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Winter Well
Disaster upon catastrophe forces an unlucky engineer to become someone more adventuresome.
A tech-savvy private investigator stalks organ traffickers across a toxic cityscape.
International hostilities on an alien planet turn a human architect into a dogged emissary for peace.
Enslaved by a monstrous lord, a sage seeks answers in the stars and finds more… desirable problems.
Older women take center stage in these four novellas. They may be wives, mothers, wise women or healers, but those archetypes are not their defining characteristics. Their motivations are their own, and they’re not interested in living in the background of someone else’s epic yarn.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
M. Fenn – “To The Edges”
Minerva Zimmerman – “Copper”
Anna Caro – “This Other World”
Marissa James – “The Second Wife”
A tech-savvy private investigator stalks organ traffickers across a toxic cityscape.
International hostilities on an alien planet turn a human architect into a dogged emissary for peace.
Enslaved by a monstrous lord, a sage seeks answers in the stars and finds more… desirable problems.
Older women take center stage in these four novellas. They may be wives, mothers, wise women or healers, but those archetypes are not their defining characteristics. Their motivations are their own, and they’re not interested in living in the background of someone else’s epic yarn.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
M. Fenn – “To The Edges”
Minerva Zimmerman – “Copper”
Anna Caro – “This Other World”
Marissa James – “The Second Wife”
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 17, 2013
2 people are currently reading
264 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 7, 2018
Some formatting errors but the stories are all good and interesting.
July 26, 2013
This book was given to me, for free, through Goodreads First Reads.
When I first read the book description I was expecting ordinary, everyday short stories, and I was really pleased when I found out that they were immersed with science fiction, futuristic and fantastic aspects!
I have different opinions regarding the 4 stories.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
The one I liked the least was definitely the fist one: To the Edges. I couldn't connect to the main character at all, and she would just annoy me most of the time. The thing that upset me the most was her plain, emotionless reaction to her husband's death... I mean, I would be twice as angry as her just for spilling coffee on the floor or something... It was really unrealistic. Also, I think that the event that led to the death of her husband was a bit forced/predictable. I mean, they encountered the bandits the night before and the old man is the only one that even bothers about the patrolling? And takes only the newcomer to show him the views? That was screaming trouble all along. The thing I liked about this story was the futuristic scenario, and the description of the technology used, as well as the use of neologisms (it got me thinking about George Orwell's 1984). After finishing the story I was not curious or compelled to read more about it.
The next story, "Copper", was far more interesting. I really liked the ambiance of the story and the technological advance. I found it really interesting to imagine all those gadgets and way of living of the people. Again, the neologisms were something I appreciated. Also, I am a big fan of the bizarre, so the stolen uterus theme was really interesting for me. The game between the two hacking masterminds was really amazing! And I loved the way their story, interaction and the discovery of one another developed. The end was a bit of a cliched happy ending, but I really liked this cliched happy ending!
"This Other World" reminded me of Icaac Asimov. I loved imagining the city's dreamlike buildings, built underground with the agate stones glowing in the sun. I really identified myself with Vonika, and every time she would refer to her social awkwardness and her effort (or inability) to act the way other people act naturally I would just smile at those lines and think "oh, I know what you mean...". The other thing I loved was the concept of a shared mind. Similarly to "To the Edges" this story was open ended, but this time I was really curious about what would happen next!
The last story, but definitely not the least, was "The Second Wife". This was my favorite story of them all. Magic, enough said. I absolutely loved Akam's interaction with Ikich Kan, it was really intense and beautiful. Ikich's vivid and fiery description - not physical, but what is was made of, is inner self, and ultimately his blood - was just amazing. The blood rituals and the way they connected their souls, their beings were wondrous. Once again another cliched happy ending that I really liked! I wish I could read more about those two, about what was to come. The setting of this story has a lot of promise!
I do find it hard to love short stories, since, because of their length, it's impossible to be deeply enfolded with the story. But this kind of Sci-fi, fantastic and even bizarre stories help a lot with that! That said, overall I really liked this book, and I was glad it finished with my favorite story, it leaves a much better impression on me!
I do not know if I am supposed to evaluate the book edition, but I did find a fair amount of errors, a few swapped letters, and most of all, lots of spaces missing.
When I first read the book description I was expecting ordinary, everyday short stories, and I was really pleased when I found out that they were immersed with science fiction, futuristic and fantastic aspects!
