“Caroline says that fairy godmothers don’t have wings anymore,” I said. “Because of underground nuclear testing.”
My subscription to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction lapsed a while ago, but finding a back issue from 2014 is making me want to start it up again. I’m always looking for new authors to read, and the magazine is a great way to get exposure to a whole range of different writers and styles, all within the F&SF genre.
A good example of one of those authors is Naomi Kritzer, who’s story “Containment Zone” – part of a series of tales set in the floating island nation of Seastead – appeared in the May 2014 issue. Kritzer has created such a detailed world in Seastead, and such an appealing character in teenager Beck Garrison, that I wanted to find more of her writing, and maybe see what she can do when she’s able to create a world and then expand it into a full-length novel.
So of course the very first thing I decided to try was not a novel. Instead I picked up a copy of Comrade Grandmother, and Other Stories. What can I say, my love of short-story collections is pretty much out of control.
It may be a little simplistic to say that the first six stories in the book are all about women’s empowerment, but there does seem to be a running theme of women finding their hidden strengths. “Honest Man” is probably the best of these first six, with its story of a woman meeting a man who may be an immortal trickster, although one who goes to a lot of trouble to prove that even con men have an ethical code. “Comrade Grandmother” is a Baba Yaga story set in WWII Russia, and “The Golem” takes the Jewish legend to 1941 Prague, with a female magician crafting what’s traditionally always been a male automaton, and how that changes things.
“Three Wishes” is a very cute tale of a modern-day fairy godmother (possibly), and “Spirit Stone” gives a tantalizing taste of a new world with nomadic tribes and the aftermath of a destructive Mage War. Both stories left me wishing I knew more about the world and the characters before the story abruptly ended.
Likewise, “The Long Walk” is another too-short story of a society in the aftermath of a magical war. The setting is fascinating, a kind of alternate-world Rome, but after so much set-up and description the story ended right when it felt like things were really getting started.
“The Good Son” had an interesting premise, but was also very, very dark. It’s easy to see why a marriage between an immortal fae and a mortal woman will eventually lead to heartbreak, but this story slams you with all the different ways that heartbreak will manifest. It’s uplifting that anyone would choose certain grief in order to have a few years of love, but this was a tough one to wade through.
As much as I’ve enjoyed Kritzer’s fairly serious stories that I’ve read in the past, I felt that the strongest ones in this collection were the ones with a sense of the ridiculous. “Unreal Estate” revolves around the discovery of a parallel Earth, and how the current Earth reacts to the discovery (basically think of every special-interest group you can imagine: they all want a piece.) “When Shlemiel Went to the Stars” is another tale based on Jewish folklore, this one on the legendary city of Chelm – famous for being the city of those too stupid to know how stupid they were – and their attempt to colonize another planet.
Probably my favorite of the more lighthearted stories is “Faust’s SASE”: seven pages mocking standard responses that authors receive when publishing companies are too big to write a separate rejection letter for every story they turn down. The tone in these letters is perfect; when you think about it, a modern-day Mephistopheles wouldn’t go for the personal touch when an insultingly specific and yet completely impersonal form letter would cause just as much torment.
Dear Sinner:
Thank you very much for letting us see your soul. Unfortunately it does not suit our needs at this time.
Looking back on the whole collection, I think I can see why I preferred the sillier stories: they were more self-contained, and they each had a more satisfying resolution. But that was mostly because the other stories gave me just enough of a taste of the world they were set in that I wanted to know more. Exactly what happened to the Castramagorum after the blast? What exactly would the Germans find when they finally arrived at the apartment with the waiting golem? And both Eleanor in “Fortune” and Sari in “Spirit Stone” were just starting their own adventure when the story ended. This would also explain why I’ve enjoyed her Seastead stories, because there’s always the promise of another installment. Obviously I now have to find one of Kritzer’s full-length books, either from the Eliana’s Song series or the Dead Rivers Trilogy, so I can see what the author can do when she has much more room to explore.