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From Elizabethan England to the Far Future, discover who really was Shakespeare and why Marlowe was called The Muses Darling. Discover the horrifying secret that Leonardo DaVinci found beneath a cave in his home village. In the far future, find a new way to keep Traveling, Traveling. Use cold sleep to find your love again, and join the (high tech) Magical Legion. Seventeen short stories from Prometheus Award Winning Author, Sarah A. Hoyt. This edition features an Introduction by Dave Freer and a Bonus Short Story "With Unconfined Wings."Collection TravelingThe Muses' DarlingStock ManagementWhile Horse And Hero FellSomething Worse HereafterTouchFor Whose Dear SakeWingsThe Play And The thingSugarbush SoulNever Look BackWhat She Left BehindBut World Enough(Also published as Sacrifice)Super Lamb BananaGanymedeWaiting for Juliette Bonus With Unconfined WingsThis edition contains an introduction by Dave Freer and a bonus short With Unconfined Wings.
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2013
7 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Sarah A. Hoyt
202 books175 followersSarah A. Hoyt was born (and raised) in Portugal and now lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, and a variable number of cats, depending on how many show up to beg on the door step.
In between lays the sort of resume that used to be de-rigueur for writers. She has never actually wrestled alligators, but she did at one point very briefly tie bows on bags of potpourri for a living. She has also washed dishes and ironed clothes for a living. Worst of all she was, for a long time, a multilingual scientific translator.
At some point, though, she got tired of making an honest living and started writing. She has over 30 published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner, and the third novel in the series, A Few Good Men, was a finalist for the honor. She also won the Dragon Award for Uncharted (with Kevin J. Anderson.)
a.k.a. Sarah D'Almeida
a.k.a. Elise Hyatt
a.k.a. Sarah Marqués
In between lays the sort of resume that used to be de-rigueur for writers. She has never actually wrestled alligators, but she did at one point very briefly tie bows on bags of potpourri for a living. She has also washed dishes and ironed clothes for a living. Worst of all she was, for a long time, a multilingual scientific translator.
At some point, though, she got tired of making an honest living and started writing. She has over 30 published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner, and the third novel in the series, A Few Good Men, was a finalist for the honor. She also won the Dragon Award for Uncharted (with Kevin J. Anderson.)
a.k.a. Sarah D'Almeida
a.k.a. Elise Hyatt
a.k.a. Sarah Marqués
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 23, 2014
I tend to prefer longer narratives, novellas, novels and epics to short stories. I delight in watching characters develop and change in response to certain situations, discover romance, find redemption for a post wrong, accomplish a quest or come into their own as human being.
As a result, I tend to shun short stories. And had the author of this collection not been my friend Sarah Hoyt and had Glenn Reynolds not touted it on his blog, I likely wouldn't have read it. That said, I am glad I did.
To be sure, I wouldn't give five stars to all the stories in this collection. I felt a few overlong and one a bit short, but those I loved I truly deeply loved,, particularly the one that I thought was too short. But, that story, "What She Left Behind," is worth more than the five stars I gave this whole book. With the right director, it would make an amazing movie one as powerful (and meaningful) as "Pan's Labyrinth" (and set on the same peninsula).
The story is most touching about how a boy growing up in difficult circumstances adapts to the knowledge of his supernatural origins and reacts when he must make a choice between the world where he felt an outsider and the world where he, because of his birth, supposedly belongs. And in making the choice that he does, he reminds us what it means to be human. It is most beautiful -- and would make a touching film where only those with hearts of stone would leave without tears in their eyes.
Other stories explore the choices creative people must make, with some playing with the muse's divine (daemonic?) origin. And then there are the nuns in space.
Yes, to be sure, it can be a bit jarring to be reading your kindle and to finish one story and then to start another and finding yourself in another world altogether (when you would rather learn a bit more about the world of the story just completed), but there are enough stories in this collection which make you think and one at least which really makes you feel.
A good read and a quick one with one story which stays with you long after you have finished it. Well, at least it is staying with me.
As a result, I tend to shun short stories. And had the author of this collection not been my friend Sarah Hoyt and had Glenn Reynolds not touted it on his blog, I likely wouldn't have read it. That said, I am glad I did.
To be sure, I wouldn't give five stars to all the stories in this collection. I felt a few overlong and one a bit short, but those I loved I truly deeply loved,, particularly the one that I thought was too short. But, that story, "What She Left Behind," is worth more than the five stars I gave this whole book. With the right director, it would make an amazing movie one as powerful (and meaningful) as "Pan's Labyrinth" (and set on the same peninsula).
The story is most touching about how a boy growing up in difficult circumstances adapts to the knowledge of his supernatural origins and reacts when he must make a choice between the world where he felt an outsider and the world where he, because of his birth, supposedly belongs. And in making the choice that he does, he reminds us what it means to be human. It is most beautiful -- and would make a touching film where only those with hearts of stone would leave without tears in their eyes.
Other stories explore the choices creative people must make, with some playing with the muse's divine (daemonic?) origin. And then there are the nuns in space.
