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The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories
called home. Her story--as well as tales of an order of deep-sea diving nuns caring for a sunken chapel and a high school boy asked to prom by the only dead kid he's ever met--can be found in A.C. Wise's newest collection of the fantastical, the weird, the queer and the poignant.
450 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2016
8 people are currently reading
803 people want to read
About the author
A.C. Wise
162 books407 followersA.C. Wise's fiction has appeared in publications such as Uncanny, Shimmer, and Tor.com, among other places. She had two collections published with Lethe Press, and a novella published by Broken Eye Books. Her debut novel, Wendy, Darling, is out from Titan Books n June 2021, and a new collection, The Ghost Sequences, is forthcoming from Undertow Books in October 2021. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, as well as being a two-time Nebula finalist, a two-time Sunburst finalist, an Aurora finalist, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. In addition to her fiction, she contributes review columns to the Book Smugglers and Apex Magazine, and has been a finalist for the Ignyte Award in the Critics category.
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August 29, 2017Diverse in every sense. A really varied collection of queer SFF, ranging from steampunk to aliens to zombie apocalyse to magic realist multiple lives, and much more. Remarkable variety of voice too, from literary-lyrical to teenagers, and a wide cast encompassing all sorts of identities. The one that sticks in my mind is a startling version of Cinderella retold through the eyes of a noir-style detective as an ongoing crime, but there'll be something for everyone in a collection of this breadth.
February 27, 2017
Last year I read and reviewed A.C. Wise’s
The Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron Saves the World Again
and I loved it. It was fun, camp, and utterly delightful. So when Wise approached me about reviewing her latest collection, The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories, I agreed with alacrity, as I was keen to read more of her work. And while this collection is perhaps less exuberant than the previous one, it is a deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking set of stories, which while spanning the breadth of the speculative genre in space and time, all deal with identity and agency.
The stories debate identity, in the broadest sense of the word, as a construct — whether a societal construct, a philosophical one, or a literal one — and whether choice can ever be a part of that. In The Poet’s Child the use of language and words as essential to identity is illustrated by the loss of words and their meanings. It is only in the absence of having the words to describe themselves and the way that the main character is only the poet’s child lacking a name and pronouns, that you realise how much of our identity and being is defined by what we are called and what we call ourselves. Something that is echoed in the next story Juliet & Juliet(te). The changing of the spelling of her name signals a change in Juliet(te), but also a change in who Juliet will be. Juliet(te) makes a choice to change her name and every step on the road she travels with Juliet is shown as another choice.
Choice is also central to And If the Body Were Not the Soul, one of my favourites in this collection. Ro, Xal, and Audra all have to choose to trust one another and to respect each other’s boundaries. I loved Ro and Xal and the way Wise developed their relationship and the way they see themselves and the other. Wise also does an interesting thing with the way Xal communicates. Because they are so other, they cannot convey meaning through body language or inflection and they state tone before every utterance. I really liked how this created a sense of alienness, while at the same time making Xal one of the few in the story who communicated in a totally transparent manner.
The lack of choice and even agency plays a large role in two of my other favourites, For the Removal of Unwanted Guests and After Midnight - A Fairy Tale Noir. In the former, the protagonist Michael is confronted by a witch who decides to move in with him whether he agrees or not. The witch is there to teach Michael some life lessons and he has no choice but to learn them. What I really loved about this story is that it is as much the witch’s tale as it is Michael’s and the feeling of warmth that laced it. The question of agency is even more explicit in After Midnight, which is a retelling of Cinderella, but as you’ve never seen it before. The lack of agency here is both within the narrative as the characters have to abide by their archetypes, but it is also present without, as the reader has to let go of certain preconceptions she has as regards how the story of Cinderella is constructed and how it should play out.
The remaining two of my top five stories from this collection were A Mouse Ran Up the Clock and The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child. A Mouse Ran Up the Clock is a fascinating, alt-historical, almost steampunk, narrative about a clockmaker and a scientist who are rounded up to work for a Nazi-parallel leader. It looks at the depth of human curiosity and thirst for discovery, but also how that can be abused and turned to unimaginable cruelty. And ultimately the sacrifice some are willing to make to save others. If the story feels starkly real despite its alt-history roots, The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child feels far more lyrical and dreamlike. This is also due to the fact that Gin is perhaps not the most objective or reliable narrator of her and Silvie’s love story. The story kept shifting direction and I loved the ambiguous ending.
A.C. Wise’s The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is a treasure trove, without a single disappointing story. Wise shows her range and depth with collection, displaying a versatility and craft that is wonderful. From her previous collection and the various short stories I’ve read in other publications to this latest collections, I never know what the next story is going to bring, but it is almost assured that I will like it, thanks to Wise’s style and voice. If you’ve never encountered Wise’s writing before, The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is a great place to start. If you are familiar with her work, you know you’re in for a treat.
This book was provided for review by the author.
The stories debate identity, in the broadest sense of the word, as a construct — whether a societal construct, a philosophical one, or a literal one — and whether choice can ever be a part of that. In The Poet’s Child the use of language and words as essential to identity is illustrated by the loss of words and their meanings. It is only in the absence of having the words to describe themselves and the way that the main character is only the poet’s child lacking a name and pronouns, that you realise how much of our identity and being is defined by what we are called and what we call ourselves. Something that is echoed in the next story Juliet & Juliet(te). The changing of the spelling of her name signals a change in Juliet(te), but also a change in who Juliet will be. Juliet(te) makes a choice to change her name and every step on the road she travels with Juliet is shown as another choice.
Choice is also central to And If the Body Were Not the Soul, one of my favourites in this collection. Ro, Xal, and Audra all have to choose to trust one another and to respect each other’s boundaries. I loved Ro and Xal and the way Wise developed their relationship and the way they see themselves and the other. Wise also does an interesting thing with the way Xal communicates. Because they are so other, they cannot convey meaning through body language or inflection and they state tone before every utterance. I really liked how this created a sense of alienness, while at the same time making Xal one of the few in the story who communicated in a totally transparent manner.
The lack of choice and even agency plays a large role in two of my other favourites, For the Removal of Unwanted Guests and After Midnight - A Fairy Tale Noir. In the former, the protagonist Michael is confronted by a witch who decides to move in with him whether he agrees or not. The witch is there to teach Michael some life lessons and he has no choice but to learn them. What I really loved about this story is that it is as much the witch’s tale as it is Michael’s and the feeling of warmth that laced it. The question of agency is even more explicit in After Midnight, which is a retelling of Cinderella, but as you’ve never seen it before. The lack of agency here is both within the narrative as the characters have to abide by their archetypes, but it is also present without, as the reader has to let go of certain preconceptions she has as regards how the story of Cinderella is constructed and how it should play out.
The remaining two of my top five stories from this collection were A Mouse Ran Up the Clock and The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child. A Mouse Ran Up the Clock is a fascinating, alt-historical, almost steampunk, narrative about a clockmaker and a scientist who are rounded up to work for a Nazi-parallel leader. It looks at the depth of human curiosity and thirst for discovery, but also how that can be abused and turned to unimaginable cruelty. And ultimately the sacrifice some are willing to make to save others. If the story feels starkly real despite its alt-history roots, The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child feels far more lyrical and dreamlike. This is also due to the fact that Gin is perhaps not the most objective or reliable narrator of her and Silvie’s love story. The story kept shifting direction and I loved the ambiguous ending.
A.C. Wise’s The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is a treasure trove, without a single disappointing story. Wise shows her range and depth with collection, displaying a versatility and craft that is wonderful. From her previous collection and the various short stories I’ve read in other publications to this latest collections, I never know what the next story is going to bring, but it is almost assured that I will like it, thanks to Wise’s style and voice. If you’ve never encountered Wise’s writing before, The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is a great place to start. If you are familiar with her work, you know you’re in for a treat.
This book was provided for review by the author.
February 20, 2017
A.C. Wise is quickly becoming one of my favorite SF/F writers. Not only does she take risks, but she's able to pull it off. Her fiction is unexpected and fresh, as a reader I never know what I'm going to get when I step into one of her stories--and that is a beautiful and rare thing. The stories run the gamut of steam punk, weird, erotic, disturbing and fantasy. There are several, I would love to see expanded or adapted. Also strongly recommend you check out her other collection The Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron Saves the World Again which is in the running to be one of the five best books I read this year.
February 2, 2018
The prose poetry of A.C. Wise is completely unfurled in this collection. Pick this up for a wealth of gorgeous and rending stories. “For the Removal of Unwanted Guests” is a great example of Halloween moodiness with the smell of autumn on the wind. “Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew” is a melancholy musing on taking on your own identity. Neither “The Kissing Booth Girl” nor “It's the End of the World as We Know It” went where I expected and they were wonderfully affirming. “The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution” was an emotional exploration of how we interact with technology and what it means to us, as well as a lens on how we perceive history.
My favorite story by A.C. Wise is “Final Girl Theory” which exerts all of the beauty of the prose to take us through an unpleasant decadent film in the tradition of Dario Argento, and the toxic fandom of its cult followers. “Evidence of Things Unseen” pokes at similar uncomfortable places and discusses consent in BDSM and how those edges interact with guilt. I love the way that it hooks the reader into the loop and also makes them a consenting participant.
To sample some of the stories in this collection, you can explore online (two at Clarkesworld and one at PseudoPod). After listening to these, go buy the rest of these stories.
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/wise_...
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio...
http://pseudopod.org/2012/06/22/pseud...
My favorite story by A.C. Wise is “Final Girl Theory” which exerts all of the beauty of the prose to take us through an unpleasant decadent film in the tradition of Dario Argento, and the toxic fandom of its cult followers. “Evidence of Things Unseen” pokes at similar uncomfortable places and discusses consent in BDSM and how those edges interact with guilt. I love the way that it hooks the reader into the loop and also makes them a consenting participant.
To sample some of the stories in this collection, you can explore online (two at Clarkesworld and one at PseudoPod). After listening to these, go buy the rest of these stories.
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/wise_...
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio...
http://pseudopod.org/2012/06/22/pseud...
November 19, 2016
These are stories that you'll want to read over and over again. On the first pass, you'll delight in the language: the sheer lyricism of A.C. Wise's rhapsodies, prose-poems, and dreams. Later, the power of her imagination will tug you back to the book to re-experience all the finely detailed intricacies and oddities layered within it.
Juliet & Juliet(te): A Romance of Alternate Worlds entranced me. I was smitten with Beni - protagonist of the titular The Kissing Booth Girl - from the very first paragraph (Reiko Murakami's gorgeous cover art nudged my heart in this direction too) and hope that we'll see her again in future stories. For the Removal of Unwanted Guests reminded me of (and this is high praise) classic Neil Gaiman. Final Girl Theory disturbed me, but in a good way. It's the End of the World as We Know It captured precisely that strange and beautiful end-of-school feeling of being young and lost and heartbroken and hopeful all at once.
It makes me happy knowing this book is on my shelf.
Juliet & Juliet(te): A Romance of Alternate Worlds entranced me. I was smitten with Beni - protagonist of the titular The Kissing Booth Girl - from the very first paragraph (Reiko Murakami's gorgeous cover art nudged my heart in this direction too) and hope that we'll see her again in future stories. For the Removal of Unwanted Guests reminded me of (and this is high praise) classic Neil Gaiman. Final Girl Theory disturbed me, but in a good way. It's the End of the World as We Know It captured precisely that strange and beautiful end-of-school feeling of being young and lost and heartbroken and hopeful all at once.
It makes me happy knowing this book is on my shelf.
April 27, 2017
(I won this one in a giveaway from the author)
A solid collection of short stories concerned with gender and the senses and identity and agency and hope, focused more on mood and theme than plot or setting. Somewhere between a less-macabre Caitlin Kiernan and a more-interesting Neil Gaiman (which might be another way of saying a less-oblique Kelly Link), let's say. Includes some of Wise's earliest publications and a number that were new to this collection - overall the newer stories were much stronger than the old ones, and isn't that the way it should be? My one prior experience with Wise was a campy, metafictional affair, which none of these stories are, and it's impressive to see the wide array of genres she tackles.
