I've enjoyed other works by Bear, including her delightful "Boojumverse" collaborations with Sarah Monette, and was pleased to find this ex-library softcover anthology of Bear's speculative fiction at Better World Books.

The variety of themes, styles and settings here is impressive, as is the fact that I bookmarked nearly every story as "quotable" - a problem for me when trying to review a book, as I don't want to just recap the whole thing! Whether writing about a dishonored warrior who's now living as a giant carp in a New York City fountain, the maimed soldier dealing with issues of loyalty in "Gone to Flowers", "ironworkers in space" in "High Iron", or a Lovecraft/Sherlock-Holmes crossover in "Tiger! Tiger!", the tales go in unexpected directions and feature fascinating and memorable characters. There's an alternate-history tale featuring Christopher Marlowe, a wrenching short tale from a dog's eye-view, a game between rival secret agents, and more. (I also enjoyed the author bio at the end: "Elizabeth Bear is her real name, but not all of it. Her dogs outweigh her, and she is much beset by her cats.")

[There's a TV Tropes page on Bear and her work, with some entertaining tidbits.]

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 The The challenge. ***