Lost in the Archives

by E. Saxey

Stories as historical oddities, some set in parallel pasts, and others are excursions into the daunting near future, these are the tales written by E. Saxey. A wunderkind is stuck in a dysfunctional start-up which may be hastening the apocalypse; in a near-future university, the efforts to create a plagiarism algorithm undetectable by current software is only the beginning of trouble; widow learns that a body found bobbing in the water under the bridge on Rush Street has her face; a boy's unobtainable love becomes obtainable through a weird dream-drug until he finds himself struggling to ditch the fantasy; a troubled Freud encounters three strange sisters at a cafe and discovers the one he desires only has eyes for a madman.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

236 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2022

Reviews

[Dawn Vogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

(This review originally appeared at historythatneverwas.com.)

Lost in the Archives by E. Saxey is a collection of the author’s short stories, many of which have been previously published. The stories include several in historic settings with speculative elements, as well as modern and future settings, all rendered with exquisite characterization and inventive plot elements.

Some of the stories I really enjoyed in this collection included “Not Smart, Not Clever,” in which a young woman who is absolutely both of those things games a system that has evolved to enforce rigid academic honesty in a world still rife with dishonesty. I also enjoyed the shorter piece, “Sunslick,” in which even solar power can cause problems when humans get greedy about what they want from the sun. Finally, “Red Kite Kindred” was a heart-wrenching story about people linking themselves to animals and the consequences that followed, with a setting that felt faintly historical without being about big events.

If you enjoy stories that run the gamut from historical to modern to futuristic, but that all share imaginative ideas and characters you will adore or love to hate, check out Lost in the Archives.

The author provided me a copy of this book for review consideration.

[Andrés Menéndez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost in the Archives is a collection of short stories full of imagination, heart, and love for the art of storytelling. It's a journey to different times, genres, places, emotions, and themes. I loved this collection. Each story is fantastic and thought-provoking, touching topics like human connections, the hard job of letting the past go, and the dangers of gatekeeping. I can't recommend this book enough; it's perfect in every way

[Nora Suntken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this collection up on a total whim from the library, and I’m thankful that I actually read it and didn’t just return it because I didn’t get to it in time. Saxey has done something I’ve never seen in a collection before and included a reading guide with the general vibes of the stories summed up into seven different niche subgenres, which made it really fun to vaguely know what kind of story you were about to get into. I really enjoyed the first story, “A Day Without Sunshine” and the interesting class dynamics mixed with the sci-fi aspects of the pods. “No Children” was a cool twist on mermaids, but didn’t really stick out to me much otherwise. One of my absolute favorites was “There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook,” which was a haunting story of the dehumanization of women, and felt extra eerie familiar after the recent Bumble advertising debacle. “Lucidity” was really unique and also quite unsettling in the way these obsessive dreams were displayed, though the ending was a little too much just for shock value. The next story, “My Rightwise Home” was an interesting story of ambition and love in what felt like a very dark world. Another one of my favorites, “Not Smart, Not Clever” allowed for a woman to be a little bit evil and self-serving, but still was a really well thought out discussion on academia and misogyny and classism. It also felt especially topical with the emergence of AI plagiarism with the protagonist doing it manually. I didn’t totally get “Windows Into Men’s Hearts,” but it was a cool discussion of religion and just general old-timey English history with an honest fantasy twist. “Sunslick” wasn’t necessarily a story I really enjoyed, but it was one, I think, that showed Saxey’s prowess at crafting unique voices for their characters since, from literally the first line—just based on slang and how words were spelled—I could tell the narrator was supposed to be Scottish. It was also just generally a really sweet story. I think a lot of the historical stories were my least favorites because, again, I just didn’t get “A Marvellous Neutrality”. “Since You Ask Me for a Tale” was both funny and incredibly earnest with the un-scary scary stories being a blessing in disguise for a safer, but marginally less interesting, world. “The Librarian’s Dilemma” was another story centrally focused around class, but this time with a slant toward unequal access to information and opportunities, and made some really fascinating commentary on censorship. The next few stories was where the collection started to lose me a bit. “Red Kite Kindred” just didn’t quite stick with me with its weird animal thing going on, and “Missing Episodes,” while really cool in theory, felt like a bit of a weird and lackluster time travel story. “Anxiety,” by far the shortest in the whole collection, was a weird Freud retelling that, once again, I didn’t get. Same with “Uranus” (the not getting part, not Freudian aspects). The final story was the longest by a mile, and also one that I found to end in a rather underwhelming manner. Dreams are such an interesting concept, but I just didn’t find the resolution compelling. E. Saxey has written a diverse, both in the traditional sense and also in content, set of stories that took me through time and universes and perspectives, but still managed to feel rather cohesive. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for any other collections they have published, and I feel lucky that the Chicago public library just happened to have a copy on the shelf one day.

[James Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost in the Archives is a scintillating collection of sixteen speculative tales by debut author E. Saxey. There’s an eclectic and fascinating range of stories on offer here, and across a broad range of genres from parallel world fantasy to sci fi. Each features diverse (predominantly queer male) characters and delivers food for thought. There’s a wonderful sense of literary bric-a-brac in terms of the stories being presented as historical artefacts. Speaking of which, a thread of lost and missing things runs throughout the collection, often lending a melancholic, intriguing and/or eerie air. The well-drawn characters on display find themselves experiencing ‘absence’ in some form or another, whether longing for dreams, futures or failed relationships. The narrative conceit holds the collection together and one gets the feeling of picking through the various stories as one privy to hidden worlds and possibilities. Ambiguity reigns across the pages and leaves one to wonder, with each yarn delivered with curt and restrained writerly aplomb.

Particular favourites were the longer piece ‘The Librarian’s Dilemma’, in which the author proposes, ‘When you steal from a library, you steal from everyone in the world’. And ‘Anxiety’, which grants access to psychologist Sigmund Freud’s famous theories on sex through a fuguelike and mysterious narrative. There’s such a wealth of fabulous and nebulous tales in this collection that all readers are likely to find something to suit their tastes.

Overall, ‘Lost in the Archives’ is sure to bookmark E. Saxey as an author to look out for in future.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I might be biased. I am biased. This is my buddy's book, my chum, my pal, and I even get a credit in the acknowledgements for services to beta reading.

That said, these are, IMHO etc, excellent short sci-fi and fantasy stories. There's enormous variety here (plus a handy key so you can read something you're in the mood for): Wilde and Freud, talking mice, artificial sleep and threatening dreams. From the light to the tragic via the vaguely unsettling. The characters, too, are refreshingly varied in age, class, race and era, yet each has the correct, perfect narrative voice for who they are.

[Stephen Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first rate collection of short stories in different times, places, genres and themes. Well written, thought provoking, and consistent in their quality and imagination.

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an unbiased, independent opinion.