ParaSpheres

by Rusty Morrison (Editor), Rusty Morrison (Editor), Janice Law

Exploring the porous boundary between mainstream literary fiction and the genres of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, this collection of short stories juxtaposes the conventional and the fabulist—with dazzling results. In Rikki Ducornet’s �Lettuce,” a petitioner in a futuristic totalitarian state pays with his life when he requests permission to grow lettuce; �Birthday of the World,” by Ursula K. Le Guin, is narrated by a woman whose brother destroys their culture when he decides he wants to be God; and the disillusioned wife in Carol Schwalberg’s �The Midnight Lover” finds the perfect marriage partner in her dreams, only to be divorced by the dream lover. Containing 50 works by genre writers Kim Stanley Robinson and Michael Moorcock and noted literary authors Laird Hunt and Brian Evenson, this compilation expands the fiction subgenre that has been called �speculative” and �slipstream.”

ntroduction / Rikki Ducornet --Lionflower hedge / Ira Sher --
Son of Chimera / Leena Krohn --
Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe / Angela Carter --
Ever and anon / Kate Kasten --
Lithia Park / William Luvaas --
Third Jungle Book : A Mowgli story / Michael Moorcock --
White girl / Maureen N. McLane --
Lucky strike / Kim Stanley Robinson --
Third initiation: A gift from the land of dreams / Mary Mackey --
Side effects / Janice Law --
Concert pianist's flight / Carole Rosenthal --
Making faces / Stephen Shugart --
Town news / Justin Courter --
Midnight lover / Carol Schwalberg --
Night reconnaissance / Tom La Farge --
Short-term Memorial Park / Shelley Jackson --
Magnificent carp of Hichi Street / Paul Pekin --
Tears of Niobe / L. Timmel Duchamp --
Lettuce / Rikki Ducornet --
Night of love's last dance / Randall Silvis --
Five letters from an Eastern Empire / Alasdair Gray --
Beginnings, endings, and middles ball / Anna Tambour --
Jack Kerouac disembodied school of poetics / Rudy Rucker --
Nobody's home / Ira Sher --
Ice cream vendor / Leena Krohn --
Jubilee dreams / Karen Heuler --
An accounting / Brian Evenson --
Armegedn, or The end of the word / K. Bannerman --
Gardener of heart / Bradford Morrow --
Maryolatry / Laura Moriarty --
Cloud room / Kevin W. Reardon --
Tree / Noelle Sickels --
Nobody walks in London / Terry Gates-Grimwood --
Tiger's eye / Gladys Swan --
Skunk / Justin Courter --
Old flames in new bottles / Michael Andre-Driussi --
Power couple, or love never sleeps / Charlie Anders --
Who's there? / Rikki Ducornet --
Secret paths of Rajan Khanna / Jeff VanderMeer --
Dream catcher / Mercedes Sanchez --
B, Longing / Robin Caton --
Three tales / Laird Hunt --
About the Henbane City / Leena Krohn --
Losing the war / Stepan Chapman --
Flowers / Mark Wallace --
White man / Jeffrey Ford --
Finding the words / Michael Constance --
English/History / Laura Mullen --
Birthday of the world / Ursula K. Le Guin --
Cake / Michael Moorcock.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Magical Realism

640 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[E.A.]

This chonker of an anthology has been on my shelf for seventeen years. I decided this was the year I would finally commit to reading it. Then I re-read the first few stories, as I had many years ago before I stopped, and I recognized the thing I had not known about anthology reading when I bought this, the thing that stopped me in my tracks last time: This editor's taste does not match mine. The things this editor finds interesting, the reasons they chose these stories, are not the things I find interesting, or the things I read for. So, this is not be the year I will read this anthology; it is the year I will give it away for someone else to read.

[Felix Volata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is asking the right questions. There is more to fabulist writing than an escape. I am not done, but at half way through I feel confident in my rating. Ursula Le Guin would be proud that the battle is still being fought.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been putting off this review for a couple of weeks since I finally finished the book, as it is hard to exactly put into words how I felt abiout the book. Part of the problem is that it has taken me--literally--years to finally finish this book as well as the problem of it being a very mixed bag of an anthology.

That said, I do approach anthologies with a bit of a grain of salt. However, this one was more disappointing than most. To me, it didn't truly complete its stated goal--to provide an excellent example of fabulist fiction that one one could theoretically use to introduce and provide examples of this particular genre to those unaware of uninformed about it, or to be used in a classroom for that same purpose.

With all of that out of the way, there were some excellent stories in the anthology. My unabashed favorite was "Finding the Words" by Michael Constance. It was thought-provoking--especially in the way it presented memory, technology, and how computers are so integrated into our lives--and used metaphor in a way that one would expect of fabulist fiction. I also enjoyed all of Leena Krohn's excerpts,Jeff VanderMeer's "The Secret Paths of Rajan Khanna," and Paul Pekin's "The Magnificent Carp of Hichi Street," which were just excellent stories all around. Of course, Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Birthday of the World" was likewise excellent. Also, the afterword did discuss the contruction of genre, which I think is necessary reading for anyone interested in a career in fiction.

That said, there were a lot of misses. Neither of Rikki Ducornet's stories--"Lettuce" and "Who's There" had any substance. They failed as flash fiction and fabulist fiction. Other stories just went on too long--Alasdair Gray's "Five Letters From an Eastern Empire" comes to mind. This story was also written in stream-of consciousness style, which has never appealed to me. Finally. one story just went over the line of disregarding disbelief and weirdness for me, Justin Courter's "Skunk." I somehow finished this story of a man who gets pleasure from skunk spray, but it was difficult and extremely disturbing.

This anthology has some limited appeal, but I think you have to, again, read with a grain of salt, and pick and choose the high moments of the book.

[Sus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't quite finish this one. The work is generally of high quality but I found the anthology problematically overlong -- I'm forced to say that tighter editing would have made it more readable.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this collection of short stories. There's so much variation and so many strange worlds. I love magical realism overall, though, and most of the stories fit that classification.

[Lisa]

new

[Dreamersemporium]

new

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I give it five stars, I'm in it. Look for my story "The Magnificent Carp of Hichi Street." Even I think it is pretty good.