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Next Curious Thing
An otherworldly banquet of contemporary fantasy, dark fairy tales and soft science fiction, Next Curious Thing collects some of Gale’s best short fiction from 2013 to 2018, including ‘In the Beginning, All Our Hands Are Cold’ (Syntax & Salt Editor’s Award winner) and ‘Wrecked’ (Tangent Online Recommended Reading List). Known for her ability to mix the extraordinary with the relatable, darkness with splendour, and heartache with hope, Gale showcases a wide cast of fascinating female and queer characters in the most curious of situations. In addition to its previously published stories, Next Curious Thing features six brand new tales original to this collection.
205 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2018
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About the author
Ephiny Gale
22 books18 followersEphiny Gale was born in Victoria, Australia, and is still there, alongside her lovely wife and a small legion of bookcases. She is the author of more than fifty published short stories and novelettes, which have appeared in publications including PseudoPod, Constellary Tales, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Her stories have won the Best of the Net award for fiction and have been finalists for multiple Aurealis Awards.
She has also written several produced stage plays and musicals, including the sold-out How to Direct from Inside at La Mama and Shining Armour at The 1812 Theatre. Her script Time Scraps was a finalist in St Martin’s National Playwriting Competition, and Hearts up Sleeves won the Five Minute Play award at Dante’s.
When not writing, Ephiny currently works as a Senior Project Manager for a website development company. Her previous roles have included: Executive Assistant; coordinating a major arts festival; Association Secretary for the Green Room Awards (Melbourne’s premier performing arts awards); nine months as a professional wedding DJ; and working as an executive of a university student association.
Ephiny has a Masters in Arts Management, a red belt in taekwondo, and a passion for psychology, gaming, and storytelling in all its forms. She also especially enjoys Italian greyhounds, playing board games with friends, and eating raspberries in the sunshine.
She has also written several produced stage plays and musicals, including the sold-out How to Direct from Inside at La Mama and Shining Armour at The 1812 Theatre. Her script Time Scraps was a finalist in St Martin’s National Playwriting Competition, and Hearts up Sleeves won the Five Minute Play award at Dante’s.
When not writing, Ephiny currently works as a Senior Project Manager for a website development company. Her previous roles have included: Executive Assistant; coordinating a major arts festival; Association Secretary for the Green Room Awards (Melbourne’s premier performing arts awards); nine months as a professional wedding DJ; and working as an executive of a university student association.
Ephiny has a Masters in Arts Management, a red belt in taekwondo, and a passion for psychology, gaming, and storytelling in all its forms. She also especially enjoys Italian greyhounds, playing board games with friends, and eating raspberries in the sunshine.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 28, 2018
I first came across Ephiny Gale’s work last year when I read her story,
“In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold,” in the journal Syntax and Salt. It’s a strange and wonderful tale, about a village where children are born without hands. . . but when they’re old enough, they walk to a forest to pick out the hands that fit them just right. It’s a surreal, eerie concept, but a surprisingly warm and gentle story. It’s a story about friendship, about the paths that you choose, the paths you didn’t foresee, and the inevitable heartbreak that comes with love and life. It brims with light and love and was one of my favorite stories from 2017.
So, I was delighted to learn of Gale’s first published collection, Next Curious Thing, which was recently released by Foxgrove Press. “In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold” opens the collection. What follows are twenty more stories, ranging from a few pages to novelette-length, encompassing stunning horror and warming sweetness, all lit with a striking imagination. Six of these stories are original to the collection and have not appeared anywhere else.
Gale has a clear love for fairy tales, and several of her stories mix and twist classic Grimms’ tales into new forms. “Sickly Sweet” mashes up “Hansel and Gretel” with “The Girl Without Hands”, while “And the Queen was Vein” is a dark, dark (as though the original were not dark enough) reimagining of “Snow White.” The most ambitious retelling is “Five Tales of the Rose Palace,” which takes as its frame story the tale of “Beauty and the Beast,” and then proceeds to unfold a series of nested narratives, one re-imagined fairy tale within another, characters reappearing across narratives, unexpected connections revealed, until the reader arrives again at the outermost frame. It’s a technical tour-de-force and a delight. Perhaps my favorite fairy tale, however, was one which Gale imagined from whole-cloth: “The Light Princess” is the story of a princess born radiating such intense light that no ordinary person can long touch or even look upon her. What prince can be a match for such a girl? The princess’ journey to find out is a lyrical tale of marvels.
This collection also features fantasy, science fiction, and unclassifiable tales set in a contemporary setting. There are short, weird wonders, like the story of a woman who sleeps in a tank with squids in “Emelia and the Undrowned.” There are varieties of horror—from the existential horror of not knowing who you are and of then needing to recover/rebuild your identity in the clever “Wrecked,” to the absolutely stunning, gasp-inducing I-can’t-believe-it-went-there escape-room horror of “Little Freedoms.” This last story centers on the trials a group of women must pass to gain their freedom—and wow, does it make you appreciate the little freedoms of ordinary life, of being able to scratch an itch, fidget, stretch, or stand. This story describes a merciless competition to see who can endure cruel trials the longest, and the tension escalates breathlessly as the clock ticks down and the women conspire silently with and against each other. A viscerally horrific, stunning read.
But though Gale does horror very, very well, it is her gentler stories that I loved most. Next Curious Thing holds tales of warmth and hope alongside the darkness. Along with “In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold,” my absolute favorite pieces from this collection were “Strange Dancemates” and “The Secret Death of Lane Islington.” In “Strange Dancemates,” dance teacher Lara Jean accidentally opens a portal to Hell in the basement of her dance studio. Strange creatures slip from the portal and visit her bed each night—including a mermaid, a faun-like creature, a golem, and actual star mist. While the setup sounds like horror, it surprisingly is not; the tone is light and whimsical, and the strange creatures mean Lara Jean no harm. And she finds that she is able to help them, one by one, escape from their own personal hells. It’s a warming story of finding connection, something that Lara Jean has had little of in an emotionally disconnected life. “The Secret Death of Lane Islington” is also about an artist with trouble navigating human relationships. Lane Islington is a nineteen-year-old musician who has only just shot to fame with the release of her first album. She loves music (just as Lara Jean in the earlier story loves dance), but Lane hates dealing with the public and all the publicity work associated with being a pop star. So, she opens a portal to an alternate world and finds her physical doppelganger, an ordinary and overlooked girl who just happens to look exactly like Lane. Lane’s double, ordinary Aeris Dormer, is eager for the public adulation which Lane hates; Aeris is happy to do Lane’s photo shoots and meet Lane’s fans. Aeris also gets along with Lane’s family more easily than Lane does; she seems to fit into Lane’s life better than Lane does. There is an obvious way this story could go, but Gale does not go for the obvious route here. Aeris might crave attention, but she’s not evil or manipulative; a real friendship grows between the two women. As in “Strange Dancemates” this is a story about finding connection.
In various ways, these dark and bright stories are about human connections—connections made, maintained, lost, or severed. They are strange, surreal, lyrical, and moving. “An otherworldly banquet” of tales is how the back cover describes this book, and I would agree. This is a beautiful collection of imaginative stories. I greatly recommend it, and also greatly look forward to seeing more from Ephiny Gale.
“In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold,” in the journal Syntax and Salt. It’s a strange and wonderful tale, about a village where children are born without hands. . . but when they’re old enough, they walk to a forest to pick out the hands that fit them just right. It’s a surreal, eerie concept, but a surprisingly warm and gentle story. It’s a story about friendship, about the paths that you choose, the paths you didn’t foresee, and the inevitable heartbreak that comes with love and life. It brims with light and love and was one of my favorite stories from 2017.
So, I was delighted to learn of Gale’s first published collection, Next Curious Thing, which was recently released by Foxgrove Press. “In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold” opens the collection. What follows are twenty more stories, ranging from a few pages to novelette-length, encompassing stunning horror and warming sweetness, all lit with a striking imagination. Six of these stories are original to the collection and have not appeared anywhere else.
Gale has a clear love for fairy tales, and several of her stories mix and twist classic Grimms’ tales into new forms. “Sickly Sweet” mashes up “Hansel and Gretel” with “The Girl Without Hands”, while “And the Queen was Vein” is a dark, dark (as though the original were not dark enough) reimagining of “Snow White.” The most ambitious retelling is “Five Tales of the Rose Palace,” which takes as its frame story the tale of “Beauty and the Beast,” and then proceeds to unfold a series of nested narratives, one re-imagined fairy tale within another, characters reappearing across narratives, unexpected connections revealed, until the reader arrives again at the outermost frame. It’s a technical tour-de-force and a delight. Perhaps my favorite fairy tale, however, was one which Gale imagined from whole-cloth: “The Light Princess” is the story of a princess born radiating such intense light that no ordinary person can long touch or even look upon her. What prince can be a match for such a girl? The princess’ journey to find out is a lyrical tale of marvels.
This collection also features fantasy, science fiction, and unclassifiable tales set in a contemporary setting. There are short, weird wonders, like the story of a woman who sleeps in a tank with squids in “Emelia and the Undrowned.” There are varieties of horror—from the existential horror of not knowing who you are and of then needing to recover/rebuild your identity in the clever “Wrecked,” to the absolutely stunning, gasp-inducing I-can’t-believe-it-went-there escape-room horror of “Little Freedoms.” This last story centers on the trials a group of women must pass to gain their freedom—and wow, does it make you appreciate the little freedoms of ordinary life, of being able to scratch an itch, fidget, stretch, or stand. This story describes a merciless competition to see who can endure cruel trials the longest, and the tension escalates breathlessly as the clock ticks down and the women conspire silently with and against each other. A viscerally horrific, stunning read.