The Poet's Child • (2010)
The vague, oneiric story of a callous, ink-stained poet and their lonely offspring (?) separated from the world by a glass wall, the former stealing the words of the latter (which pop up as subheadings organizing the story) in order to satisfy their "need to express the inexpressible."
Juliet & Juliet(te): A Romance of Alternate Worlds
A reaction to/commentary on what TV Tropes calls "Bury Your Gays" or "Dead Lesbians Syndrome," where gay characters are never allowed happy endings. Two women fall in love, assert their agency, build a time machine, and hop from impossibility to impossibility, plan to plan, moment to moment ("There are better stories to tell") while enjoying one another's company. A fantastic story.
And If the Body Were Not the Soul • (2015)
Alien "Immies" (immigrants) have landed on Earth, only to be segregated into their own Zone in a post-war (post-apocalyptic?) city, reviled by most of the population. Our protagonist is more sympathetic, because their discomfort with flesh and physicality is mirrored in the aliens' synesthetic touch/communications.
This one didn't really cohere for me and was less than the sum of its parts.
The Pornographer's Assistant • (2012)
The machine from Kafka's penal colony as a porn-writing automaton; again tackling physicality and discomfort with sexuality and the disconnect between mind and body (the sentient automaton, notably, is immobile and locked away from the world in an ancient bunker) in addition to words and authorship/agency.
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests • (2013)
The anxiety of moving into a new house mirrors the anxiety of having a witch and cat unexpectedly move in with you - the mundane crashes up against the magical, and our protagonist learns that life, while unfair, can still be beautiful. This could easily have been much too twee, but it isn't.
A Mouse Ran Up the Clock • (2009)
Unapologetic pulp - an alternate history about Nazis and Jewish tinkers and clockwork occultism (animal spies made of a "fusion of metal and magic"). The dialogue was bad and the climax was on the clumsy side, but it was fun.
Evidence of Things Unseen • (2014)
A nightmarish second person story revolving around video of police interviews ("you" being the interviewer) about ghostly S&M that reads at times like a satire of the male gaze, touching on themes of restraint and religion. This one in particular reminded me of Kiernan, in ways both uninteresting to me (S&M) and very interesting to me (everything else in the previous sentence).
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew • (2009)
An orphan raised by underwater nuns learns the power of names and hears the singing of the unclean corpses littering the depths before christening her boat "The Fisher of Men" and leaving to minister to the dead. Surprisingly (?) Christian, and also treading a bit close to the whimsical for me, but a touching story nonetheless.
The Kissing Booth Girl
Another alternate history, about an American steam-powered circus that encounters and imprisons a glowing fallen star-woman, armless (hint) and uncannily white (hint hint). Our protagonist is a young African American woman, a mechanist prodigy who faces down intersectional discrimination in pursuing her craft. I thought for a bit that it was building to a disappointing moral contradiction, but then that turned out to be the point. Definitely earns its place as the title story of the collection.
Final Girl Theory • (2011)
I am, in reality, not much of a film buff, but I love stories about fictional movies anyway (probably because they've been translated into a medium I feel more confident absorbing and critiquing). "Kaleidoscope," the bloody, misogynistic cult classic at the heart of this story, is not something I'd ever like to see, but I definitely don't mind reading about its corrupting influence on its fans - it "isn't a movie, it's an infection" (making this kind of story essentially a modernized version of the Necronomicon-style "evil book" trope). One of those fans - a superfan, in fact, who looks down on another who "hasn't transcended the sex and gore" - sees the reclusive titular actress decades after the movie's release, and she lets him know what she thinks of the tropes of the "final girl" or "strong woman."
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child
A fractured narrative, beautifully slipping between stories like Juliet & Juliet(te) (but treated in a more "serious" manner) as a woman tells her daughter "truths" about her other mother, who maybe has mental health issues or maybe just follows her own dream logic to the realm of fairies. "I just have to find my way to the end of the story and everything will be fine."
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution • (2013)
2nd person, you meet with an old woman who has stashed away in her apartment the titular bot and the two of you hash out the various stories about what did or didn't happen in the revolution. Agency, relationships and compromise are investigated, but this one didn't just didn't make much of an impression, largely because it pales in comparison to the thematically-similar story preceding it.
After Midnight—A Fairy Tale Noir • (2006)
As it says on the tin - Cinderella rewritten as a hardboiled PI's first-person confessional, hired by the troublemaking fairy godmother, bantering with the femme fatale stepsister, touching on class and misogyny. This shouldn't work, but it does!
It's the End of the World as We Know It
A high school senior finally gets to date the boy of his dreams, but only after said boy has died and returned to unlife. Then, other people come back as zombies. "Things don't make any more sense from the other side." Both coming out and ending childhood (graduating high school) as aspects of figuring out life and transcending endings (death) and hordes of unsympathetic high school kids (or zombies).
A solid collection of short stories concerned with gender and the senses and identity and agency and hope, focused more on mood and theme than plot or setting. Somewhere between a less-macabre Caitlin Kiernan and a more-interesting Neil Gaiman (which might be another way of saying a less-oblique Kelly Link), let's say. Includes some of Wise's earliest publications and a number that were new to this collection - overall the newer stories were much stronger than the old ones, and isn't that the way it should be? My one prior experience with Wise was a campy, metafictional affair, which none of these stories are, and it's impressive to see the wide array of genres she tackles.
The Poet's Child • (2010)
The vague, oneiric story of a callous, ink-stained poet and their lonely offspring (?) separated from the world by a glass wall, the former stealing the words of the latter (which pop up as subheadings organizing the story) in order to satisfy their "need to express the inexpressible."
Juliet & Juliet(te): A Romance of Alternate Worlds
A reaction to/commentary on what TV Tropes calls "Bury Your Gays" or "Dead Lesbians Syndrome," where gay characters are never allowed happy endings. Two women fall in love, assert their agency, build a time machine, and hop from impossibility to impossibility, plan to plan, moment to moment ("There are better stories to tell") while enjoying one another's company. A fantastic story.
And If the Body Were Not the Soul • (2015)
Alien "Immies" (immigrants) have landed on Earth, only to be segregated into their own Zone in a post-war (post-apocalyptic?) city, reviled by most of the population. Our protagonist is more sympathetic, because their discomfort with flesh and physicality is mirrored in the aliens' synesthetic touch/communications.
This one didn't really cohere for me and was less than the sum of its parts.
The Pornographer's Assistant • (2012)
The machine from Kafka's penal colony as a porn-writing automaton; again tackling physicality and discomfort with sexuality and the disconnect between mind and body (the sentient automaton, notably, is immobile and locked away from the world in an ancient bunker) in addition to words and authorship/agency.
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests • (2013)
The anxiety of moving into a new house mirrors the anxiety of having a witch and cat unexpectedly move in with you - the mundane crashes up against the magical, and our protagonist learns that life, while unfair, can still be beautiful. This could easily have been much too twee, but it isn't.
A Mouse Ran Up the Clock • (2009)
Unapologetic pulp - an alternate history about Nazis and Jewish tinkers and clockwork occultism (animal spies made of a "fusion of metal and magic"). The dialogue was bad and the climax was on the clumsy side, but it was fun.
Evidence of Things Unseen • (2014)
A nightmarish second person story revolving around video of police interviews ("you" being the interviewer) about ghostly S&M that reads at times like a satire of the male gaze, touching on themes of restraint and religion. This one in particular reminded me of Kiernan, in ways both uninteresting to me (S&M) and very interesting to me (everything else in the previous sentence).
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew • (2009)
An orphan raised by underwater nuns learns the power of names and hears the singing of the unclean corpses littering the depths before christening her boat "The Fisher of Men" and leaving to minister to the dead. Surprisingly (?) Christian, and also treading a bit close to the whimsical for me, but a touching story nonetheless.
The Kissing Booth Girl
Another alternate history, about an American steam-powered circus that encounters and imprisons a glowing fallen star-woman, armless (hint) and uncannily white (hint hint). Our protagonist is a young African American woman, a mechanist prodigy who faces down intersectional discrimination in pursuing her craft. I thought for a bit that it was building to a disappointing moral contradiction, but then that turned out to be the point. Definitely earns its place as the title story of the collection.
Final Girl Theory • (2011)
I am, in reality, not much of a film buff, but I love stories about fictional movies anyway (probably because they've been translated into a medium I feel more confident absorbing and critiquing). "Kaleidoscope," the bloody, misogynistic cult classic at the heart of this story, is not something I'd ever like to see, but I definitely don't mind reading about its corrupting influence on its fans - it "isn't a movie, it's an infection" (making this kind of story essentially a modernized version of the Necronomicon-style "evil book" trope). One of those fans - a superfan, in fact, who looks down on another who "hasn't transcended the sex and gore" - sees the reclusive titular actress decades after the movie's release, and she lets him know what she thinks of the tropes of the "final girl" or "strong woman."
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child
A fractured narrative, beautifully slipping between stories like Juliet & Juliet(te) (but treated in a more "serious" manner) as a woman tells her daughter "truths" about her other mother, who maybe has mental health issues or maybe just follows her own dream logic to the realm of fairies. "I just have to find my way to the end of the story and everything will be fine."
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution • (2013)
2nd person, you meet with an old woman who has stashed away in her apartment the titular bot and the two of you hash out the various stories about what did or didn't happen in the revolution. Agency, relationships and compromise are investigated, but this one didn't just didn't make much of an impression, largely because it pales in comparison to the thematically-similar story preceding it.
After Midnight—A Fairy Tale Noir • (2006)
As it says on the tin - Cinderella rewritten as a hardboiled PI's first-person confessional, hired by the troublemaking fairy godmother, bantering with the femme fatale stepsister, touching on class and misogyny. This shouldn't work, but it does!
It's the End of the World as We Know It
A high school senior finally gets to date the boy of his dreams, but only after said boy has died and returned to unlife. Then, other people come back as zombies. "Things don't make any more sense from the other side." Both coming out and ending childhood (graduating high school) as aspects of figuring out life and transcending endings (death) and hordes of unsympathetic high school kids (or zombies).
August 2, 2017
A.C. Wise's imagination has its own unique flavor: one story in, and you already know that she sees something new, delicate and heart-breaking when looking at a seemingly worn-out trope. As you read, you see the greater landscapes of her fascinations in recurring themes - building creatures that live and breathe, queer love, illusion, sacrifice. Some stories feel vaguely familiar and tame, others are so eerie I needed to read them over and over again. What they have in common is their scope: they all deal with very few persons and seemingly small things - but Wise shows that there's no need for the world ending to make a narrative feel important. And even her end of the world is not what you would expect.
October 5, 2017
I love, love, love this anthology. And after I cried my eyes out halfway through the book I had to buy more of her work because I don't want this to end. It's addictive, it's poetry, it's surreal, it's dark, it's hauntingly beautiful and it leaves me unable to write a review that would even begin to do this woman's amazing talent justice. So I advise you to read some of the wonderful reviews on this page (like from Mieneke).
The stories were all very different and I love them all. My absolute favorites were:
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests (2013)
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew • (2009)
The Kissing Booth Girl (2016)
Final Girl Theory (2011)
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child (2016)
... aaaand I realise I just summed up half of the book ;-) They are all good!
f/f, m/m
Themes: surreal, this book really made me very emotional, imaginative writing, elegant, deep sea diving nuns! I mean, it don't get better than that, gorgious cover, I want to make that witch some tea, this book is such a treat!
5 stars (and then some!!)
The stories were all very different and I love them all. My absolute favorites were:
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests (2013)
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew • (2009)
The Kissing Booth Girl (2016)
Final Girl Theory (2011)
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child (2016)
... aaaand I realise I just summed up half of the book ;-) They are all good!
f/f, m/m
Themes: surreal, this book really made me very emotional, imaginative writing, elegant, deep sea diving nuns! I mean, it don't get better than that, gorgious cover, I want to make that witch some tea, this book is such a treat!
5 stars (and then some!!)
September 5, 2019
2.5 stars
Despite the rating, I didn't hate this. At all. I'm just kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. Goodreads defines 2 stars as 'It was okay', and for me that pretty much sums up the experience.
To the breakdown: This is a bind-up of short stories, so inevitably you end up getting some you dislike, some you like, and if you're lucky, one or two that you adore. I had one in particular that really stuck in my mind and has stayed there, certain details popping into my mind at the randomest of moments and making me think. The story in question is titled And If The Body Were Not The Soul, featuring an asexual, agender character named Ro who, for their entire life, has despised touch and the concept of their own flesh. Ro comes in contact with an alien named Xal on his delivery route, and this story follows their relationship. Xal was a fascinating creature who spoke through statements declaring the tone and kind of communication (query, statement etc) and the connection these two beings had was breathtaking to witness. I mean this quite literally; I found myself holding my breath until my chest burned while reading descriptions of their shared touch, like I didn't want to shatter the moment.
Unfortunately, I never came close to this kind of reaction again with any of the other stories. I loved the diversity, the casual and not-so-casual homosexuality... and some of the fantasy concepts were cool, but my eyes just kept glazing over. Sometimes the writing seemed a little too overdone with the metaphors and every problem being an earth-shattering, life-altering catastrophic event. It got to the point where the shock value had completely worn off by the last few stories. There seemed to be a focus on sexuality/sexual expression throughout many of these stories, which I appreciated, and for the most part I'd say it was tastefully done. It takes a lot for me to shy away from an explicit sex scene, and nothing here pushed too far (although Evidence of Things Unseen felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be dark and sultry).
Other ones I enjoyed: A Mouse Ran Up the Clock: Really liked the inventive elements and steampunk style, but our main character was a little too oblivious and complacent and it really, really grated on me. If we had spent the whole time hearing Itzak's story I would've been much happier.
Final Girl Theory: This wasn't my absolute favourite, but as a shameless fanboy who's often surrounded by insane superfans who know no boundries, I found this relevant. Everyone's been obsessed with something, but not everyone crosses that line of unacceptable obsession. Sometimes it's difficult to identify that line. It was interesting being in a mind of a crazed fan and watching that long fall.
It's the End of the World As We Know It: I loved the relationship between Cal and our main character, but I had far too many questions about the past and logistics in general. Also, the introductions of in the eleventh hour gave me literary whiplash. Like that idiot driver on the highway who cuts you off - it came outta nowhere and I could've done without it.
In general, the stories in this anthology held my attention, but that was about as far as it went. That being said, reading this was beyond worth it for And If The Body Were Not The Soul. Hands down. Also, super special red and white iced brownie points for a Canadian author!
Despite the rating, I didn't hate this. At all. I'm just kind of ambivalent about the whole thing. Goodreads defines 2 stars as 'It was okay', and for me that pretty much sums up the experience.
To the breakdown: This is a bind-up of short stories, so inevitably you end up getting some you dislike, some you like, and if you're lucky, one or two that you adore. I had one in particular that really stuck in my mind and has stayed there, certain details popping into my mind at the randomest of moments and making me think. The story in question is titled And If The Body Were Not The Soul, featuring an asexual, agender character named Ro who, for their entire life, has despised touch and the concept of their own flesh. Ro comes in contact with an alien named Xal on his delivery route, and this story follows their relationship. Xal was a fascinating creature who spoke through statements declaring the tone and kind of communication (query, statement etc) and the connection these two beings had was breathtaking to witness. I mean this quite literally; I found myself holding my breath until my chest burned while reading descriptions of their shared touch, like I didn't want to shatter the moment.
Unfortunately, I never came close to this kind of reaction again with any of the other stories. I loved the diversity, the casual and not-so-casual homosexuality... and some of the fantasy concepts were cool, but my eyes just kept glazing over. Sometimes the writing seemed a little too overdone with the metaphors and every problem being an earth-shattering, life-altering catastrophic event. It got to the point where the shock value had completely worn off by the last few stories. There seemed to be a focus on sexuality/sexual expression throughout many of these stories, which I appreciated, and for the most part I'd say it was tastefully done. It takes a lot for me to shy away from an explicit sex scene, and nothing here pushed too far (although Evidence of Things Unseen felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be dark and sultry).
Other ones I enjoyed: A Mouse Ran Up the Clock: Really liked the inventive elements and steampunk style, but our main character was a little too oblivious and complacent and it really, really grated on me. If we had spent the whole time hearing Itzak's story I would've been much happier.
Final Girl Theory: This wasn't my absolute favourite, but as a shameless fanboy who's often surrounded by insane superfans who know no boundries, I found this relevant. Everyone's been obsessed with something, but not everyone crosses that line of unacceptable obsession. Sometimes it's difficult to identify that line. It was interesting being in a mind of a crazed fan and watching that long fall.
It's the End of the World As We Know It: I loved the relationship between Cal and our main character, but I had far too many questions about the past and logistics in general. Also, the introductions of in the eleventh hour gave me literary whiplash. Like that idiot driver on the highway who cuts you off - it came outta nowhere and I could've done without it.
In general, the stories in this anthology held my attention, but that was about as far as it went. That being said, reading this was beyond worth it for And If The Body Were Not The Soul. Hands down. Also, super special red and white iced brownie points for a Canadian author!
February 11, 2018
I got this book in Storybundle's LGBT+ Bundle and the title and description of this book are what got me to pick up the entire bundle. I didn't even realize I already knew A.C. Wise's work from its appearance in Clarkesworld Magazine. As I mentioned during a couple of the status updates, Wise seems to be a thematic protege of Philip K Dick. A lot of her short stories involve unreliable narrators who often aren't sure if they're dreaming or remembering things correctly or even being honest with themselves. It's certainly not the first time I've come across unreliable narrators, but with how intimately Ms. Wise writes her characters it's even more jarring not to know how much of the story is "real" and how much is not even real to the narrator. It really does put the reader into the position of TRULY being in someone's head, with all its messiness; a strong contrast to other books that are written from a 1st Person POV but are very clear-headed.
