Dispatches from Anarres: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin

by Susan DeFreitas (Editor)

Named for the anarchist utopia in Ursula K. Le Guin’s science fiction classic The Dispossessed, Dispatches from Anarres embodies the anarchic spirit of Le Guin’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, while paying tribute to her enduring vision.

In stories that range from fantasy to sci fi to realism, some of Portland's most vital voices have come together to celebrate Le Guin’s lasting legacy and influence on that most subversive of human faculties: the imagination. Fonda Lee’s “Old Souls” explores the role of violence and redemption across time and space; Rachael K. Jones’s “The Night Bazaar for Women Turning into Reptiles” touches on gender oppression and a woman’s right to choose; Molly Gloss’s “Wenonah’s Gift” imagines coming-of-age in a post-collapse culture determined to avoid past wrongs; and Lidia Yuknavitch’s “Neuron” reveals that fairy tales may, in fact, be the best way to understand the paradoxes of science. Other contributors include Curtis Chen, Kesha Ajọsẹ-Fisher, Juhea Kim, Tina Connolly, David D. Levine, Leni Zumas, Rene Denfeld, and Michelle Ruiz Keil, with a foreword by David Naimon, co-author (with Le Guin) of Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing.

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

400 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2021

About the author

Susan DeFreitas is the author of the novel Hot Season (Harvard Square Editions), which won the 2017 Gold IPPY Award for Best Fiction of the West-Mountain region. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and in 2014 she was a finalist for a Best of the Net award. She holds an MFA from Pacific University and currently serves as collaborative editor with Indigo Editing and a book coach with Author Accelerator.

Reviews

[Doug Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dispatches from Anarres is why I read. This remarkable anthology of short stories in tribute to Ursula K. LeGuin is filled with thoughtful, heartbreaking, funny tales. Some will remind you of LeGuin and others of her spirit. I found myself pausing to think and breathe after many of the stories. This book is both readable and deep.

[Bailey Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful collection of Le Guin-esque stories. Some are gloriously weird, others seem close enough to home to touch, and still more are fantastically magical. All of them will give you pause to reflect on just how far Ursula's influence has reached--and will still reach.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this had some decent stories but it suffers from too many people and not enough pages, many of these are are very short. Still it's a tribute to a great, groundbreaking author so it deserves some kudos for that. I'd recommend reading some Le Guin first, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed or the very trippy The Lathe of Heaven.

I've never cared for Earthsea, so ask someone else about that.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are short stories in tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin. Some of them play with the concepts she created, others try to emulate her writing style.

Nobody wrote quite like her. Having said that, I think some of the more successful tributes are Jessie Kwak's story 'Black as Thread', Arwen Spicer's 'Let It Die', and Nicole Rosevear's 'Each Cool Silver Orb a Gift'. Honorary mention goes to Gigi Little and Jason LaPier for writing stories about insects that echo Le Guin's stories of animals, especially 'The Author of the Acacia Seeds'.

Finally, there are three short tall tales about two brothers named Ib and Nib, by Stevan Allred, which I think Ursula would have enjoyed.