Yes, to be sure, it can be a bit jarring to be reading your kindle and to finish one story and then to start another and finding yourself in another world altogether (when you would rather learn a bit more about the world of the story just completed), but there are enough stories in this collection which make you think and one at least which really makes you feel.
A good read and a quick one with one story which stays with you long after you have finished it. Well, at least it is staying with me.
January 14, 2026
A fine collection of stories, including several that have appeared in various anthologies over the years. A maimed sculptor who despairs of life, until he meets a lad maimed for having seen too much, and together they create art, each filling the other's broken places. A cyberpunk story half The Matrix and half When The Machine Stops, and the people left in the ruins. A story of biosuspension and missed communications that makes me think of Heinlein's The Door into Summer, even as it's also a homage to Shakespeare. And many more...
September 9, 2025
Sometimes when finishing a collection of short stories like this I feel a bit confused, because differences from one story to the next seem so great that I come away with a jumble of impressions. The only remedy is to spend a little time trying to organize what I remember.
These are all fantasies, of course, but they range across the centuries, sometimes involving historical figures but more often focusing on accidental heroes. I think my two favorites are "Super Lamb Banana," which takes John Lennon through various alternative lives, and "Something Worse Hereafter," which is set in Hell. That one has a catchy opening line: "Dying is easy. It's staying alive afterwards that's hard." (By the way, another worthwhile fictional work with that setting is Serve in Hell .)
"But World Enough" (aka "Sacrifice") is a very good story about Hannibal, the guy who tried to invade Rome with elephants. I recommend that one highly also.
Two stories involve Shakespeare and his contemporary, Christopher Marlowe (in unexpected relationships), and another one is set a thousand years after Shakespeare's death, when Stratford-on-Avon is a neglected tourist attraction from which its lonely caretaker needs to escape. Yet another story reimagines a Romeo and Juliette of the far-distant future.
In "Stock Management," without our knowledge the world is ruled by warring (Mafia-like) families of supernatural beings. Some of them are well-known as celebrities although, again, nobody suspects what they really are. (For me, this scenario brought to mind Hoyt's memorable novel A Few Good Men . I occasionally read her blog and other online posts, but when I think of her I generally think of AFGM. At least I did until now.)
"Sugarbush Soul" is a thoughtful imagining of a dangerous and impoverished offworld colony where would-be revolutionaries harvest a plant from which an illegal drug is made for distribution back on Earth.
Two stories involve winged horses. Two involve outposts of the Catholic Church on other planets. And there are more.
Having paused to consider all this, my impression is now less jumbled, and I can say more confidently that I admire the breadth of Sarah Hoyt imagination and inventiveness.
These are all fantasies, of course, but they range across the centuries, sometimes involving historical figures but more often focusing on accidental heroes. I think my two favorites are "Super Lamb Banana," which takes John Lennon through various alternative lives, and "Something Worse Hereafter," which is set in Hell. That one has a catchy opening line: "Dying is easy. It's staying alive afterwards that's hard." (By the way, another worthwhile fictional work with that setting is Serve in Hell .)
"But World Enough" (aka "Sacrifice") is a very good story about Hannibal, the guy who tried to invade Rome with elephants. I recommend that one highly also.
Two stories involve Shakespeare and his contemporary, Christopher Marlowe (in unexpected relationships), and another one is set a thousand years after Shakespeare's death, when Stratford-on-Avon is a neglected tourist attraction from which its lonely caretaker needs to escape. Yet another story reimagines a Romeo and Juliette of the far-distant future.
In "Stock Management," without our knowledge the world is ruled by warring (Mafia-like) families of supernatural beings. Some of them are well-known as celebrities although, again, nobody suspects what they really are. (For me, this scenario brought to mind Hoyt's memorable novel A Few Good Men . I occasionally read her blog and other online posts, but when I think of her I generally think of AFGM. At least I did until now.)
"Sugarbush Soul" is a thoughtful imagining of a dangerous and impoverished offworld colony where would-be revolutionaries harvest a plant from which an illegal drug is made for distribution back on Earth.
Two stories involve winged horses. Two involve outposts of the Catholic Church on other planets. And there are more.
Having paused to consider all this, my impression is now less jumbled, and I can say more confidently that I admire the breadth of Sarah Hoyt imagination and inventiveness.
July 21, 2021
Solid Collection
Sarah is at her best in a few key eras and ideas:
Elizabethan especially Shakespeare. The Musketeers. Ancient myth whether in its original context or modernized into urban fantasy. Noir. Sci-fi of a particular brand (future that never was or what it means to be human). I'm not a romance reader so not the best judge of character on that. All of these stories are readable, some are great, most are excellent. Recommended.
Sarah is at her best in a few key eras and ideas:
Elizabethan especially Shakespeare. The Musketeers. Ancient myth whether in its original context or modernized into urban fantasy. Noir. Sci-fi of a particular brand (future that never was or what it means to be human). I'm not a romance reader so not the best judge of character on that. All of these stories are readable, some are great, most are excellent. Recommended.
July 20, 2014
There are individual stories I enjoyed, just to a lesser degree than the ones I didn't...
Read
January 2, 2016Enjoyed it very much. For me it was good escapist literature, which is exactly what I wanted.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews