Mash Up: Stories Inspired by Famous First Lines

by Gardner Dozois (editor)

Pride and Prejudice meets Macbeth by way of Moby Dick and a dollop of the speculative, in this hugely entertaining anthology where authors such as John Scalzi get inspiration for short stories from the first lines of famous works of literature. Edited by hugely respected anthologist Gardner Dozois, the collection includes stories by John Scalzi, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Bear and many others.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Audiobook, Anthologies, Fiction, Speculative Fiction

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2012

About the author

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, both as an editor and a writer of short fiction.
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...

Reviews

[Blodeuedd Finland · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories inspired by first lines, and I will do it as alwys do. Talk a bit about every story.

Fireborn (Rootabaga stories) by Robert Charles Wilson
Set in the future where a war tore mankind apart, I guess. It was interesting and good, and I'd read more from this author. Though I have no idea where that first line is from.

The evening line (Pride and Prejudice) by Mike Resnick
The story is from Resnick's world, and frankly the whole story was meh.

No decent patrimony (Edward II) by Elizabeth Bear
A son talks about his dead father. Set in a world where the rich can live forever. Interesting premise.

The Big whale (Moby Dick) by Allen M Steele
A Moby Dick story about a PI. Good story.

Begone (David Copperfield) by Daryl Gregory
A man is usurped by another. Great story, I should try more from this author.

The red menace (The communist manifesto) by Lavie Tidhar
An alternative history where Soviet became Soviet first in the 30s. Maybe they did not kill 50 mil of their own people then, one can always hope. It was a scary world filled with bombs.

Muse of Fire (Henry V) by John Scalzi
A man and his strange girlfriend. I liked the twist of it all.

Writer's block (Paul Clifford) by nancy Kress
A writer with a messy life, that takes a turn for the worst. This one got interesting.

Highland Reel (McBeth) by Jack Campbell
A historical about the Highlands. Awesome story, my fav of them all.

Karen Coxswain (Huckelberry Finn) by Paul Di Filippo
A captain in hell tells her story, and I was bored.

The Lady Astronaut (The wizard of oz) by Mary Robinette Kowal
People settled on Mars and an Astronaut gets another chance. Nice story

12 Amazing story about the creation of the world...ok so this is my second fav of these stories. it was fantastic and funny.

Decleration (the decleration of independence) by James Patrick Kelly
Kids wants to live in virtual reality. I did not really get it

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was originally Rip-Off!, an Audible audiobook only. I wanted it very much but couldn't rationalize the price unless I could donate the CDs to the library, which they wouldn't accept, they sell all donations. I'm really glad it's finally out in print, and at the library. So, concept: each author took the first sentence of a favorite classic—fiction or non-fiction—and used it as inspiration for a new short story. The story could relate to the source or have nothing at all to do with it, whatever they wanted to do. By now many of these stories have turned up in "best of" collections or other locations, so I’d read several of them already. Overall, the book was OK, not my favorite anthology. I didn’t love any of the stories but most were fine, a few were good. Many of them were more intellectual than fun.

I was glad that the premise required the author bio, plus their description of their inspiration, to be before the stories for once and not after or at the end of the book. Though that's also Dozois's usual practices. I hate having to flip all over to find it and I always want to read about an unfamiliar author before I read a story. Actually, one of the best parts of the book is finding out their inspirations, sort of a mini-interview before each story. Getting a little peak into the artistic process is invaluable.

Robert Charles Wilson - Fireborn - The opening line was from one of Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories. It was a bit of an odd, somewhat stilted story about a future society on Earth that's separated between commoners/peasants and fireborn, who somehow have a way to be rejuvenated up to eleven times, for a total of twelve lives. The two young adults in the story encounter a fireborn and go and live with a camp of them for a summer, learning some lessons while there I guess. It was kind of dull.

Mike Resnick - The Evening Line - Apparently he's written a long series of stories about Harry the Book, as a tribute to Damon Runyon. This was the first time he had to use the opening line of a classic novel to start the story. He said all he needed for a Harry story was a sporting event, a dance context, something people argue and bet on, so he decided the opening line of his wife's favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, would work perfectly. In this story a guy won big time on the race track, so now will he marry, and if so, who will be the lucky gal? "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife," said Benny Fifth Street.

Fortunately or unfortunately I'm a "liberal fascist" who thought the way Resnick handled himself with the SFWA situations few years ago was disrespectful and disgusting on too many levels to go into here. And I don't have to support his work wherever I encounter it. It's a shame, this story seemed fun and normally I’d try to collect the rest of the stories in the series. But my to-read list is too long to waste my time on people who have gone way past the point where I can respectfully disagree with them. That has to begin with a foundation of respect, which he clearly doesn't have for anyone not male, white or old.

Elizabeth Bear - No Decent Patrimony - The opening line was from Christopher Marlowe's Edward II. I didn’t realize he was only twenty-nine when he died. This was a not-even-a-tiny-bit-satisfying story about the geritocracy versus the regular short-lived people in the future. One super rich guy got killed and his son/clone was killed in the car explosion. Was it an accident? There was a reporter and a lawyer and nothing actually happened until the end, and then it ended with nothing actually said or done. It basically just laid out ideas about what would happen if only rich people could live long lives, which I've seen in many other stories. Maybe it was more original in 2007 when Rip-Off came out. But it wasn't a good story in any case. How many times did the main character wonder what he had to do to get the woman who wasn't interested in him to sleep with him? Not fun.

Allen M. Steele - The Big Whale - According to his intro, Steele thinks the line between literary fiction and popular fiction is often indistinguishable, or a matter of timing. I can’t argue with that, I hate the term “literary fiction,” I think it’s bulls***. And Steele thinks if Herman Melville had lived during the 30s and 40s he might have written pulp fiction, especially mystery thrillers. He decided the first line of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale sounds like the opening of a hard-boiled detective story. So he re-wrote the story as he might have if he'd collaborated with someone like Mickey Spillane or Norvell Page. Unfortunately for the sake of comparison, I never read the novel. But the story was entertaining, with lots of other literary references too, many of which I did pick up on.

Daryl Gregory - Begone - David Copperfield has his favorite first line of a novel. "Whether I am to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." Gregory thought it established the character's voice and had a metafictional bent that was surprising for such a realist author. And somehow that reminded him of a TV show he saw as a kid where the actor was replaced mid-series by another actor. "Even as a kid, I felt sorry for the guy. Not the other actor, but the original character. Did he miss his wife? His daughter? And what did he think of the man who replaced him?" That put him in mind of a friend's divorce and the way that the new boyfriend started cropping up in family pictures online. And somehow all of that added up to this story. Darrin 1 and Tony from I Dream of Genie commiserating in a bar was funny. In the story Darrin is a chronic pain patient ( I sympathize) from a back injury he suffered years ago, and appeared to be addicted to pain pills. Of course I googled it and it turns out that was also Dick York's real story and why he left Bewitched, a real shame. It was cute in the story that Endora never liked D1 for her daughter, but thought he was what her granddaughter needed and was working to help him instead of D2. Which made sense considering how much more antagonistic she became toward D2 on the real shows, and vice versa. It was an amusing story, one of the best in the book.