[Sue Chant · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, a mixed bg.
1. A Lay of Light and Anger by Stewart C Baker – extremely dull and clichéd fantasy. DNF 0/5
2. The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles by Rachel K Jones. Women eat reptile eggs to transform and escape. Delightfully sinuous, more weird-fiction than anything else. 5/5
3. The Wake by James Mapes. The death of gods and the stoicism of humans. 4/5
4. Black as Thread by Jessie Kwak. Interesting take on the seductions of power, even in small things. 3/5
5. A Woven Womb by C A McDonald. Rather dull story of creating a magic child. 2/5
6. Prothalamion by Tracy Mannaster. Very short but entrancing tale of strange disruptions to the life of a village. 4/5
7. The Kingdom of the Belly by Michelle Ruiz Keil. Short mythological story. OK. 3/5
8. Ib and Nib: the Ice Berries by Stevan Allred. Folk-tale in the style of Le Guin’s Karhide stories. 2/5
9. Old Souls by Fonda Lee. The acts of remembered past lives catch up with people. 3.5/5
10. The Ones Who Don’t Walk Away by Rene Denfeld. Depressing tale of imprisoned refugees. 3/5. I much prefer N K Jemisin’s “The Ones Who Stay and Fight”.
11. The Polar Explorer by Leni Zumas. A woman’s scientific work on Polar ice is ignored in the 19th century. Doesn’t really go anywhere. 2/5
12. Birds by Benjamin Parzybok. A crazy homeless man is taken up by a well-meaning but damaged woman. 2.5/5
13. Homeless Gary Busey by Timothy O’Leary. Homeless man harasses a citizen, who takes revenge and is persecuted for it. 2/5
14. Finding Joan by David D Levine. A middle-aged woman survives in post-apocalyptic Portland. 3/5
15. Becoming Human by Gigi Little. Ants survive the apocalypse and take up baking. 4/5
16. Bee, Keeper by Jason LaPier. Clunky environmental message. 1/5
17. KwaZulu-Natal by Juhea Kim. Depressing story of a boy and a hand-reared elephant. 2/5
18. Mr Uncle’s Favor by Kesha Ajose-Fisher. Really nice story of a young girl coming from America to Nigeria and making friends with the old man next door. 4/5
19. Ib and Nib and the Golden Ring by Stevan Allred. A pointless folk-tale. 1/5
20. Neuron by Lydia Yuknavitch. An electric shock transforms a girl, giving her the power to reach the girl she loves. 3/5
21. Laddie Come Home by Curtis C Chen. Quite interesting about sentient wearable tech, but the ending gives off an unappealing “western saviour” vibe. 3/5
22. The Way Things were by Jonah Barrett. Aliens offer escape to people who want to leave America, which unsurprisingly causes other people to try and stop them. 2/5
23. Valuable by Mo Daviau. Messy time travel. 2/5
24. Hard Choices by Tina Connolly. Excellent and quite humorous story of inter-species lust written in the form of a “choose your own adventure”. 4/5
25. When Strangers Meet by Sonia Orin Lyris. A strange ritual in an alien hive. 3/5
26. JoyBe’s Last Dance by Jason Arias. A self-aware marionette goes wrong. 2/5
27. The Taster by TJ Acena. A man tastes food for the millions of “digital citizens”. 3/5
28. Let It Die by Arwen Spicer. Excellent story about a girl who breaks society’s strong taboos against using ancient tech. 4/5
29. Each Cool Silver Orb a Gift by Nicole Rosevear. Rather shambolic story of building a better world after a war. 2/5
30. Wenonah’s Gift by Molly Gloss. Quiet story of post-apocalyptic village life, with a harsh twist. 4/5
31. Ib and Nib and the Hemmens Tree by Stevan Allred. Irritating and pointless folk-tale. 1/5

[Barry Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

like all anthologies-hit and miss. 3 plus

[Lyri Ahnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dispatches from Anarres: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin contains thirty-one stories from writers in some way linked to Le Guin’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite authors and set a high bar in her writing; the offerings here do not reach her heights of literary achievement, but neither do they disappoint.

Each story has a paragraph by the author describing how they were inspired by Le Guin’s writing, which enhances the stories’ resonance. There are also author bios in the back, some of whom had books I could request from the library, and others for whom this anthology seemed to be their first and only foray into speculative fiction. The editor, Susan DeFreitas, taught writing classes and mentored many writers before her untimely death in early 2025.

“The Lay of Light and Anger” by Stewart C. Baker tells the story of a youngster named Ahrei who loses a parent to war and vows to murder the one who killed them. Ahrei clashes with their surviving parent before going on their quest, but events force them to question everything they believe to be true. The author does a fabulous job creating a whole culture with song-spells and flying griffins grounded in specific details that make it seem real.

Rachael K. Jones’s “The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles” follows the misadventures of Hester who splits her time between two lovers: Marrick, her “sunside” lover, a policeman “who sells indigo cactus flowers and mango slices on a wooden tray,” and “Shayna the butcher, her moonside lover, whose honey-gold verses roll from her tongue, smooth and rounded as sand-polished pebbles.”
Hester sells reptile eggs at the “night bazaar,” an illegal market that meets in secret around the city. The tension ratchets up when Hester’s egg stash disappears and she realizes Marrick has deciphered the coded directions to the next bazaar.

“Black as Thread” by Jesse Kwak offers a resistance tale where death spells are woven into clothing and sold to the oppressors. The story explores the cost and addictive attraction of performing such dark magic: “Who knew she could do this? That simple Jilli’s art could be so powerful?”

Fonda Lee’s “Old Souls” explores predestiny: “Everyone has a pattern. A template.” The main character, Claire, always dies young and violently, and she remembers every death, including burning at the stake, an experience that has left her terrified of fire: “Did you know when you burn to death, you actually bleed? You bleed a lot. . . . It drips and hisses in the flames.”
Claire can also “see” the past lives of others through a type of clairvoyance. She meets an Ageless woman who lives outside the pattern and Clair makes a bargain with her, hoping to escape her fate—so she can be with her boyfriend Ethan past her twentieth birthday. The various threads of the story come together in the climax and Claire is forced to push through her fears in a truly harrowing and heroic endeavor.

Rene Denfeld’s “The Ones Who Don’t Walk Away” deepens and expands Le Guin’s famous story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” In the original tale, citizens of light-hearted Omelas hide a painful secret. Denfield’s story looks at Omelas through the lens of a migrant child detained outside the city. The narrator says, “I don’t remember much from before, because the hurt since has wiped it out, like a hand wipes away the morning blood on your face…”
This story is painful, powerful, and ultimately redemptive.

“Finding Joan” by David D. Levine is a post-apocalyptic story with a surprising outcome. Joan and three others survive a gamma-ray burst while meditating in a deep cave. When they return to the surface, they discover most people, plants, and animals in North America are dead, including Joan’s husband. Because the ozone layer is mostly destroyed, they survive by foraging at night.
I’m not usually a fan of post-apocalypse fiction, but I loved this story’s quiet sensibility and Joan’s resourcefulness and resilience.

“Mr. Uncle’s Favor,” by Kesha Ajose-Fisher tells the story of a very special friendship between seven-year-old Kofo and a blind elderly neighbor, Mr. Uncle.
The story featured rhythmic dialogue. Here’s Mr. Uncle’s nurse questioning Kofo:
“Where your mama? I go tell am wetin you say.”
I sprang up. “No!”
“Oh. You want make I keep secret?”

Lidia Yuknavitch’s story “Neuron” was a dystopian tale with an unusual structure. I wasn't entirely sure if it was meant to be a dream or an alternate reality, though I did appreciate the author’s use of language:
“In biology, they sat so close together Lucinda could feel Chloe’s skin breathing.”
“The mother mourns the disappearance of her daughter every time she shreds ginger for a meal, and later at dinner, each daughterless mouthful of violence, something she must swallow.”

“Laddie Come Home” by Curtis C. Chen is a brilliant science fiction story told from the perspective of a Local Administration Device (LAD) who awakens separated from the human, Mr. Mundine, they’re designed to protect. LAD’s ingenuity in navigating the situation and finding a way to locate their missing patron was fascinating and exceptionally clever. Even more delightful, LAD must rely on a young teenage girl, Febby, for help. Febby is also resourceful and clever and the two make a great team. The tension ratchets up when Mr. Mundine’s life is endangered and LAD must find a way to alert the correct authorities to save his life, without triggering the kidnappers.

In Sonia Orin Lyris’s story, “When Strangers Meet,” aliens are approached from outer space: “The voices from the sky have called again, Great One” . . .The One considered. “Tell them to ask again, after the festival. The new year brings clarity and strangers bring benefits.”
Told in ritualistic, lyrical prose, the tale is nonetheless harrowing. The author never lets us forget that these aliens have foreign sensibilities. The implication is that the “voices from the sky” are humans hoping to interact with this alien culture, and likely to get a much different reception than they anticipate.


“The Taster” by T.J.Acena explores the boredom of immortality. The main character, Silas, has an astute sense of taste and is hired to eat for the benefit of the digitized dead: a mandarin orange, freshly baked bread. Silas strikes up a friendship with the watchman, Ravi, who does puzzles to pass the time. The author tosses little blips of foreshadowing, which blossom into a horrific assault that parallels the blooming relationship between the two men, Silas and Ravi.

Nicole Rosevear’s story, “Each Cool Silver Orb a Gift,” explores a matriarchy that justifies the exclusion of men from power based on their propensity for starting wars. The main character, Helena, has just joined the ruling council and is hesitant to speak until she gains more experience. When she enters public spaces, men and androgynes who were once open with her now stop talking. The source of their discontent is being excluded from decision-making.
The author does a wonderful job showing Helena’s gradual growth into her power and voice:
“We can’t have a better world without making better choices,” Helena said. “Including acknowledging when we were wrong.”

