The Apex Book of World SF
2 journalers for this copy...
I found this good-condition softcover at a local thrift shop. It's a collection of SF stories from around the world. Among my favorites:
S. P. Somtow's "The Bird Catcher," about a lonely boy in post-WWII Thailand who crosses paths with a dangerous killer who has a very particular purpose in what he does. (For extra creepy points, this one's inspired by a real-world killer whose body was preserved in the Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine.)
"Wizard World" by Yang Ping involves players addicted to a Zork-like online game, only to have things get very weird indeed when someone uses a tiny loophole in the code to hack the accounts of the recently-slain.
"The Kite of Stars" by Dean Francis Alfar is a romantic fable about - well, expectations vs. dreams, with the perils of being TOO focused on a goal to think about the ramifications. It's rather dreamy and poetic, and also quite melancholy. I liked it.
Nir Yaniv's "Cinderers" is a stark and stylized tale of art and arson and murder, very chilling.
Kristin Mandigma's "Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang" is a short-short story from the viewpoint of the titular aswang, a particularly gruesome monster from Filipino folklore, who is writing in response to a suggestion that she create a story for a speculative-fiction anthology. Turns out she's a revolutionary and wants nothing to do with pandering to the tastes of Western fantasy geeks {wry grin}.
"Elegy" by Mélanie Fazi features a bereft mother pleading for her lost children to be returned to her - with a gradual reveal as to where she believes they've gone and what she's addressing her pleas to...
And more - an intriguing collection!
S. P. Somtow's "The Bird Catcher," about a lonely boy in post-WWII Thailand who crosses paths with a dangerous killer who has a very particular purpose in what he does. (For extra creepy points, this one's inspired by a real-world killer whose body was preserved in the Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine.)
"Wizard World" by Yang Ping involves players addicted to a Zork-like online game, only to have things get very weird indeed when someone uses a tiny loophole in the code to hack the accounts of the recently-slain.
"The Kite of Stars" by Dean Francis Alfar is a romantic fable about - well, expectations vs. dreams, with the perils of being TOO focused on a goal to think about the ramifications. It's rather dreamy and poetic, and also quite melancholy. I liked it.
Nir Yaniv's "Cinderers" is a stark and stylized tale of art and arson and murder, very chilling.
Kristin Mandigma's "Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang" is a short-short story from the viewpoint of the titular aswang, a particularly gruesome monster from Filipino folklore, who is writing in response to a suggestion that she create a story for a speculative-fiction anthology. Turns out she's a revolutionary and wants nothing to do with pandering to the tastes of Western fantasy geeks {wry grin}.
"Elegy" by Mélanie Fazi features a bereft mother pleading for her lost children to be returned to her - with a gradual reveal as to where she believes they've gone and what she's addressing her pleas to...
And more - an intriguing collection!
I'm adding this to the Otherworldly bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop soon. Enjoy!
I picked this out of the Otherworldly Bookbox. Looking forward to reading this collection of short stories.