I have different opinions regarding the 4 stories.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
The one I liked the least was definitely the fist one: To the Edges. I couldn't connect to the main character at all, and she would just annoy me most of the time. The thing that upset me the most was her plain, emotionless reaction to her husband's death... I mean, I would be twice as angry as her just for spilling coffee on the floor or something... It was really unrealistic. Also, I think that the event that led to the death of her husband was a bit forced/predictable. I mean, they encountered the bandits the night before and the old man is the only one that even bothers about the patrolling? And takes only the newcomer to show him the views? That was screaming trouble all along. The thing I liked about this story was the futuristic scenario, and the description of the technology used, as well as the use of neologisms (it got me thinking about George Orwell's 1984). After finishing the story I was not curious or compelled to read more about it.
The next story, "Copper", was far more interesting. I really liked the ambiance of the story and the technological advance. I found it really interesting to imagine all those gadgets and way of living of the people. Again, the neologisms were something I appreciated. Also, I am a big fan of the bizarre, so the stolen uterus theme was really interesting for me. The game between the two hacking masterminds was really amazing! And I loved the way their story, interaction and the discovery of one another developed. The end was a bit of a cliched happy ending, but I really liked this cliched happy ending!
"This Other World" reminded me of Icaac Asimov. I loved imagining the city's dreamlike buildings, built underground with the agate stones glowing in the sun. I really identified myself with Vonika, and every time she would refer to her social awkwardness and her effort (or inability) to act the way other people act naturally I would just smile at those lines and think "oh, I know what you mean...". The other thing I loved was the concept of a shared mind. Similarly to "To the Edges" this story was open ended, but this time I was really curious about what would happen next!
The last story, but definitely not the least, was "The Second Wife". This was my favorite story of them all. Magic, enough said. I absolutely loved Akam's interaction with Ikich Kan, it was really intense and beautiful. Ikich's vivid and fiery description - not physical, but what is was made of, is inner self, and ultimately his blood - was just amazing. The blood rituals and the way they connected their souls, their beings were wondrous. Once again another cliched happy ending that I really liked! I wish I could read more about those two, about what was to come. The setting of this story has a lot of promise!
I do find it hard to love short stories, since, because of their length, it's impossible to be deeply enfolded with the story. But this kind of Sci-fi, fantastic and even bizarre stories help a lot with that! That said, overall I really liked this book, and I was glad it finished with my favorite story, it leaves a much better impression on me!
I do not know if I am supposed to evaluate the book edition, but I did find a fair amount of errors, a few swapped letters, and most of all, lots of spaces missing.
October 19, 2014
I was really excited by this book as I've enjoyed other anthologies by Crossed Genres but I ended up really struggling with this one. These four novellas featured older women, but I didn't find the fact that they were older particularly relevant to the stories, except maybe the last one (Marissa James's "The Second Wife"). In most cases, the protagonist's age was irrelevant to the story. In three of the four stories, I found myself bobbing in and out of the story because there wasn't enough contextual information for me to always follow the world building - I don't need to be spoon fed the world building and I don't need lengthy info dumps, but I found myself really struggling to understand what was going on most of the time, especially in Minerva Zimmerman's "Copper" which I really, really wanted to love because the premise was so intriguing (people can store body parts (women's uteruses in particular) like storing documents in a safe deposit box) but eventually gave up on because I couldn't follow what was happening. Anna Caro's "This Other World" was the closest to being specifically about an older woman but the interweaving of war and political intrigue into a story of a woman dealing with aging and the decision to undertake a ceremony that would blend her consciousness with others diluted the aging/older woman aspect of the story too much for me; I would have loved the story if it had just focused on the aging aspect. Marissa James's "The Second Wife" was enjoyable, but it stopped just when it was getting good/into the most relevant (to the anthology's theme) part - the older sorceress marrying the much younger prince. I would have liked to see that theme further developed and explored.
Overall, the stories were well-written, interesting, and imaginative speculative fiction tales (by women) and I would rate it highly as that. But as a themed anthology, I don't think it quite hit the mark.
Overall, the stories were well-written, interesting, and imaginative speculative fiction tales (by women) and I would rate it highly as that. But as a themed anthology, I don't think it quite hit the mark.
October 1, 2014
If you don't have this book on your shelves then go out and find a copy. This collection of novellas is addictive, the writing is fantastic, and I was disappointed each time the story ended, as I wanted to know what happened next.
The stories were varied in their form, their location, and their characters. They were so good that I want to go and find other work by all the authors included and read more of their stuff.
Really I can't recommend this more.
The stories were varied in their form, their location, and their characters. They were so good that I want to go and find other work by all the authors included and read more of their stuff.
Really I can't recommend this more.
September 12, 2014
The anthology is really strong as a whole. There're a couple of typos and formatting issues here and there though.
February 26, 2015
My favorite was the third story. Best story with an autistic protagonist I've ever read, to be honest.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews