective towards the end.

"Sand and Seawater" by Joanne Anderton and Rabia Gale — Creepy sentient dolls (kind of cute, I thought, when not being creepy), protection magic and a volcano island.

"Ella and the Flame" by Kathleen Jennings — Sisters and villagers with burning torches. I liked the story within a story.

"Morning Star"by DK Mok — When most of the human population of Earth suddenly dies, an android, a sentient ship and a peculiarly immune boy set out to look for survivors among the stars. A lovely and at times sad tale. The longest in the anthology.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soooo this anthology came out in 2013 aaaand I've only just got around to reading it. Um. Oops. I have no excuse for this. It just didn't happen.

In my defence I read the whole thing last Sunday. That counts, right?

The subtitle is "An Anthology of Discoveries" and what's really interesting is that this is such a broad anthology but yes, the theme of discovery - of place, or self, or strangers - is the unifying factor. Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's subtle; sometimes there are world-shattering consequences and sometimes not so much.

The other superbly interesting thing about this anthology is that it's all women. From memory of Tehani discussing the process, pretty much accidentally so. And it's not all just dresses and kissing! (Sorry; /sarcasm.) It's basically a who's who of established and emerging Australian writers, too, which is a total delight.

Some of these stories really, really worked for me. Michelle Marquardt's "Always Greener" is a lovely SF story that ended up being simultaneously darker and more hopeful thanI expected (yes that's a contradiction, too bad). And then to have it contrasted with the fantasy of Lisa Hannett and Angela Slatter's "By Blood and Incantation" - which is not my favourite HannSlatt but is still quite good - neatly skewered expectations that it was going to be an SF anthology, pointing out that 'discovery' is a mighty broad concept. And then "Indigo Gold" by Deborah Biancotti! Detective Palmer!!! and !!! The Cat Sparks story is awesome (it feels like ages since I read a Cat Sparks story), Penelope Love is quietly sinister in "Original," Faith Mudge does fairy tale things beautifully in "Winter's Heart." And the final story, "Morning Star" by DK Mok, is a magnificent SF bookend to match Marquardt but on a much grander, more extravagant scale.

This is a really fun anthology and I'm sorry it took me more than a year to read it.

[Barbara]

It's a privilege to be included in this anthology. The overall standard is high. For me as a reader, the stand-out stories were "Indigo Gold" by Deb Biancotti and "Sand and Seawater" by Joanne Anderton and Rabia Gale. "Sand and Seawater," because it is a story of the type of magic that seems genuinely magical, and always has a downside. It makes a great emotional connection. "Indigo Gold," for its vivid dialogue and scene-setting. There are a couple of pages in the middle that even serve as a light-handed writing lesson, as the journalist protagonist considers how setting makes a story and we are treated to a setting that uses all the five senses.

[Zena Shapter · Rating 2 out of 5]

By far my favourite story in this anthology was "Always Greener" by Michelle Marquardt. It had me from the very first sentence, which put me straight into the heart of the action. There was enough unusual to get me intrigued and the characters kept me there. What more could you want from a short story?

Also up there among my favourites were "By Blood and Incantation" by Lisa L Hannett & Angela Slatter, "Baby Steps" by Barbara Robson, and "The Ships of Culwinna" by Thoraiya Dyer. Each of those stories had a fascinating protagonist with a great story to tell, and beautiful language. Thanks guys – I really enjoyed your stories!

[Mieneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking at my shelves a surprising number of my favourite female authors is Australian: Rowena Cory Daniells, Fiona McIntosh, Trudi Canavan, and Jo Anderton. So when I was offered a review copy for an anthology featuring an all-female, all-Australian line-up, including two of the afore-mentioned authors, I didn't have to think twice really; I said yes. And I'm glad I did, because I didn't just get new stories from Anderton and Daniells, but I was also presented with a host of other stories by very talented writers.

All of the stories feature a discovery or new beginning at their heart and it was interesting to see the different takes on this idea and the different settings all the authors created. The stories run the gamut from science fiction to fantasy to fairy tale retelling and time travel stories. The range is very broad, but the various transitions from story to story and setting to setting were never very jarring. This might be due to the fact that I often read a story and then go do something else for a bit and come back to the anthology, but I don't think so. Wessely has brought together a strong collection of stories, none of which hit a wrong note; even if there were one or two stories that resonated less with me personally, I could still appreciate the craft behind them. Of course there were several stories that jumped out at me more than the rest and those six are discussed in detail below.

Jodi Cleghorn - Firefly Epilogue
Firefly Epilogue isn't a work of fan fiction for the universally beloved SF show, but rather a sensitive and in-depth look at a woman's last and greatest journey, the one crossing into death. But it's not just a look at the last moment of a life, but also a look at the first moments of a love. The intermingling of beginning and ending and the glimpses we get of the in-between create an impression of a full life lived and the idea of creating your own final moments, if only in the last and least of your brain waves, is fascinating and perhaps even a comforting thought.

Penny Love - Original
The Amish and Mennonite communities in the US often seem like places where time stood still, due to their general refusal to adopt modern technologies. At least, that's what they look like to an uninformed outsider such as me. Love takes this idea and extrapolates it several centuries into the future to a time and a place where humanity is hardly recognisable as human other than groups called The Originals, people who distanced themselves from all technological and medical advances and the far-reaching genetic modifications humanity developed to make themselves adaptable to living off-planet on worlds with differing atmospheres. I really liked the story, both for the way the changed humans have to try and understand the Originals and the way Enoch, the visiting Original has to accept that sometimes evolution and technology is the only way to survive.

Tansy Rayner Roberts - Cold White Daughter
A gorgeous retelling of The Snow Queen's tale with liberal dashes of C.S. Lewis and Enid Blyton thrown in for good measure, I adored this tale of the Snow Queen's icy daughter. It's about a choice between following your mother's footsteps or discovering your own destiny.

Rowena Cory Daniells - The Ways of the Wyrding Women
Rowena Cory Daniells is one of my favourite authors at the moment. I adored both her King Rolen's Kin series (the last of which will be out next month) and her Outcast Chronicles, so I was looking forward to this new tale in a new setting. And it's a different tale and a half. Recognisably Daniells in style and tone, The Ways of the Wyrding Women tells the story of a woman we only get to know as Sun-Fire, the name she is given by the men who took her from her own tribe during a raid. What follows is at once an age-old tale of a woman who despite everything comes to care for those who have kidnapped her and a tale about political power plays and the roles women play in them. There was an interesting twist at the end of the story and Sun-Fire's spirit might bend, but it never breaks and she's an interesting and sympathetic protagonist. Her opposites are just as compelling, especially the old Wyrding woman and her youngest grandson, Druaric. I found this a powerful tale and it re-affirmed Daniells position as one of my favourite writers.

Joanne Anderton & Rabia Gale - Sand and Seawater
This was another tale co-written by a favourite writer, Jo Anderton and it was another wonderfully creepy tale. But beyond the creepy, animated dolls, there was also a sadness at the core of the story that was rather lovely. The idea of bad-luck dolls isn't wholly something new – they reminded me a lot of South-American worry dolls – but I found Anderton and Gale's version of them very cool and their unintended side-effect of taking away not just the bad luck, but also taking away some of your personality and emotions. They reminded me a bit of a sort luck-version of heavy-duty anti-depressants: they'll take away all the lows, but your highs won't feel as high either, so you end up feeling remarkably flat. The ending was bitter-sweet and a reminder that we can appreciate what we have, without losing something now and again.

DK Mok - Morning Star
The last tale of the anthology is also one of the strongest ones. I adored this tale of the last of humanity sent out into space to hopefully reach the explorers on the other side of the galaxy. The bond between the young boy Solomon, his AI caretaker Ven, and their ship-board AI Mike35 was fascinating to watch develop and Mok ends the story with a fantastic twist, that has been well-planted, but which I nevertheless didn't see coming in the way it took shape. I found the reason for the apocalypse on Earth quite original; it was a form of Earth destroying plague that was both unavoidable and unexpected. he ending of this almost novella-length story was tremendously satisfying and I'd definitely love to read more by this author.

