Winter Tales

by Margrét Helgadóttir (Editor), Mat Joiner, Su Haddrell

Winter is coming. Frost pierces through everything, harsh winter storms rage and the sun is leaving, not to return for many months. Winter is gruesome and cold a dark time that seems to never end. But it’s not the whole picture. There is beauty and magic. There is the deep dark forest where pine trees reach for the sky, mountains looming under the green northern lights, wolf packs who howl to the moon, and the vast plains covered by deep snow, the ice crystals glinting like stars in the pale moonlight.

When the temperatures drop, people and creatures gather around the camp fires to share warmth, friendship and tales, to chase away the frost and the knowledge of the terrifying creatures lurking in the darkness.

We are collecting these winter tales, to chase away the grim winter and bring you the wonders and magic of the winter.

Full Contents: Mat Joiner: The frost sermon
Su Haddrell: The Bothy
Sharon Kernow: The Wolf Moon
Ruth Booth: The love of a season
Masimba Musodza: When the trees were enchanted
Fiona Clegg: Sunday’s Child
Tim Major: Winter in the Vivarium
Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi: Snow Angel
Amelia Gorman: Under your skin
B. Thomas: Among Wolves
Eliza Chan: Yukizuki
DJ Tyrer: Frose
G.H. Finn: Cold-Hearted
David Sarsfield: Voliday
Kelda Crich: Coldness Waits
K.N. McGrath: The Siege
Jonathan Ward: Spirit of the Season
James Bennett: The Red Lawns
Anne Michaud: Frost Fair
Jan Edwards: Shaman Red
Adrian Tchaikovsky: The Coming of The Cold
Verity Holloway: The Frost of Heaven

Genres: Short Stories, Anthologies, Science Fiction, Fantasy

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

About the author

Margrét Helgadóttir is a Norwegian-Icelandic author & anthology editor based in Norway. Her native language is Norwegian, but on her spare time she writes fiction and edits fiction anthologies in English.

Reviews

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some winter reading for the summer. This is a fine short story collection centred around winter. Ranging from charming to horrifying I think you'll find a few that stay with you! For me highlights were The Bothy by Su Haddrell, Sunday's Child by Fiona Clegg; Cold Hearted by GH Finn and The Coming of the Cold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[Joanne Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huddle down by the fire, for the nights are drawing in, and the clawed hand of winter is closing tightly on the land…

(Ironically, I started reading this just as we got our first actually hot days of spring in this part of the world. But not to worry, because now it’s howling a gale and lashing down with rain outside, and what passes for summer in England is as close to winter as makes no difference. But I digress.)

In the eons before Skyplussing and Playstation, people would while away the long winter nights telling stories around the fire. Tales to warm the blood with excitement, or chill the heart at the thought of the terrors that may be lurking in the wild, cold darkness just outside the door.

In Winter Tales Margret Helgadottir has put together a fine collection of short stories that do just that. Winter, snow, ice and frost, all are essential to every story in this SFF anthology, which takes us from mountaineers trapped in a Highland bothy by a sudden storm who find they’re not as alone as they think they are, via the freezing famine of war-torn Leningrad, to a futuristic travel agent where Sadie discovers that her request for a virtual holiday “somewhere cold”changes her life forever.

Highlights – apart from the aforementioned stories by, respectively, Su Haddrell, K.N. McGrath and David Sarsfield – include the warm and funny “Cold-Hearted” by G H Finn, “When the Trees Where Enchanted” by Masimba Musdoza, which brings ancient Zimbabwean magic into a fight against developers in modern-day Middlesbrough, and “The Coming of the Cold”, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s dark take on a wintery children’s classic.

Pick up a copy of Winter Tales. Go swift! for the wolves are running…

[Sergey Lenkevich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads First Reads
Thank You, Margrét Helgadóttir, for sending me the free copy of the book
********
When I received this book I was thinking that I had a little problem.

This was the beginning of a hot summer, and there was no correlation between the frozen worlds of the book and the sweltering world outside it.

No snow, no frost, not even the crackling fireplace to fully submerge myself in the different realm of winter. But somehow, believe it or not, once I began to read these stories, I started to feel a chill down my spine and even the weather decided to turn colder and colder.... The magic of literature.

So this collection of fiction and poems disproves the view that the uniformity of winter can offer only snow and frost, no colors, lifelessness, boredom--and did I mention snow????--and has few tales to tell.

The myth is busted: LOOK!!!! The grim alleys of winter are full of lurking.... hmmm.... things
LISTEN!!!! The howling wind actually narrates something about the knights of the round table or the forthcoming apocalypses and THINK!!!! Are you really sure you know what is under this boring stupid snow.... The lair of sinister entity, the forgotten victim of someone's crime or the magical artefact.

Hope you're luckier than I am, now it's snowing around your little cabin in the woods, it's warm and cozy inside, you think you're safe and you have this book to read.

Have nice chills!!!!

[imyril is not really here any more · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winter Tales is an extensive selection of short stories to be told in the dark or by the flickering of candlelight, as chilly as the season they celebrate. A few are by well-known authors, but most were new to me, which is always exciting. A big shout out to Mat Joiner and Eliza Chan as to of my favourites, along with the expected tour de force from Adrian Tchaikovsky.

While this isn't the strongest anthology I've read this year, there are enough intriguing tales to merit a look and get to know some new voices in the genre as they flex their storytelling muscles.

Full review.

I received a free copy from the editor in exchange for an honest review.

[Adrian Farrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bring a blast of winter cold into your home

I got a lot of pleasure out of this collection of frosty tales. The different voices of the authors shine through and many of the stories have sparked my imagination.

A book for dipping into on dark nights by the fire when the snow swirls outside the window and the door rattles on the latch.

But most of all, I love this book for the cover!

[Wendy Bousfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am pasting in a link to my review from FUTURE FIRE: SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND SPECULATIVE CYBER-FICTION:
http://reviews.futurefire.net/2016/08...

[K.N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a story in this anthology, so my rating and review are excluding The Siege. I will review the rest of the anthology, and then reflect on my own contribution.

Favorite Story: The Bothy by Su Haddrell I wasn't initially invested in this story, but by the ending I fist-pumped the air. It's a suspense-builder with a deliciously creepy ending.

Runner-Up: Spirit of the Season by Jonathan Ward This reminded me of It Follows with a delightful holiday twist.

Second Runner-Up: Cold-Hearted by G.H. Finn Unlike The Bothy, this story had me hooked from the beginning, but by the end it had stacked one too many hats on hats for me to fully handle and enjoy. The narrative style is fantastic though.

Favorite Poem: Under Your Skin by Amelia Gorman

Inclusion Award: Yukizuki by Eliza Chan The story is based on Japanese folklore and includes LGBTQ characters.

Honorable Mentions:

Winter in the Vivarium by Tim Major The dystopian setting and atmosphere he created were great.

Snow Angel by Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi I enjoyed the unusual POV, and, even though mere mention of the Industrial Revolution takes me back to a terrible middle school class, I love facts in fiction.

Favorite "Fanfiction": The Coming of the Cold by Adrian Tchaikovsky I thought this added a "fresh" little layer to such a famous and beloved series.

Shout-Out: James Bennett, your Mordred description slayed. It painted such a vivid and detailed picture in my head.

Reflections on The Siege:

When I saw the open call for submissions with a winter theme, I immediately thought I should write a story about the "worst winter ever". I considered writing about the infamous Donner party, but, keeping with the cannibal-theme, decided on the much larger-scale and extremely horrific siege of Leningrad.

I wanted to be as historically accurate as possible, so I read a number of sources, most notably Shurik, A Story of the Siege of Leningrad and The 900 Days, The Siege of Leningrad, which I later purchased because it was a fascinating book.

The Siege went through five extremely kind and helpful hands before it was submitted, so thank you to those that put up with me and gave me tips and feedback (you know who you are).

I had such a pleasant experience for my first published submission thanks to Fox Spirit Books and Margret Helgadottir. Not only do I highly recommend and support their business and books, but I'd love to submit to them again in the future.

Love, K