But though Gale does horror very, very well, it is her gentler stories that I loved most. Next Curious Thing holds tales of warmth and hope alongside the darkness. Along with “In the Beginning, All Our Hands are Cold,” my absolute favorite pieces from this collection were “Strange Dancemates” and “The Secret Death of Lane Islington.” In “Strange Dancemates,” dance teacher Lara Jean accidentally opens a portal to Hell in the basement of her dance studio. Strange creatures slip from the portal and visit her bed each night—including a mermaid, a faun-like creature, a golem, and actual star mist. While the setup sounds like horror, it surprisingly is not; the tone is light and whimsical, and the strange creatures mean Lara Jean no harm. And she finds that she is able to help them, one by one, escape from their own personal hells. It’s a warming story of finding connection, something that Lara Jean has had little of in an emotionally disconnected life. “The Secret Death of Lane Islington” is also about an artist with trouble navigating human relationships. Lane Islington is a nineteen-year-old musician who has only just shot to fame with the release of her first album. She loves music (just as Lara Jean in the earlier story loves dance), but Lane hates dealing with the public and all the publicity work associated with being a pop star. So, she opens a portal to an alternate world and finds her physical doppelganger, an ordinary and overlooked girl who just happens to look exactly like Lane. Lane’s double, ordinary Aeris Dormer, is eager for the public adulation which Lane hates; Aeris is happy to do Lane’s photo shoots and meet Lane’s fans. Aeris also gets along with Lane’s family more easily than Lane does; she seems to fit into Lane’s life better than Lane does. There is an obvious way this story could go, but Gale does not go for the obvious route here. Aeris might crave attention, but she’s not evil or manipulative; a real friendship grows between the two women. As in “Strange Dancemates” this is a story about finding connection.
In various ways, these dark and bright stories are about human connections—connections made, maintained, lost, or severed. They are strange, surreal, lyrical, and moving. “An otherworldly banquet” of tales is how the back cover describes this book, and I would agree. This is a beautiful collection of imaginative stories. I greatly recommend it, and also greatly look forward to seeing more from Ephiny Gale.
April 11, 2020
3.5 Stars
I was in an independent bookstore talking about fairy tales and the clerk recommended this one to me. Points to indie bookstores because this is very under the radar and without the recommendation, I probably wouldn't have picked this one up. This was a very strange collection of fairy tale retellings and other bits and pieces of speculative fiction, most with an overt or implied lesbian slant.
Some were very, very good and some were kind of meh which I'm finding is pretty par for the course with a lot of short story collections that aren't curated anthologies. The first story, In the Beginning, All Our Hands Are Cold was really excellent, a definite five star read. While there were more than a few bright spots after that, nothing really reached the level of the first story.
Some of the longer stories with multiple narratives woven together were quite difficult to follow and might be better if fleshed out to novella length.
Recommended if you enjoy really weird fiction, twisted fairy tales, or gay retellings. I liked it, but that's not your thing, this probably isn't the collection for you.
I was in an independent bookstore talking about fairy tales and the clerk recommended this one to me. Points to indie bookstores because this is very under the radar and without the recommendation, I probably wouldn't have picked this one up. This was a very strange collection of fairy tale retellings and other bits and pieces of speculative fiction, most with an overt or implied lesbian slant.
Some were very, very good and some were kind of meh which I'm finding is pretty par for the course with a lot of short story collections that aren't curated anthologies. The first story, In the Beginning, All Our Hands Are Cold was really excellent, a definite five star read. While there were more than a few bright spots after that, nothing really reached the level of the first story.
Some of the longer stories with multiple narratives woven together were quite difficult to follow and might be better if fleshed out to novella length.
Recommended if you enjoy really weird fiction, twisted fairy tales, or gay retellings. I liked it, but that's not your thing, this probably isn't the collection for you.
January 10, 2021
Tips for reading this book: do not attempt to devour it whole, even if that is your usual style of book consumption as it is mine. I discovered early on that each story takes place in its own unique little world, some being similar to that of a traditional fairytale, some in a just-slightly off-key version of the real world, and some bizarre places in between. To go immediately from one to the next would be whiplash.
Try instead to pick up the book and take in a story every now and then, when the brain is ripe for a fresh thought experiment. Strangely, you may find on finally completing the collection that you have in fact just read a complete and cohesive set of stories, with themes of love, madness, gender and magic running through.
Try instead to pick up the book and take in a story every now and then, when the brain is ripe for a fresh thought experiment. Strangely, you may find on finally completing the collection that you have in fact just read a complete and cohesive set of stories, with themes of love, madness, gender and magic running through.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews