Forbidden magic, half-remembered Gods, the secrets to immortality, final outposts, bloody vengeance and fantastical creatures all abound in these stories by Krista D. Ball, Katelyn Brehm, M.L.D. Curelas, Rhonda Parrish, Katie Rodante, BD Wilson and Tristan Wolfe.
As one of the contributing authors in this anthology, my 5-star rating might be a bit biased, but I genuinely enjoyed each and every story in this collection. Each of us had quite a different interpretation of Forgotten Lore, and yet the stories all seem to coalesce into a cohesive whole. I hope you all enjoy this anthology as much as I enjoyed being a part of making it!
This is my least favorite of Rhonda Parrish’s anthologies. A lot of these felt like story fragments instead of complete short stories.
Nickel-plated demon - sleuth is invited to a dinner party to intervene on an issue that he is not given information about.
Effigies of old gods - a shunned girl becomes the representative of the new reigning God of her town
Giant rites - written in a reporter type style, this story felt repetitive to me. Another mystery here, on why no one will bargain with the giant races instead of a strike.
Frostfangs - this felt like a portion from a longer story. Big saber toothed wolf creatures are encroaching on human territory. Future ruler foolishly pursues them with childhood companions. When the pursuers are outnumbered, one childhood companion uses forbidden magic to save their lives. I didn’t understand why the twin sister looked so haggard?
The Odin Stone - My least favorite story in the collection. This story was supposed to be written from the POV of a male character, but it didn’t quite work. A lot of “F” bombs and sexual content thrown in, compared to her other anthologies. I was never clear on why the girlfriend was interested in showing him the sacrificial stone in the first place?
Syra - A lesbian love is cut short by soldiers who believe the women to be witches. Surviving witch gives herself to the ocean in exchange for revenge. Soldiers are so mesmerized by beautiful witch floating in the water that they don’t realize great whites have attacked until their arms and legs are already bitten off…
In my bones - A lone engineer whose replacement never cane considers opening his sealed hatch to allow a boy in from the post apocalyptic Earth so the engineer can talk the boy through fixing the ship and train his as his replacement.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
As with any anthology, there are some you love and others that don’t grab you.
The first, by M L De Curelas, was an exquisite tale of noir-type proportions, where the chief cop has made sure the protagonist turns up at a swanky dinner. He seems to be the only human among them, and the mix of other types of people make for some elegant puns and superb personalities. It’s the most urban of the group, nearly all of which left me wanting more.
I was going to review them all in turn, but other than framing the stories, it would be repetitive. These were my notes though. (I don’t usually make notes except for anthologies)
2 nicely written but felt a bit derivative 3 great story although the journalistic jargon confused me for a bit. Wonderfully complex twist at the end, great fun. 4 a tale of elves and magic that made me want to read more… 5 Rhonda’s tale of supernatural meets physical wreck. Definitely need more! 6 horrific, but beautifully written And the last one: brilliant suspenseful….and I want more!! This pretty much sums up the whole anthology. I really must track down more work by these authors.
I love how this anthology came about. A group of writer friends from Rhonda Parrish’s awesome discord channel decided to put together a book of short stories on the theme of forgotten lore. All money received by the authors from sales of the book goes to the Fauna Foundation to help chimpanzees.
I enjoyed all the stories in this anthology. While three made a more powerful impact on me than the others, I would be hard pressed to name a favorite.
Krista D. Ball’s “Giant Rights” features expert world building. I loved the way the giants and other large folk had different cultures and physical needs. For example, the main character refers to herself as Miranda, third of her generation, Ottawa Clan. There are so many deft touches like that which bring the characters to life and add depth to the story.
“The Odin Stone” by Rhonda Parrish is incredible. The author weaves the story skillfully, alternating between the narrator’s present and his memories of a former girlfriend. He’s realistic and well crafted. The story builds to a powerful, and immensely satisfying, conclusion.
“In My Bones” by BD Wilson is a horror story that momentarily set me off balance after so much fantasy, but once I adjusted I fell for its tense, atmospheric dread. There are elements that gave me the same glorious chills as one of my favorite books, “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson.
Read for the r/Fantasy Bingo 2024 Short Stories. I don’t usually read anthology or short stories but I really enjoyed this book. Some stories had typos but overall very interesting ideas and made me want to look at the authors other works.
Well written science fiction meets mythology. I enjoyed all of them. They feed the imagination and let the reader finish the story any way they want. Reminds me of a lot of Isaac Asimov's short story endings "nobody here but us answering machines"