Overall, One Small Step doesn't disappoint. It's a very strong collection of stories showcasing the talents of eighteen very talented women. In the course of writing this review I found myself dipping back into the stories with alarming regularity, just because the story and/or the writing was that good. I highly recommend this anthology, it has a story for everyone and in my case it had more than one story to suit my taste. I know I've certainly discovered a host of new names to keep an eye out for in the future.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

[Dave Versace · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Small Step: An Anthology of Discoveries is a showcase of Australia's current wealth of women writing speculative fiction. These 16 stories cover a range of genres, from far-future science fiction to dark fantasy, fairytales - traditional and post-modern - to police procedurals, and the odd foray into the weird. All tie into a theme of exploration and discovery - emotional, intellectual and sometimes geographic.

My experience of themed anthologies is that the quality can vary considerably, usually with one or two outstanding stories balanced out by mostly good ones and a couple of duds. One Small Step is better than that. The standard here is very high. The worst that I could say about editor Tehani Wessely's selection is that a couple of them are excellent specimens of styles that aren't to my tastes. Even the very few stories I didn't particularly like were undeniably worth reading. (In fact the story I enjoyed the least in the collection was probably the most strongly written. My tastes don't always line up perfectly with storytelling excellence!) I would note that if your speculative fiction appetite starts and end with hard science fiction of the spaceships and robots variety, there's probably only one story - D K Mok's "Morning Star" - that will suit. But it is a good one!

I'm calling out a few of my favourites here, but take my word for it that I'm not papering over any cracks in the collection. I'm prepared to bet that every story here would make someone's top three.
One Small Step opens with Michelle Marquardt's "Always Greener", a child's encounter with strange aliens on a hostile colony world, a setup that seems like it could go anywhere but still takes an unexpected and bittersweet turn. Jodie Cleghorn's "Firefly Epilogue" is a colourful evocation of the Australian tourist's experience of Malaysia, again tinged with a sweet sadness. I adored Tansy Rayner Roberts' "Cold White Daughter", a homage that nails its colours proudly and playfully to the mast, while re-examining a beloved childhood tale.

One Small Step is worth picking up for a good idea of what the current renaissance in Australian speculative fiction looks like at the moment. Smart, heartfelt and a little bit otherworldly. It works for me.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“One Small Step” is an anthology based upon the theme of a discovery of some kind. Few of the short stories have approached this theme literally, which makes for an interesting collection of short stories. Between the covers readers will find a diverse range of genres, ranging from science fiction to urban fantasy to re-worked fantasy tales and even the odd lyrical fantasy piece.

Most memorable stories for me were DK Mok’s “Morning Star” and Kathleen Jennings’ “Ella and the Flame” (even if there was no apparent discovery to be garnered from this piece).

Overall, I'd recommend this collection as an example of modern Australian speculative fiction.

[Cathy]

I was only able to read Tansy Rayner Roberts' story now, but I'd love to read the whole book at some point. Roberts' story was fun, an adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but with a twist. It made good use book's theme of of one small step. It's interesting to find this adaption from her since I'm currently reading her weekly serial adaptation of The Three Muskateers as well, which has the twists of gender swapping and being science fiction. I guess she likes to think about how to make old stories fresh again, like so many authors who've written reinterpreted fairy tales.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come shortly.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't wait for this one. I loved the last Fablecroft anthology and this one has heaps of my favourite writers in it! :-)

[Elanor Matton-Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of my favourite stories:
Firefly Epilogue by Jodi Cleghorn
Cold White Daughter by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Ella and the Flame by Kathleen Jennings

[Stephanie]

Individual stories are being read for the Aurealis Awards. A review will be added once the awards have been announced.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish there were half-stars! This one is a real 4 1/2 star read. Lots of great stories!