Lavie Tidhar - The Red Menace - Tidhar said it didn't take him long to settle on The Communist Manifesto for his source. "It has such a great opening line! Such a sense of... menace." He used to go to a pub in Soho where Marx worked. He also grew up on a kibbutz, and his grandfather was a socialist. He tried to imagine his grandfather in a different life, where world history took a different turn. The story took place starting in London in 1936. Tidhar loves his alternate histories, I've read several novels and stories in that style.

In this story, Tunguska was an alien landing of some sort, it gave the communists access to gate technology and the alien planet of Mir, and totally shifted the balance of power in Europe and the world. The Allies ended up being Hitler's Germany and the English against Stalin's Soviets, among other issues. And eventually, after a coup in 1991 against George W. Bush, a young socialist Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton united the world when she became President in 1993, ending the fifty years of the Cold War. If he'd known about Bernie Sanders wild run for the Presidency when he wrote this in 2006 or 07, I wonder if he'd have used him. It was a decent story, not thrilling but good.

John Scalzi - Muse of Fire - He used Henry V, he liked the line because it created a very vivid image of an actual muse of fire for him. And he did something that wasn't in his normal wheelhouse this time, it sure wasn't a humerus sci-fi story. An engineering type of guy was either crazy or had what appeared to be a goddess or a muse living with him and only able to appear to him in fires. I thought Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and mothers and such but here she was a muse and great at higher mathematics. She’d been with the protagonist since he was a kid and everything he’d done had been with the aim of releasing her from the fire so she could have a body again. Was she real or was he nuts? As the story came to an end, his experiment with the goal of freeing her reached its peak and they may or may not have achieved their goal. Another OK-at-best story.

Nancy Kress - Writer's Block - She had no hesitation at all about choosing her prompt, "It was a dark and stormy night," the opening to Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Victorian novel Paul Clifford. Everyone knows the line, no one knows the novel? She explains that it's been stolen already by everyone from Snoopy to L'Engle in A Wrinkle in Time (my favorite) and many others. She wanted to join that august company, especially Snoopy. Who could blame her? He’s the best. The subject was easy too, it's the foe of every writer. The dreaded writer’s block.

"It was a dark and stormy night. But it shouldn't have been." She repeated it over and over again, at the beginning of every one of the writer's attempts at each genre and new draft. And it was terrific each time. "And it shouldn't have been," turned it into something fresh and intriguing and funny and clever. It was a clever, well-structured story about inspiration, murder plots, and marriage. It was the best in the book in my opinion, I'm surprised to not have seen in in best-of books.

Jack Campbell - Highland Reel - He wanted to write about the Highland for some time so choosing Macbeth was a no-brainer. It was a preachy story about choosing reality based on the squeezed out and evicted Highlanders over a fake Brigadoon-ish village modeled after the dreams and fantasies of the conquering Lowlanders.

Paul Di Filippo - Karen Coxswain, or, Death as She is Truly Lived - He jumped at the chance to write a story with the first line from Huckleberry Finn. Twain has always been a favorite and he believes, as Hemingway did, that Huck Finn was the beginning of American lit. Another author Di Filippo grew up admiring, Philip José Farmer, was also an admirer of Twain. So he layered some of Farmer's themes and tropes into this story as an homage to him. And he'd been watching a bunch of movies about the afterlife like Heaven Can Wait and Here Comes Mr. Jordan, so that worked its way into the story as well. In this story the river is the Styx and the riverboat captain, one of many because Hell is so huge, is our titular Karen. Who had an affair with a yeti who re-named himself Tom Sawyer offscreen before the story began. Mark, now in this underworld, wrote his second version of the book about Karen and Tom’s romance because he had a deadline and writer's block. Mark didn't come off too well in this story, for a guy the author loved so much, he could have at least made him charming in addition to being a drinking, gambling, whoring, weak guy who takes advantage of people.

I wonder what the author thought Hell was, since it had yeti, Asian dragons and a whole lot of aliens. Definitely not a Judeo-Christian destination. The only traditional thing was demons that were half-goat and red. It was a relatively entertaining if odd story. It felt like he was trying a little too hard, it had too much going on.

Mary Robinette Kowal - The Lady Astronaut of Mars - She wrote it when Curiosity landed in the Gale crater on Mars. Which she was justifiably thrilled by. A different Gale, but still. Everyone loved this when it came out, it was nominated for tons of awards and probably won some of them. I didn't like it. This is from my review at the time: "Blatant attempts to tug at my heart strings bug me. It's clear from the beginning where this story is going. And it has some issues, in my opinion. I didn't get why having "that" Dorothy from Kansas in it actually added to the story, it would have been just as effective and moving with any young girl and family, it was just distracting to me. But the biggest thing is that Elma kept worrying about how guilty she'd feel for leaving her husband to die alone, but she never worried about how much regret she's feel for all of the time she could have spent with him while he was still alive. She loved this man, how could she not be upset at the idea that she'd miss spending his last months or year with him, as hard as they would be? I've been a caregiver for terminally ill people and as hard as it is, you also cling to every moment with them. It should have been a part of the her decision-making process. It was really weird that it was all about guilt and not at all about sadness, regardless of what decision author intended for her to come to." She may have decided to go but she should have weighed her options. I didn’t like the story at all. But I’m clearly in the minority.

Tad Williams - Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air - Even his inspiration section was amusing, he's the only one who did took advantage of that section that way.. He isn't usually so silly too. I didn't know he was so interested in religion. Though he does have a series about angels, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. It was a cute little Creation story, silly but amusing.