As usual with anthologies, here's the status update I wrote for each story:
"The Poet's Child" - While it's not the kind of story I like (it's like 100% metaphor), it is still pretty powerful and could stand in for the power of naming things, alzheimer's, or simply refusing to speak about the tension between two people.
"Juliet & Juliet (te)" - A fantastical journey through a relationship kindled in an unlikely place.
"And if the body..." - A neat SF story that did more for my understanding of body dismorphism than any non-fiction account I've ever read
"The Pornographer's Assistant" - A steampunk story about how important fiction can be if you don't fit in.
"For the removal..." - My absolute favorite story so far. Sorry Quirky and great although I'm not sure what it has to do with the theme of the anthology
"Evidence of things..." - A steampunk WWII story. Very emotional.
"Evidence of things unseen" - reads like erotic fiction written by Philip K Dick
"Sisters of the..." - a clever story, one I might share with my oldest when she's maybe 8 or 9.
"The kissing booth girl" - the titular story, the one that convinced me to buy the bundle. It was worth it. A bit of steampunk and a world that begs more exploration. I'd like to see the further adventures of Beni.
"Final girl theory" - I didn't like this one, but it is neat seeing the narrator change through the story
"The astronaut..." - another dream logic like story where the rest isn't sure if there's magic at play, an unreliable narrator or both. This anthology is definitely get PKD with less drugs
"The last survivor of the great sexbot revolution" - I first came across this story in a 2013 episode of the Clarkesworld podcast. Enjoyed it then and now. Fits in well with the other themes of this anthology about unreliable memories.
"After Midnight..." - I thought I'd seen every retelling, but Cinderella as noir, incorporating the crazy stuff from the original version is a great read.
"It's the end of the world..." - this captures the way the end of high school better than anything else I've ever read or seen on film. Really transported me. Also great fun. I'd love an anthology season of all these short stories on a TV show.
As usual with anthologies, here's the status update I wrote for each story:
"The Poet's Child" - While it's not the kind of story I like (it's like 100% metaphor), it is still pretty powerful and could stand in for the power of naming things, alzheimer's, or simply refusing to speak about the tension between two people.
"Juliet & Juliet (te)" - A fantastical journey through a relationship kindled in an unlikely place.
"And if the body..." - A neat SF story that did more for my understanding of body dismorphism than any non-fiction account I've ever read
"The Pornographer's Assistant" - A steampunk story about how important fiction can be if you don't fit in.
"For the removal..." - My absolute favorite story so far. Sorry Quirky and great although I'm not sure what it has to do with the theme of the anthology
"Evidence of things..." - A steampunk WWII story. Very emotional.
"Evidence of things unseen" - reads like erotic fiction written by Philip K Dick
"Sisters of the..." - a clever story, one I might share with my oldest when she's maybe 8 or 9.
"The kissing booth girl" - the titular story, the one that convinced me to buy the bundle. It was worth it. A bit of steampunk and a world that begs more exploration. I'd like to see the further adventures of Beni.
"Final girl theory" - I didn't like this one, but it is neat seeing the narrator change through the story
"The astronaut..." - another dream logic like story where the rest isn't sure if there's magic at play, an unreliable narrator or both. This anthology is definitely get PKD with less drugs
"The last survivor of the great sexbot revolution" - I first came across this story in a 2013 episode of the Clarkesworld podcast. Enjoyed it then and now. Fits in well with the other themes of this anthology about unreliable memories.
"After Midnight..." - I thought I'd seen every retelling, but Cinderella as noir, incorporating the crazy stuff from the original version is a great read.
"It's the end of the world..." - this captures the way the end of high school better than anything else I've ever read or seen on film. Really transported me. Also great fun. I'd love an anthology season of all these short stories on a TV show.
September 22, 2019
Wise’s collection of fantastic (most often futuristic or steam-punkish) short stories is best read in individual bites so that the effect and implications of each piece has time to settle. Many of them focus on the use of language--either as a theme of the story or simply in its presentation. Pain, damage, and disability are strong through-lines. And queerness is an assumed given in most of the pieces. These are not comfortable stories; they’re often angry and many feature characters who can’t easily be framed as likeable. It’s a powerful collection--almost overwhelming in its entirety (hence my reading suggestion).
January 9, 2018
Weird, sharp stories. The kind of sharp of broken glass. Dangerous, not always complete, bloody. Very diverse, in character, and sub-genre slants. Zombies, automatons, circuses, wishes... just not quite my kind of thing, with a few well-written gems sparkling among the painful shards.
September 3, 2018
Great collection of short stories! I really loved the diversity of the characters and how the author was able to make me care about them in such a few pages.
January 8, 2019
I more or less loved every story in this collection. A.C. Wise is an excellent short story writer. Highly recommend.
April 8, 2025
Good-intentioned, clumsily executed. If I hadn't been stuck on a plane, I probably wouldn't have read so much of it.
May 22, 2017
I checked out this book because the cover and description were really interesting to me. What I didn't realize is that this book would quickly become a collection of some of my favorite stories. As a queer person with a great love of Sci-fi, this book filled a void I'd been craving for a while. These stories had characters of all different kinds with all different kinds of relationships, and it is nothing short of beautiful. I cannot wait to read more of her work.
July 20, 2020
While some of the stories drag a little, as will happen in short story collections, the highs of this book were amazing.
*The Poet's Child* was such an inventive take on vampirism.
*The Kissing Booth Girl* was a powerful journey for the narrator in self-discovery.
*Final Girl Theory* was an incredible narrative about research into a fictional film.
*The Astronaut, Her Lover, The Queen Of Faerie, And Their Child* was a magical story that reminds me a little bit of *The Drowning Girl* by Caitlin Kiernan.
The final story, *It's The End Of The World As We Know It* started out as a story dragged for me but it made me cry (a feel good cry) on the final page.
*The Poet's Child* was such an inventive take on vampirism.
*The Kissing Booth Girl* was a powerful journey for the narrator in self-discovery.
*Final Girl Theory* was an incredible narrative about research into a fictional film.
*The Astronaut, Her Lover, The Queen Of Faerie, And Their Child* was a magical story that reminds me a little bit of *The Drowning Girl* by Caitlin Kiernan.
The final story, *It's The End Of The World As We Know It* started out as a story dragged for me but it made me cry (a feel good cry) on the final page.
August 5, 2017
The stories that make up this anthology vary in quality quite a bit. Some of them are absolutely wonderful, and some are Very Bad. For the most part, the good outweighs the bad, and as a whole AC Wise's writing has a beautiful fairy tale quality to it, which gives most of the stores a mystical, familiar feeling. It manages to be both detached and distant and yet familiar and intimate at the same time. I also just really really love the cover. My thoughts on the individual stories are below.
The Poet's Child- I've never seen such a prolonged story not use any pronouns and do it so seamlessly. It was such an interesting concept and it had a very fulfilling conclusion
Juilet and Juilet(te)- I didn't think I was into this one until I got to the last page and almost started crying out of nowhere. So uh I guess I really liked this one
And If the Body Were Not the Soul- it's an interesting world, and I did like the story, but the mentally-connecting-with-the-tentacle-alien scenes were so weirdly sexual that I kept expecting it to actually turn into tentacle porn
The Pornographer's Assistant- I've never read such a bizarre sex scene. Whatever you're imagining based on the name, trust me, you are nowhere close. It wasn't necessarily bad or uncomfortable like some of the later stories, just fucking weird
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests- this one left me feeling vaguely uncomfortable and I can't quite pinpoint why.
A Mouse Ran Up the Clock- I am so very tired of Nazi stories, even fantasy ones featuring rampaging steampunk golems
Evidence of Things Unseen- I hated this one with a passion. It made me extremely uncomfortable and I still have no idea what was going on or what the point was. The voyeurism of police procedurals? With a side helping of suicidal demons? And the speaker was freakishly obsessed with the woman's nipples. I never want to read that fucking word again in my life.
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew- incredibly creative idea and vivid setting with a fulfilling conclusion. Imagine a combination of the aesthetics of the Little Mermaid and Catholic opulence, with a touch of steampunk, and you have the aesthetic of this story
The Kissing Booth Girl- There's good reason the anthology as a whole is named after this story. It's one of the strongest, with a vivid setting and really fleshed out characters given that it's a short story. I could read an entire novel about Beni.
Final Girl Theory- I hated this one for much the same reasons I hated Evidence of Things Unseen. It wavers between uncomfortable and revolting, there's no point to it, and it doesn't answer any of the questions it raises.
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child- a really sweet story that blurs reality and fantasy. One of my favorites
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution- too short to really leave an impact. Raises a lot of questions and deliberately leaves them unanswered
After Midnight- a Fairy Tale Noir- I am also so very tired of grimdark reinterpretations of fairy tales. It's not even a Noir, except that it's always raining and the speaker always smoking. I was expecting a faerie murder mystery and all I got was a deranged Cinderella
It's the End of the World as We Know It- this one is a big departure from all of the previous stories as it is much more a young adult high school romance, and the writing style completely changes to go along with it. I didn't have much on an opinion on this one, except that the last lines were a nice way to end the anthology as a whole
The Poet's Child- I've never seen such a prolonged story not use any pronouns and do it so seamlessly. It was such an interesting concept and it had a very fulfilling conclusion
Juilet and Juilet(te)- I didn't think I was into this one until I got to the last page and almost started crying out of nowhere. So uh I guess I really liked this one
And If the Body Were Not the Soul- it's an interesting world, and I did like the story, but the mentally-connecting-with-the-tentacle-alien scenes were so weirdly sexual that I kept expecting it to actually turn into tentacle porn
The Pornographer's Assistant- I've never read such a bizarre sex scene. Whatever you're imagining based on the name, trust me, you are nowhere close. It wasn't necessarily bad or uncomfortable like some of the later stories, just fucking weird
For the Removal of Unwanted Guests- this one left me feeling vaguely uncomfortable and I can't quite pinpoint why.
A Mouse Ran Up the Clock- I am so very tired of Nazi stories, even fantasy ones featuring rampaging steampunk golems
Evidence of Things Unseen- I hated this one with a passion. It made me extremely uncomfortable and I still have no idea what was going on or what the point was. The voyeurism of police procedurals? With a side helping of suicidal demons? And the speaker was freakishly obsessed with the woman's nipples. I never want to read that fucking word again in my life.
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew- incredibly creative idea and vivid setting with a fulfilling conclusion. Imagine a combination of the aesthetics of the Little Mermaid and Catholic opulence, with a touch of steampunk, and you have the aesthetic of this story
The Kissing Booth Girl- There's good reason the anthology as a whole is named after this story. It's one of the strongest, with a vivid setting and really fleshed out characters given that it's a short story. I could read an entire novel about Beni.
Final Girl Theory- I hated this one for much the same reasons I hated Evidence of Things Unseen. It wavers between uncomfortable and revolting, there's no point to it, and it doesn't answer any of the questions it raises.
The Astronaut, Her Lover, the Queen of Faerie, and Their Child- a really sweet story that blurs reality and fantasy. One of my favorites
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution- too short to really leave an impact. Raises a lot of questions and deliberately leaves them unanswered
After Midnight- a Fairy Tale Noir- I am also so very tired of grimdark reinterpretations of fairy tales. It's not even a Noir, except that it's always raining and the speaker always smoking. I was expecting a faerie murder mystery and all I got was a deranged Cinderella
It's the End of the World as We Know It- this one is a big departure from all of the previous stories as it is much more a young adult high school romance, and the writing style completely changes to go along with it. I didn't have much on an opinion on this one, except that the last lines were a nice way to end the anthology as a whole
September 3, 2022
Advertised as a collection of the fantastical, the weird, the queer and the poignant, The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is all those things and more. A.C. Wise weaves a variety of styles, genres, and sexualities through her tales, foregoing the gleeful camp of The Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron Saves the World Again in favor of a darker, more contemplative faery-tale feel. It took a few stories for the collection to take hold of my imagination, but the writing is so polished, so crisp, and so elegant, that it's easy to be patient.
It was with The Pornographer's Assistant that Wise got my imagination firing, and with For The Removal of Unwanted Guests that she hooked me. As witchcraft fables go, the story, the dialogue, and the final twist are all perfect. A Mouse Ran Up The Clock takes the collection down a darker path, a clockwork tale of politics, ethics, and humanity.
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew and The Kissing Booth Girl were both beautifully weird stories, just on the edge of unreality, tied together with human thoughts and emotions.
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution was probably one of my favorites in the collection, a tale that's as much about the story as the telling. The element of uncertainty . . . of unreliability . . . is what makes the story so intriguing. We don't know the truth of the story or the history, and while I usually find such literary tricks tiresome, it worked here.
The language of The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is as powerful as its imagery, a narrative style that extends across the genres, linking them together into a fluid whole.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
It was with The Pornographer's Assistant that Wise got my imagination firing, and with For The Removal of Unwanted Guests that she hooked me. As witchcraft fables go, the story, the dialogue, and the final twist are all perfect. A Mouse Ran Up The Clock takes the collection down a darker path, a clockwork tale of politics, ethics, and humanity.
Sisters of the Blessed Diving Order of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew and The Kissing Booth Girl were both beautifully weird stories, just on the edge of unreality, tied together with human thoughts and emotions.
The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution was probably one of my favorites in the collection, a tale that's as much about the story as the telling. The element of uncertainty . . . of unreliability . . . is what makes the story so intriguing. We don't know the truth of the story or the history, and while I usually find such literary tricks tiresome, it worked here.
The language of The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is as powerful as its imagery, a narrative style that extends across the genres, linking them together into a fluid whole.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this title from the author in exchange for review consideration. This does not in any way affect the honesty or sincerity of my review.
October 14, 2018
I'm very disappointed with this anthology. I was really expecting to love it and get through it very quickly and instead I found some of the stories to be really enjoyable and others to be really not, which made starting a new story something I wanted to put off for as long as possible.
The writing was beautiful, it created a mystical and intimate ambiance that worked really well with the stories being told. I think the main problem was probably that I just don't like some of the genres that some of these stories fall into, namely the ones more on the spectrum of horror/mystery/thriller.
I don't want to describe every story in this book or my feelings on them, but I will say that I adored The Poet's Child, Juilet and Juilet(te), The Kissing Booth Girl and It's the End of the World as We Know It.
The writing was beautiful, it created a mystical and intimate ambiance that worked really well with the stories being told. I think the main problem was probably that I just don't like some of the genres that some of these stories fall into, namely the ones more on the spectrum of horror/mystery/thriller.
I don't want to describe every story in this book or my feelings on them, but I will say that I adored The Poet's Child, Juilet and Juilet(te), The Kissing Booth Girl and It's the End of the World as We Know It.
May 16, 2022
DNF. Content warning for gore.
I wasn't super gripped by this one. None of the stories were great, although some were okay. Some were only tangentially related to the topic. Then I noticed that none of the queer women could get by without a man in the story also being the thing that sets them off, from the pornographer to the circus mechanic.
What did it for me was the story randomly Final Girl Theory which is.... Just torture porn. There's no other way of looking at it. The writer delights in creepy descriptions of women having their faces destroyed, glass being shoved into people, fear and panic.... And the resolution is just.... Nothing.
So the combination of that plus a lack of any story actually keeping me interested puts this one as a no from me.
I wasn't super gripped by this one. None of the stories were great, although some were okay. Some were only tangentially related to the topic. Then I noticed that none of the queer women could get by without a man in the story also being the thing that sets them off, from the pornographer to the circus mechanic.
What did it for me was the story randomly Final Girl Theory which is.... Just torture porn. There's no other way of looking at it. The writer delights in creepy descriptions of women having their faces destroyed, glass being shoved into people, fear and panic.... And the resolution is just.... Nothing.
So the combination of that plus a lack of any story actually keeping me interested puts this one as a no from me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2020
This was wonderful. I don't remember when I got it or why but man, I shouldn't have waited so long to read it. The stories are rich, complex with amazing characters and deep, thick description. Each story had weight enough in my head after I finished it that I had to pause just to savor them.
If you're looking for a collection of incredible stories by a diverse author, you seriously can't go wrong with this one. It's going on my re-read pile.
If you're looking for a collection of incredible stories by a diverse author, you seriously can't go wrong with this one. It's going on my re-read pile.
May 17, 2021
Reading this short story collection felt like being submerged in a fever dream: the stories were frequently viscerally upsetting, unpleasantly erotic, and seemed to end abruptly without much of a story arc a lot of the time. These weren't for me but some people might enjoy them.
August 14, 2017
Review to come
March 30, 2019
Mostly this book is just weird. Not good or bad, just odd. I didn't mind it, but I wouldn't recommend it and I doubt I'll remember anything about it in a year's time.
March 12, 2022
Queer, haunting and beautiful.
October 18, 2024
Interesting stories. None really grabbed me, but all I Interesting ideas and presentations.
January 31, 2024
Rating for Final Girl Theory, heard on PseudoPod
April 11, 2017
I won this book through Goodreads Giveaways.
I loved this book. My favorite stories were After Midnight- A Fairy Tale Noir and It's the End of the World as We Know It.
My only issue was that a lot of the stories ended on cliffhangers or they felt unfinished. I know they're short stories but I would read the crap out of these as full-length novels.
I loved this book. My favorite stories were After Midnight- A Fairy Tale Noir and It's the End of the World as We Know It.
My only issue was that a lot of the stories ended on cliffhangers or they felt unfinished. I know they're short stories but I would read the crap out of these as full-length novels.
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