Efreak’s Reviews > Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy > Status Update

"Charged" by Leanna Renee HIeber. I think I've found my new favorite story so far in this collection, and another author to stalk for my TBR list. I'd love to see more like this.

James P. Blaylock's Smithfield is quite good. I'm interested in seeing a longer story exploring the idea of a photograph of the past that shows further past times as it develops.

I'm even more interested in the idea of using CFLs for exorcisms, which he brought up in his afterword.

Elizabeth Bear's 'The Governess' is also great. How is it that so many people dislike the stories in this book? The only problem I've got so far is the same problem I have with every other short story--the stories are too short.

Elizabeth Wein's "For The Briar Rose" is also quite good. This is turning out to be one of the best books I've read in quite a while--not terribly surprising, considering I've been reading unpublished amateur works and translated webnovels lately, but I'm still finding it quite good. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling are amazing at finding good authors/stories.

La Reine d'Enfer, by Kathe Koja. Amazing.

The Memory Book, by Maureen McHugh: definitely a good story. Similar to Queen Victoria's Book of Spells in that the searched for 'happy ending' of forced love didn't turn out to be so happy, but different in that it wasn't regretted. I find it interesting that Laura Anne doesn't seem to have learned anything here, and wonder what happens next.

Titular story Queen Victoria's Book of Spells was quite good (not that I eexpected any less of Delia Sherman), definitely a 4-5, and my favorite so far. I'd like to see more of the idea of magical codes in text.
Jeffrey Ford's The Fairy Enterprise was also quite good, though the ending was a bit of a surprise.
From The Catalogue... by Genevieve Valentine was interesting, if not my usual preferred type of story.