Saturday, September 14, 2019

The Hundredth House Had No Walls, by Laurie Penny

[Single]
★★★☆☆

(Slipstream) After 500 years, the King of Myth and Shadow is getting bored, so he decides to take a vacation in New York City. (4,393 words; Time: 14m)


"," by (edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden), published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Review: 2019.534 (A Word for Authors)

Pro: It’s a sweet little tale, with all sorts of allusions to the creative process. Superficially, Colin has to learn that he can’t simply “buy” Melanie’s love by creating things for her.

Con: It went on a bit too long after the point was established. And it’s kind of hard to feel much sympathy for a guy who’s got everything.

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7 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Loved this. Made me literally LOL a number of times. It also made me think of Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.

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    1. Yeah, it definitely had plenty of laughs. I sometimes feel I just need a separate system for rating humor stories, but there really aren't all that many of them.

      I have learned that authors really hate it if you class their story as "SF Humor" when it wasn't meant to be funny. Especially if you then pan it for not being very funny!

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    2. Often stories that are obviously meant to be funny are too over-the-top for me. This was just right. Bonus points for it poking fun at genre stories.

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  2. I really liked this one. I give it 4 1/2 stars. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes an alternative spin on fairy tales as well as the writing process with emphasis on fantasy stories.

    I did not think it took "too long". It took "just right" and I read it in one sitting and liked every moment of it.

    The artwork by Kuri Huang is a lovely piece of art in itself and it goes very well with this story.

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  3. I've read enough to know that this is going on my Hugo ballot. A fine story with a beginning, middle and end. Very memorable with a touch of comedy. It also empowers the female characters in a fairy tale, and gives a modern variant of the runaway princess.

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