James Patrick Kelly - Declaration - This story arose out of his frustration with the Matrix trilogy. It most bothered him that they let the story default into the standard Evil Computer plot. Because the idea that people wouldn't accept the virtual perfection of the Matrix, as stated by Agent Smith to Neo in movie one, seems nuts to Kelly. The video game industry is taking in big bucks, twice as much as music and almost as much as film (in 2006 or 07 I assume), we love virtuality, some people are/were even getting addicted to it! (Now they have rehab for addicts, especially in Asia.) People would be busting down the doors for a good virtual reality. What if they never wanted to come out? The question is, why would that be so bad? "Would it be so bad if they never smelled another real rose again?" He says yes, no question. And somehow, that led him to using The Declaration of Independence as his prompt. Five kids in the near future had to do a project to graduate from high school or to become adults or something. They had to show that they could be cooperative with anonymous team members from their virtual society by planning a project that had offline outcomes. Everything for them was about virtual/softtime vs. offline/hardtime. Of course it was generational, their parents weren’t as into softtime as they were. A brother and sister were at the center of the team and the heart of the story. She was a typical teen. He was an accident survivor who now had significant physical disabilities and limitations and tremendous chronic pain, the word fibromyalgia was used. I certainly empathized with his desire to escape "the meat" he was trapped in for a better virtual world. It was a good story.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any short stories not having their own entries will be reviewed in the overall anthology.

Begone - Daryl Gregory

I was informed by images of many a psycho killer across the genre, but while I was kinda meh through most of the story, the ending made up for it. If I must put a reaction to it, I have to say it puts a new spin on the whole women's lib movement. I want to say we've got a self-hating man, too, and well beyond the point of emasculation.

The concept is interesting on the surface, but deep below the psychopathology, it revels in how little power men have over their own lives in the presence of women. It's fantasy, granted, but its message is a double edged sword. It compliments and insults women equally.

No Decent Patrimony - Elizabeth Bear

Honestly, I sometimes drown out stories about gerontocracies. It started out pretty good, full of immediacy and excitement, reminiscent of a Miltonesque scene, but by the end, I just couldn't connect. Let all of them die was all I really got out of it. Kinda funny if you think about it, but not so much. I'd almost have rather have seen a cross pollination with a secret society of lizards with human faces set as English Aristocracy, but again, that's my burden.

The Evening Line - Mike Resnick

Not normally my cup of tea, but it was amusing to see a bunch of wizards in a bar back and bet on a bunch of floozies who wanted to marry a wizard slob who had just won a lucrative bet. Its light tone and quasi-humorous chicagoboys was obviously a homage, but having failed to read the original series, this was at least good for a few smiles.

Writer's Block - Nancy Kress

I used to love her stories when I was a kid. Now days, they're hit or miss. Unfortunately, this one was a miss. It was a bit too disjointed and it staggered about like a jerky zombie. I don't mean to be cruel. It's the decision to write it as a constant restart that turned me off. I also sometimes like stories that break the fourth wall, but this one was just annoying. No offense! I'm not judging the author as a whole, after all, I am definitely a fan of some of her books and short stories! :) I just don't like this one.

Highland Reel - Jack Campbell

Fae and the last of the Highlanders. Sounds heroic, no? Well there's little action and just a smidge of romance, but at least there's a few slices of history and idealism to make it interesting. The MC is out of time and place. I enjoy such things as much as anyone, but I think I might have liked this better as a full novel instead of what boils down to a few scenes.

The Red Menace - Lavie Tidhar

This happens to be one of my favourites out of the bunch. I enjoyed the alternate history of WWII with quantum teleportation in the hands of Russia, but more importantly, I loved the amount of details that let me visit it.

Declaration - James Patrick Kelly

Somewhat interesting tale of declaring one's independence of life in favor of a better virtual life. It had a fully integrated worldview, nice reasoning, and solid premise in direct contradiction to the Matrix's postulation. It was a good take, but I think more could have been happening.

Karin Coxswain, or Death as She Truly Lived - Paul Di Filippo

This one was a truly fun and raunchy tale of a demon from her own perspective and how she dealt with a sloppy ex who fell into her lap after he died. It was her dialogue and internal dialogue that really shined. Like I said, it was very fun.

Fireborn - Robert Charles Wilson

Well developed mixing of an interesting alien species and humans who dance together. Pretty imagery. They were well crafted, bordering on awesome. To a lesser score, the firedancer's lives and reincarnations were very interesting. Deceptively simple.

Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air - Tad Williams

A huge dash of Metatron and Gabriel on a huge worldbuilding spree. It's kind of a writer's wet dream. It was pretty cute.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun anthology, neat idea. Mixed reviews for each story:

- "Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson:
Meh.. Simple, neat, cute.
- "The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick:
I found this one pretty disgusting... kind of like I find the first line of pride and prejudice. Just not my thing.
- "No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear:
A bit tedious, felt like it shouldn't have been a short story.
- "The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele:
This is what Moby Dick should have been. Short, with only a few sentences about the lunaic Ahab, and more emphasis on how rediculous the character Queequeg is.
- "Begone" by Daryl Gregory:
Very amusing. If you ever watched Bewitched, and/or the Twilight zone you should try this one.
- "The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar:
It was ok.
- "Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi:
I like the psychology of the character in this... nice short story... even though I dont generally go for anything that has o do with demons or hell.
- "Writer’s Block" by Nancy Kress:
Interesting read, but a little confusing.
- "Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell:
For a short fantasy its a great look at the value of reality over fantasy.
- "Karin Coxswain" or "Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo
Not at all enjoyable, but I'm not sure it was supposed to be.
- "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
A decent little drama, I just feel like it should be part of a much larger picture.
- "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams
Hilarius take on the creation.
- "Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly
It was ok, but I feel like Scalzi's Lock-in was a better look at the same kind of story.

[Scott S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this set of stories, mostly because it was done by sci-fi and there is little sci-fi to be found. That said, the stories were mostly clever and entertaining.

The stories:
1) Love story, I liked it. It was more Fantasy than Sci-Fi.
2) I didn't care much for this one. Not a bad story, just not for me. Also Fantasy.
3) Slip into your bubble bath liberals, this one's for you! There's gender choice rights, global warming, evil rich (oooo!), population control, and dwindling resources. You'll slip right off your chair after reading this.
4) Ok story. A little trashy and blasphemous for my taste. The sidekick's language was amusing.
5) I enjoyed this one, thought it was clever.
6) A story inspired by the first line of The Communist Manifesto... I will never understand commie sympathizers. All communists should be put down. "I was picked up by the Communists and given a gun, once again in control of my own destiny" HAAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHHA
7) This one was great, though it ended a little dark.
8) I had trouble staying with this one and because of that I missed something. I have no idea what Violet did to Rob at the end.
9) Loved this story because I love Scotland.
10) Useless, tasteless, trashy, gross story. Didn't finish it.
11) Really enjoyed this story.
12) Cute story, but blasphemous if you take it too seriously.
13) Of course we got our right wing jab in there. The rant at the beginning is a bit odd. Actually, the entire story is a bit odd. Humans jacked into cyberspace are trying to declare independence from the real world (currently they have to unplug so many hours each day for exercise, human contact, etc...). So they are trying to declare independence from the real world, where their bodies exist... Exactly who is supposed to pay for their cyberspace access, food, stacking location upkeep, etc... is never mentioned. Though, if they have bleeding heart politicians like the ones we have here in the states, then being jacked in will probably be declared a basic human right....

[Milliebot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid little collection of short stories based on the first lines of famous novels and plays (and also the Bible and the Declaration), but nothing really wowed me.

The stand outs for me were:

The Evening Line - This was like reading a cartoon about gangsters from the 20s (50s?) who also employ wizards and zombies and live in the modern day. It was a lot of fun and I especially loved that every character had a nickname, like, Loose Lips Louis, Almost Blonde Annie, and Snake-Hips Levine. It uses the first line from Pride and Prejudice, so naturally, it's my favorite.

The Big Whale - Ishmael is a detective in this one and it seems as though his tales are what inspired Melville to write the book in the first place. Billy Budd is a character (I know that's another Melville novel) and Nathaniel Hawthorn gets his head shrunk, lol. The only issue I had was wondering why Queequeg only spoke in vaguely lyrical nonsense, like "whop bob a loo bop." Not sure if that's a reference or...a reason to not write another language?

Muse of Fire - This is a more literal take on a first line and nicely blends science and magic. I was loving the firebabe and especially how the ending played out. It's my first experience with Scalzi's writing.

I didn't hate any of the stories, even if I don't feel like raving about any of them. If the premise interests you, I'd say this is worth picking up.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of short stories. The idea was for each writer to rip-off the first line of a classic piece of literature and then build a story on it. Many were solid pieces, some were just okay, one I skipped because it simply wasn't my cuppa, and a few were downright excellent. "Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi was one of those I especially liked. Usually Scalzi uses a bit of humor in his writing, but this was unrelenting drama and a very interesting idea. I'd read "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal via Tor's website years ago and loved it then. Hearing her read it was a nice treat. I think my favorite was "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams. It was hysterical and I truly did laugh out loud in a number of places.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always hard to rate an anthology. There were some excellent stories, some good, and a few that were so jumbled or boring or poorly conceived that I DNF.

Favorites: The Lady Astronaut of Mars and Begone (though the cleverness of this one probably depends greatly on your age and knowing the property it’s playing off of).

[Richie Dueñez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great way to check out some contemporary sci-fi authors! Listened to this one on Audible, so also a great way to sample a bunch of different readers as well.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories written by members of the Science Fiction Writers of America and inspired by the first line of a classic book. It’s a great idea, but in practice didn’t work that well for me.

I should start by pointing out that I am a big fan of the short story format and often read collections. It’s rare that every story in a volume will appeal to me but usually I encounter that gem or two that makes the collection worthwhile and then another handful that were fun as far as they go. This collection pulled up a little weak for me by my usual standard. In fact, I only found three that really stood out in the collection.

The Big Whale by Alan Steele was by far the best in the book. It reimagines Moby Dick as a hardboiled detective story and incorporates the cast of the original novel in a highly entertaining story. I’ve read many others of Steele’s stories over the years and this ranks with the best of them. Mike Resnick and John Scalzi also both included creative and enjoyable stories.

Perhaps the best feature of this collection is the set of introductions by the authors to each of their stories in which they explain why they chose the book they used to launch their tales. I always enjoy insights into author’s inspiration and this volume gives you a lot of them.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Gregory Eakins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rip-Off! is an exercise in creativity - where thirteen science fiction authors are to choose a famous opening line from some prior work and spin the story off in a totally different direction.

The stories here are a mixed bag. Some are dull, some have a great idea but are not given the space needed to hash out the idea, and others are quite good. Perhaps the standout to me was the comical, Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air - an alternative store of creation based on Genesis from the Bible.

I love short stories, as if you get into a bad one, it isn't a heavy time investment. Rip-Off! has enough variety to make you go, "hmmm...", but won't blow your socks off like some stuff by Ted Chiang.

[Jota Houses · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buscaba el cuento The Lady Astronaut of Mars que es el origen de The Calculating Stars y otros que me han gustado. Lo que encontré es la clásica antología SF de Dozois con cuentos de calidades variables (o más afines a mis gustos) pero que resulta entretenido sin más. No me ha parecido que ninguno resulte maravilloso.

[Natira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wie das so ist mit Kurzgeschichtensammlungen - bunt gemixt und nicht jede Story ist für jeden Leser/Hörer etwas. ;) Bei einer Story bin ich mit dem Sprecher nicht klar gekommen und habe sie nicht mal bei der Hälfte ausgemacht. Eine weitere Story hat mich so überhaupt nicht interessiert, weder Setting noch Plot. Viele Geschichten mochte ich, vier fand ich besonders interessant bzw. faszinierend: "No Decent Patrimony", "The Big Whale", "The red menace", "Writers Block" und "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" fand ich wirklich unterhaltsam.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

8 of the 14 stories earned 4-5 stars each (Bear, Tidhar, Scalzi, Kress, Campbell, Kowal, Williams, Kelly) and the rest...didn't, thus the 3 Stars overall. Bear, Scalzi, Kowal, and Williams are all astounding, you should read those if nothing else.

[Crazytourists_books · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first science fiction book (of short stories) ever. I liked a few, I disliked a few, but I just couldn't get into the atmosphere.
It did make me want to read more of "The lady astronaut"'s stories.

[Milly Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

probably a 3.5

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fireborn by Robert Charles Wilson
Very cool intro story for setting the mood of the series. Little more exposition on the world-setting would've been appreciated but it wasn't necessary.

The evening line by Mike Resnick
Resnick is hit or miss with me and this was a miss. wild scenarios that all seemed born from the writer's block breaker of "throw your characters into a weird situation and see how to get them out" but every paragraph was like that so you were constantly adjusting until you were exhausted. Also I just found out that he passed recently so that's a bummer. Jeez.

No decent patrimony by Elizabeth Bear
This one was very interesting and one of the best stories in the bunch. The ending was unexpected and I admire the author for that.

The Big whale by Allen M Steele
Moby Dick told from the POV of a PI. Much better than the real thing and other than some hard-boiled cliches pretty good.

Begone by Daryl Gregory
This one was brilliant but you have to firmly put yourself in the perspective of the world and you have to know what the story is talking about. I mean I think it's well done regardless but if you know who Dick York is and that story it jumps to amazing.

The red menace by Lavie Tidhar
I always enjoy alternative histories and this on is no exception. Maybe a little rushed in the middle bits but a pretty good story.

Muse of Fire by John Scalzi
There's a twist but it's telegraphed early on. Even with that though Scalzi has an interesting tale here to tell and I would love to know what happens next.

