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Sword and Laser Anthology
Twenty never-before-published short stories span the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, inviting readers of both genres to lose themselves in tales sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying, and always engrossing.
Sword & Laser hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt hand-picked their favorite stories, plucked directly from the brains of the S&L audience. From living space ships to hapless thieves getting more than they bargained for, this collection has something for every genre reader.
Sword & Laser hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt hand-picked their favorite stories, plucked directly from the brains of the S&L audience. From living space ships to hapless thieves getting more than they bargained for, this collection has something for every genre reader.
363 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
42 people are currently reading
1711 people want to read
About the author
Veronica Belmont
4 books4,833 followersVeronica is a geeky product person based out of San Francisco. Currently, she is working on the Hugo-nominated Sword & Laser podcast, and co-edited the Sword & Laser Anthology. Previously, you may have seen her on Tekzilla, Fact or Fictional, or Game On!
On BBC America, Veronica was the host of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Pre (and Post) Show, and the co-host of Gizmodo: The Gadget Testers! She was also the original host of Qore on the Playstation Network.
Her first published short story appeared in HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects.
On BBC America, Veronica was the host of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Pre (and Post) Show, and the co-host of Gizmodo: The Gadget Testers! She was also the original host of Qore on the Playstation Network.
Her first published short story appeared in HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 29, 2014
I liked this anthology enough to actually write an introduction for it. Needless to say, that rarely happens.
I was going to drop a review here, then I realized that would be kinda silly, when the introduction I wrote says everything I want to say, much more clearly and cleanly than any quick review I could bang out.
So here it is...
* * *
This is a good anthology. Can we start there? Let's start there.
That's really the most important thing you can get out of this introduction. tl;dr - This is a good anthology full of stories that are worth your time and money.
If you want, you can hop directly into reading it. Go on. I won't be offended.
For the rest of you, let me be completely honest and say that when I sat down to read this anthology, I was really nervous.
I really admired Veronica and Tom for putting this anthology together. It's not just a cool idea, it's a vital thing. Anthologies that focus on new writers are really important.
Everyone knows it's hard for new writers to get noticed. Anthologies like this help new authors get their foot in the door, so to speak.
I know this for a fact, because an anthology like this helped get me my start as a writer. When I was published in Writers of the Future back in 2002, it opened up doors for me.
So I admired the hell out of Tom and Veronica for giving new-writers a chance to get a leg up. But at the same time, I when I heard Sword and Laser was putting out an anthology, I was worried for them. What's more, I was worried about the anthology itself.
Why? Because I've read submissions for writing contests. I've read stories at writer's workshops. I've taught writing classes. I've read submissions for a few anthologies myself.
In short, I know how many really awful stories are out there.
That sounds harsh. But it's the simple truth. Bad stories outnumber good ones about 50 to 1. And good stories outnumber great ones about 10 to 1. That's the harsh mathmatics of the situation.
I know this better than anyone. Not just because I've read slush. But because I've *written* awful stories. More awful stories than good ones. Many more.
And because I've acted as editor-in-chief before, if only in a small way, I know that sometimes, after reading 40 bad stories, you throw up your hands and just say, "Fine. Fuck! We need to put *something* in this anthology. That story about the mutant in the woods is good enough."
But who wants to read a story that's just "good enough? Not me. I want stories that are great. I want cleverness. I want wit and language and magic. I want to be surprised. I want to be dazzled.
I want brilliant stories. And I'm guessing you do too.
I was not expecting to get that here. But I did. Some of these stories show brilliance. And not just flashes of brilliance, either. Not just a thin gilding of brilliance over the surface of a clunky tin meh. I'm talking about solid brilliance.
Simply said, I was impressed and pleasantly surprised.
Now am I saying that you'll love every story in here? No. That's a ridiculous expectation. Because everyone enjoys different flavors of story.
And honestly, that's one of the strengths of this anthology. There's enough variety here that no matter what you enjoy, you're probably going to find something to your taste.
Okay. That's enough from me. I'm just the opening band. Quit reading my ramble and check out the real stories.
I was going to drop a review here, then I realized that would be kinda silly, when the introduction I wrote says everything I want to say, much more clearly and cleanly than any quick review I could bang out.
So here it is...
* * *
This is a good anthology. Can we start there? Let's start there.
That's really the most important thing you can get out of this introduction. tl;dr - This is a good anthology full of stories that are worth your time and money.
If you want, you can hop directly into reading it. Go on. I won't be offended.
For the rest of you, let me be completely honest and say that when I sat down to read this anthology, I was really nervous.
I really admired Veronica and Tom for putting this anthology together. It's not just a cool idea, it's a vital thing. Anthologies that focus on new writers are really important.
Everyone knows it's hard for new writers to get noticed. Anthologies like this help new authors get their foot in the door, so to speak.
I know this for a fact, because an anthology like this helped get me my start as a writer. When I was published in Writers of the Future back in 2002, it opened up doors for me.
So I admired the hell out of Tom and Veronica for giving new-writers a chance to get a leg up. But at the same time, I when I heard Sword and Laser was putting out an anthology, I was worried for them. What's more, I was worried about the anthology itself.
Why? Because I've read submissions for writing contests. I've read stories at writer's workshops. I've taught writing classes. I've read submissions for a few anthologies myself.
In short, I know how many really awful stories are out there.
That sounds harsh. But it's the simple truth. Bad stories outnumber good ones about 50 to 1. And good stories outnumber great ones about 10 to 1. That's the harsh mathmatics of the situation.
I know this better than anyone. Not just because I've read slush. But because I've *written* awful stories. More awful stories than good ones. Many more.
And because I've acted as editor-in-chief before, if only in a small way, I know that sometimes, after reading 40 bad stories, you throw up your hands and just say, "Fine. Fuck! We need to put *something* in this anthology. That story about the mutant in the woods is good enough."
But who wants to read a story that's just "good enough? Not me. I want stories that are great. I want cleverness. I want wit and language and magic. I want to be surprised. I want to be dazzled.
I want brilliant stories. And I'm guessing you do too.
I was not expecting to get that here. But I did. Some of these stories show brilliance. And not just flashes of brilliance, either. Not just a thin gilding of brilliance over the surface of a clunky tin meh. I'm talking about solid brilliance.
Simply said, I was impressed and pleasantly surprised.
Now am I saying that you'll love every story in here? No. That's a ridiculous expectation. Because everyone enjoys different flavors of story.
And honestly, that's one of the strengths of this anthology. There's enough variety here that no matter what you enjoy, you're probably going to find something to your taste.
Okay. That's enough from me. I'm just the opening band. Quit reading my ramble and check out the real stories.
April 22, 2014
As a member of the Sword and Laser Book Club on Goodreads I was excited to get this anthology of home grown new authors(or as home grown as the internet gets). Moderators Veronica Belmont and Tom Merrit really did a great job of narrowing down the submissions from the book club to get a collection of ten "sword" stories and ten "laser" stories from twenty new, previously unheard of writers.
So this is really a mixed bag of talent, and I do mean "talent" in every sense of the word. Like most anthologies there are going to be some stories you connect with more than others. For myself personally I'd rate most the stories around 3 stars and few 4 and 5 stars. Instead of giving a two line comment on all twenty shorts I decided to pick two that I consider to be 5 star reads - one from the fantasy half of the anthology and one from the scifi half. I rate these highly using my personal enjoyment as the primary criteria. Others may enjoy different stories.
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed
Mezito Indian Bruja. Three words summarize a lot of what interests me about Arturo, our Protagonist. Three words that add a flavour that is at once exotic and gritty. It's not everyday that you get a story about a part Native American Indian, modern day warlock who is really into his "medicine." And he takes his medicine with steak.
"Arturo liked children." Three words from the very first page. Three words loaded with menace and tension. There is something not quite safe about Arturo. Something disconcerting. It was a feeling that never left me through the whole book.
Author Day Al-Mohamed had me by the balls from start to finish. It really took me by surprise. I didn't expect that level of word craft to come out of an anthology of new authors.
My only disappointment with Al-Mohamed after this short was she doesn't have anything else out yet for me to enjoy. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her work and I would also hope she isn't finished with Arturo.
Jonah's Daughter by Adam Callaway
Interstellar travel via giant living space-faring creatures. Imagine travelling through space where you use squid ink to plot your course onto a navigation organ. Or open a viewing window by stroking the creatures optic nerves. How about maintenance that involves deploying "white warriors" on parasites trying to shut your animal down. And how do you handle waste or eject faulty organs? Yeah, you get the idea.
When Callaway writes you get the feeling that he's been doing short stories for a while - which I see from his web page he has been. This was a clever story integrating plot elements from the classic Biblical tale of Jonah. This isn't a retelling of that story per se but anyone familiar with Jonah's story will see multiple layers of parallel themes and plot elements. There's the obvious one where the protagonist, Wy Jakkall, finds himself inside a "whaler," a big living space ship. But there are many more layers if you want to dig for them.
What I really like however is the story structure. In the story there's a star system called "Figure of Eight" - two stars with a single planet weaving between both. I don't know if this was deliberate or not but I took it as metaphor for the story structure which swings between two points - past and present. The story of "Atrophy" the whaler ship- starts off in the present and then swings to the past until it catches back up with the present - and the story of Xilia (you'll have to read to know what I'm talking about) likewise swings from past to present and it all converges nicely just like the planet when it reaches the point exactly between the suns of the "Figure of Eight" system.
This just goes to show that sometimes being a good writer isn't enough to get published - because this is good writing and the world is being denied a good story teller. Publishers need to hurry up and get this guy's stories mainstreaming already. Well done Sword & Laser for giving him a shot.
Good luck to all the writers who contributed to the anthology as well as to those whose submissions weren't chosen this time.
I'm giving this...
3.5 stars
So this is really a mixed bag of talent, and I do mean "talent" in every sense of the word. Like most anthologies there are going to be some stories you connect with more than others. For myself personally I'd rate most the stories around 3 stars and few 4 and 5 stars. Instead of giving a two line comment on all twenty shorts I decided to pick two that I consider to be 5 star reads - one from the fantasy half of the anthology and one from the scifi half. I rate these highly using my personal enjoyment as the primary criteria. Others may enjoy different stories.
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed
Mezito Indian Bruja. Three words summarize a lot of what interests me about Arturo, our Protagonist. Three words that add a flavour that is at once exotic and gritty. It's not everyday that you get a story about a part Native American Indian, modern day warlock who is really into his "medicine." And he takes his medicine with steak.
"Arturo liked children." Three words from the very first page. Three words loaded with menace and tension. There is something not quite safe about Arturo. Something disconcerting. It was a feeling that never left me through the whole book.
Author Day Al-Mohamed had me by the balls from start to finish. It really took me by surprise. I didn't expect that level of word craft to come out of an anthology of new authors.
My only disappointment with Al-Mohamed after this short was she doesn't have anything else out yet for me to enjoy. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her work and I would also hope she isn't finished with Arturo.
Jonah's Daughter by Adam Callaway
Interstellar travel via giant living space-faring creatures. Imagine travelling through space where you use squid ink to plot your course onto a navigation organ. Or open a viewing window by stroking the creatures optic nerves. How about maintenance that involves deploying "white warriors" on parasites trying to shut your animal down. And how do you handle waste or eject faulty organs? Yeah, you get the idea.
When Callaway writes you get the feeling that he's been doing short stories for a while - which I see from his web page he has been. This was a clever story integrating plot elements from the classic Biblical tale of Jonah. This isn't a retelling of that story per se but anyone familiar with Jonah's story will see multiple layers of parallel themes and plot elements. There's the obvious one where the protagonist, Wy Jakkall, finds himself inside a "whaler," a big living space ship. But there are many more layers if you want to dig for them.
What I really like however is the story structure. In the story there's a star system called "Figure of Eight" - two stars with a single planet weaving between both. I don't know if this was deliberate or not but I took it as metaphor for the story structure which swings between two points - past and present. The story of "Atrophy" the whaler ship- starts off in the present and then swings to the past until it catches back up with the present - and the story of Xilia (you'll have to read to know what I'm talking about) likewise swings from past to present and it all converges nicely just like the planet when it reaches the point exactly between the suns of the "Figure of Eight" system.
This just goes to show that sometimes being a good writer isn't enough to get published - because this is good writing and the world is being denied a good story teller. Publishers need to hurry up and get this guy's stories mainstreaming already. Well done Sword & Laser for giving him a shot.
Good luck to all the writers who contributed to the anthology as well as to those whose submissions weren't chosen this time.
I'm giving this...
3.5 stars
June 4, 2014
A great collection of stories from submissions to the founders of the Sword & Laser book club. I think some of the authors have been published before, for some this was their first published work. All were interesting and while I did have some favorites, I thought they were all quite worthy of inclusion in the anthology. I don't envy Tom and Veronica and the other people who had to select which stories went in and which didn't make the cut. Judging by the quality of these stories, I'm guessing that the overall level quality of the of submissions for all the stories was high.
Brief notes as I read each short story...
Soft As A Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer: A cute story about some unintentional magic when a kid doesn't want to go to school on Valentine's Day.
A Night For Sprits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher: What would your last thoughts be when you die? How do you handle death when it's all around you? This story really moved me, as more or less depressing as it was. It was about an attack in a nameless war on relatively helpless mercenaries. Every person's last moments were captured, all unique. And one survivor, the "coward."
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland: A selkie gives up her skin to be with the man she loves. But is she able to defy the traditional "mythos" of the selkie and stay with her life outside of the water, or will she be like all the ones in the stories and steal her skin back to go to the water? And in those stories, if she has to steal her skin back, does that mean that the other selkies weren't truly loved?
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw: This story made me smile. I was reminded, during the scene with the golems, of Bilbo Baggins outsmarting the trolls in The Hobbit. Can you bluff your way out of a thieving gone awry?
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed: I love it when the good guy wins and there's a happy ending. But I honestly think I would have preferred slightly more info on the magic and less on the steaks. But I still had a smile on my face at the end.
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker: The end of this was kind of gross. I actually got a Lies of Locke Lamora-type vibe from this one, but in a good way. It's interesting to consider how far you'd go for someone you trust, and also how/why people may abuse that trust.
How Fox Fixed the Sky by Stephen Case: This story reminded me of a lot of the Native American and other...more tribal myths, those that use animals. I liked it, but I'd like to know more of the influences, like which myths inspired it. That fox was pretty crafty.
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali: This story was kind of depressing, actually. Brotherly love spoiled by people seeking power for themselves, taking advantage of someone's physical weakness/sickness to bring a family to ruin. Oddly, this was the first story so far that I've actually found typos in.
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger: Another Fried Green Tomatoes moment in this story, I have to wonder if Krueger is a chef or otherwise works in a professional kitchen (or did in a past life). I only wish that he had been able to spend more time with the magic in Lysander's dagger and less on, "The secret's in the sauce." I wonder how Lysander was able to fool his boss for the cooking...
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen: I like the idea of an adventuring guide and a guidebook of "do what I say, not what I do" with practical examples. Plus the two characters were a lot of fun.
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie: While this story took place in the stars, it definitely had a more mythical and fantastical feel than science fiction. Seems like an odd way to start the sci fi section, though that's not to say that I didn't like the story.
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd: I liked this story a lot, the idea of "dragons" in the past being time-travelers trying to protect themselves. Definitely a new-to-me idea.
Jonah's Daughter by Adam Callaway: This one used a lot of big words. I had to use the dictionary on my Kindle a lot more than usual. I'm not sure what to make of using a whale as a spaceship-type vehicle. An actual whale. Or what scale they were traveling on or even if it was space. But it was an interesting idea.
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas: A relatively short story, more a ghost story than science fiction (or so it felt). I liked the idea of meeting the person you might have been, depending on what fate had in mind for you.
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler: A sad/creepy story, for sure, and one that's easy enough to foresee possibly happening with robotics and automation these days. What happens to you when your job is taken over by robots? Worse, what happens when someone can look search your name online and find out everything about your actual life? Neither seem particularly far off.
Afterword by Mike Murphy: An author's life in his books flashes before his eyes. Definitely wild, given the books he wrote/had to live through.
Data Dump by Trisha L. Senbastian: Another easy-to-foresee near-future-ish book if you're terribly pessimistic. This time, it's about surgeons who can literally remove memories--a full dump or a partial dump--from a person. So much power...but who does it hurt?
Honeybun by Austin Malone: I'm reasonably certain that I saw a Futurama episode with this. I liked the comparison of "synthetic" people and thoughts to synthetic food--a honeybun.
False Light by Victoria Hooper: This was a bit of an odd story involving time travel and investigations of space pirates and mysterious deaths. I was kind of confused while reading this but I think that's more because I read it in the middle of the night while fighting insomnia.
Only Darkness by David Emery: A story that explores the boundaries between science and religion. It took a little while for me to "get" what was going on, but when I did, I enjoyed it.
Brief notes as I read each short story...
Soft As A Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer: A cute story about some unintentional magic when a kid doesn't want to go to school on Valentine's Day.
A Night For Sprits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher: What would your last thoughts be when you die? How do you handle death when it's all around you? This story really moved me, as more or less depressing as it was. It was about an attack in a nameless war on relatively helpless mercenaries. Every person's last moments were captured, all unique. And one survivor, the "coward."
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland: A selkie gives up her skin to be with the man she loves. But is she able to defy the traditional "mythos" of the selkie and stay with her life outside of the water, or will she be like all the ones in the stories and steal her skin back to go to the water? And in those stories, if she has to steal her skin back, does that mean that the other selkies weren't truly loved?
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw: This story made me smile. I was reminded, during the scene with the golems, of Bilbo Baggins outsmarting the trolls in The Hobbit. Can you bluff your way out of a thieving gone awry?
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed: I love it when the good guy wins and there's a happy ending. But I honestly think I would have preferred slightly more info on the magic and less on the steaks. But I still had a smile on my face at the end.
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker: The end of this was kind of gross. I actually got a Lies of Locke Lamora-type vibe from this one, but in a good way. It's interesting to consider how far you'd go for someone you trust, and also how/why people may abuse that trust.
How Fox Fixed the Sky by Stephen Case: This story reminded me of a lot of the Native American and other...more tribal myths, those that use animals. I liked it, but I'd like to know more of the influences, like which myths inspired it. That fox was pretty crafty.
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali: This story was kind of depressing, actually. Brotherly love spoiled by people seeking power for themselves, taking advantage of someone's physical weakness/sickness to bring a family to ruin. Oddly, this was the first story so far that I've actually found typos in.
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger: Another Fried Green Tomatoes moment in this story, I have to wonder if Krueger is a chef or otherwise works in a professional kitchen (or did in a past life). I only wish that he had been able to spend more time with the magic in Lysander's dagger and less on, "The secret's in the sauce." I wonder how Lysander was able to fool his boss for the cooking...
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen: I like the idea of an adventuring guide and a guidebook of "do what I say, not what I do" with practical examples. Plus the two characters were a lot of fun.
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie: While this story took place in the stars, it definitely had a more mythical and fantastical feel than science fiction. Seems like an odd way to start the sci fi section, though that's not to say that I didn't like the story.
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd: I liked this story a lot, the idea of "dragons" in the past being time-travelers trying to protect themselves. Definitely a new-to-me idea.
Jonah's Daughter by Adam Callaway: This one used a lot of big words. I had to use the dictionary on my Kindle a lot more than usual. I'm not sure what to make of using a whale as a spaceship-type vehicle. An actual whale. Or what scale they were traveling on or even if it was space. But it was an interesting idea.
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas: A relatively short story, more a ghost story than science fiction (or so it felt). I liked the idea of meeting the person you might have been, depending on what fate had in mind for you.
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler: A sad/creepy story, for sure, and one that's easy enough to foresee possibly happening with robotics and automation these days. What happens to you when your job is taken over by robots? Worse, what happens when someone can look search your name online and find out everything about your actual life? Neither seem particularly far off.
Afterword by Mike Murphy: An author's life in his books flashes before his eyes. Definitely wild, given the books he wrote/had to live through.
Data Dump by Trisha L. Senbastian: Another easy-to-foresee near-future-ish book if you're terribly pessimistic. This time, it's about surgeons who can literally remove memories--a full dump or a partial dump--from a person. So much power...but who does it hurt?
Honeybun by Austin Malone: I'm reasonably certain that I saw a Futurama episode with this. I liked the comparison of "synthetic" people and thoughts to synthetic food--a honeybun.
False Light by Victoria Hooper: This was a bit of an odd story involving time travel and investigations of space pirates and mysterious deaths. I was kind of confused while reading this but I think that's more because I read it in the middle of the night while fighting insomnia.
Only Darkness by David Emery: A story that explores the boundaries between science and religion. It took a little while for me to "get" what was going on, but when I did, I enjoyed it.
February 3, 2015
Full Review
Overall I thought this anthology was OK as an anthology, but great for what it was: A way to support Sword & Laser and some of its talented members.
I LOVE Sword & Laser. It's largely responsible for not only getting me to read more, but getting me to read A LOT more. It introduced me to good reads and some really great people that I love to read and discuss books with.
So when they are doing stuff for funding, be it a Kickstarter for a second season of the awesome video show that introduced me to this amazing group that I had been missing out on for years, I'm all over it. I believe I got a copy of this from the kickstarter.
Just because I rated this 3 stars, doesn't mean there aren't some good stories here. There just aren't enough of them for my liking. The rating is simply an average of the rating I gave to each of the 20 stories.
All of them are well written though. For a bunch of up and coming/unknown authors you wouldn't know it. If nothing else Tom and Veronica did an excellent job picking quality writing.
I'm not really a fan of anthologies. For some reason I love the long doorstopping fantasy series, and have trouble with short stories. I think because I like vast world building and complex magic systems.
Some of these stories were pretty cool, but then they were suddenly over. I might have liked them better if they were longer. Of course the authors were limited to pretty short word counts too, so they might have needed to edit them down.
This was still a great kickstarter reward, and I may have to look into a few of these folks to see what else they've written.
I read this book over the course of a few months. That's one benefit to short stories at least. This means I don't remember the Sword stories as well as the Laser ones.
I have to give Honeybun by Austin Malone for best sci-fi story, and (surprisingly for me who prefers fantasy) the best overall.
Best Sword story is a toss up between Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw and The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed.
Some good stories to check out, and with the options they have for buying it digitally it's certainly worth supporting such a great group if you haven't already.
Sword Ratings
Soft as a Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer - 3.5 stars
A Night For Spirits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher - 3 stars
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland - 3 stars
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw - 4 stars
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed - 4 stars
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker - 3.5 stars
How Fox Fixed the Sky By Stephen Case - 3 stars
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali - 3.5 stars
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger - 3 stars
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen - 3.5 stars
Laser Ratings
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie - 2 stars
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd - 3.5 stars
Jonah's Daughter by Jacob A. Boyd - 2 stars
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas - 2 stars
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler - 4 stars
Afterward by Mike Murphy - 3 stars
Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian - 3 stars
Honeybun by Austin Malone - 4.5 stars
False Lights by Victoria Hooper - 4 stars
Only Darkness by David Emery - 3.5 stars
Overall I thought this anthology was OK as an anthology, but great for what it was: A way to support Sword & Laser and some of its talented members.
I LOVE Sword & Laser. It's largely responsible for not only getting me to read more, but getting me to read A LOT more. It introduced me to good reads and some really great people that I love to read and discuss books with.
So when they are doing stuff for funding, be it a Kickstarter for a second season of the awesome video show that introduced me to this amazing group that I had been missing out on for years, I'm all over it. I believe I got a copy of this from the kickstarter.
Just because I rated this 3 stars, doesn't mean there aren't some good stories here. There just aren't enough of them for my liking. The rating is simply an average of the rating I gave to each of the 20 stories.
All of them are well written though. For a bunch of up and coming/unknown authors you wouldn't know it. If nothing else Tom and Veronica did an excellent job picking quality writing.
I'm not really a fan of anthologies. For some reason I love the long doorstopping fantasy series, and have trouble with short stories. I think because I like vast world building and complex magic systems.
Some of these stories were pretty cool, but then they were suddenly over. I might have liked them better if they were longer. Of course the authors were limited to pretty short word counts too, so they might have needed to edit them down.
This was still a great kickstarter reward, and I may have to look into a few of these folks to see what else they've written.
I read this book over the course of a few months. That's one benefit to short stories at least. This means I don't remember the Sword stories as well as the Laser ones.
I have to give Honeybun by Austin Malone for best sci-fi story, and (surprisingly for me who prefers fantasy) the best overall.
Best Sword story is a toss up between Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw and The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed.
Some good stories to check out, and with the options they have for buying it digitally it's certainly worth supporting such a great group if you haven't already.
Sword Ratings
Soft as a Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer - 3.5 stars
A Night For Spirits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher - 3 stars
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland - 3 stars
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw - 4 stars
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed - 4 stars
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker - 3.5 stars
How Fox Fixed the Sky By Stephen Case - 3 stars
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali - 3.5 stars
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger - 3 stars
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen - 3.5 stars
Laser Ratings
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie - 2 stars
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd - 3.5 stars
Jonah's Daughter by Jacob A. Boyd - 2 stars
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas - 2 stars
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler - 4 stars
Afterward by Mike Murphy - 3 stars
Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian - 3 stars
Honeybun by Austin Malone - 4.5 stars
False Lights by Victoria Hooper - 4 stars
Only Darkness by David Emery - 3.5 stars
April 16, 2014
With this book, Sword and Laser expands from its history as a long running podcast and video show to being an anthology as well. Filled with works by new authors, Sword & Laser Anthology can feel a little rough around the edges, but my experience with the collection was mostly positive. I liked the majority of the stories found here, and only disliked a handful of them. One thing this anthology does quite well is deliver a wide variety of content. The stories cover many different subgernes and tones, which draws attention to the wide scope of content that can be found within the genre itself. One formatting aspect I had an issue with is how they chose to list the author information. By listing it all in the back, without necessarily referencing the story that the author contributed to this collection, I often found myself forgetting who wrote what, and having to skip back and forth between the table of contents and the author info. This can be kind of tricky with the ebook. Regardless, I really hope that Veronica and Tom decide to do another one of these, as it was a lot of fun to read.
Here's a list of my favorites in the collection. Saltater Skin by Kristy Sutherland is a wonderfully written story told from the perspective of a selkie. How Fox Fixed the Sky is a folklore-tinged tale by Stephen Case. Knowing Better by Sean Tadsen focuses on a fantasy chef. The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie, which mixes elements from Egyptian mythology with science fiction, is by far my favorite story in the collection. The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler is a great science fiction tale about robots and their impact on society. Honorable mentions go to The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed, White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker, and Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd.
Here's a list of my favorites in the collection. Saltater Skin by Kristy Sutherland is a wonderfully written story told from the perspective of a selkie. How Fox Fixed the Sky is a folklore-tinged tale by Stephen Case. Knowing Better by Sean Tadsen focuses on a fantasy chef. The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie, which mixes elements from Egyptian mythology with science fiction, is by far my favorite story in the collection. The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler is a great science fiction tale about robots and their impact on society. Honorable mentions go to The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed, White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker, and Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd.
April 29, 2014
Please, judge this book by its cover. Because it is such a wicked cool one. And in this case, it’s a good indication of what you can find inside.
Sword and Laser is a “science fiction and fantasy-themed book club, video show, and podcast,” featuring Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont, the editors of this anthology. The anthology itself consists of twenty stories split between “sword” (fantasy) and “laser” (science fiction). It is, as a good anthology should be, a hodgepodge, rough-and-tumble collection of stories with as many polished faces as jagged edges, sparking with ideas and a lot of raw enthusiasm. Its aim is showcasing new voices in the science fiction and fantasy community.
The enthusiasm is indeed palpable and refreshing. I suppose that’s what happens with a choir of fresh, new voices. Not every story is fantastic, but many are. And the beauty of an anthology is that each reader will likely differ about which stories to put within each category. If you’re a science fiction and fantasy fan, you’ll feel like you’re in a room with a bunch of friends. And they’re telling their best stories.
The ones that stood out to me were by writers who obviously know how the genre works and can have fun with it. In this vein “Partly Petrified” by Auston Habershaw, “The Same International Orange” by Luke R. Pebler, and “Honeybun” by Austin Malone were fine examples. “Honeybun” in particular I thought was a good representation of a lot of this anthology: potential. The bones of some excellent ideas that, perhaps catalyzed by inclusion in this anthology, could spiral out into something deeper and bigger. In this respect, the cover of this work is truer than perhaps anticipated: like the shelved world-bubbles in the image, there are a lot of seeds planted here.
There are glimmers of deeper waters as well. Perhaps because I’m in the midst of stitching together the bones of my own deep space endeavor, my sympathies in this anthology leaned toward the “laser” end of the book. The concepts in “Jonah’s Daughter” by Adam Callaway, “False Lights” by Victoria Hooper, and the very strong finish to the volume, David Emery’s “Only Darkness,” sounded the depths of the weirdness and the wonder that makes great science fiction shimmer.
Then there was my piece, “How Fox Fixed the Sky,” nestled in the final half of the “sword” section. It’s a fablesque epilogue to the story of Chicken Little. What if Chicken had been right and the sky was really falling? What if Fox made a knife from a fallen fragment of sky? What if he climbed through the hole to see what was beyond? I’m probably borrowing tone from Miyazaki, but Fox’s character was put to paper before I ever saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox (though if Miyazaki were to animate this story, Clooney would be a great voice for Fox). It’s surrealist and fun, maybe even a bit haunting, and if you pick up this book I hope you like the bit I contributed.
As far as I know, the anthology isn’t yet available for general purchase. I think it’s gone out to the contributors and the folks who backed Sword and Laser’s next season via Kickstarter. Check back here for updates though, because as soon as I know how you can get your hungry mitts on a copy (besides coming over here and borrowing mine), I’ll let you know.
Sword and Laser is a “science fiction and fantasy-themed book club, video show, and podcast,” featuring Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont, the editors of this anthology. The anthology itself consists of twenty stories split between “sword” (fantasy) and “laser” (science fiction). It is, as a good anthology should be, a hodgepodge, rough-and-tumble collection of stories with as many polished faces as jagged edges, sparking with ideas and a lot of raw enthusiasm. Its aim is showcasing new voices in the science fiction and fantasy community.
The enthusiasm is indeed palpable and refreshing. I suppose that’s what happens with a choir of fresh, new voices. Not every story is fantastic, but many are. And the beauty of an anthology is that each reader will likely differ about which stories to put within each category. If you’re a science fiction and fantasy fan, you’ll feel like you’re in a room with a bunch of friends. And they’re telling their best stories.
The ones that stood out to me were by writers who obviously know how the genre works and can have fun with it. In this vein “Partly Petrified” by Auston Habershaw, “The Same International Orange” by Luke R. Pebler, and “Honeybun” by Austin Malone were fine examples. “Honeybun” in particular I thought was a good representation of a lot of this anthology: potential. The bones of some excellent ideas that, perhaps catalyzed by inclusion in this anthology, could spiral out into something deeper and bigger. In this respect, the cover of this work is truer than perhaps anticipated: like the shelved world-bubbles in the image, there are a lot of seeds planted here.
There are glimmers of deeper waters as well. Perhaps because I’m in the midst of stitching together the bones of my own deep space endeavor, my sympathies in this anthology leaned toward the “laser” end of the book. The concepts in “Jonah’s Daughter” by Adam Callaway, “False Lights” by Victoria Hooper, and the very strong finish to the volume, David Emery’s “Only Darkness,” sounded the depths of the weirdness and the wonder that makes great science fiction shimmer.
Then there was my piece, “How Fox Fixed the Sky,” nestled in the final half of the “sword” section. It’s a fablesque epilogue to the story of Chicken Little. What if Chicken had been right and the sky was really falling? What if Fox made a knife from a fallen fragment of sky? What if he climbed through the hole to see what was beyond? I’m probably borrowing tone from Miyazaki, but Fox’s character was put to paper before I ever saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox (though if Miyazaki were to animate this story, Clooney would be a great voice for Fox). It’s surrealist and fun, maybe even a bit haunting, and if you pick up this book I hope you like the bit I contributed.
As far as I know, the anthology isn’t yet available for general purchase. I think it’s gone out to the contributors and the folks who backed Sword and Laser’s next season via Kickstarter. Check back here for updates though, because as soon as I know how you can get your hungry mitts on a copy (besides coming over here and borrowing mine), I’ll let you know.
June 4, 2014
I have to say I was generally disappointed by the Sword & Laser Anthology. The majority of the stories, in my opinion, were not that great. There were a handful that I thought were truly creative, though, and fairly well written. The best stories, I thought, were The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed (which was actually more supernatural genre than fantasy, imo), Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd (kind of a weird title, though), Honeybun by Austin Malone and Only Darkness by David Emery. Honorable Mentions (meaning they were decent stories) would go to Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland, Partly Petrified by Austin Habershaw, The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler and Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian. The rest were either just okay, had style/grammar issues or left me scratching my head as to why they were selected at all. I can only imagine that there was some kind of serious problem with part of the S&L selection process.
Now, having said all that, I will add that short fiction really isn't my thing. I don't like reading it; I don't like writing it. I think it's really hard to get right (well, so is long fiction, I guess). But, out of a thousand entries, I find it hard to believe that there weren't better selections than some of the ones that ended up being included. Hopefully, the next volume of the S&L Anthology will be on a more professional level.
Now, having said all that, I will add that short fiction really isn't my thing. I don't like reading it; I don't like writing it. I think it's really hard to get right (well, so is long fiction, I guess). But, out of a thousand entries, I find it hard to believe that there weren't better selections than some of the ones that ended up being included. Hopefully, the next volume of the S&L Anthology will be on a more professional level.
February 27, 2017
I wasn't really impressed with any of the stories in this anthology to be honest. None stood out to me as particularly interesting or original. None of them were absolutely horrible, but none of them were outstandingly good. Overall a rather mediocre collection unfortunately. I will say the SciFi portion was better than the Fantasy section, but after finishing the book it's like I honestly couldn't tell you much about any individual story because they weren't very memorable
November 17, 2017
There were a few standout stories; I think the fantasy section was stronger than the scifi.
Maybe I am a little harsh rating the anthology, but most of the stories didn't grip me. I think that is probably due to the fact that there is such a wide range of stories here.
My favorites were: Saltwater Skin - I really enjoy magical realism so that was right up my alley. The Lesser Evil - Wonderful writing and interesting characters; The Osiris Paradox - Intriguing world-building and great blend of fantasy and scifi together.
Maybe I am a little harsh rating the anthology, but most of the stories didn't grip me. I think that is probably due to the fact that there is such a wide range of stories here.
My favorites were: Saltwater Skin - I really enjoy magical realism so that was right up my alley. The Lesser Evil - Wonderful writing and interesting characters; The Osiris Paradox - Intriguing world-building and great blend of fantasy and scifi together.
Read
May 21, 2014If you listen to the Sword & Laser podcast, you should support the empire of Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt by reading their anthology. You’ll enjoy the swirling vortex of fantasy and science-fiction stories they’ve chosen. And if you’ve not yet availed yourself of the podcast or YouTube series, consider joining one book club of two genres allied by imagination.
Read my full review on Fantasy Faction:
http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/sword...
Read my full review on Fantasy Faction:
http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/sword...
March 5, 2017
I was disappointed with this anthology of short stories. There are some 3 star stories, but not much above that. The biggest problem I had with it was that it was much more sword than laser. Even the laser (science fiction) side of the book was heavily weighted toward non-tech, psychological type stories. I can only give it 2 stars, which in Goodreads means "It was OK".
Detailed rating of the stories are below (mostly for me to remember with, so beware of spoilers!)
Detailed rating of the stories are below (mostly for me to remember with, so beware of spoilers!)
January 22, 2017
Individual Story Reviews:
(title names are subject to correction as I am not sure I got them right.)
SWORD:
1st: "as soft as a feather when done right"
interesting world, but it was a bit short for my taste. the moment I felt truly immersed in this universe, the story ended.
2nd: "a night for spirits and snowflakes"
not my cuppa, too many POV and I couldn't really get into it.
3rd: "saltwater skin"
BRILLIANT! I loved everything about this and still want more, more and more from Kristy Sutherland. I truly felt with these characters, it was eerie and beautiful!
4th: "partly petrified"
great worldbuilding but something was missing. I liked the characters, but there was no spark with the characters for me.
5th: "the lesser evil"
interesting setting, well depicted, and quite vivid characters. a bit too urban for me personally, but the bruja and mythology around it was rather mesmerising!
6th: "white flame"
great adventuring party story, really enjoyed the characters. would love to see more of them!
7th "how the fox fixed the sky"
lovely, lovely fable! and foxes!
8th "a good man"
these ideas! I adored it, bloodletting, the wyrms and ... all these ideas around blood magic! amazing! would love to read more about these concepts! sickness as a theme. the sibling relationship and the one between Ioan and his wife, wonderfully portrayed! quite sad to. what makes a good man?
9th "knowing better"
cool premise, liked it.
10th "the novice's guide to adventuring"
fun, loved it :)
LASER:
1st: "osiris paradox"
great, great start, brilliant setting. a weaker end that was still very good.
2nd: "leviathan! leviathan!"
what a great and unique idea, but somehow it couldn't suck me in.
3rd: "jonah's daughter"
very interesting, I would have appreciated a little more detail in many areas.
4th "birdy"
I think this one needs a re-read for me to fully grasp it, but it was rather creepy which I liked.
5th: "the same international orange"
this one was sad, felt true and very, very human.
6th: "afterword"
the coolest idea, woah. unfortunately the characters did not do much for me here.
7th: "data dump"
somehow more an intro than a story, for me, somehow I couldn't form a proper opinion on this. but by no means did I dislike it.
8th: "honeybun"
magic! what an idea! I loved the execution of this one, so satisfying. just great!!
9th: "false light"
what a great premise, oh so good. a bit disjointed, which was necessary but unfortunately confused me a little. still I loved the ending and .... oh, this was really nice.
10th: "only darkness"
... loved these themes. really liked the story. great!
(title names are subject to correction as I am not sure I got them right.)
SWORD:
1st: "as soft as a feather when done right"
interesting world, but it was a bit short for my taste. the moment I felt truly immersed in this universe, the story ended.
2nd: "a night for spirits and snowflakes"
not my cuppa, too many POV and I couldn't really get into it.
3rd: "saltwater skin"
BRILLIANT! I loved everything about this and still want more, more and more from Kristy Sutherland. I truly felt with these characters, it was eerie and beautiful!
4th: "partly petrified"
great worldbuilding but something was missing. I liked the characters, but there was no spark with the characters for me.
5th: "the lesser evil"
interesting setting, well depicted, and quite vivid characters. a bit too urban for me personally, but the bruja and mythology around it was rather mesmerising!
6th: "white flame"
great adventuring party story, really enjoyed the characters. would love to see more of them!
7th "how the fox fixed the sky"
lovely, lovely fable! and foxes!
8th "a good man"
these ideas! I adored it, bloodletting, the wyrms and ... all these ideas around blood magic! amazing! would love to read more about these concepts! sickness as a theme. the sibling relationship and the one between Ioan and his wife, wonderfully portrayed! quite sad to. what makes a good man?
9th "knowing better"
cool premise, liked it.
10th "the novice's guide to adventuring"
fun, loved it :)
LASER:
1st: "osiris paradox"
great, great start, brilliant setting. a weaker end that was still very good.
2nd: "leviathan! leviathan!"
what a great and unique idea, but somehow it couldn't suck me in.
3rd: "jonah's daughter"
very interesting, I would have appreciated a little more detail in many areas.
4th "birdy"
I think this one needs a re-read for me to fully grasp it, but it was rather creepy which I liked.
5th: "the same international orange"
this one was sad, felt true and very, very human.
6th: "afterword"
the coolest idea, woah. unfortunately the characters did not do much for me here.
7th: "data dump"
somehow more an intro than a story, for me, somehow I couldn't form a proper opinion on this. but by no means did I dislike it.
8th: "honeybun"
magic! what an idea! I loved the execution of this one, so satisfying. just great!!
9th: "false light"
what a great premise, oh so good. a bit disjointed, which was necessary but unfortunately confused me a little. still I loved the ending and .... oh, this was really nice.
10th: "only darkness"
... loved these themes. really liked the story. great!
April 24, 2014
As the forward states, this is a good compilation with several well written, and occasionally thought provoking stories. Some are more unique than others, such as one where a space ship takes place inside a whale. Others are a bit of a mind trip, especially the few time travel-alternate dimension-physics shifting sci-fi stories. The most important thing for anthologies I feel is whether the stories are fun. A story can be really good, without being a lot of fun to read. Personally, the fantasy section had a few more of these than the sci-fi portion.
My favorite stories from each section were:
Fantasy- Saltwater Skin: A mermaid type story in the form of a Selkie woman who leaves her home for love. Short, and bittersweet, one of the more emotionally driven stories in the compilation.
A Good Man: Tragic story of two brothers.
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring: The funniest story in the bunch with plenty of jokes that I felt compelled to highlight on my Kindle.
Science Fiction- Afterword: A dying author relives his works in stunning detail.
Data Dump- A world where most social interactions and experiences are simply downloaded.
Only Darkness- The best story in terms of thought provoking concepts, and scientific theories.
My favorite stories from each section were:
Fantasy- Saltwater Skin: A mermaid type story in the form of a Selkie woman who leaves her home for love. Short, and bittersweet, one of the more emotionally driven stories in the compilation.
A Good Man: Tragic story of two brothers.
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring: The funniest story in the bunch with plenty of jokes that I felt compelled to highlight on my Kindle.
Science Fiction- Afterword: A dying author relives his works in stunning detail.
Data Dump- A world where most social interactions and experiences are simply downloaded.
Only Darkness- The best story in terms of thought provoking concepts, and scientific theories.
December 28, 2014
I love these collection of story's , sometimes get more enjoyment than a full novel.
Just like any novel you cant please everybody ,and this is the beauty of these anthology's ,if put together you have so many adventure's in rapid fire, unfortunately (for me) this one did not deliver as I had hoped, some good adventure's but for the full ride i was , well not disapointed just not the main stories for me.
There are some fantastic anthology's out there , and i like this as so many author's get a chance to get that one little story out that just carry's with you for many years.
Not to mention the new authors that give you an idea of their talent and style.
Just wanted to mention as Im sure there will be something for everybody ,but as I read quite a few of this kind of books, this one I was so excited but just was not for me, as they all cost $ and it's impossible to judge this box of chocolates until you unwrap these anthology's.
Just like any novel you cant please everybody ,and this is the beauty of these anthology's ,if put together you have so many adventure's in rapid fire, unfortunately (for me) this one did not deliver as I had hoped, some good adventure's but for the full ride i was , well not disapointed just not the main stories for me.
There are some fantastic anthology's out there , and i like this as so many author's get a chance to get that one little story out that just carry's with you for many years.
Not to mention the new authors that give you an idea of their talent and style.
Just wanted to mention as Im sure there will be something for everybody ,but as I read quite a few of this kind of books, this one I was so excited but just was not for me, as they all cost $ and it's impossible to judge this box of chocolates until you unwrap these anthology's.
August 7, 2014
I would say this is one of the better collections of short stories I've read. I think I would say that because there's not one story in here that I had a strong negative reaction to. But at the same time, there weren't all that many stories that had a strong positive reaction to either. Most of the collection was good enough. I would say that I enjoyed the fantasy (Sword) selections more than the sci-fi (Laser) offerings. Part of that would definitely be personal preference, as more of the fantasy stories had an element of humor to them. Then again, probably the best story of the whole collection (The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed) doesn't have anything really to laugh about.
March 10, 2015
I definitely consider myself more of a sword than a laser, but man, I really enjoyed the sci-fi part of this anthology! A lot more than the fantasy. After reading this I am definitely more excited about the genre than I’ve been in a while. I guess most of the fantasy stories in the anthology just wasn’t for me but I trust that some sci-fi fans will have the opposite experience of what I had and find them amazing. Check it out if you’re new to the genres or just looking for something fresh - you’ll definitely be exposed to a couple of great stories!
May 26, 2014
I really enjoyed is book, though I am biased by the fact at I am a member of the Sword & Laser Goodreads group from which it hails.
I felt that the Sword stories were slightly stronger, and some of the laser stories were borderline sword stories. Regardless, we have some amazing talent in our S&L Goodreads forum! There were several stories where I wanted to know more of the story, or wanted to follow the characters further. Several stories that I thought were perfect as-is, and only a couple that I was slightly disappointed in.
Overall, a great read and highly recommended!
I felt that the Sword stories were slightly stronger, and some of the laser stories were borderline sword stories. Regardless, we have some amazing talent in our S&L Goodreads forum! There were several stories where I wanted to know more of the story, or wanted to follow the characters further. Several stories that I thought were perfect as-is, and only a couple that I was slightly disappointed in.
Overall, a great read and highly recommended!
August 4, 2015
I only read the fantasy half of this, the sci-fi not interesting me enough to give up precious reading time I need for uni right now. Although the stories were disappointing at first, they quickly picked up, and a few (Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw and The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed) were brilliant. Hopefully sci-fi fans think the same, or better, of the Laser half of the anthology.
May 21, 2015
A real mixed bag. There are some absolute gems hidden in here but also a lot that could have done with an extra round of editing. White Flame, A Novice's Guide to Adventuring, Data Dump, Honeybun and Only Darkness were the highlights with A Novice's Guide to Adventuring and Only Darkness being particular standouts.
Want to read
June 27, 2014See, this is why I struggle with Anthologies. Just downloaded this, read the first story and was like, wait, no, that can't be the end. That was the start of a really great story I'm sure of it. Nope that was the beginning and end. The rest is locked inside Nicole Feldringer's mind.
September 23, 2014
Loved the Sword half; the Laser half was less to my liking -- though I'm much less likely to read science fiction.
Let me add, I would buy it again, if for nothing else than to support Tom, Veronica, and their great Sword and Laser community.
Let me add, I would buy it again, if for nothing else than to support Tom, Veronica, and their great Sword and Laser community.
January 27, 2015
Some, but not many, solid gold stories in here, and some not so good. For a collection of unpublished writers, many who'd written their first story for this anthology, this is great. There are many authors who will go onto bigger and better things.
October 22, 2023
The anthology was highly disappointing. I bought it expecting to discover great stories and authors but ended up with a bunch of beginner-ish stories, few of which made an impression either way. I am a beginner writer myself so don’t get me wrong, I love that there are places and opportunities for people who are not yet perfect at writing to make their first steps, it’s just that I did not expect this particular book to be such a place. I wish all the authors all the best and truly hope and believe that they improved greatly since. My short and not always sweet impressions on each story are below for anyone interested, most of them were written immediately after reading the story (or a few) and are very much first impression based and not very deep or wise, just little rambles with minimal editing, so read at your own peril.
SWORD
Soft as a Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer - 2✩ - SPOILERS - I don’t know about this one… I was hoping it’d be a lot longer, the beginning was well put together, I started caring about Gwen (the main character) and her Valentines card and the coming storm and everything, the suspense was building, I thought it will develop into something and then it just got extinguished like a candle in a draft and all that was left was a thin wisp of smoke rising from my ears in annoyance that the great buildup got such a disappointing ending. It almost sounded like the notes the author took of what will happen at the end - just a quick runup of things that happen with no development that was somehow by mistake left that way. Gwen goes inside a house, finds out it was her boo who somehow with no explanation, rhyme, reason or a hint earlier in the story that this was even a possibility, had caused the storm, became immediately absolutely chill about the idea that a person can just do that and then she whispered a few words in his ear about something she herself just learnt two minutes ago and suddenly he was able to just make the storm stop and turn it into snow, something that is wondrous and awe inspiring in this world (while people who can just cause storms because they don’t want to go to school are quite normal I guess…). The words had no meaning to him personally, we don’t even know what does or does not have meaning to him because all we know is that Gwen has the hots for him and that no one else seemingly does, because there’s a brief mention of him not getting a card for Valentine’s last year. Their relationship also has little meaning besides the fact that Gwen has a crush on him as his feelings towards her are never made clear. Anyways, I could ramble on about how lame that ending was for way longer than it took Nicole Feldringer to actually end her story, but I suppose you get the gist, I hated it, it made no sense and snuffed what was shaping into a good story too soon, too fast and too incoherently.
A Night For Spirits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher - 5✩ - I didn’t like it much immediately after finishing the story. Didn’t hate it, but wasn’t stoked either. But after sitting with it for a while I must admit it was a nicely crafted little story. I don’t suppose I’ll be spoiling much by describing the general gist - it is a story about one man burying four people he was travelling with. As he digs a hole for each of them and ponders about them after death, we get a brief insert into the story describing the few very last moments of each of their lives. It’s a neat idea, the characters are cleverly presented, some of them are hinted at in the other’s stories to create layers and contrasts and nuance. I suppose I didn't like the story immediately because it was quite slow, you need to sit with it a minute. As I started typing this review I gave it four stars, but now, by the end, changed it to five, because I realised, there was absolutely no reason I could think of as to why I gave four stars rather than five.
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland - 3✩ - I’m not sure about this one… It is not very well written, the language is quite clunky. The places that bothered me most could have been edited, not sure why they were not, maybe to keep the original writing style (but then where does style end and bad writing begin)? The story itself is standard slightly tragic fairytale stuff, but it wasn’t too bad. I found it gentle and detailed and annoying all at the same time. Not for me, but with a bit of editing I could see how someone could like it.
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw - 1✩ - oh boy, I really didn’t like this one. The main character was pretty poorly built, reminding me of Frankenstein's monster, put together from quips and tropes and characteristics of loveable rascal characters from other stories the author wanted to emulate with very little connecting all of it together, he was an idea of a character way more than an actual at least somewhat developed character.
The prose was clunky and the rhythm of the language flowed poorly. There was a short paragraph which contained the words ignominiously, avuncular and cantankerous, they all sounded odd in their respective places and the actual text would have been served better by any of their numerous and less pompous synonyms. I felt like I walked into a robbery - not the one described in the story but of the author trying to rob the thesaurus. The dialogue portions weren’t much better, the amount of times the name Milo was used made me feel like Samuel L Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction: “Say Milo one more time!”.
I think the thing that made me most mad about this story is the fact that it could have been really good. After I read it all I could see the shape of a great story with fantastic characters, however, lack of either time or skill intervened, caused all of the issues described above and messed it all up quite badly.
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed - 3✩- SPOILERS - I mean seriously… I may sound like a purist, but when I think about fantasy literature, this ain’t it. The main character has some vague magical powers, that’s it, there’s nothing else magical or fantastical about the story or the world it’s just one dude that can do a bit of magic. It is written fine, the character is decently built, but a fantasy story it is not. Also, it is borderline creepy, giving me Humbert Humbert vibes. Sure the author would stress how the character misses his daughter and wants to take care and save the other little girl, but the parts about her appearance, her smell just rubs me the wrong way. It may not be intentional, but I think even Day Al-Mohamed realised it’s a bit pervy since in the very end, when the girl’s mom inevitably offers to prostitute her six year old daughter to the main character (you could see it coming a mile away) there is a line stating that the main character was not interested in the girl “in that way”. Wel, Mr Day, sir, if you haven’t made the other parts so damn creepy maybe you wouldn’t have to specify it so obviously here.
I may have liked the story better if I wasn’t reading a fantasy story anthology, but it was so out of place here it really brought me out of the world the entire book is trying to create. And coupled with the weird vibes described in the previous paragraph it was a perfect concoction to make my opinion of it pretty unfavourable. I ended up giving it three stars instead of the two I initially intended, just because it was a better story than two stars and I could not, in good faith, give it that just because it was out of place in this anthology and ruined my vibe.
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker - 3✩ - I dunno, man… it was a very fantasy-ish story and all that and the idea of these sickening gross cultists and their perverse cult was kinda neat, not gonna lie. But the story's just…lackluster. It's like a skeleton without flesh. All the parts are there and the structure looks pretty solid, but there's very little holding it all together. The main development of the story does not make sense, the motivations are unclear, I recognize that not everything has to be explained, but it can be supposed, or hinted at, or there may be a reason for it not being explained. Here it was just 'this character did this and wanted that because'. Well ok, sometimes people do want things just because, but that does not make for a compelling story.
How Fox Fixed the Sky by Stephen Case - 4✩ - it was a cute story. Whimsical, fairy tale-like, imaginative. I would have loved it even more if it kept consistent with its whimsical fairy tale language all the way, but sometimes it slipped into more casual tone, especially in the dialogues, the word 'fucked' was used and it messed up the vibe and brought me all the way out if the story, there were a few other places where the language was too crude (in tone, not words used) for the overall feel of this story. And don't get me wrong, I am no prude and have zero objections about swearing in literature, but only if and when it suits the vibe, the tone, the mood of the story being told. Here it didn't, so that's that.
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali - 2✩ - oh lord, this was really really bad… Just like the rest of the stories, the idea, the premise was quite nice, promising. But yet again the text we got looks like a draft rather than a finished, polished and properly edited final product. There is even a place in the dialogue where the wrong character's name was used. There are two people listed as editor for this thing, what the F were they doing… The thing that put me off this story so much was that it was full of words, but they were the wrong words. It's like the author read so much that he forgot how to write, if that makes sense. It was just a jumble of metaphors, comparisons, adjectives…they worked very poorly when put together in a sentence, but the author has seen them put in other sentences where they worked well so used them nonetheless. It's a mess.
Why two stars then, you ask? Because I know what it takes to write and to create and to put your work out there and I can see that the author really really tried and I cannot bring myself to give them one star, passion is worth something even if the result is far from perfect.
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger - 3✩ - different than with the others, I have sat down to write my thoughts about this story a while after reading it and I had to skim over it again because I forgot what it was about. Even when the recollection of having read it did hit me, I still had to look through a few more pages before I could remember what’s going on in this one. It’s a good idea for a story and it’s not that badly written, but for some reason it is very forgettable (I forgot all about it and had to open the book and skin through AGAIN now, when I am finished with the whole book and editing my reviews a bit before posting so yeah…). I somewhat even feel bad that it made so little impact on me because it really isn;t a bad story, not sure what is up with it.
The Novice’s Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen - 3✩ - all I can say about it is that it’s okay. It had some funny moments, the idea was fun, the writing was fine. But there were so many cliche moments I just felt like I’ve read it somewhere before. The characters were typical, the situation was typical, the villagers were typical, the conflicts were typical even the humour, even though worked well, was so painfully familiar and unoriginal… Everything is executed well, but there is just no sense of the author, their talent, their style, it’s just a mishmash of things others did that the author seemed to like.
LASER
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie - 3✩ - it was weird. There was no reason for this to be a science fiction story rather than a fantasy one, the science fiction element added little to it. But the idea was interesting and I appreciate an ending that does not play into expectations, so I’d say it was quite okay as stories go. However, it was quite sad and I did not enjoy reading it because of the tone (nothing to do with the quality of the story or the writing, just my very subjective experience) and so I can’t give it more stars.
Leviathan! Leviathan! By Jacob A. Boyd - 2✩ - SPOILERS - I found myself immensely bored by it. The idea, like many here, was interesting. I liked the captain and his plight that was presented quite well even without once getting a word from him or any true information about his experience, character or thoughts, but the main character and his dilemma just felt very silly. There was no dilemma here, it is either one man or literal billions of people so there is no question as to what should be done. The only thing is that the guy does not want to do it and instead tries to get rid of the unpleasant job by pushing the captain with his boat away. Well, surely, if he likes and respects him that much, he would give him the mercy of a quick death rather than push him away into a slow and torturous demise out in the ocean. There was even a moment when he could have gone to dock the Leviathan and have the other person whatshername do the job instead of him and yet he refused to do so for no good reason. It’s just a very weak premise and weak character with weak reasons for doing what he was doing. I feel like this story would have benefited greatly from ruthless editing, because it was vastly overexplained which made it feel way longer and more boring than it actually was. Giving little hints and nods and little clever half answers would have been so much more immersive than what we got here and the weak or nonexistent reasons for the main character to do what he did would not have been so glaring if it wasn’t so dragged out. The ending was weak and so predictable it hurt, which was the final nail in this story’s coffin.
Jonah’s Daughter by Adam Callaway - 4✩ - I was a bit mad at it at the very start since it throws you in deep with no lifeline and you just have to try and understand what’s going on and it was really confusing. I read the first few paragraphs a few times before I fully understood what’s happening and where we are. I think it is fine to start in the middle and have the reader kind of flounder a bit and find their own way in a story BUT, confuse them with plot and character relationships, NOT techno babble. In this case the main confusion was in that there were a lot of fancy terminology used and I had no idea what any of it meant so it was extremely difficult to understand what the hell is going on and what is the setup. Once I got through that, it was quite an interesting and enjoyable read although I have some issues with how the main character’s motivations that lead to the events and conflicts of the story were developed (or, more accurately, not developed) and the techno babble persisted throughout the story not becoming any clearer.
I guess I said a lot of bad and not much of good for a story rated quite highly, especially compared with the others here, but I really don’t have much to say. I felt really strongly about the issues I brought up and yet they did not spoil the experience of the story for me and I ended up enjoying it nonetheless, so make of that what you will.
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas - 3✩ - it’s a cute little story, one of those that feel like something I have already read somewhere before, but still enjoyable. It is written in a voice of a little girl and I think it really does a fine job of it. However, I have absolutely no idea what qualifies it as a sci-fi story. I was extremely confused by its presence here.
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler - 3✩ - after reading the title and thinking of orange the fruit rather than orange the colour I expected a quirky fun Douglas Adams-ish story, but got a depressing one instead. I liked it though, showing character growth in a short story is not an easy task and it was accomplished here, so kudos.
Afterword by Mike Murphy - 2✩ - not sure where’s the science fiction again. Also, not to be unkind, but it kind of reminds me of a story I wrote when I was about ten - a lot of things happen, all of which was inspired by other things, but there is no real idea behind it other than “let me write a story where this happens”.
Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian - 2✩ - SPOILERS! - I sort of knew where it was going, only the ending got to the same place in a bit of a different way than I initially thought. I was sure the storyline of the man in love will end badly and thought the guy would change his mind and have his memories wiped after all. Turns out, the girl he was into was the one on the operating table and was getting her memory wiped, including the guy. My anticipated version of the ending is more predictable and not very original, but also more logical. Here, the girl is a prostitute who wipes her memories in pursuit of a better job and the guy had no idea that that’s what she was so riddle me this - if she was a prostitute, how did the guy not get that? If she was having sex with him not as part of her job but for pleasure/fun, why would she delete the memory of him together with the memories of her occupation? The only explanation I can work out is that the technology cannot be that exact and erases everything, but then it was a) not communicated all that clearly and b) that would NOT be a procedure anyone other than people with extreme trauma would undergo ever if it’s an all or nothing type of deal. So the ending came off just illogical and kind of silly as is.
Honeybun by Austin Malone - 5✩ - saying that I was underwhelmed by this anthology would be a gross understatement, so finding this story here was like finding a nugget of gold in a pile of sh*t. It was fun and fresh and not predictable and had more than one good idea there and made me really wish that there would be more of it and I could read what happens next. No other story here did anything even close to that.
False Lights by Victoria Hooper - 3✩ - it was fine, I dunno. The characters were flat, the implications of things happening in the story are not very clear and to be honest I could not really bring myself to give a toss. The idea of this Bermuda Triangle type of area in space is great, but nothing was developed enough for it to make sense or make me care.
Only Darkness by David Emery - 4✩ - I liked it almost despite myself. The main character was at times quite annoying, especially in his descriptions of the love interest. It was very “men writing women” type of situation and I am not one to point something like that often, it has to really bother me for me to notice and point it out. But it had a good premise, a nice surprise ending and great flow, so there you have it.
SWORD
Soft as a Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer - 2✩ - SPOILERS - I don’t know about this one… I was hoping it’d be a lot longer, the beginning was well put together, I started caring about Gwen (the main character) and her Valentines card and the coming storm and everything, the suspense was building, I thought it will develop into something and then it just got extinguished like a candle in a draft and all that was left was a thin wisp of smoke rising from my ears in annoyance that the great buildup got such a disappointing ending. It almost sounded like the notes the author took of what will happen at the end - just a quick runup of things that happen with no development that was somehow by mistake left that way. Gwen goes inside a house, finds out it was her boo who somehow with no explanation, rhyme, reason or a hint earlier in the story that this was even a possibility, had caused the storm, became immediately absolutely chill about the idea that a person can just do that and then she whispered a few words in his ear about something she herself just learnt two minutes ago and suddenly he was able to just make the storm stop and turn it into snow, something that is wondrous and awe inspiring in this world (while people who can just cause storms because they don’t want to go to school are quite normal I guess…). The words had no meaning to him personally, we don’t even know what does or does not have meaning to him because all we know is that Gwen has the hots for him and that no one else seemingly does, because there’s a brief mention of him not getting a card for Valentine’s last year. Their relationship also has little meaning besides the fact that Gwen has a crush on him as his feelings towards her are never made clear. Anyways, I could ramble on about how lame that ending was for way longer than it took Nicole Feldringer to actually end her story, but I suppose you get the gist, I hated it, it made no sense and snuffed what was shaping into a good story too soon, too fast and too incoherently.
A Night For Spirits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher - 5✩ - I didn’t like it much immediately after finishing the story. Didn’t hate it, but wasn’t stoked either. But after sitting with it for a while I must admit it was a nicely crafted little story. I don’t suppose I’ll be spoiling much by describing the general gist - it is a story about one man burying four people he was travelling with. As he digs a hole for each of them and ponders about them after death, we get a brief insert into the story describing the few very last moments of each of their lives. It’s a neat idea, the characters are cleverly presented, some of them are hinted at in the other’s stories to create layers and contrasts and nuance. I suppose I didn't like the story immediately because it was quite slow, you need to sit with it a minute. As I started typing this review I gave it four stars, but now, by the end, changed it to five, because I realised, there was absolutely no reason I could think of as to why I gave four stars rather than five.
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland - 3✩ - I’m not sure about this one… It is not very well written, the language is quite clunky. The places that bothered me most could have been edited, not sure why they were not, maybe to keep the original writing style (but then where does style end and bad writing begin)? The story itself is standard slightly tragic fairytale stuff, but it wasn’t too bad. I found it gentle and detailed and annoying all at the same time. Not for me, but with a bit of editing I could see how someone could like it.
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw - 1✩ - oh boy, I really didn’t like this one. The main character was pretty poorly built, reminding me of Frankenstein's monster, put together from quips and tropes and characteristics of loveable rascal characters from other stories the author wanted to emulate with very little connecting all of it together, he was an idea of a character way more than an actual at least somewhat developed character.
The prose was clunky and the rhythm of the language flowed poorly. There was a short paragraph which contained the words ignominiously, avuncular and cantankerous, they all sounded odd in their respective places and the actual text would have been served better by any of their numerous and less pompous synonyms. I felt like I walked into a robbery - not the one described in the story but of the author trying to rob the thesaurus. The dialogue portions weren’t much better, the amount of times the name Milo was used made me feel like Samuel L Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction: “Say Milo one more time!”.
I think the thing that made me most mad about this story is the fact that it could have been really good. After I read it all I could see the shape of a great story with fantastic characters, however, lack of either time or skill intervened, caused all of the issues described above and messed it all up quite badly.
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed - 3✩- SPOILERS - I mean seriously… I may sound like a purist, but when I think about fantasy literature, this ain’t it. The main character has some vague magical powers, that’s it, there’s nothing else magical or fantastical about the story or the world it’s just one dude that can do a bit of magic. It is written fine, the character is decently built, but a fantasy story it is not. Also, it is borderline creepy, giving me Humbert Humbert vibes. Sure the author would stress how the character misses his daughter and wants to take care and save the other little girl, but the parts about her appearance, her smell just rubs me the wrong way. It may not be intentional, but I think even Day Al-Mohamed realised it’s a bit pervy since in the very end, when the girl’s mom inevitably offers to prostitute her six year old daughter to the main character (you could see it coming a mile away) there is a line stating that the main character was not interested in the girl “in that way”. Wel, Mr Day, sir, if you haven’t made the other parts so damn creepy maybe you wouldn’t have to specify it so obviously here.
I may have liked the story better if I wasn’t reading a fantasy story anthology, but it was so out of place here it really brought me out of the world the entire book is trying to create. And coupled with the weird vibes described in the previous paragraph it was a perfect concoction to make my opinion of it pretty unfavourable. I ended up giving it three stars instead of the two I initially intended, just because it was a better story than two stars and I could not, in good faith, give it that just because it was out of place in this anthology and ruined my vibe.
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker - 3✩ - I dunno, man… it was a very fantasy-ish story and all that and the idea of these sickening gross cultists and their perverse cult was kinda neat, not gonna lie. But the story's just…lackluster. It's like a skeleton without flesh. All the parts are there and the structure looks pretty solid, but there's very little holding it all together. The main development of the story does not make sense, the motivations are unclear, I recognize that not everything has to be explained, but it can be supposed, or hinted at, or there may be a reason for it not being explained. Here it was just 'this character did this and wanted that because'. Well ok, sometimes people do want things just because, but that does not make for a compelling story.
How Fox Fixed the Sky by Stephen Case - 4✩ - it was a cute story. Whimsical, fairy tale-like, imaginative. I would have loved it even more if it kept consistent with its whimsical fairy tale language all the way, but sometimes it slipped into more casual tone, especially in the dialogues, the word 'fucked' was used and it messed up the vibe and brought me all the way out if the story, there were a few other places where the language was too crude (in tone, not words used) for the overall feel of this story. And don't get me wrong, I am no prude and have zero objections about swearing in literature, but only if and when it suits the vibe, the tone, the mood of the story being told. Here it didn't, so that's that.
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali - 2✩ - oh lord, this was really really bad… Just like the rest of the stories, the idea, the premise was quite nice, promising. But yet again the text we got looks like a draft rather than a finished, polished and properly edited final product. There is even a place in the dialogue where the wrong character's name was used. There are two people listed as editor for this thing, what the F were they doing… The thing that put me off this story so much was that it was full of words, but they were the wrong words. It's like the author read so much that he forgot how to write, if that makes sense. It was just a jumble of metaphors, comparisons, adjectives…they worked very poorly when put together in a sentence, but the author has seen them put in other sentences where they worked well so used them nonetheless. It's a mess.
Why two stars then, you ask? Because I know what it takes to write and to create and to put your work out there and I can see that the author really really tried and I cannot bring myself to give them one star, passion is worth something even if the result is far from perfect.
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger - 3✩ - different than with the others, I have sat down to write my thoughts about this story a while after reading it and I had to skim over it again because I forgot what it was about. Even when the recollection of having read it did hit me, I still had to look through a few more pages before I could remember what’s going on in this one. It’s a good idea for a story and it’s not that badly written, but for some reason it is very forgettable (I forgot all about it and had to open the book and skin through AGAIN now, when I am finished with the whole book and editing my reviews a bit before posting so yeah…). I somewhat even feel bad that it made so little impact on me because it really isn;t a bad story, not sure what is up with it.
The Novice’s Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen - 3✩ - all I can say about it is that it’s okay. It had some funny moments, the idea was fun, the writing was fine. But there were so many cliche moments I just felt like I’ve read it somewhere before. The characters were typical, the situation was typical, the villagers were typical, the conflicts were typical even the humour, even though worked well, was so painfully familiar and unoriginal… Everything is executed well, but there is just no sense of the author, their talent, their style, it’s just a mishmash of things others did that the author seemed to like.
LASER
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie - 3✩ - it was weird. There was no reason for this to be a science fiction story rather than a fantasy one, the science fiction element added little to it. But the idea was interesting and I appreciate an ending that does not play into expectations, so I’d say it was quite okay as stories go. However, it was quite sad and I did not enjoy reading it because of the tone (nothing to do with the quality of the story or the writing, just my very subjective experience) and so I can’t give it more stars.
Leviathan! Leviathan! By Jacob A. Boyd - 2✩ - SPOILERS - I found myself immensely bored by it. The idea, like many here, was interesting. I liked the captain and his plight that was presented quite well even without once getting a word from him or any true information about his experience, character or thoughts, but the main character and his dilemma just felt very silly. There was no dilemma here, it is either one man or literal billions of people so there is no question as to what should be done. The only thing is that the guy does not want to do it and instead tries to get rid of the unpleasant job by pushing the captain with his boat away. Well, surely, if he likes and respects him that much, he would give him the mercy of a quick death rather than push him away into a slow and torturous demise out in the ocean. There was even a moment when he could have gone to dock the Leviathan and have the other person whatshername do the job instead of him and yet he refused to do so for no good reason. It’s just a very weak premise and weak character with weak reasons for doing what he was doing. I feel like this story would have benefited greatly from ruthless editing, because it was vastly overexplained which made it feel way longer and more boring than it actually was. Giving little hints and nods and little clever half answers would have been so much more immersive than what we got here and the weak or nonexistent reasons for the main character to do what he did would not have been so glaring if it wasn’t so dragged out. The ending was weak and so predictable it hurt, which was the final nail in this story’s coffin.
Jonah’s Daughter by Adam Callaway - 4✩ - I was a bit mad at it at the very start since it throws you in deep with no lifeline and you just have to try and understand what’s going on and it was really confusing. I read the first few paragraphs a few times before I fully understood what’s happening and where we are. I think it is fine to start in the middle and have the reader kind of flounder a bit and find their own way in a story BUT, confuse them with plot and character relationships, NOT techno babble. In this case the main confusion was in that there were a lot of fancy terminology used and I had no idea what any of it meant so it was extremely difficult to understand what the hell is going on and what is the setup. Once I got through that, it was quite an interesting and enjoyable read although I have some issues with how the main character’s motivations that lead to the events and conflicts of the story were developed (or, more accurately, not developed) and the techno babble persisted throughout the story not becoming any clearer.
I guess I said a lot of bad and not much of good for a story rated quite highly, especially compared with the others here, but I really don’t have much to say. I felt really strongly about the issues I brought up and yet they did not spoil the experience of the story for me and I ended up enjoying it nonetheless, so make of that what you will.
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas - 3✩ - it’s a cute little story, one of those that feel like something I have already read somewhere before, but still enjoyable. It is written in a voice of a little girl and I think it really does a fine job of it. However, I have absolutely no idea what qualifies it as a sci-fi story. I was extremely confused by its presence here.
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler - 3✩ - after reading the title and thinking of orange the fruit rather than orange the colour I expected a quirky fun Douglas Adams-ish story, but got a depressing one instead. I liked it though, showing character growth in a short story is not an easy task and it was accomplished here, so kudos.
Afterword by Mike Murphy - 2✩ - not sure where’s the science fiction again. Also, not to be unkind, but it kind of reminds me of a story I wrote when I was about ten - a lot of things happen, all of which was inspired by other things, but there is no real idea behind it other than “let me write a story where this happens”.
Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian - 2✩ - SPOILERS! - I sort of knew where it was going, only the ending got to the same place in a bit of a different way than I initially thought. I was sure the storyline of the man in love will end badly and thought the guy would change his mind and have his memories wiped after all. Turns out, the girl he was into was the one on the operating table and was getting her memory wiped, including the guy. My anticipated version of the ending is more predictable and not very original, but also more logical. Here, the girl is a prostitute who wipes her memories in pursuit of a better job and the guy had no idea that that’s what she was so riddle me this - if she was a prostitute, how did the guy not get that? If she was having sex with him not as part of her job but for pleasure/fun, why would she delete the memory of him together with the memories of her occupation? The only explanation I can work out is that the technology cannot be that exact and erases everything, but then it was a) not communicated all that clearly and b) that would NOT be a procedure anyone other than people with extreme trauma would undergo ever if it’s an all or nothing type of deal. So the ending came off just illogical and kind of silly as is.
Honeybun by Austin Malone - 5✩ - saying that I was underwhelmed by this anthology would be a gross understatement, so finding this story here was like finding a nugget of gold in a pile of sh*t. It was fun and fresh and not predictable and had more than one good idea there and made me really wish that there would be more of it and I could read what happens next. No other story here did anything even close to that.
False Lights by Victoria Hooper - 3✩ - it was fine, I dunno. The characters were flat, the implications of things happening in the story are not very clear and to be honest I could not really bring myself to give a toss. The idea of this Bermuda Triangle type of area in space is great, but nothing was developed enough for it to make sense or make me care.
Only Darkness by David Emery - 4✩ - I liked it almost despite myself. The main character was at times quite annoying, especially in his descriptions of the love interest. It was very “men writing women” type of situation and I am not one to point something like that often, it has to really bother me for me to notice and point it out. But it had a good premise, a nice surprise ending and great flow, so there you have it.
June 30, 2023
As a member and a huge fan of The Sword and Laser book club, I'm happy to have finally purchased and read their anthology. The Sword and Laser is a fantasy and science fiction book club (sword representing fantasy, laser representing sci-fi) right here on Goodreads, the largest book club on Goodreads. Though it's more than just a book club. Co-hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt manage the book club but also run a podcast and share YouTube videos interviewing authors, such as: George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Hugh Howey, and many more, while also providing news and tech updates in the world of fantasy and sci-fi. Formerly on the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel they are now completely funded by Patreon (a place, akin to Kickstarter, where members can continuously support work they love).
With Veronica's love of fantasy and Tom's love of sci-fi, they merged to provide an awesome place for fellow lovers of fantasy and sci-fi to gather. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Veronica and Tom at the 2014 Nerdtacular convention in Salt Lake City, this past June. I'm a bit of a fan. So when the two of them announced that they wanted to do an anthology of stories submitted by Goodreads' book club members and having gotten a forward on the book from my absolute favorite author, Patrick Rothfuss, I was all in. Rothfuss said it best in his forward, it really is the coolest thing that Veronica and Tom would use their platform to highlight up and coming authors, in what is the very competitive world of publishing. Seriously, if you are a lover of either fantasy or sci-fi, The Sword and Laser is the place to be.
Still I don't read many anthologies. I've picked up a few but not as many as I should. Hell, it was short stories that made me fall in love with reading in the first place (ahem... 'The Cask of Amontillado' and anything else by Poe). But I was still nervous to try this one out. I venture more to the side of fantasy, than sci-fi. I have a weird relationship with sci-fi. All my life it's been one of my favorite film genres (if not the favorite), with most of my favorite movies falling in the realm of sci-fi (ie Aliens, Blade Runner, The Matrix). But when written, I struggle with the often overly tech-y talk and thus am picky about my sci-fi reading. I don't mean to be, nor want to be. It just is what it is. Now fantasy, take me anywhere and I'll follow along. With the anthology split up in two parts, 10 fantasy stories and 10 sci-fi stories, I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed the fantasy more but I was surprised that there were quite a few sci-fi stories I enjoyed.
Some of my favorite stories include:
- Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw
- The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed
- The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen
- Afterword by Mike Murphy
- Honeybun by Austin Malone
Honestly, I was really surprised, but more excited, by the level of quality stories in this anthology. And boy is there a great sense of humor, only a geek could offer, in so many of these tales. I felt myself chuckling, being caught off guard by twists, and, more importantly, connected to the characters in this anthology - some just in the first paragraph of reading them. The talent here on Goodreads is not to be questioned, that's for sure.
With Veronica's love of fantasy and Tom's love of sci-fi, they merged to provide an awesome place for fellow lovers of fantasy and sci-fi to gather. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Veronica and Tom at the 2014 Nerdtacular convention in Salt Lake City, this past June. I'm a bit of a fan. So when the two of them announced that they wanted to do an anthology of stories submitted by Goodreads' book club members and having gotten a forward on the book from my absolute favorite author, Patrick Rothfuss, I was all in. Rothfuss said it best in his forward, it really is the coolest thing that Veronica and Tom would use their platform to highlight up and coming authors, in what is the very competitive world of publishing. Seriously, if you are a lover of either fantasy or sci-fi, The Sword and Laser is the place to be.
Still I don't read many anthologies. I've picked up a few but not as many as I should. Hell, it was short stories that made me fall in love with reading in the first place (ahem... 'The Cask of Amontillado' and anything else by Poe). But I was still nervous to try this one out. I venture more to the side of fantasy, than sci-fi. I have a weird relationship with sci-fi. All my life it's been one of my favorite film genres (if not the favorite), with most of my favorite movies falling in the realm of sci-fi (ie Aliens, Blade Runner, The Matrix). But when written, I struggle with the often overly tech-y talk and thus am picky about my sci-fi reading. I don't mean to be, nor want to be. It just is what it is. Now fantasy, take me anywhere and I'll follow along. With the anthology split up in two parts, 10 fantasy stories and 10 sci-fi stories, I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed the fantasy more but I was surprised that there were quite a few sci-fi stories I enjoyed.
Some of my favorite stories include:
- Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw
- The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed
- The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen
- Afterword by Mike Murphy
- Honeybun by Austin Malone
Honestly, I was really surprised, but more excited, by the level of quality stories in this anthology. And boy is there a great sense of humor, only a geek could offer, in so many of these tales. I felt myself chuckling, being caught off guard by twists, and, more importantly, connected to the characters in this anthology - some just in the first paragraph of reading them. The talent here on Goodreads is not to be questioned, that's for sure.
May 27, 2022
Whilst 4 stars may be overrated when compared to those I'd give 4*s to for professional authors, I've given this 4 stars because this is enthusiasts having a first go at putting something out there / you buy this knowing that; so the criteria by which I'd rate it is different.
There's a great collection of stories, with some really imaginative ideas. Some are fantastic by any criteria, some a little lacking; but it's an enjoyable read, and great to see people having a go.
There's a great collection of stories, with some really imaginative ideas. Some are fantastic by any criteria, some a little lacking; but it's an enjoyable read, and great to see people having a go.
June 27, 2024
Unfortunately, this anthology didn't entirely work for me. I am a big fan of both genres but for some reason, the short stories fell flat. The fantasy stories (Sword) didn't feel fantasy enough, and the sci-fi ones (Laser) were a tad boring. Note: I skipped one fantasy story due to the author's bad behavior (Paul Kreuger).
April 17, 2022
I had a great time reading one short story a day for 20 days, and I was overall quite impressed with the collection. My personal favorites were White Flame and Partly Petrified- The anthology is a fun collection of works from authors I had not read from before.
October 23, 2017
Fantastic collection of short stories. I was particularly enamored by the scifi collection.
October 10, 2018
A fantastic buffet of science fiction and fantasy storytelling. Definite stands out for me where Aaron's Dorie, David Ebert and Day Al-Mohamed.
December 16, 2019
Finally read after 1/2 a decade on my Kindle.
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