Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology

Clarion

by Ellen Datlow (Editor & Foreword), Kathleen Ann Goonan, Greg Bear (Contributor)

Telling Tales showcases 16 stories by award-winning and highly acclaimed alumni of the Clarion West Writers Program in Seattle, Washington. Edited by Ellen Datlow, this anthology contains a mixture of science fiction, fantasy, and horror from writers who have impacted the field of speculative fiction. Each story is accompanied by an afterword by an instructor from that writer's year at Clarion West.
Contents:
Endings and beginnings / Vonda N. McIntyre --
Foreword / Ellen Datlow --
Acknowledgments --
The parrot man / Kathleen Ann Goonan ; Greg Bear on Kathleen Ann Goonan --
Absalom's mother / Louise Marley ; Pat Murphy on Louise Marley --
Mulberry boys / Margo Lanagan ; Howard Waldrop on Margo Lanagan --
The fate of mice / Susan Palwick ; Samuel R. Delany on Susan Palwick --
My she / Mary Rosenblum ; Gardner Dozois on Mary Rosenblum --
Bitter dreams / Ian McHugh ; Maureen F. McHugh on Ian McHugh --
Leviathan wept / Daniel Abraham ; Lucy Sussex on Daniel Abraham --
Start the clock / Benjamin Rosenbaum ; Connie Willis on Ben Rosenbaum --
I hold my father's paws / David D. Levine ; Geoff Ryman on David D. Levine --
Beluthahatchie / Andy Duncan ; Elizabeth Hand on Andy Duncan --
Another word for map is faith / Christopher Rowe ; Terry Bisson on Christopher Rowe --
The adventures of Captain Black Heart Wentworth / Rachel Swirsky ; Andy Duncan on Rachel Swirsky --
A boy in Cathyland / David Marusek ; Pat Cadigan on David Marusek --
The Water Museum / Nisi Shawl ; Nancy Kress on Nisi Shawl --
The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the change / Kij Johnson ; Ursula K. LeGuin on Kij Johnson --
The lineaments of gratified desire / Ysabeau S. Wilce ; Paul Park on Ysabeau Wilce --
Giving back / Leslie Howle.

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

394 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for forty years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited about one hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year series, The Doll Collection, Mad Hatters and March Hares, The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, Edited By, and Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles.
She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.

Reviews

[Tod McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biased because I am the publisher, but Telling Tales is hands down one of the best anthologies of short speculative fiction I have read. Ellen Datlow put together a marvelous selection of stories by Clarion West alumni, and the depth and breadth of these stories shows what the Clarion West Writers Program has contributed to the genre. A fascinating anthology and a must read.

[Misha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic anthology showcasing some of the amazing, talented writers who attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop. In addition to the stories themselves which range from writers such as Nisi Shawl, Kij Johnson, Andy Duncan, and Daniel Abraham--the notes from the instructors about the relationships they build with students in the workshop, and how these amazing writers got their start, is inspiring and eye-opening. The more I get to know about Clarion West, the more impressed I become with the alchemy it creates for writers and readers. I am jealous and in awe of the students who have gone through the intense, bonding experience of its 6-week workshop.

[Patricia J. O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthologies are not like reading novels. I don't lose myself in one long story, but I can be startled, shocked, awed by a short story and have those twenty or thirty pages stick with me a long time. It's a different art form and another kind of delight, especially if the anthology is edited by Ellen Datlow. I have never been disappointed by her eye for wonderful, bizarre, intriguing storytelling.
All of which brings me to Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology edited by Datlow. I can't write here about each of the sixteen stories in this collection but they are all stellar. Each was written by a student in the six-week workshops of Clarion West, a competitive and intense program taught for each week by a master storyteller. There have been superstar teachers, such as Neil Gaiman, but also a long list of authors whose work can be found in multiple award lists. Datlow has taught there as well. For this anthology she chose some real gems in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Many of these former graduates of the program have become award-winning authors themselves.
In Kathleen Ann Goonan's "The Parrot Man," a scientist meets the result of her bio-engineered, mostly- human being. Margo Lanagan's "Mulberry Boys" takes a very different look at children who've been altered to meet someone's agenda. In David D. Levine's "I Hold My Father's Paws" a man makes a choice to become something other. Each of these stories draws characters and sets the scene superbly in very few pages and raises ethical questions about our world and perceptions.
Water has been fought over since the beginning of time. Nisi Shawl looks into the future in "The Water Museum,"while Benjamin Rosenbaum creates an unsettling world where growing up is to be avoided in "Start the Clock."
Sales of this anthology help fund Clarion West. It's published by Hydra House in Seattle.

[Wendy S. Delmater · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many good writers here. So many stand-out stories. So many styles and voices. While there is something for everyone in this wonderful collection, that variety almost guarantees you will love some of the short stories more than others. But that’s fine: everything is well written and the amazing stable of writers and commentators assembled here by Ellen Datlow is truly breathtaking.

Personal favorites were Nish Shawl’s “Water Museum,” Kij Johnson’s “The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change,” and David Levine’s “I Hold My Father’s Paws.”

This short story collection is a delight. It’s all reprints, but the interstitial material by the Clarion teachers is all new material and worth the purchase of the book all on its own. Clarion West teachers, it seems, just cannot stop teaching how to tell tales.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought I should do a capsule review for "Telling Tales", the Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology. I actually finished it a few weeks ago but the stories linger in the mind; diverse in genre, style, and theme, not one of them is quite like anything I’ve read before. Am curious to know how many submissions editor Ellen Datlow sifted through to assemble this anthology, because it feels like the best of the best.

My personal favorites:

--“Mulberry Boys” by Margo Lanagan. A story of emotional extremes, both a very disturbing look at human depravity, yet also ultimately an assertion of basic human decency.

--“The Fate of Mice” by Susan Palwick. Inventive, playful, and extremely funny. A must read for any fan of “Flowers for Algernon.”

--“My She” by Mary Rosenblum. So beautiful and lovely and haunting on every level. A superficially simple story of liberation elevated by the absolutely pitch-perfect ending.

--“Leviathan Wept” by Daniel Abraham. A story about the GWOT that remains very powerful, even a decade after publication. Vividly reframes the war from a larger humanist perspective.

--“Start the Clock” by Benjamin Rosenbaum. Takes a brilliant premise and then runs with it right off the cliff. That’s a good thing! Think Peter Pan meets Hunter S. Thompson.

--“The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change” by Kij Johnson. This story made me think. And feel. Hard. I can’t pay a higher compliment than that.

--Afterword by Ursula K. LeGuin. Only a few paragraphs long but somehow produces this gem of wisdom: “Sometimes I think the best stories are the ones that have no answers, but ask a question in a way that lets us begin to see a glimpse of what the question really is…” That, IMO, is what this amazing anthology is all about.

[Deborah Replogle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarion West Writers Workshop, is one of the most important writing workshops for those who want to write Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is taught by established Sci Fi and Fantasy writers, and I hear it is a grueling, yet incredibly life changing process. While I admire those writers who teach and learn, what I get from it is more wonderful authors to read. Selfishness, I know. So while I've read some of these stories that were published in other magazines, I found some new authors to follow also. Win/Win for me.

[Lord Humungus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A motley collection of interesting stories. Even if not all the stories were appealing, they were distinct and fully formed in their own style. It was really interesting to read the Clarion instructors' comments and views of the story authors and their work.

I would give this book 3 stars but I'm giving it an extra bump since certain sparks of excellence, along with strong praise from the aforementioned Clarion instructors, inspired me to add many of the featured authors to my to-read list.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this really illustrates that I have no attention span for short story collections, even when they're terrific.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb collection of top-notch sci-fi stories with their prose honed to an exquisite point. A really great read.