Once Upon a Galaxy

by Wil McCarthy, Martin H. Greenberg, John Helfers | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0756400910 Global Overview for this book
Registered by BunRab of Owings Mills, Maryland USA on 2/20/2006
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by BunRab from Owings Mills, Maryland USA on Monday, February 20, 2006
Fairy tale themes transformed into more or less SF short stories. Some of them quite good. One very funny one, by Paul di Filippo, ostensibly based on "Puss in Boots" but containing huge elements of Cinderella with gender switches as well, but which fairy tales it is are less important than how many other things it parodies or throws nods to. The main elements are Cordwainer Smith's stories about the Instrumentality of Mankind and the Underpeople (if you haven't read those, you can't really call yourself a science fiction literate) and the Dune series. We have the animal people hybrids of Smith, here referred to as bestients, although they are also sometimes called moreauvians, which gives you an idea of the pun level right there. We have House Carrabas, and sandworms, but the House reminds me more of some of Pern's weyrs, and there's a few other nods to Pern as well. And we have a motor home/RV on legs - it's the Baba Yaga model 650P. And a nod to Walt Kelly's "Pogo" that not one in a thousand of you youngsters will catch. Oh, but you will recognize Miss Piggy when she shows up... Anyway, it's very funny.

Journal Entry 2 by BunRab from Owings Mills, Maryland USA on Monday, May 15, 2006
Starting a bookring! Here's the mailing order:
Annchen (Sweden)
bean-frog (UK)
synergy (TX, US)
thegoaliegirl (OH, US)

Journal Entry 3 by Annchen from Handen, Stockholm Sweden on Friday, May 26, 2006
Thanks! I got this in the mail a few days ago and I've read one of the stories so far. This is really nice good night reading!

Journal Entry 4 by Annchen from Handen, Stockholm Sweden on Friday, June 23, 2006
I love fairy tales, and it was fun to recognise some of my old favourites. I read a folktale book after I read this one and the themes are easily recognised. A book like once upon a galaxy stays true to the nature of folk tales and fairy tales.

Folk tales have always borrowed from other fairy tales, from life and literature. The tradition is still alive :)

I decided to read the tales one at the time as bedtime stories, but at the end I couldn’t help but read the book in the daytime too.

The first tale immediately got me in a fairy tale mood. I loved the helpful creatures with hearts of sand... Very good bedtime story ;)

“Of wood and stone” was a bit creepy...

“The Goldilocks problem” was kind of cute, but not the best of the tales. Without the title I wouldn’t really have guessed it was based on Goldilocks.

“Ailoura”… I liked it very much. It keeps the spirit of Puss in boots but takes it to another level. And yes, I recognised Miss Piggy. This was the only tale I read twice.

“The emperor’s revenge” was a funny sequel to H.C. ANdersens tale.

“The nightingale” touched me. So sad and beautiful. It gave me something to think about and food for my dreams.

“He died that day, in thirty years” was interesting since I’m interested in pharmacy. I kept shouting “Hey, you can’t just test drugs like that!”, but never mind the lacking ethics, I enjoyed the story. Interesting idea.

“Eros and agape among the asteroids” was a cute little love story. Or love stories… I liked the one from the Xenobiologist master class.

“The control device”. Oh, oh! I know this one! I was so pleased when I recognised the fairy tale it was based on. And it was a good story too.

The last invasion of Ireland was one of my absolute favourites. I grinned like a mad woman at the ending. Sleep tight my little changelings…

“Nanite, star bright” is another one of my favourites. I wonder what the small creatures looked like. If they were small creatures… Despite being set on an asteroid somewhere in space it was so obviously a fairy tale. A poor worker with big dreams getting help from an unlikely source and being rewarded for her kindness.

“The princess and the accountant” is stuck in between two much better tales. It’s not bad, but it fades into the background like a wallflower.

Dancing in the ashes was interesting, especially after I learned that incest was a popular theme in Cinderella tales for a while. I think it stays pretty close to some version of the original tale with the incest and the nutcases. I’ve read a lot of Cinderella stories and Cinderella relatives. The theme comes again and again in a lot of folk tales. It was nice that the token Cinderella story was one where she’s intelligent and sneaky and not an air headed bimbo.

Sleeping beauty was a cute way to end the book. Magical.

I’ve got the address and will send this on to bean-frog after the Midsummer holiday.

Journal Entry 5 by bean-frog from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, July 24, 2006
This arrived in the post today, along with another bookring book! I should be able to start reading it this week.

Journal Entry 6 by bean-frog from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Friday, August 4, 2006
I really enjoyed most of the stories in here, although some were more obscure than others!


Have pm'd synergy for her address

Journal Entry 7 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Saturday, August 12, 2006
I got the book in the mail today. I'm really looking forward to it! I always like this type of writing, looking at something old in a new way. I'm also trying to make an effort to get back to reading more scifi like I used to when I was a teenager. Book review when I finish it in the coming weeks!

Journal Entry 8 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Monday, September 4, 2006
2006 Book #30 - Once Upon A Galaxy by various authors

I first heard about this book when a book review for it was posted in the LiveJournal community of bookcrossers. The premise is to take fairy tales and rewrite them by, as the back of the book states, "giving them a science fiction setting, explanation, or context."

I have to say that many fairy tales I forget or don't even know them due to being a first generation English speaker. I really wasn't raised with them. So at least half, if not most of them, I had no idea what is the original story. I do take it in a way as seeing them for the first time and liking them or disliking the stories based on what these modern authors did with them and not by comparison to the original story. Oh and I also have to add that usually I avoid short stories mostly because I like the full characterization and plotting of a novel. Not to say that I haven't read some great short stories, but in general I don't like the format.

So that said, it took me two weeks to finish this fairly short paperback mostly because I wasn't getting into a lot of the stories. I actually liked 6 of the 14 which are:
  • "Of Wood and Stone" by Ronnie Seagren
  • "Ailoura" by Paul Di Filippo
  • "He Died That Day, In Thirty Years" by Wil McCarthy
  • "Eros and Agape Among the Asteroids" by Scott Edelman
  • "Nanite, Star Brite" by Tanya Huff
  • "Dancing in the Ashes" by Richard E Friesen

They all actually had, I guess you could say, a moral I understood. Seagren's was a good tale about environmentalism. Ailoura I liked just because it made a good story of having someone disowned and they get payback. For that one the author says which story it's supposed to be and I had to elbow my husband and pick his brain for the general outline of the story of Puss In Boots. McCarthy's story stirred up thoughts about science effecting memory and emotion and although I had some nitpicks on some of the possible paradoxes, it was a good story. "Eros and Agape Among the Asteroids" was a great love story without clobbering you over the head about what is the definition of real love. If you don't get it at the end of the story, you weren't paying attention.

The story by Tanya Huff was good. I'd actually be interested to find out what story it's supposed to be based on. I've read a Huff book because she's was listed as an author I might like since I like this other author. However, the one I read was I think the first one of her Summoner series and I wasn't excited about her characters, their world, or what might happened in following books. After having read this story I've rethought that and I might give Huff another chance.

Being a "crazy feminist" I really liked the Cinderella rewrite in "Dancing in the Ashes." It never ceases to amaze me, as it says Friesen thinks also, how many people, especially women, have this rose-tinted idea of the dark/middle ages and really want to be back in those medieval times. These are the people who love Renaissance fairs and live in this fantasy world of knights and maidens and warrior princesses and stuff. This story lays it out. Cinderella is who we'd all be. If we lived in a castle it would be because we had to clean the fireplaces and serve up food and hope that some random male doesn't rape us. Don't even get me started on the diseases!!! I'd be dead or on death's door at my ripe age of 30. Fairy tales are a great fantasy land, but nowhere I'd actually like to be in real life!!!

This story was a great capper to a collection of stories that I only feel "eh" or so-so about. It's a good idea, but I'd like to have seen more stories by authors I knew better I suppose.

Journal Entry 9 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Saturday, October 14, 2006
Sorry for holding the book this long. My husband decided he wanted to give it a read, too. He has the habit of reading several books at once and hence taking forever to finish a book. :)

But as of noon today the book is now on its way to thegoaliegirl, the last person listed on the bookring FYI.

Thanks for letting us give this book a read!

Journal Entry 10 by thegoaliegirl from Vancouver, Washington USA on Thursday, October 26, 2006
Book arrived today in the mail. What a surprise! Thanks so much! looking forward to reading it!

Journal Entry 11 by thegoaliegirl from Vancouver, Washington USA on Monday, November 6, 2006
This book was interesting but some of the stories were a bit too sci-fi for me. I'm not a sci-fi fan (this was my first attempt) but I love fairy tales. Some of them I couldn't really place the original fairy tale. The Nightingale really stuck with me... it was haunting and wonderful. Took me a little while to finish the book, but then again, it happens. Overall, I'm glad that I got the chance to read this book.

This book is on its way home today...

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