The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Sixteen Original Works by Speculative Fiction’s Finest Voices edited by Ellen Datlow
Del Rey, $16.00, 402pp, tp, 97803435496324. Science fiction/fantasy anthology. On-sale date: 29 April 2008.
Datlow is a wonderful editor with an excellent eye for stories, but I fear this volume fell a little short (either that, or our tastes are diverging). Many of the stories in this book were very evocative, relating a wonderful mood and setting, with fully realized characters in completely fleshed out worlds. Where they fell short, I felt, was in the story department. Most of them feel more like beautiful paintings than short films: wonderful to look at, but not much happens. In some, there is action, but very little: the characters don’t seem to grow or change based on the events occurring around them, and I found it a little slow.
Having said that, there are some stories that I very much liked:
“Special Economics” by Maureen F. McHugh, which shows us that capitalism will come to China, whether the leaders like it or not.
Jeffrey Ford’s “Dalthatree” was my favorite in the book. A true science fiction story asking what might happen if we can reproduce ourselves in miniature, and then set up pocket cities. Would they do the same?
Pat Cadigan’s “Jimmy” is a kind-of-sad, kind-of-mysterious, story about a kid who isn’t bad, but must assume that role because everyone expects it of him.
Several more were disappointing because they had the potential to grab me, but didn’t quite get there:
The alternate history described in Jason Stoddard’s “The Elephant Ironclads” is an interesting world. But this visit didn’t give me enough story; I’d like him to try again.
“Ardent Clouds” by Lucy Sussex is an interesting tale of a volcano photographer and the researcher who’s trying to predict volcanic eruptions. Interesting set-up, but the pay-off wasn’t enough.
“AKA St. Mark’s Place” by Richard Bowes gives us, as Bowes always does, a wonderful glimpse at New York City’s earlier days. I was caught up in the time and felt the streets of that era, but ultimately, needed more story.
Lavie Tidhar’s “Shira” is an interesting literary mystery grafted on to a (one hopes) alternate near-future, but neither half really gets going, stuck as it is to the other. Again, I wanted something more, and I think I could have had it if the story was the literary mystery or the near-future, quasi-apocalyptic world.
Perhaps my problem is that the stories in this volume are more literary than I usually prefer; I readily admit the failing may be in me. If that’s the case, perhaps the stories I liked best are the weakest of the bunch, but since I’m the reader, my taste is important. When you pick up the book, it’ll be your taste that counts.
After posting the above, it was brought to my attention that perhaps my use of the word “literary” is incorrect. The sense I intended to convey was that the stories feel more like written scenes or settings—the printed version of tableau vivant—rather than stories (sequences of events during which a character changes or is changed in some meaningful way). It wasn’t an attempt to belittle any school of literature, but simply a shorthand attempt to differentiate between one form of sf and another.