Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story....

"Mother of All Russiya" by Melanie Rawn

From the anthology Epic: Legends of Fantasy edited by John Joseph Adams. See the Epic: Legends of Fantasy anthology discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

"Mother of All Russiya" was published in Lightspeed Magazine (edited by John Joseph Adams) and can be read on-line here: Mother of All Russiya.

One of my favorite stories, a great adaptation of a great historical person. And despite the length and the limited setting of events I think the author managed to put a great sense of epicness.

Hmmm. I guess I felt the story was a little flat. While we are told Olga is really angry, I didn't really feel that anger.

I thought it was a fun story, was surprised at how much of it was actually historical. When it came to the non-historical parts though (i'm assuming the magic was not historically accurate) I'm not sure about the choice to make the source of the magic follow the "wise man from the east with mysterious powers" pattern. It felt a bit out of place to me.