“Wenonha’s Gift” by Molly Gloss was an immersive coming-of-age story. Dulce builds her own house with the help of family and friends, part of the rite of passage in this post-Civilization culture. She is one of three young people who have built new houses and will undergo the “Vernal Assuaging” to prove herself an adult. Youngsters from nearby villages will also participate in the rite. On the eve of the rite, Wenonah gives Dulce a bow and set of arrows and tells her “You must wait. . . . Find a place and then wait. The others will be anxious, will run to the hunt, and will come to where you are.” The outcome of the hunt is poignant and horrifying.

Dispatches from Anarres is a fitting tribute to one of speculative fiction’s icons.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of stories inspired by Ursula K LeGuin (to varying degrees) by Portland writers. Some stories are more LeGuin-ish (Night Bazaar..., Wake, Prothalamion, Ib & Nib, Let it Die, Wenonah's Gift) than others, but even the less Ursuline of them (e.g. Old Souls, The Ones Who Don't Walk Away) are really good. Other stand-out stories include Finding Joan, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Mr. Uncle, Hard Choices, & JoyBe's Last Dance. Makes me want to read City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales, which features stories by at least a couple of these writers.

[to'c · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvelous tribute to the always amazing Ursula K. Le Guin. I became enthralled with Ms. Le Guin's work long before her home became my home. But once I moved to Portland (has it really been 47 years???) and realized that she participated in local reading events I def jumped on the chance to attend. I'm not a writer and became impressed by not only her skill at writing but by her warmth as a human being and her depth as a thinker. I always envisioned her as a certain old woman in The Dispossessed and truly believe that by the time I encountered her she had become that feisty old woman.

Now, the contributors to the book are writers. I can only imagine how they reacted to Ms. Le Guin's presence. Surely they were as impressed as I by her very human presence but they were also deeply effected by her skill as a writer and communicator. And these stories stand as proud examples of not only the "Le Guin Effect" but of the writers themselves. These stories are warm and frightening and funny and deep and silly and, most of all, compassionate. Thank you Susan DeFreitas for leading the efforts to produce this gem of a book and thank you to all the authors that participated.

There's only one downside: Now I have to add these authors to my reading list! Will the madness never end? (would I want it to?)

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Foreword::
DISPATCHES FROM ANARRES is a tribute to the vision of Ursula K. Le Guin from writers who either live in or have a strong connection to Portland, Oregon, the city Le Guin called home for sixty of her eighty-eight years.

This is a collection of 31 short stories inspired by the unconventional and independent spirit of the inhabitants of the "rebel moon" Anarres, from Le Guin's novel The Dispossessed. The collection is organized into three categories: "Magelight" is a group of magical tales, "Returning to the Root" contains stories generally focused on life here on Earth, and in the "On Time and Darkness" category are several works of sci-fi as well as some that defy categorization.


The stories in this volume:


I. MAGELIGHT

— A Lay of Light and Anger by Stewart C. Baker. When Ahrei's parent Creiyu is taken from life by the renegade Loi, Ahrei seeks revenge in spell-song. However Ahrei must quickly adapt when her assumptions turn out to be wrong.
— The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles by Rachael K. Jones. An inspired tale of an unusual market that offers an escape and freedom from society's suffocating gender and sexual orientation expectations.
— The Wake by James Mapes. A storm at sea, the death of a god, and a nameless boy are elements of this traveler's story.
— Black as Thread by Jessie Kwak. A seamstress weaves magic into her designs and discovers power in the prick of her needle.
— A Woven Womb by C.A. McDonald. A skillful Weaver contributes some of her own personal magic to help an anxious couple create their dream child.
— Prothalamion by Tracy Manaster. The world is becoming unsettled and it begins with dreams disconnecting from their dreamers.
— The Kingdom of the Belly by Michelle Ruiz Keil. A girl, a ghost-cat, and a coyote are bound together and transformed.

Interlude 1

— Ib & Nib and the Ice Berries by Stevan Allred. A story from Karhide (Gethen) of two cousins who go into the forest to cut wood and encounter a trickster kobold who is eager to fool them both.

