What do you think?
Rate this book
Legenda Maris
The sea... restless, eerie, all-powerful and mysterious – occasionally she reveals her secrets.
Legenda Maris comprises eleven tales of the ocean and her denizens, including two that are original to this collection – ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Land’s End, The Edge of The Sea’ – which were among the last stories Tanith Lee wrote. In this treasure chest of tales, the author works her beguiling, linguistic sorcery to conjure mermaids who are as deadly as they are lovely, the hidden coves of lonely fishing villages harbouring mysteries, and fantastical ships that haunt the waves. She explores the relationship between the sea and the land, and the occasional meetings between those who dwell above and below the waters – meetings that are sometimes wondrous and sometimes fatal, often both.
Contents:
Girls in Green Dresses
Magritte’s Secret Agent
Paper Boat
Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest
Under Fog (The Wreckers)
The Sea Was In Her Eyes
Because Our Skins Are Finer
Leviathan
Where Does the Town Go At Night?
Xoanon, Land’s End, The Edge of the Sea
Legenda Maris comprises eleven tales of the ocean and her denizens, including two that are original to this collection – ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Land’s End, The Edge of The Sea’ – which were among the last stories Tanith Lee wrote. In this treasure chest of tales, the author works her beguiling, linguistic sorcery to conjure mermaids who are as deadly as they are lovely, the hidden coves of lonely fishing villages harbouring mysteries, and fantastical ships that haunt the waves. She explores the relationship between the sea and the land, and the occasional meetings between those who dwell above and below the waters – meetings that are sometimes wondrous and sometimes fatal, often both.
Contents:
Girls in Green Dresses
Magritte’s Secret Agent
Paper Boat
Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest
Under Fog (The Wreckers)
The Sea Was In Her Eyes
Because Our Skins Are Finer
Leviathan
Where Does the Town Go At Night?
Xoanon, Land’s End, The Edge of the Sea
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2015
4 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Tanith Lee
615 books1,964 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 15, 2019
Legenda Maris is another testament to the genius that was Tanith Lee.
Her eleven tales about the ocean leave me breathless. So much beauty in her words I cannot even begin the describe how she makes me feel.
As usual I took my time with this anthology, treating it like a very fine wine and only taking little sips.
f/f
Themes: the sea, mermaids, sailors, monsters and mortals.
5 stars
Her eleven tales about the ocean leave me breathless. So much beauty in her words I cannot even begin the describe how she makes me feel.
As usual I took my time with this anthology, treating it like a very fine wine and only taking little sips.
f/f
Themes: the sea, mermaids, sailors, monsters and mortals.
5 stars
June 28, 2019
From the Introduction to ‘Legenda Maris’
‘Legenda Maris’ is the first of a series of themed short story colections that Tanith Lee planned to publish through Immanion Press. Tanith died on 24th May 2015 at the age of 67. We see the publication of this book as our tribute to a remarkable author…While some of these stories have been in print before, Tanith always ensured that any new collection of her work included unpublished pieces. The new tales in this book were written only a few months ago, and are among the last she wrote…In this work particularly, the only recurring protagonist is the sea. And the sound of it, the smell of it, permeates every story.
The new stories in this book, ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Land’s Edge, The Edge Of The Sea’, were written when Tanith was aware she didn’t have much time left in this life, and this makes them particularly poignant. They explore passing and change, but also eternity and cycles, the sureness of life, as well as its ebb and flow.
The cover was created from an original collage by Tanith…Tanith’s husband, John Kaiin, then worked on the picture some more to create the beautiful finished image that now adorns this book.
– Storm Constantine 16th June 2015
“Though we come and go, and pass into the shadows, here we leave behind us stories told – on paper, on the wings of butterflies, on the wind, on the hearts of others – there we are remembered, there we work magic and great change – passing on the fire like a torch – forever and forever. Till the sky falls, and all things are flawless and need no words at all.”
Tanith Lee
Like many, I’ve always had an affinity for the ocean and a childish fascination with mermaids. I love the water. I was thrilled to find out Tanith Lee had an anthology dedicated to the sea. This collection of short stories was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was just that much more special to me after realizing this was one of the last collections she worked on. The tales are inspired by sea folklore, and many are styled like traditional fairy tales, but enchanted with Tanith Lee’s magic touch.
The rest of my review is going to be self-indulgent. I’m posting illustrations by Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Edmund Dulac, and more....illustrations that came to mind while reading. In a better world Kay Nielsen would have illustrated Tanith Lee’s stories. His illustrations are like her prose: decadent, ornate, dark, and melancholy. Both artists were underappreciated in their lifetimes. I was thrilled when Tanith Lee referenced Kay Nielsen in one of her books (Rachaela gave Ruth a book of Kay Nielsen's illustrations in Dark Dance).
Girls in Green Dresses
Tanith's mermaids are cruel beauties, occasionally capable of small mercies. I was left wanting more, but that's part of the appeal. It seems appropriate we would only get a small glimpse into the lives of the mermaids.
They say the mermaids would come in from the sea, up the river to the lake, in spring. As salmon come in, to spawn.
And in the rays of the moon, more dreadful than any sight he ever saw before or after, Elrahn made out the skull and bones, and something of the body, what had been left of it...lying there on his own fine coat with the brass buttons, with the gold-painted string of bait tangled between.
He flowed with the currents, and in the company of Trisaphee. And now and then he saw not only that she was beautiful but that she was a living thing, and even under the lake she breathed, as he did, and was not made of glass or water.
But before he could attempt a single thing with her, she suddenly let him go, and floated from him with a look so sad and ancient now, he believed at last she was old as the oceans and full of sorrow, and the salt in her was not only sea but unshed tears.
The Sea Was In Her Eyes
That night a storm came up out of the sea, boiling and black. It put out the stars and smashed the plate of the moon. That done, it scanned about for something to harm, but though the land was not far off, it did not want the land. Then, it saw a ship dancing along, rigged with clouds, and with lights shining from the portholes and in the lanterns, and under the howl of the wind fluttered the notes of a piano.
"I'll have you," said the storm, and flung itself forward, kicking the waves from its path.
But in the dark, just as the last light in his brain was going out, he felt a cool warmth pressed all the length of his body, and through the shadow saw a naked woman held him, while her hair swirled round them through the currents like a huge flag.
They told his strangest tale. Of a woman in the sea who drew them up from the ocean and hung them out like her washing on the bars and stays and wreckage of the ship.
"And her, we've lost the young lady-" cried another. But when he said this, the rest shushed him. "She was no girl or maid or lady."
"What then? What?"
"The sea she was."
At first she seemed plain, but very graceful. Then she seemed lovely, and then beautiful. At last she seemed the only living living thing, so that if a bird exquisitely sang, somehow it was Elaidh, and when it flew, it was Elaidh. And the dawn was Elaidh, and the evening star, and the moon.
When he came back near evening, Elaidh was not there. He searched a long while, even standing at the edge of the dark blue sea, calling her. But she was gone. She was gone for good.
The ocean is not made of tears, though one might think it. No, it is the other way about, for the water of the sea is in us, in our blood, and when we cry, we cry the sea's own salt water.
For I think I shall never meet the lovely girl again, she that was the evening star to me, and the flight of a bird. She that I forgot then, as I forget now how to play my piano, and everything-but her."
And since she is half mermaid, how will I notice that?
As I did, my son, if I'd looked as I should. For though she shed no single tear, the sea was in her eyes."
Favorite Stories: Girls in Green Dresses, Paper Boat, The Sea Was In Her Eyes, Because Our Skins Are Finer, Leviathon
July 4, 2016
It is always difficult to review a collection, because always there are going to be some you liked better than others and in this case there were some I five star loved, and a few I was two star indifferent to, the rating averaged out.
It is also really difficult to review an author who was one of your first fantasy loves, as Tanith Lee was for me. She opened literary doors to fantasy worlds that I hadn't known were there. It is consequently really, really difficult to give her anything except five stars, purely on sentiment. Putting aside sentiment however, some of her writing is variable and I want to be honest.
One of the boasts of this collection is that there are two 'never before published stories' and while this is a worthy goal, sentimental ect it was unimpressive as a reading experience at they are so short as to barely count as stories. One is three pages long and the other less than two pages. They barely even register as stories, and yes I know it was toward the end of her life and they have a value in that, but, still.
Some of the other stories I have read before and was delighted to do so again, others I had never encountered, many of them I loved.
In Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest, there is a slow cunning buildup of tension and plot that builds up to a conclusion that feels simultaneously totally foreseeable and utterly unexpected.
Two others; Girls in Green Dresses and Where Does The Town Go At Night, are magical, haunting, mythic in feel and beautifully written.
Disclaimer, I did not read Kindle. I read a book. Sometimes it is just too difficult to correct this.
It is also really difficult to review an author who was one of your first fantasy loves, as Tanith Lee was for me. She opened literary doors to fantasy worlds that I hadn't known were there. It is consequently really, really difficult to give her anything except five stars, purely on sentiment. Putting aside sentiment however, some of her writing is variable and I want to be honest.
One of the boasts of this collection is that there are two 'never before published stories' and while this is a worthy goal, sentimental ect it was unimpressive as a reading experience at they are so short as to barely count as stories. One is three pages long and the other less than two pages. They barely even register as stories, and yes I know it was toward the end of her life and they have a value in that, but, still.
Some of the other stories I have read before and was delighted to do so again, others I had never encountered, many of them I loved.
In Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest, there is a slow cunning buildup of tension and plot that builds up to a conclusion that feels simultaneously totally foreseeable and utterly unexpected.
Two others; Girls in Green Dresses and Where Does The Town Go At Night, are magical, haunting, mythic in feel and beautifully written.
Disclaimer, I did not read Kindle. I read a book. Sometimes it is just too difficult to correct this.
January 1, 2016
Tanith Lee was a mad genius. These stories feel like dreams. Beautiful, terrifying, surreal. When you are in them, it is, for reasons you can't quite articulate, uncomfortable and you want to get away. When you are out of them, there is some indescribable *thing* that makes you want to go back. Over and over and over again.
August 8, 2016
"Legenda Maris" is a anthology of Tainth Lee's stories that feature the sea or its denizens. Of course there are tales of mermaids, and their offspring with mortal men and women. But there are far more tales than those that deal with merkind. There is a tale of a portion of a seaside town that seems to go sailing on and under the sea on certain nights, and those special people who wake to experience the journey. Then there is a story of the relationship between the sea and the shore, personified for those who know where to look for it. There is a village where the visitor can learn of their legend of a lost boat which fell from the sky. And a short story about the island special to Leviathan, where it goes to slumber upon the shore.
This anthology by the late great mistress of fantasy is mostly composed of pre-published work, but contains two tales written for this book. These were among the final works Ms. Lee gave us. All of her stories are interesting and often give the reader unexpected vistas of wonder. Some tend toward darkness, but overall the collection tends more toward fantasy than horror. Definitely worth reading, especially for those who are fascinated with the sea.
This anthology by the late great mistress of fantasy is mostly composed of pre-published work, but contains two tales written for this book. These were among the final works Ms. Lee gave us. All of her stories are interesting and often give the reader unexpected vistas of wonder. Some tend toward darkness, but overall the collection tends more toward fantasy than horror. Definitely worth reading, especially for those who are fascinated with the sea.
Read
April 25, 2020I'm always looking for more mer-people fiction, so this short story collection was a nice way to finally read some Tanith Lee. The language is sometimes clunky, with oddly arranged sentences, and I can't tell if that is consistent with her the larger body of her work (this appears a lot in the collection I'm currently reading, Cold Grey Stones, as well), or if it's a stylistic attempt at capturing the anachronistic voices of distant worlds. Anyway, I don't think it always works.
REGARDLESS, there are some really imaginative stories in here, and even they weren't life-changing (oh, if only Angela Carter lived longer and wrote more!), I enjoyed inhabiting Lee's sea-green submarine world for a little while.
REGARDLESS, there are some really imaginative stories in here, and even they weren't life-changing (oh, if only Angela Carter lived longer and wrote more!), I enjoyed inhabiting Lee's sea-green submarine world for a little while.
May 14, 2020
So this is Tanith Lee's anthology of stories themed around the sea, featuring mermaids, sailors, selkies, leviathans etc... My biggest surprise is that it doesn't feature "The mermaid" which I would have thought fitted this perfectly, but hey I have it elsewhere.
Stories are a mixed bag. Easily my favourite is "Where does the town go at night?" which is a wonderful blend of whimsy (a moving city) and religious dogma (alluding to the idea of the rapture) - This one is Lee at her finest. "Magritte's Secret Agent", based on the surrealist painting is again wonderful, I love the realism of the characters mixed in with the gothic and the fantastic. "Paper-Boat" is a fictionalised retelling of the death of the romantic poet Shelley and anyone who likes the films Gothic, Rowing with the Wind, Haunted Summer, and Mary Shelley will love this one. I liked the mysterious Xoanon and the romantic Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest, which feels like something out of Cyrion.
Some however eluded me. I did not get 'Leviathan' at all, despite its brevity and didn't see the point in Land's End, the edge of the sea.
Overall though this is a great showcase for Lee's versatility - we get fantasy, historical, gothic, horror with drawing inspiration from art, literature, and very real places and people. I also love the cover art on this which is a copy of an original collage of Lee's and really manages to capture the spirit of this.
Stories are a mixed bag. Easily my favourite is "Where does the town go at night?" which is a wonderful blend of whimsy (a moving city) and religious dogma (alluding to the idea of the rapture) - This one is Lee at her finest. "Magritte's Secret Agent", based on the surrealist painting is again wonderful, I love the realism of the characters mixed in with the gothic and the fantastic. "Paper-Boat" is a fictionalised retelling of the death of the romantic poet Shelley and anyone who likes the films Gothic, Rowing with the Wind, Haunted Summer, and Mary Shelley will love this one. I liked the mysterious Xoanon and the romantic Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest, which feels like something out of Cyrion.
Some however eluded me. I did not get 'Leviathan' at all, despite its brevity and didn't see the point in Land's End, the edge of the sea.
Overall though this is a great showcase for Lee's versatility - we get fantasy, historical, gothic, horror with drawing inspiration from art, literature, and very real places and people. I also love the cover art on this which is a copy of an original collage of Lee's and really manages to capture the spirit of this.
November 2, 2020
Read for group Women of the Future.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Some I loved, but others left me feeling bemused.
Not excited to try more by the author.
Ymmv, of course.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Some I loved, but others left me feeling bemused.
Not excited to try more by the author.
Ymmv, of course.
November 5, 2020
My thoughts are collected here in this buddy read. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
June 26, 2021
A collection of stories themed around the sea...
1. Girls in Green Dresses (2000) ⭐⭐⭐
2. Magritte’s Secret Agent (1981) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Paper Boat (1978) ⭐⭐⭐
4. Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest (2008) ⭐⭐⭐
5. Under Fog (The Wreckers) (2008) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. The Sea Was In Her Eyes (2004) ⭐⭐⭐
7. Because Our Skins Are Finer (1981) ⭐⭐⭐
8. Leviathan ⭐⭐
9. Where Does the Town Go At Night? (1999) ⭐⭐⭐
10. Xoanon (2004) ⭐⭐⭐
11. Land's End, The Edge of the Sea ⭐⭐⭐
1. Girls in Green Dresses (2000) ⭐⭐⭐
2. Magritte’s Secret Agent (1981) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Paper Boat (1978) ⭐⭐⭐
4. Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest (2008) ⭐⭐⭐
5. Under Fog (The Wreckers) (2008) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. The Sea Was In Her Eyes (2004) ⭐⭐⭐
7. Because Our Skins Are Finer (1981) ⭐⭐⭐
8. Leviathan ⭐⭐
9. Where Does the Town Go At Night? (1999) ⭐⭐⭐
10. Xoanon (2004) ⭐⭐⭐
11. Land's End, The Edge of the Sea ⭐⭐⭐
July 10, 2016
A great selection of stories with a marine theme by one very underrated author. Tanith Lee was showed her craftmanship as a writer much better on the short story form in my opinion, and in all these tales she exudes all the talents that made me fall in love with her writing years ago: multifaceted characters, intriguing storylines, eerie atmospheres and a master use of the English language. You usually get a few duds on short story collections, but all of them are among her best and I read the book very quickly.
The stories range from the 1970s to two previously unpublished stories, so you get a fine view of her growth as a writer. Among the best are Because Our Skins Are Finer, Where Does The Town Go At Night, Magritte's Secret Agent or Under Fog (The Wreckers). The two new short stories, written while she was terminally ill with cancer, are basically philosophical vignettes on how she viewed eternity, so they are pretty touching. A shame she is no longer with us, she'll be sorely missed.
The stories range from the 1970s to two previously unpublished stories, so you get a fine view of her growth as a writer. Among the best are Because Our Skins Are Finer, Where Does The Town Go At Night, Magritte's Secret Agent or Under Fog (The Wreckers). The two new short stories, written while she was terminally ill with cancer, are basically philosophical vignettes on how she viewed eternity, so they are pretty touching. A shame she is no longer with us, she'll be sorely missed.
September 7, 2015
gah... my heart.
January 13, 2016
Unbearably indescribably beautiful! (At least by inarticulate me
December 9, 2020
LEGENDA MARIS is a collection of stories themed around the sea by the late, great Tanith Lee. I actually read it a couple of weeks after finishing another collection of Lee’s stories, DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT, which I wouldn’t normally have done, but it was chosen as a Buddy Read in one of my groups and I couldn’t resist. Two stories I had already read in DREAMS OF DARK AND NIGHT, but the rest I was coming to for the first time. The book certainly didn’t disappointment. It had all the classic Lee qualities – striking imagery, beautiful use of language, etc. - and there was a special poignancy in reading it, as according to the introduction, it was the last book she worked on before she died.
That said, I don’t think it was quite as good as DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT, which I couldn’t help comparing it to for obvious reasons. I enjoyed the stories very much, but taken as a whole, I think the quality was slightly lower. Also, because this book was a lot shorter, there wasn’t the same opportunity to showcase her versatility as a writer. It was certainly better thought out, however. Not only do the stories share a common theme, but they flow logically into each other, beginning with a birth and ending in a place where the borders between life and death are blurred.
As I said, the stories all feature the sea in some way, but each has its own unique take on it. In some it is a haven for mythical creatures, while in others, it is a destroyer of ships or a murderer of 19th century poets. There is also lot of variation in location and time period, so the book is never repetitive. The world building is excellent and all kinds of themes are covered, including love, otherness, loneliness, family, beauty, racism, sexism, exploitation, despair, life, death and renewal.
