Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology

by Julie C. Day (Editor), Carina Bissett (Editor), Craig Laurance Gidney (Editor)

Sixteen new stories from some of today’s most renowned authors. All inspired by the master storyteller Tanith Lee.

Drowning cities and unicorns. Burning deserts and forgotten gods. Golems, elf warriors, and inner-Earthers. Alien lifeforms and museum workers. Ancient plagues and the future of humanity. The familiar and the fantastical. Each story in this anthology is both unique and compelling: from fairy-tale retellings to romance-tinged high fantasy, from nihilistic horror to gripping science fiction. Immersive, wide-ranging, and sublime, Storyteller features worlds and characters that are sure to travel with you long after the last page has been read.

Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, Maya Deane, Andy Duncan, Rocío Rincón Fernández , Theodora Goss, CL Hellisen, Getty Hesse, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Starlene Justice, Amelia Mangan, Michael Yuya Montroy, Marisca Pichette, Nisi Shawl, KT Wagner, Martha Wells

Foreword by John Kaiine. Afterword by Ann VanderMeer.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Science Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2025

About the author

Julie C. Day's novella THE RAMPANT (Aqueduct Press) is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her genre-bending debut collection, UNCOMMON MIRACLES (PS Publishing, 2018), contains some of her most beloved work. She’s also the Editor-in-Chief of the charity anthology WEIRD DREAM SOCIETY (Reckoning Press, 2020) and the forthcoming DREAMS FOR A BROKEN WORLD (2022). Julie is currently working on the mosaic novel STORIES OF DRIESCH (Vernacular Books). She’s published over forty stories in magazines such as Interzone, Split Lip Magazine, Black Static, Podcastle and the Cincinnati Review.

John Crowley describes her fiction as "strongly strange, whether happening in a sort of now in this country or in a weirdly altered past. These stories seem to be what the term American Gothic was meant for."

Some of her favorite things include loose teas, standing desks and the tricolored prevost's squirrel.

Reviews

[Varadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection. A lot in each author's style that still engaged with Tanith Lee's themes and way of looking at a story. I really enjoyed it. I miss her writing so much.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve known of Tanith Lee for decades through the science fiction community and have read and enjoyed her works off and on over the years. This tribute collection was just as thought provoking and fascinating as the woman they are honoring. However, for an author who was amongst the first and so instrumental/influential in exploring gender boundaries in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres, this anthology had the genres but was a bit bereft in the GLBTQ+ aspect. It does make me wonder whether the review request was because of who the book was honoring more so than the stories themselves?

But back to the anthology. This compilation of sixteen stories is as varied as the authors who wrote them: exploring relationships, connection to the world, connections to life beyond the world, connections to others, marriage, meaning of sentience, meaning of family and more. So much more!

The deal with short stories and novelettes is they resonate with people in different ways – little packages, big impact - so there’s no good way to list out all sixteen tales and give an opinion, and it would be an opinion. I will say however, there will be something in this collection that will make the reader giggle, cringe, step away from the book for a thought break, go “meh”, to “oh my goodness!”, and probably a few more reactions beyond that.

And that is what it is like to read Tanith Lee. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this amazing collection of tribute stories! I think it’s time for me to explore some more of Tanith’s works and a few new authors as well.

NOTE: This book was provided by the editor/Essential Dreams Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[John Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology does a fantastic job of capturing the feeling and spirit of Tanith Lee's writing.

Perhaps this style of story doesn't feel as surprising these days, but when I first read her books in the 1970s they were like nothing I had read before. Even the two Blake's 7 episodes she wrote had a strangeness to them that made them stand out from the pack.

I suspect this writing style isn't for everyone. The stories are not all easy to understand - there are a few that I still don't get even after a reread - but they are all strange and beautiful. If you like this style of writing then I cannot recommend this anthology highly enough.

[RBR]

I’ve known of Tanith Lee for decades through the science fiction community and have read and enjoyed her works off and on over the years. This tribute collection was just as thought provoking and fascinating as the woman they are honoring. However, for an author who was amongst the first and so instrumental/influential in exploring gender boundaries in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres, this anthology had the genres but was a bit bereft in the GLBTQ+ aspect. It does make me wonder whether the review request was because of who the book was honoring more so than the stories themselves?

But back to the anthology. This compilation of sixteen stories is as varied as the authors who wrote them: exploring relationships, connection to the world, connections to life beyond the world, connections to others, marriage, meaning of sentience, meaning of family and more. So much more!

The deal with short stories and novelettes is they resonate with people in different ways – little packages, big impact - so there’s no good way to list out all sixteen tales and give an opinion, and it would be an opinion. I will say however, there will be something in this collection that will make the reader giggle, cringe, step away from the book for a thought break, go “meh”, to “oh my goodness!”, and probably a few more reactions beyond that.

And that is what it is like to read Tanith Lee. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this amazing collection of tribute stories! I think it’s time for me to explore some more of Tanith’s works and a few new authors as well.


DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book was provided by the editor for the purpose of a review.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Makers” by C.L. Hellisen is a great way to kick off this tribute anthology to Tanith Lee. A compelling story about creation (artistic and otherwise) and the ethics and power of creation in anthology about the same, while never once forgetting to be a compelling story. I loved this book from cover to cover, but wanted to share a bit about the stories that really stuck with me.

“The Jealous Wives of the Sea” by Alaya Dawn Johnson has rich worldbuilding and political intrigue that is oceans broader than the porthole we get to glance through. “Data Ghost” by Martha Wells presents a wonderful haunted space station and wrestles with the implications on rogue AI and implanted tech. “Death Valley ’71” by Amelia Mangan has a wonderful King in Yellow feeling where art consumes you and drives you mad, all with a My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult sort of soundtrack. “Another Face” by Getty Hesse may have done the most psychic damage to me. I had heard of Tanith Lee’s Flat Earth series, and was aware of them, but I didn’t know that they were so LUSH. This reminds me of Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique stories, which I adore. This story convinced me that Flat Earth needs to move sharply up my TBR, possibly to be inflicted on my book club.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since her passing in 2015 it is fair to state that Tanith Lee’s remarkable body of work in various genres has slowly been slipping away and has become mostly mislaid, a process that began even whilst she was with us, largely, I understand, due to her reluctance to bow to modern publishing business models. She was compelled to compose what she needed to without imposed strictures or the dictates of the market. This was and is very saddening, particularly for someone who has been reading her wondrous work since the late 1970s. There have, however, been a few dedicated Small Presses issuing superb new collections and long out-of-print novels, notably Immanion Press; and receiving last year’s Infinity Award was a welcome and high-profile event. Now we have Storyteller from Julie C. Day’s Essential Dreams Press, a much-anticipated volume of sixteen stories that pays tribute to the art of Tanith Lee.

‘Makers’ by CL Hellisen begins the collection with a forthright and defiant viewpoint character, Ru, and some interesting world building. From that point we are taken through a diverse set of tales, a diversity that you would expect from a collection compiled in honour of Tanith Lee. Not all the work is to my personal liking: for instance, I felt that occasionally the themes dominated the storytelling too much and washed away a bit of the wonder. I suspect, though, that this is an anthology that will reward on re-visiting.

Some of the other highlights on initial reading are: ‘After the Light Fails’, a poignant tale by Starline Justice; Andy Duncan’s clever, amusing and though-provoking ‘Criswell Predicts’; the beautiful and touching ‘Like It’s Golden’ by Nisi Shawl; the clever and horrific ‘Death Valley ‘71’ by Amelia Mangan; and finally Getty Hesse’s evocative and twisted ‘Another Face’. I would adore to read further stories set in the stark milieu created by Hesse.

The Foreword by Tanith Lee’s widower, John Kaiine, is extremely beautiful and personal, revealing details of their life together, and Ann VanderMeer’s Afterword speaks of Tanith Lee’s generosity, and as someone who contacted Tanith I can vouch for that generosity. In 1990 I began planning a booklet dedicated to her work and I wrote to Tanith asking for permission to reprint one of her stories. Not only did she send me a copy of one of the tales that I had mentioned but she also supplied photocopies of some of her artwork, all without payment, requesting only a couple of copies of the finished booklet. For such a high-profile and professional author that was generosity indeed.

Storyteller is a fine anthology, an excellent encomium, celebrating a much missed and fabulous, in every sense of the word, writer. Hopefully this publication will steer many people to re-read and discover for the first time the mislaid wonder that is Tanith Lee.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible anthology in and of itself and a wonderful tribute to the queen of fantasy, Tanith Lee.

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makers C.L. Hellisen - 4.75 / 5.0 This was beautiful and insightful. It is the beginning of a Hero’s Journey, a quick taste of magic and despotism and love, that left me feeling hopeful.

Ghost Data Martha Wells - 4.5 / 5.0 Eerie space mystery with unseen parasitical “ghosts” and an ambiguous happy end.

[Marisca Pichette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tapestry of tales and a fitting tribute.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for Martha’s story, and it is gripping from the first sentence. Martha Wells’ story is Ghost Data I did not mean to read the whole story when I started it, but I couldn’t put it down. I love the idea of a friend inside my head who I could talk to, get directions from and that it would protect me from harmful data. I would read a whole novel about Deni, Winnie and Ne’.