Writer's block by Nancy Kress
This is where I got that writer's block thing from. The story pissed me off a bit when the guy was a severe milquetoast but then the story went someplace that was quite interesting. Weird place to end the story but it was a fun nod.

Highland Reel by Jack Campbell
Weird Outlander vibe here with some fey thrown in as well as some time-travel. One of my favorites.

Karen Coxswain by Paul Di Filippo
The worst story in here. Just...wow. I like short story collections for giving you voices you wouldn't usually hear but I could have gone for a long *long* while without hearing this voice.

The Lady Astronaut by Mary Robinette Kowal
Sweet story about an astronaut on Mars. Though 'sweet' depends on where you are in life and relationships, I guess?

Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air by Tad Williams
Loved this one, almost like Monty Python stepping in on the 7th day to explain how everything was created.

Declaration by James Patrick Kelly
The story just confused me with the way it was going. Scalzi's Lock-In was a better version of it and it was probably 2-3 times as long so I bet that helped.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This audio book is a collection of short stories based on famous first lines and introduced by the author. Read by a variety of readers.

The best two stories were fantasy ("Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell) and science fiction ("The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal), but the collection in general was not highly sci-fi. Will probably seek out Mary Robinette Kowal to read more of, but unfortunately this collection rates only an "okay".

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all of these stories were to my taste, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I found that the second half was much stronger than the first, with the collection really picking up with "Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi. Everything after that was really good in individual ways.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any anthology, the quality of stories here is mixed, but there are enough good ones to make it worthwhile. There are several that I wished were full novels, including "Fireborn," "The Lady Astronaut," and "Declaration."

[Amy Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's enough good stuff here to make this worth purchasing. (Note: for some reason the ebook version is called Mash Up, rather than Rip-Off; not really sure why). In some stories, the borrowed first line played a major role. In others, it was just an opener. Highlights for me were Elizabeth Bear's "No Decent Patrimony", John Scalzi's "Muse of Fire", and Jack Campbell's "Highland Reel", with honorable mentions for "The Big Whale" and "Begone". There was one story I gave up on entirely, as not at all to my taste, and one that just kind of rambled on and I didn't connect to, but the rest were worthwhile.

The narrators for each story varied from good to very good, and there is an introduction read by the authors themselves, talking about why they chose their opening line, and a bit about their story. I found it interesting to put voices to familiar authors. I had always imagined John Scalzi as sounding like Penn Gilette from Penn & Teller, and was mildly disappointed that he does not.

Recommended, overall.

Fireborn by Robert Charles Wilson, read by Christine Van (3 stars) - Sort of an SF fay story, where the mortals actually get the better of the fay. Interesting, but I was more interested in the world than in the characters, and the story was very much focused on the characters. The narrator is awesome, and I'm going to go look for more she's read.
The Evening Line by Mike Resnick, read by L.J. Ganser (3 stars) - People behaving badly in various stereotypical ways, with magic. You have women instantly appearing to try and get a guy who won $53,000 to marry them, men placing bets on everything, and mages (who are all male, but are apparently uninterested in betting) increasing the chaos. Funny in places, but didn't impress me overall.
No Decent Patrimony by Elizabeth Bear, read by Scott Brick (5 stars) - Brilliant from start to finish. I saw that a twist was coming, but guessed wrong about what it was. Also, I loved the narrator.
The Big Whale by Allen M. Steele, read by Christian Rummel (4 stars) - Moby Dick, as told by Ishmael the private investigator. Entertaining, if a bit testosterone-driven (which isn't a huge surprise, as it's going for a '30's pulp detective feel).
Begone by Daryl Gregory, read by Jonathan Davis (4 stars) - Impressively plausible scenario where the replacement of actors in Bewitched was actually an in-universe event. Nicely written and thought out.
The Red Menace by Lavie Tidhar, read by Stefan Rudnicki (2 stars) - Weird alternate history where the Tunguska meteor opened a gateway to another planet, and resulted in the Communists taking over the whole planet (also in the U.S. allying with Germany in WWII, among other odd misalignments). Interesting, but... not convincing, I guess.
Muse of Fire by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton (5 stars) - While I had a fair idea how this was going to end, it was still a fun ride to get there. You know what they say about playing with fire... Also provides an argument for taking one's medication.
Writer’s Block by Nancy Kress, read by David Morantz (3.5 stars) - Entertaining, but lacking depth. There's a bit of surrealism, a bit of Groundhog Day, and a lot of "dark and stormy night".
Highland Reel by Jack Campbell, read by Nicola Barber (5 stars) - Impressive mix of the historical and the fantastical, in the history of the Scottish Highlands, and how it came to be appropriated by the same people who had driven out the Highlanders.
"Karin Coxswain" or "Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo, read by Dena Perlman (DNF) - Um. Yeah. I made it through about 5 minutes of this before giving up. If you find humor in bad language, people being peed on, creatures swinging penises about, by all means give it a try. Otherwise, skip it and go on to the next. Like I did.
The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, read by Alison Johnson (5 stars) - Would have been a breath of fresh air even if I hadn't given up on the previous entry. Having just finished The Calculating Stars, reading the eventual denouement to the story was interesting. I think this was written first, yet it has a greater maturity than Calculating Stars. I'm wondering if the spin-off novels might have been better as novellas. Possibly I'll change my mind when I get to the second book. Side note: I think I like Johnson's narration better than Kowal's, though I couldn't give a specific reason why.
Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air by Tad Williams, read by Mark Vitor (3 stars) - Fairly standard send-up of the Genesis creation myth. Well-executed, but not particularly interesting, at least not to me.
Declaration by James Patrick Kelly, read by Ilyana Kadushik (3 stars) - Overlong exploration of the pros and cons of "stashing" one's body and going completely "soft time" (VR, as opposed to the real world, "hard time"). Vaguely interesting, but, eh. Just didn't draw me in.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology is a bit different from those I usually read, since usually there's some sort of tie of subject matter, or it's a collection of stories by one author. There is technically a theme here, but it feels rather loose. Each of the authors here has taken their favorite line from (public domain) literature and written a sci-fi or fantasy story building off of it. I was expecting to recognize all of these first lines, and it was interesting to be thwarted by the very first story, which draws from some writer I've never heard of before. There was also a line from a play by a playwright I'm only vaguely familiar with, but for the most part I'd read or at least heard of the inspirations for these stories. There's a fairly nice range of subject matter here, from classic sci-fi stuff like immortality and virtual reality to a take off on the Garden of Eden. Some of the stories were a bit disappointing or discussed a topic or trope I've seen done better elsewhere, but others were great.

I had a couple of favorites, which I want to discuss at least briefly. First up is The Red Menace, inspired by the Communist Manifesto. It presents an alternate history in which the Tunguska Event leads Soviet revolutionaries to discover gateways to another world, from which they mount their attempts to turn the entire planet Communist. It was a great and realistic history told from the point of view of a single man involved in a few key events. The idea of Hillary Clinton as the first Socialist president of the USA didn't ring true at all, but otherwise it was a clever and intriguing what-if. Highland Reel uses the first line of Macbeth to tell a story of the demise of the Highlanders of Scotland and their subsequent romanticization. A true Highlands lass stumbles into the land of the faeries, but these fey creatures are not from her stories but from those of Walter Scott and others who romanticize Scotland's past while destroying the people who descended from it. It's a clever and fascinating discussion of the different ways history is told. Finally there was The Lady Astronaut of Mars, which uses the opening line of Wizard of Oz to tell an alternate history of punch cards and Mars bases, and yet it's really at heart a character piece. The titular Lady Astronaut was part of the first expedition to the Red Planet, and now she's torn between staying grounded and being with her husband as he dies and taking one last mission to fly across the galaxy to a new home for humanity. The sci-fi was really a background element, but I felt myself fully drawn into the heroines debate and I wasn't sure myself what she should choose.

Funnily enough, looking at it, it seems my favorite stories were those that focused on a particular character and their life, though there were other fun ones that don't follow that pattern. Thankfully, unlike many anthologies I've read, there were no stories that were truly stinkers or wastes of my time, so I can whole-heartedly recommend this as a pretty good collection of sci-fi and fantasy, even if the premise doesn't lead to a very coherent collection. I do wish I'd known this started as an audiobook before I'd picked up the book version, cause I'm curious what that experience was like. Maybe I'll grab it from Audible if I ever want to read this again.

[Cora · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book is that authors choose the first line of any literary work, and build a new story around it. There are 13 stories.

Fireborn by Robert Charles Wilson - air dancers, dance competitions, teen-age jealousy and angst. Not my thing.

The Evening Line by Mike Resnick - I didn't quite follow this one. It took place in a bar with lots of interesting characters, but it just wasn't interesting to me.

No Decent Patrimony by Elizabeth Bear - this one was slightly interesting. In a futuristic time, people can live for a really long time (like a couple of hundred years). This story opens with a high profile man trying to discretely leave a hospital. His very wealthy father has just died in an accident. By the end of this short story, we find out how his father died. It was kind of anti-climactic, but better than the first two stories, in my opinion.

The Big Whale by Allen M. Steele - a retelling of Moby Dick. Interesting and fun. I liked this one.

Begone by Daryl Gregory - I loved this one, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I will just say that it takes a closer look at when actors are switched in a sitcom, and we're all supposed to just pretend it never happened. For example, the oldest daughter on Last Man Standing, and then more recently, the middle daughter. I loved Mr. Gregory's perspective and humor in this short story.

The Red Menace by Lavie Tidhar - I stayed completely lost for this one. Something to do with socialism and communism, but I think the author was trying to paint socialism as the ideal government. It was political and over my head.

Muse of Fire by John Scalzi - I liked this short story and was captivated by it from start to finish. A simple summary of it would be that a man sees a woman in the flames of any fire. She is his muse. He loves her but can not touch her with out being burned. It turns out, she is actually in hell, and to free her from the flames would also be freeing her from hell. Nice twist at the end of this one.

Writer’s Block by Nancy Kress - this is about a man with writer's block. He starts with "it was a dark and stormy night", but comes up empty after that. This one was kind of weird, and again, I had a hard time following.

Highland Reel by Jack Campbell - time bending in Scotland. Very interesting and well written.

Karin Coxswain by Paul Di Filippo - profane, vulgar spin on Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I hated it. I quit the story about half way through.

The Lady Astronaut by Mary Robinette Kowal - sweet story of an elderly former astronaut being given the opportunity to make one last voyage. I really liked this one.

Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth by Tad Williams - cute and somewhat humorous story of God's young daughter meddling with creation. I really got a kick out of this story.

Declaration by James Patrick Kelly - the world of reality versus the world of virtual reality. It was a pretty interesting story, but to be honest, I was just ready to be done with this whole book at this point.

[Julie Capell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belying its name, this collection of short stories is an incredibly valuable find for any scifi fan. I listened to this as an audiobook, apparently the only way it was published. What an inspired decision! Each story is introduced by the author, in his/her own voice, and each is read by a different performer. With a stellar lineup of both authors and performers, this was a treat from start to finish. The unifying concept is that the authors were asked to use the first line of a famous book as the first line in their stories. My one quibble is that nowhere could I find a list of all the stories along with the performers’ names, quite a shame since they were all superb. I have attempted to remedy that oversight here, and apologize in advance to any of the performers whose names I misspell.

1) Fireborn by Robert Charles Wilson, read by Christine Van. Wilson begins his story with the first line from a Carl Sandburg Rootabaga Tale: “Sometimes in January, the sky comes down close if we walk on a country road.” I particularly like the way this story incorporated music, dance and art, which are not common subjects in scifi.

2) The Evening Line by Mike Resnick, read by L.J. Ganser. Unbeknownst to me, Resnick has written a number of short stories featuring “Harry the Book” in homage to Damon Runyon. This, his twelfth story about the character, begins with the opening line from Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Although overlong, I appreciated many of the gags in the story, which was a mashup of scifi, Austen, and Guys & Dolls. I particularly enjoyed the names of the characters, which were lifted directly from Guys & Dolls and twisted (Nathan Detroit becomes Joey Chicago, Benny Southstreet becomes Benny Fifthstreet, Nicely Nicely Johnson becomes Gently Gently Dawkins). Also, at one point a character drinks an “Old Peculiar” – a reference to the Neil Gaiman short story?

3) No Decent Patrimony by Elizabeth Bear and read by the always fantastic Scott Brick begins with a line from Christopher Marlow’s Edward II “My father is deceased.” The story concerns the social strife between generations and classes engendered by life extension. Bear adds some twists to what is a familiar scifi storyline.

4) The Big Whale by Allen M. Steele, read by Christian Rummel. Yes, it’s a reference to Melville, but set in a Raymond Chandler universe. Who knew so many scifi authors were obsessed with detective noir? I loved this story, possibly because I just read Moby Dick a few months ago. What’s not to like about a story that combines “Call me Ishmael” with “I carry a harpoon” ??

5) Begone by Daryl Gregory, read by Jonathan Davis. Were it not for Gregory’s introduction to this story, I’m not sure I would have gotten what was going on right away, but for anyone of a certain age, this story will bring back many memories. Like Gregory, I was disturbed when Dick Sargent replaced Dick York in the role of Darrin Stephens, hapless muggle husband to Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha Stephens, a witch in the television series “Bewitched.” I was actually too young to understand the difference between actors and characters and so the switch mystified me and retains a bit of creepiness for me even today. But I may be over it now, thanks to Daryl Gregory therapy. Beginning with the first line from Dickens’ David Copperfield, “Whether I am to be the hero of my own life or whether that station will be held by anyone else, these pages must show,” was a stroke of genius, and the rest of the story is just as brilliant. It was funny, inventive but also thoughtful, as in lines like this: “Every man tries to forget that we are made from women, by women, for women.” I loved Gregory’s “Raising Stony Mayhall” and this short fiction has made me interested in checking out some of his other work.

6) The Red Menace by Lavie Tidhar, read by Stefan Rudnicki. If the name of the story doesn’t give it away, the fact that the first line “A specter is haunting Europe” is taken from Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto should make it clear the story is not about Mars, but rather is an alternate history of WWII. This was quite different from most scifi I have read, but that didn’t surprise me too much. I have read a couple of other Lavie Tidhar stories (in his excellent anthologies of world scifi, which I highly recommend) and enjoy his non-western take on things. I cannot neglect to mention here also, the excellent narration by Rudnicki, who is channeling Michael Ansara’s incredibly deep, resonant and slightly foreign-sounding accent.

7) Muse of Fire by John Scalzi and read—as are all of Scalzi’s audiobooks—by Wil Wheaton. Scalzi pulled his opening line from Shakespeare’s Henry V, “O for a muse of fire that would ascend.” Scalzi’s prodigious imagination produces a so-so story but plenty of great images related to flames and fire, but also just plain old great writing like this: “They were like two puzzle pieces that were not meant to be jammed together.”

8) Writer’s Block by Nancy Kress and read by David Morantz. Starting a story with the famously bad first line “It was a dark and stormy night” (from the book Paul by Edward Bulwer-Lytton) is pretty bold, but it pays off. I particularly liked the twist at the end.

9) Highland Reel by Jack Campbell, read by Nicola Barber. Not to be outdone in hubris, Campbell begins his story with the first line of MacBeth: “When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning or in rain?” The story was a mashup of Brigadoon with alternate history that would have benefitted from a less conventional ending.

10) Karin Coxswain or “Death as she is Truly Lived” by Paul Di Filippo and read by Dena Perlman. I have never read anything by Di Filippo and now I probably never will. I should have backed away as soon as he started in about how Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was the first American Novel and announced his opening line would be taken from that book: “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” I just read that book within the past year and hated it, but I forced myself to get through the whole thing because of its place in the canon. But I only got a few minutes into this coarse, tasteless bit of trash before deciding I could move along down the river to the next story.

11) The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, read by Alison Johnson. This story took its opening line from L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz: “Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.” This beautiful, gentle story of growing old, love, loss and yearning was my favorite serious story in the entire collection.

12) Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth by Tad Williams and read by Mark Vitor began with “First God made heaven and earth” from . . . well, you know what that’s from. This story had me laughing so hard my husband came to find out what was going on. Picture the little girl from Ransom of Red Chief getting into the Garden of Eden and arguing with the angels who are creating it and you have some idea of the chaos. The performance by Mark Vitor, whose sonorous, Shakespearean tones become increasingly harried and incredulous as the story goes along, is the icing on the cake that made this my favorite comedic story in the collection.

13) Declaration by James Patrick Kelly, read by Ilyana Kadushik, opens with “When in the course of human events.” This was a mildly interesting near-future tale in which young students take a class assignment a bit too far. The author says he intended the story as a bit of an admonition to the Matrix films, but I think he misses the point and the story misses the mark.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because one of its stories, Mary Robinette Kowal's "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" has been nominated for a Hugo. Twice, actually, but that's a whole other story. Like all anthologies, I found it had its high and low points. The good stories were really, really good, so I forgave the few I disliked.

The premise behind this anthology is that each of the authors took a famous first line, and wrote a whole other story following it. Some of the stories also borrowed other material, either from the same story or from others. All came up with an entirely different story, steeped in science fiction or fantasy elements.

"Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson posits a world where there are the upper class, called the fireborn, and the ordinary peons. Our ordinary human protagonists, Onyx and Jasper, stumble across one of the fireborn practicing her dance, and learn of the world within the privileged bubble. They're drawn into a contest taking place at Harvest, the prize being a trip to the Eye of the Moon. The question becomes, how much will the ordinary humans let themselves be used? Lightspeed Magazine has made this one available to read online. I found the concept behind this story interesting, and I liked Onyx's perspective.

"The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick tells the story of an ugly man winning big at the races, and his sudden influx of lady friends, vying to marry him for his money. The perspective character, Harry the Book, takes bets on which woman will win the day, while the man insists he has no interest in any of them. Women are painted as gold-digging harpies, devious and underhanded and sometimes violent. If you find stereotypes funny, you'll love this story. I did not.

"No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear paints a future created when an elite few can take a treatment to live forever. Edward has just survived an explosion that killed his father, and invites an intrepid journalist to come interview him when he returns from the hospital. Conspicuous consumption means something very different in a world with subtropical temperatures in New England year round. One of my favorites.

"The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele retells Moby Dick as a pulp detective novel. Many of Melville's other characters make cameos, as well. It was creative, but not terribly memorable.

"Begone" by Daryl Gregory was another favorite. It starts with the opening line of David Copperfield, then tells the story of a man kicked out of his own life. I won't spoil where it goes from there, because half the fun was in realizing where it was going, but anyone who loves 1960's sitcoms will get it sooner than those who prefer their TV from the last decade or two.

"The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar starts with the first line of The Communist Manifesto, and from there shows us an alternate version of the 1930's, where Russia has a whole other dimension to play around in, and only they have the technology for passing back and forth. Interesting concept, but I think I was supposed to feel more of an attraction between Anna and our perspective character. There was too much politics cluttering up their romance. Or, there was too much romance cluttering up the politics. Either way, it didn't quite work.

"Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi tells of Ben Patton, a scientist working with plasma. His muse, Hestia, is trapped in Hell, but, if he can stabilize the plasma state, she'll be free. He's the only one who can see her. But, as his project comes closer to the testing phase, his co-worker, Rebecca, seems more and more interested in him. And Hestia is a jealous muse. This one is available as a separate ebook. I enjoyed it, though it wasn't my favorite, as with many other readers before me. It had the most recognizable narrator, certainly.

"Writer's Block" by Nancy Kress starts with Edward Bulwer-Lytton's famous "It was a dark and stormy night," and shows a writer struggling with where the story goes from there. Her writer has a few good ideas of where it goes from there, but his wife criticizes all of his ideas. Then he finds incontrovertible evidence she's been cheating on him, and that she's poisoning him, too. And just who is Violet, and why does she keep showing up? I'm amused by metafiction, so I liked it.

"Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell is set in the Scottish Highlands, and tells the story of Mary Chisholm. She's lost her land, her family, her very identity. Until she treks back to take back her home, and finds a village full of strong, attractive Highlanders where sheep pastures used to be. It seems too good to be true, but she doesn't discover the truth of it until she meets a young British soldier, there to find soldiers to fight at Crimea. This story snuck up on me, and I wound up liking it a lot.

"‘Karin Coxswain’ Or ‘Death As She Is Truly Lived’" by Paul Di Filippo starts with the first line of Huck Finn, and retells the tale as a female boat captain on the River Styx. Karin is more Tom Sawyer than Huck, and the tale is a lot more grown up than the one Mark Twain tells. When her ex-husband shows up on her boat, she agrees to help him get his girlfriend back from one of the Lords of Hell. But only because it's so amusing to watch him fail. I had my quibbles about this story, but it's ultimately funny and irreverent.

"The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal calls up Bradbury-era SF, with its punch card technology and nostalgic view of a time that never was. It's available to read online, on Tor.com. It's touching and sweet, and I shouldn't have listened to it before a site visit, because it almost made me cry. I loved it. Worthy of a Hugo nomination.

"Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams tells an alternate account of the creation of the world, as influenced by God's daughter, Sophia. She has the angels quite confused with her changes, like allowing birds to fly and putting fish in the water. She decides bugs need to hide underground or in rocks and trees because they're gross. While Gabriel frets about how God will take all this, Metatron observes all of this with a kind of fascinated wonder. I thought this story was cute.

"Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly didn't seem like the best choice to wrap up the anthology. It tells of a near-future where people can fully immerse themselves in the online world, and of the teenagers fighting to be allowed to spend all of their time in that world. Remeny (Hungarian for "hope") wasn't the best choice of narrator for the story. She follows around the ones making decisions and taking a stand, but her role is only to observe. Once she gets all of the pertinent information, she signs off, accepting the decisions other people have made.

This collection was released as an audio book. That's the only form you can get all of the stories in, though you can find some in SF magazines or other anthologies. For the most part, the narrators were a good choice, though the last one seemed to ignore context entirely, thereby changing the meanings behind a lot of interactions.

Overall, I liked it. The high points were excellent, and the low points were forgivable for the stories framing them. If you want a good sampling of what speculative fiction writers can do, this seems a fair representation.

[LindaJ^ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thirteen sci fi and fantasy authors agreed to write stories for a book. The hook was that each story had to start with the first line of a classic. Each author introduces their story, providing the name of the work they "ripped off" and why. A Shakespeare play, as one might guess, was chosen more than once. The Declaration of Independence, the Bible, and Huck Finn were among the books providing a first line.

"Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson
"The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick
"No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear
"The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele
"Begone" by Daryl Gregory
"The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar
"Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi
"Writer’s Block" by Nancy Kress
"Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell
"Karin Coxswain" or "Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
"Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams
"Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly

A couple were first rate (Fireborn, Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air), one was rather poor (Karin Coxswain) and the rest were decent. Other reviewers provide some details, which I needed to remember many of them and I just finished it a few hours ago!

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise is what attracted me to this anthology: a group of sci-fi and fantasy writers get together and decide to each pick the first line of a classic book(fiction or non-fiction) and write an original short story using the same first line. I liked that the authors introduced their stories with an explanation of their choices. The stories themselves are a mixed bag - some I liked , some not. Hence the middle of the road star classification.
My favorites were:
Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air by Tad Williams who chose the first line of the Bible. A weighty start to a delightfully funny telling of the creation story. I actually LOL during parts.
The Big Whale by Allen M Steele using the “Call me Ishmael “ line from Moby Dick. Set in Melville’s time and told from the point-of-view of a hard-boiled Private Eye hired by Ahab’s wife to investigate her husband. Quite amusing.
Muse of Fire by John Scalzi using Henry V. A protagonist that doesn’t know if he is sane or not who lives with a woman who only appears in flames. It has a dark twist at the end.
There were other pretty good stories and some that were dull. All in all a decent anthology.

[TJ Szklar · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when several scifi authors 'rip-off' the first sentence of a classic story of their choosing? A fun arrangement of twisty-turny and creative short stories is born.

Naturally like anything, some I found WAY more interesting than others-but overall the stories are very entertaining. I think so far my favorite story started with the line: "It was a dark and stormy night, but it shouldn't have been" (Writer's Block by Nancy Kress).

Fireborn by Robert Charles Wilson

The Evening Line by Mike Resnick

No Decent Patrimony by Elizabeth Bear

The Big Whale by Allen M. Steele

Begone by Daryl Gregory

The Red Menace by Lavie Tidhar

Muse of Fire by John Scalizi-it was interesting with the premise of combining plasma science with an ancient Goddess

Writer's Block by Nancy Kress

Highland Reel by Jack Campbell

Karen Coxswain, or Death as She is Truly Lived by Paul Di Filippo

The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Every Fuzzy Beast of Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air by Tad Williams

Declaration by James Patrick Kelly

Going to keep this as an alexa book for the last 4 stories.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual with collections of short stories, some better than others. Interesting premise, though I think some of the authors cheated. Rather than using the first line as part of their story, it's just a sort of... quote at the start. They still had meaning to the story, but weren't really part of it. I was generally more impressed with the authors who actually incorporated the line into the story. Oddly given the way I feel about Melville, the one that began "Call me Ishmael," was actually one of my favorites. The others that stood out to me used "It was a dark and stormy night," and "In the beginning was the word...". Fortunately (?), none of these were enough to make me go looking for more by the author. Which given my backlog of reading material is just as well. I don't need to find another Eric Frank Russell or Adrian Tchaikovsky.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this collection to be a pretty mixed bag. Some of the stories I really, really enjoyed ("Fireborn", "The Evening Line", "Muse of Fire", "Highland Reel"); others I thought were a decent bit of fun, but I can't really remember a great deal about them now that I've finished the book. I also really did not like "The Big Whale" at all - I found that most, if not all, of the other stories got much more creative in building off of their stolen first lines, while "The Big Whale" was simply a re-telling of the same story in a slightly different genre. I think, overall, that I liked more stories than I disliked in this collection, but I don't think I'd go through it again, except for those few stories that really stuck with me.