As with so much of Lee’s work, the best of the stories in the book had a haunting quality that left me feeling as if they might have ben part of some fantastical dream. Here are my thoughts on my top picks, minus MAGRITTE’S SECRET AGENT, which I talked about in my review of DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)…
GIRLS IN GREEN DRESSES
The first story in the book, which I feel sets the tone perfectly for what comes after. It is about a man, Elrahn, who is cast out by his family because of his strange appearance and joins a travelling freak show. Life with the show is not bad, but when a fellow performer he has become involved with leaves to marry, he loses interest in it. The show-master then takes him to the shore of a lake to try and capture a mermaid. They manage to find two mermaids, but things do not go well and Elrahn ends up being dragged down into the lake and imprisoned by one of them. At first she treats him like a pet, then the dynamic of their relationship starts to change…
I have always liked the idea of mermaids, so it’s not surprising this story was a favorite of mine. Lee’s mermaids are nothing like the Disney version, however. They are a race of proud warrior women who feed on human men and horde treasure. One of the key themes in the story is otherness, particularly in terms of Elrahn. He is treated as an outsider by humankind because of his unusual appearance and is even more out of place amongst the mermaids. The irony is if it wasn’t for his appearance, he would have ended up being killed by the mermaids instead of just imprisoned. Elrahn is an intriguing character, who felt nuanced and real. You sympathize with him at the start because life has dealt him a difficult hand, but your feelings to start to change when he lets himself be talked into helping the show-master catch a mermaid. It’s hard to feel sorry for a man who ends up being captured because he was trying to capture someone else. Love and family are also key themes in the story, and the ending (which I won’t spoil) is very moving.
LACE-MAKER, BLADETAKER, GRAVEBREAKER, PRIEST
This is a classic Lee story… timeless and dreamlike. It is about two compelling, but mysterious men who meet on a passenger ship and take an instant dislike to each other. The first is the flamboyant Prince Mhikal Vendrei, the son of a wealthy landowner who is apparently trying to turn over a new leaf after falling into a lifestyle of wild excess. The other is called Zephyrin and claims to be a cavalry officer. They are continually at each other’s throats and eventually Vendrei challenges Zephyrin to a duel after an argument over a game of cards. Before they can fight, however, the ship sinks in a terrible storm. Vendrei and Zephyrin manage to swim ashore with a few of the others and immediately start arguing again. They are determined to go ahead with their duel, but have both lost their swords, so set out in different directions in search of weapons with unexpected consequences. By the end, we learn that their pasts are in fact intertwined and what they are really feeling for each other may not be hatred after all.
It’s a fun story with a twist ending which I didn’t see coming, but which flowed logically from what comes before. The mystery about Vendrei and Zephyrin immediately draws you and Lee does a great job of building tension as the relationship between them deteriorates. They are both great characters – quirky and memorable. They really came to life for me and their constant bickering provided some nice comic moments. What I thought was particularly impressive about the story, however, was the way Lee managed to move it along at a fast pace, while also building an immersive environment. It is a wonderful showcase for her talents as a writer and will definitely stay with me.
WHERE DOES THE TOWN GO AT NIGHT?
This story begins with a man called Anton Gregeris arriving in a town by the sea to visit an ex-girlfriend, Marthe, and their child, and being accosted by a beggar. Anton offers the man some money to try to get rid of him, but the man won’t leave him alone and eventually persuades Anton to join him for a drink. The beggar then tells Anton a strange tale of how he has woken up several times to find that the town has broken away from the land around it and set sail across the sea. Anton doesn’t believe him and sets off for his meeting with Marthe, but as the night progresses he is forced to reevaluate the situation.
That brief description probably doesn’t do the story justice, but hopefully you get the general idea. It’s a quirky, surreal fantasy and I loved every minute. The basic premise of a town that can travel around is absurd on the face of it, but Lee makes it work, creating dreamlike images that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It has a twist ending and there is even a mermaid, which ties in nicely with other stories in the collection and was definitely a plus for me (as I said earlier, I’m a big mermaid fan). There is another side to the story, however… a side that shines a spotlight on Anton’s relationship with Marthe. I really got a sense of their characters and the dynamic between them. Both are flawed, but Anton comes across particularly badly, as he obviously sees his son as an inconvenience and is resentful about having to support him. Only in the face of a bizarre and unprecedented event does he truly start to face up to his responsibilities as a father. In summary, this a story where fantasy and family meet, vividly brought to life by Lee’s vibrant, poetic prose. A definite pearl.
***
I’m not going to go into detail about the rest of the stories, though I also really enjoyed UNDER FOG (THE WRECKERS), which is about the inhabitants of a village who get a terrible comeuppance for their practice of luring ships to their destruction for profit, and THE SEA WAS IN HER EYES, a sequel to GIRLS IN GREEN DRESSES in which Elrahn’s daughter, Elaidh rescues a prince from a sinking ship and has a relationship with him, which is short lived, but has long-lasting consequences. I have to admit that there were a couple of stories in the book which I thought were a little disappointing, usually because I didn’t feel the ideas were properly fleshed out, but on the whole, I really enjoyed swimming through the collection. If you already like Tanith Lee’s work, you will definitely find things to love about this book. If you’ve never sampled it before, this is a good place to start.
That said, I don’t think it was quite as good as DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT, which I couldn’t help comparing it to for obvious reasons. I enjoyed the stories very much, but taken as a whole, I think the quality was slightly lower. Also, because this book was a lot shorter, there wasn’t the same opportunity to showcase her versatility as a writer. It was certainly better thought out, however. Not only do the stories share a common theme, but they flow logically into each other, beginning with a birth and ending in a place where the borders between life and death are blurred.
As I said, the stories all feature the sea in some way, but each has its own unique take on it. In some it is a haven for mythical creatures, while in others, it is a destroyer of ships or a murderer of 19th century poets. There is also lot of variation in location and time period, so the book is never repetitive. The world building is excellent and all kinds of themes are covered, including love, otherness, loneliness, family, beauty, racism, sexism, exploitation, despair, life, death and renewal.
As with so much of Lee’s work, the best of the stories in the book had a haunting quality that left me feeling as if they might have ben part of some fantastical dream. Here are my thoughts on my top picks, minus MAGRITTE’S SECRET AGENT, which I talked about in my review of DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)…
GIRLS IN GREEN DRESSES
The first story in the book, which I feel sets the tone perfectly for what comes after. It is about a man, Elrahn, who is cast out by his family because of his strange appearance and joins a travelling freak show. Life with the show is not bad, but when a fellow performer he has become involved with leaves to marry, he loses interest in it. The show-master then takes him to the shore of a lake to try and capture a mermaid. They manage to find two mermaids, but things do not go well and Elrahn ends up being dragged down into the lake and imprisoned by one of them. At first she treats him like a pet, then the dynamic of their relationship starts to change…
I have always liked the idea of mermaids, so it’s not surprising this story was a favorite of mine. Lee’s mermaids are nothing like the Disney version, however. They are a race of proud warrior women who feed on human men and horde treasure. One of the key themes in the story is otherness, particularly in terms of Elrahn. He is treated as an outsider by humankind because of his unusual appearance and is even more out of place amongst the mermaids. The irony is if it wasn’t for his appearance, he would have ended up being killed by the mermaids instead of just imprisoned. Elrahn is an intriguing character, who felt nuanced and real. You sympathize with him at the start because life has dealt him a difficult hand, but your feelings to start to change when he lets himself be talked into helping the show-master catch a mermaid. It’s hard to feel sorry for a man who ends up being captured because he was trying to capture someone else. Love and family are also key themes in the story, and the ending (which I won’t spoil) is very moving.
LACE-MAKER, BLADETAKER, GRAVEBREAKER, PRIEST
This is a classic Lee story… timeless and dreamlike. It is about two compelling, but mysterious men who meet on a passenger ship and take an instant dislike to each other. The first is the flamboyant Prince Mhikal Vendrei, the son of a wealthy landowner who is apparently trying to turn over a new leaf after falling into a lifestyle of wild excess. The other is called Zephyrin and claims to be a cavalry officer. They are continually at each other’s throats and eventually Vendrei challenges Zephyrin to a duel after an argument over a game of cards. Before they can fight, however, the ship sinks in a terrible storm. Vendrei and Zephyrin manage to swim ashore with a few of the others and immediately start arguing again. They are determined to go ahead with their duel, but have both lost their swords, so set out in different directions in search of weapons with unexpected consequences. By the end, we learn that their pasts are in fact intertwined and what they are really feeling for each other may not be hatred after all.
It’s a fun story with a twist ending which I didn’t see coming, but which flowed logically from what comes before. The mystery about Vendrei and Zephyrin immediately draws you and Lee does a great job of building tension as the relationship between them deteriorates. They are both great characters – quirky and memorable. They really came to life for me and their constant bickering provided some nice comic moments. What I thought was particularly impressive about the story, however, was the way Lee managed to move it along at a fast pace, while also building an immersive environment. It is a wonderful showcase for her talents as a writer and will definitely stay with me.
WHERE DOES THE TOWN GO AT NIGHT?
This story begins with a man called Anton Gregeris arriving in a town by the sea to visit an ex-girlfriend, Marthe, and their child, and being accosted by a beggar. Anton offers the man some money to try to get rid of him, but the man won’t leave him alone and eventually persuades Anton to join him for a drink. The beggar then tells Anton a strange tale of how he has woken up several times to find that the town has broken away from the land around it and set sail across the sea. Anton doesn’t believe him and sets off for his meeting with Marthe, but as the night progresses he is forced to reevaluate the situation.
That brief description probably doesn’t do the story justice, but hopefully you get the general idea. It’s a quirky, surreal fantasy and I loved every minute. The basic premise of a town that can travel around is absurd on the face of it, but Lee makes it work, creating dreamlike images that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It has a twist ending and there is even a mermaid, which ties in nicely with other stories in the collection and was definitely a plus for me (as I said earlier, I’m a big mermaid fan). There is another side to the story, however… a side that shines a spotlight on Anton’s relationship with Marthe. I really got a sense of their characters and the dynamic between them. Both are flawed, but Anton comes across particularly badly, as he obviously sees his son as an inconvenience and is resentful about having to support him. Only in the face of a bizarre and unprecedented event does he truly start to face up to his responsibilities as a father. In summary, this a story where fantasy and family meet, vividly brought to life by Lee’s vibrant, poetic prose. A definite pearl.
***
I’m not going to go into detail about the rest of the stories, though I also really enjoyed UNDER FOG (THE WRECKERS), which is about the inhabitants of a village who get a terrible comeuppance for their practice of luring ships to their destruction for profit, and THE SEA WAS IN HER EYES, a sequel to GIRLS IN GREEN DRESSES in which Elrahn’s daughter, Elaidh rescues a prince from a sinking ship and has a relationship with him, which is short lived, but has long-lasting consequences. I have to admit that there were a couple of stories in the book which I thought were a little disappointing, usually because I didn’t feel the ideas were properly fleshed out, but on the whole, I really enjoyed swimming through the collection. If you already like Tanith Lee’s work, you will definitely find things to love about this book. If you’ve never sampled it before, this is a good place to start.
July 20, 2024
A collection of fantasy short stories linked by ocean settings, merfolk, otherwordliness and loss, remoteness, death, and the murky, mist-laden borders between realities. Lee writes dreamily and somehow without burdening the reader. Unfortunately the two new stories (five pages total) are non-events.
December 3, 2019
Some really good, some not in My taste. Overall okey. A collection of mainly her never works
March 29, 2017
Some really great short stories, most were fabulous and really inventive. Tanith Lee does creativity and shock and horror so well and then she wraps it up so prettily. I just adored these sea stories.
Read
March 23, 2016Stopped reading it... not for me, I'm afraid...
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews