Melanti > Recent Status Updates

Great-Grandfather Dragon's Tale - 4 Stars - This one is really cute (again).

Undine - Recently read, so skipped.

Sleeping Ugly - Cute little story, a mashup of several tales (Sleeping Beauty & Toads & Diamonds

Slipping Sideways Through Eternity - 4 stars - Short Story and similar in premise to, but completely unrelated to Devil's Arithmetic

Sun/Flight - Skipping this since I read it earlier this year

Brother Hart - 3 stars - Retelling of Little Brother, Little Sister - this is a reread

One Ox, Two Ox, Three Ox, and the Dragon King - 3 Stars - Chinese tale, but done with a rather western construction. Yolen says this is what makes it fractured. Though I don't read nearly enough Chinese tales in the first place, and far too many Western so I almost would have liked a more traditional style.

Granny Rumple - Skipped, since I've read it multiple times and still remember it well - If you haven't read this one, this is fantastic. Rumpelstiltskin as a Jewish money lender and how the the prejudices that come with that impact (and create) the tale.

Happy Dens or a Day in the Old Wolves Home - Reread - Very cute. It's really 3 wolf-centric stories in one. - 3 Stars

Godmother Death - Skipped - I've read this one before and am not really in the mood to re-read it. I have enjoyed reading it previously though.

The Moon Ribbon - Reread - I just read this earlier this year and it didn't stand up to a reread as well as I'd hoped though I enjoyed it the first time around. - 3 Stars.

Troll Bridge - Re-read - 3 Billy Goat's Gruff from the bridge's point of view. Cute but fairly light weight - 3 Stars

Snow in Summer- Re-read - I cheated and skipped this one since I've read it multiple times already. However, if you haven't read this, it makes for a MUCH better short story than a book. The ending is far superior in this version, IMO.

The Need to Stay the Same - Fake book review

What Joseph Felt - The Christmas story from Joseph's point of view

Tradition - Yawn. Heard the joke before. Telling it in a sci-fi setting does not make it worth hearing again.

What Would Sam Spade Do? - Sci Fi Noir staring a clone of Jesus.... Weird.

Parable Lost - Yep. It's definitely nowhere to be found.

What a Piece of Work - Yeah. This one doesn't work either. And once gain, it's a sci-fi premise that falls flat on its face.

Out of It - Very close to being a real story, but IMO it barely misses the mark. It's like half of an idea, in search of another half.

At the bottom of the Garden - WTF??

Turnover - Theoretically, this could make for an interesting story. But not for these motivations. It just doesn't make sense. I'm beginning to wonder if part of the issue is just that she doesn't know what makes good sci-fi either.

Joyful and Triumphant: St. Zeobius and the Aliens - Yawn

Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction - A writing exercise set in the same world as her Small Change series, but has a bit of the feeling of her My Real Children. But both full length versions are so fantastic this just seems paltry in comparison.

Sleeper - Okay, now this one does work as a short story. I still didn't care for it, but it does work.

Remember the Allosaur - Vaguely amusing, but ultimately it's more of a joke than a story

Panda Coin - Sorry, this doesn't work for me either. An XKCD comic comes to mind: https://xkcd.com/483/

On the Wall - The magic mirror from Snow White. This one does actually work as a self contained story. Walton notes that it was meant as the first chapter in a book - but I'm glad she stopped where she did, cause I don't think it would have worked as a full length book. However, so many other authors have done this and done it so much better that it only earns 3 stars.

Unreliable Witness - Very sad. I wish I liked this one more, but again, I just don't think it works well as a story.

Jane Austen to Cassandra - Nope. This one doesn't work at all. It reads like an inside joke. Apparently Jane Austen once wrote a letter to a friend named Cassandra, and Walton wrote a reply as if it were the mythological Cassandra responding. But they don't actually interact, other than punchline that was so obvious it wasn't funny.