Got this out of a Little Free Library in Easton. Didn’t finish the book, so will share.

From Publishers Weekly
Though this anthology is billed as "a little taste" of the work found in the quarterly Fantasy Magazine, the overall flavor of this literary sampler is decidedly bland. Among numerous unremarkable selections, however, are a few excep-tional entries. Sarah Monette's "Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home" is a powerfully moving and in-tensely bittersweet story about the sisterhood that develops between a woman trapped in an unfulfilling marriage and a selkie imprisoned by a man who stole her skin, while Maura McHugh's "Bone Mother" brilliantly blends Slavic folklore with the vampire mythos to create a speculative gem of a tale. Cat Rambo's "Sugar" takes an unstereotypical look at the swashbuckling pirate adventure, and Jeremy Tolbert gets in touch with his inner Bigfoot in the wonder-fully weird "The Yeti Behind You." Despite this handful of stellar stories, the majority of entries are not-contrary to the back cover's claims-especially edgy, modern or sophisticated.

Sent in the Anthology/Short Stories bookbox

I'm claiming this from the Anthology/short story collection bookbox.

Later: While I'd agree with the Publishers Weekly review as to the best stories in the anthology, I don't think that makes it a weak anthology at all; indeed, I appreciated the stories I hadn't read before, as well as those I had. My own favorites:

"Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home" by Sarah Monette (which I read in her collection Somewhere Beneath Those Waves) features a selkie who's been trapped on land by an artist. She meets a woman who's fascinated by the figureheads in a local museum (a scene that reminded me of a similar museum in Salem, MA); will they be able to find a way to free her? I love Monette's prose style, dreamy yet unflinching.

"Shallot" by Samantha Henderson re-imagines "The Lady of Shalott" as an alien being stranded in medieval times - a creepy interpretation of the poem's tragic tale.

Maura McHugh's "Bone Mother," in which Baba Yaga bargains with a scheming Transylvanian nobleman who has an agenda of his own. Those familiar with the mythologies of both characters will guess how things turn out! (I did expect the tale to go into yet another mythology regarding that nobleman, but it stuck with the mostly-historical version. Still very grisly all around - not surprising when a power-and-vengeance-mad warlord treats with a witch and her bone-devouring sentient house {wry grin}.)

"The Greats Come A-callin'" by Lisa Mantchev is one of the more light-hearted tales here, though it has some pretty wrenching scenes in the middle. An artist finds herself inheriting more than she expected when the last of her older relations dies: the ghosts of her extended family come to stay with her, cheerfully reworking her house and grounds to match their own memories of the family dwelling. When her studio and recently-completed artworks disappear, she gets pretty furious - but luckily she and her lookalike ancestor find a way to make the best of the new situation. (There's a minor subplot involving a bunny-shaped cookie cutter, one that survives in-story but that the author notes went missing from her real-world family home. It reminded me of a certain old lemon squeezer that I loved when my great-grandmother used it to make lemonade; that went missing after her death, discarded by the cousin who inherited her house I suspect, as it wasn't the cousin's style. I would love to have had that lemon squeezer, but not if it meant all the family ghosts came with it!)

"Sugar" by Cat Rambo blends fantasy economics with a poignant lesbian love story - set in a magical alternate reality where golems become the work force at a sugarcane plantation. The protagonist, Laurana, is a very long-lived sorceress whose lover Britomart has been suffering from a lingering, curse-based, fatal illness for some time. While Laurana tries to keep Britomart as comfortable as possible, she also flees to the arms of the pirate Christina for some comfort of her own. There's a lot of world-building in this story, leaving the impression of the climate and the competing businesses and the threats of outside interference - but the story focuses on the main characters and their desires.

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

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

Released for:

** 2024 You're Such an Animal challenge, for the embedded "ant" in the title **

** 2024 Keep Them Moving challenge. **

Just picked up this wild release & look forward to reading it!