II. RETURNING TO THE ROOT

— Old Souls by Fonda Lee. A reincarnated woman seeks and finds an ageless soul to break her pattern of tragic past lives.
— The Ones Who Don’t Walk Away by Rene Denfeld. A heartbreaking memoir from the perspective of a tortured child, one of Omela's unwilling victims.
— The Polar Explorer by Leni Zumas. An arctic explorer defies being underestimated because she's a woman.
— Birds by Benjamin Parzybok. An encounter with a homeless person camping on a rooftop leads to observations on city life and a surprising transformation.
— Homeless Gary Busey by Timothy O’Leary. A reformed alcoholic has a deadly interaction with a homeless man, forcing him back into a life of destitution and hopelessness.
— Finding Joan by David D. Levine. In a dystopian Portland a lone woman plants the seeds of the future.
— Becoming Human by Gigi Little. After the apocalypse, the ants at the Jackson house try becoming human.
— Bee, Keeper by Jason LaPier. From the perspective of the bees, the competition is fierce for survival and they search for the optimum way of achieving their Purpose. Sometimes the way is violence.
— KwaZulu-Natal by Juhea Kim. In Africa, a motherless boy and a motherless elephant develop an bond of affection which survives time and distance.
— Mr. Uncle’s Favor by Kesha Ajọsẹ-Fisher. A young girl from America befriends an old blind man in Nigeria but their relationship is misunderstood.

Interlude 2

— Ib & Nib and the Golden Ring by Stevan Allred. Ib finds, and hides, a gold ring, and also meets a talking fish with whom they play a riddle game.

III. ON TIME AND DARKNESS

— Neuron by Lidia Yuknavitch. Lucinda becomes a neuron while grocery shopping and enters the universe of sub-atomic particles.
— Laddie Come Home by Curtis C. Chen. An AI accessory facilitates a rescue and makes a new friend.
— The Way Things Were by Jonah Barrett. Aliens from Oulipo make first contact with Earth and offer to save humans from their 'suffering'. However conflict breaks out between supporters and oppressors.
— Valuable by Mo Daviau. Glory Park follows in her mother's footsteps and saves a child from traffickers using her ability to time-travel.
— Hard Choices by Tina Connolly. These shapeshifters want to eat you.
— When Strangers Meet by Sonia Orin Lyris. The elegant but fatal mating dance of the silks for the One is a nature-inspired dreamscape.
— JoyBe’s Last Dance by Jason Arias. Ala 'Pinocchio', a puppet seeks to achieve reality and succeeds ... in a way.
— The Taster by TJ Acena. In the far future, digital humanity achieves immortality but craves the experience of life's sensual delights.
— Let It Die by Arwen Spicer. The girl Nera is confronted with a deadly choice between the healing arts and lifesaving, but forbidden, technology.
— Each Cool Silver Orb a Gift by Nicole Rosevear. A society with three genders struggles with fairness and truth for all.
— Wenonah’s Gift by Molly Gloss. On the cusp of adulthood, the girl Dulce builds a house and then embarks on a hunt with the weapon Wenonah has given her.

Postlude 3

— Ib & Nib and the Hemmens Trees by Stevan Allred. While out gathering kindling, the cousins Ib and Nib meet a stranger who takes them into a magic forest.


This is a diverse assortment and readers can select individual works in this collection at random if they wish. Trying to choose the "best" stories seemed nearly impossible with so many excellent tales, so I recommend that you read them all. The story subjects range from the humorous to the heartbreaking; there are happy tales, sad tales, and cautionary tales. These are high quality stories that will appeal to many different tastes. I have to give kudos to the editor Susan DeFreitas for putting this wonderful collection together. I don't think readers will be disappointed.

[Karen Cohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite authors, and the idea underlying this collection fascinated me. The use of her stories as a basis for this collection in wondrous and engaging. That said, this anthology, like so many others, and particularly anthologies that are comprised of stories by multiple authors, varies in quality between items. There were quite a few stories I enjoyed, some that I thought were just okay, and one or two that I simply didn’t like. None of this is a reflection on the quality of the collection, which is so web; rather, it is a reflection on my preferences.

If you enjoy Ursula Le Guin’s writing, you will enjoy this anthology. In particular, you will enjoy the blurb by each author at the end of their story, explaining how their story was inspired by a story or interaction with Ursula Le Guin. If you haven’t read her works, you should. And if you’ve read novels and stories by her, and don’t like them, well… there’s something wrong with you. But that’s an issue for a different discussion. For everyone else, especially those familiar with the bulk of Ursula Le Guin’s work, sir back and enjoy both the stories and the connections.

[Wendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories feel more like fanfic than tribute, but I realize there's a fine line. Overall I would recommend this book to others simply based on the foreward by David Naimon, which reads, in part:

"As Jo Walton has pointed out, “Anarres found so easily be irritatingly perfect, but it isn’t. There are droughts and famines, petty bureaucrats and growing centralization of power.” And Portland’s self-regard, its self-mythologizing, its imagining itself into being as a place of re-invention, has often been fueled by historical and cultural amnesia. Founded on stolen indigenous land, built on the idea of racial exclusion, many Portlanders live here without a sense of the city’s history of redlining and displacement, of lash laws and internment. And as Portland has entered the spotlight, succumbing to a hype it had avoided for so long, housing prices have skyrocketed, the homeless population has exploded, communities of color have been pushed to its periphery, and Portland’s own utopic mythology has rightfully been called into question."

Yup, that's the city I live in.

[Tori Heroux · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than most anthologies like this I try. It seemed more thought-out and well-organized, and I appreciated the notes from each author on the ways in which Le Guin inspired their stories.
There were only a few stories I disliked and several that were truly transcendent, particularly:
The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles
Birds
Bee, Keeper
All the Ib & Nibs!

Le Guin has left a visible mark on the collective consciousness of the SFF community and I so appreciate the recognition this book heaps on her.

[AJ Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag worth rooting around in

Ursula Le Guin had an incredible varied body of work, and obviously inspired folks who contain multitudes of their own. So this collection is all over the place - fantasy, sci-fi, folk tales...

I've found a few new-to-me authors thanks to some stories that landed especially well (cheers to Black as Thread by Jessie Kwak, Hard Choices by Tina Connolly, and Laddie Come Home by Curtis C. Chen).

I even liked the "Ib & Nib" interludes, which served their purpose as quick/silly palate cleansers between clusters of stories.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le Guin is so good that she didn't even write this book and it was still amazing.
Short stories are always the bane of my reading existence because I never slow down for them and so I end up with just flashes of ideas that won't leave my head - Ib and Nib, the lizard women, the past lives, the tension that winds through nearly all the stories that maybe what is is not all that could be and how do we, small and imperfect creatures that we are, get from here to there.
Which Le Guin never stopped asking either.

[Tbfrank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dispatches from Anarres is a collection of short fiction written in homage to celebrated author Ursula K. Le Guin. Thirty-one selections by twenty-nine different authors (one penned three which served as interludes) are included. All vary in style and setting but the influence of Ms. Le Guin is apparent in each one. These stories, as with her body of work, are meant to challenge the reader to think about the questions raised and to appreciate and have compassion for the lives of others.

[Erick Mertz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of LeGuin inspired stories. Most collections are hit or miss but this one is mostly hit as the tales/writers all keep to the theme and really take LeGuin's story ideas and run with them.

My favorites:
"Prothalamion" by Tracy Manaster
"Old Souls" by Fonda Lee
"Valuable" by Mo Daviau
"Let It Die" by Arwen Spicer

My very favorite:
"The Kingdom Of The Belly" by Michelle Ruiz Keil

[C.K. Combs · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories capture the spirit of Ursula LeGuin. Each reveals something about the impact she has had on these writers and her enduring legacy of asking the questions others would leave unsaid. Seeing the love each contributor has for her had deepened my own.

[Madeleine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please do laugh at me but this book had at least 75% more Ursula Le Guin references than I thought it would. Yes. This book. With Ursula Le Guin. Literally in the title.

I really like a couple of the stories, many did not resonate, the one about ants was terrifying.

[Miguel Vian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quality of most of the collection is really good. A worthy tribute to Le Guin.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story anthologies are always a mixed bag, and I wasn't as impressed by these as I'd hoped to be. It must be hard to be a Portland author trying to live up to Le Guin's legacy though.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly good collection of short stories.

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having loved the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin since I was in junior high, I eagerly anticipated this tribute anthology from the moment I learned about it on social media. What better way to honor a great storyteller than with stories? I’m happy to report this diverse collection does not disappoint! With each story, whether fantasy, science fiction, or realistic, I had a sense of dropping instantly into a fully formed world. Covering the spectrum of speculative fiction, these stories are filled with humor, heartbreak, adventure—the whole human and nonhuman experience.

Highly recommended for Le Guin fans, especially those who want to feel her influence radiating through the work of contemporary authors; and for anyone who wants to sample a wide variety of excellent writing in the realms of fantasy and science fiction.