Status Updates From The Year's Best Fantasy Sto...

A PLACE TO STAY FOR A LITTLE WHILE by Jim Aikin. A house where misfits with strange and unique skills are drawn to reside. Conflict arises with the newest tenant. I found it entertaining and unique, but the ending had an unfinished business feel to it. 4 stars

THE UNCORKING OF UNCLE FINN by Jane Yolen. Folklore masquerading as fantasy. The only variation is Uncle Finn is labelled an elf when in all reality he's a leprechaun. High score on the boring meter. 1 star

SANCTUARY by Kim Antieau. The Twilight Zone strikes again. How do these stories rate as fantasy? A woman cannot leave her house for reasons unknown. 2 stars

THE TALE AND ITS MASTER BY Michael Rutherford. At 48 pages, the longest in the book. An interesting spin on storytellers. At first I was a meh 3 stars, but realized what spoiled it for me was the editor's opening note which essentially gave the story away. 4 stars

PHONE REPAIRS by Nancy Kress, The deeper I go into this collection, the further it gets from what I consider fantasy. here's a story where a man talks on the phone to a family from the near future. Twilight Zone, maybe, fantasy, I don't think so. 1 star

THE OLD MAN AND THE CHERRY TREE by Kevin J. Anderson. In a short story, there is no time to introduce subplots and this one fails as the subplot of the main character's family history is a waste. A man tends a cherry tree his whole life and when the tree dies he takes drastic magical action. 2 stars

LONG, LONG AGO by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, A ghost story, pure and simple. With each short I read in this collection it strays farther and farther from main stream fantasy. A man wakes to find himself on an endless road where he meets a woman. Starts interesting then fades into tedium. 2 stars

PIECE DE RESISTANCE by Judith Tarr. A somewhat supernatural (another offshoot of fantasy that doesn't meet my personal criteria) piece where a demon, in the guise of a chef, looks to aid a man overthrow his brother as king. An awful lot of story spent describing food and not developing the story. 2 stars

SOMETHING IN THE BLOOD by Richard L. Purtill. A straight up vampire tale. For me, vampire stuff is either urban fantasy or supernatural and doesn't fit the mold of main stream fantasy. Just saying. How does love bridge a vampire a a woman? Infection, of course. Not exactly an auspicious start to this collection. Less than meh. 2 stars

BEAUTY IS THE BEAST by Richard L. Purtill. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this story takes that trope to the extreme. A beautiful woman sets out to destroy an ultimate evil. Filled with cliche sword and sorcery fantasy this starter of the collection was a meh. 3 stars