Been quite busy lately. But here's the third part of my serialized review of The Solaris Book of New Fantasy, with comments on four more stories. For those who missed it, part one is here and part two is here.
The ninth story in the anthology is The Wizard's Coming by Juliet E. McKenna, a piece about a company of riders running from a terrible mage in a medieval-like setting. It is a short epic that drags on many characters, places, and plot twists to tell a tale of duty and betrayal.
Scope is a major problem with this one. I found The Wizard's... the weakest story so far, and I must confess that I could hardly follow its unfolding. There are too many characters, too many twists, too many "acts" for a short story. In every page comes a new character. Every five, characters change setting. Speed is another issue. Many things happen in quick succession, but few key things push the plot forward. And finally, things end in a cliffhanger.
On the other hand, McKenna's prose is clear and direct, but stylish and definitely her own. Though the story didn't work for me, I'd like to come back to McKenna and explore more of her fantasy settings.
Next comes Mike Resnick with Shell Game, a story about supernatural private detective John Justin Mallory's newest case: the hunt for the egg of the last lamia, stolen by a gremlin from a man disguised as JFK.
Resnick made me laugh. A lot. The story is a fast-paced, dialogue-based, plot-driven pulp story that works marvelously. There are two or three new takes on fantasy themes, but on the overall it is a huge playground of fantasy and detective stories' clichés that Resnick masterfully plays with. Gags abound both with the half-cat/half-girl sidekick Felina, and minor characters. My favorite one being a dialogue with a clerk that, to me, is no one but Ghandi.
As I said, the story's 90% fast dialogue, as to not lose comic timing. Resnick did a good job with this one, delivering a very entertaining story that ends up being a mix of John Constantine and Roger Rabbit.
After so many laughs comes deep serenity with The Song Her Heart Sang, by Steven Savile. In it we follow Lukas Meya, a boy that, out of love, makes two wrong decisions: cures her girlfriend's blindness and embarks on a quest in search of magical stone to prove himself worthy of her. What he finds, though, is much greater than a simple stone.
This is a story about knowledge, and both the consequences and terror of having it. This is also a story about the lengths one goes to prove his love. And finally, this is a story about a boy becoming a man and beginning his life. It helps that Savile draws beautiful and sad images with his descriptions, both physical and psychological. The story is simple, but touching. A quest in which the main character slowly grows. There is one little Deus Ex Machina and another minor plot hole that called my attention, but nothing that made this piece any worse.
Savile's prose is equally beautiful, somber and sad. There's few dialogue here, but the ones present are very powerful. The end is specially lyrical.
Finally there is Jay Lake's A Man Falls, a story about Peleppos, a Prince of the Law in the Wheeled City, that decides to reunite his cave dweling people with their enemy kin living in the open air, under the sun.
Reconciliation, hope and subtlety are all themes of this fine story. Lake has the ability to create fascinating settings with few words. The one in this story could easily be transported to a novel. One important detail is a sign language used by some characters. The signs transmit phrases full of symbolism that are codes onto themselves. For example, a hand gesture that says "owl leaving nest" means "I'm new to this place". Lake explains only a few of those gestures, enough to let the reader know there are many layers of information beneath the surface story. The title, for one, must be deciphered and the is both hopeful and vague.
Lake's prose is a delight, easy and elegant. A special note on the character's names: Peleppos, Antimony, Cadmium and Arnasa are not just beautiful names, they are another layer readers must uncover to experience this good story.
illustration by Fabio Cobiaco
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