Rocket Stack Rank The Starlit Wood

Showing posts with label The Starlit Wood. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious, by Daryl Gregory

Cover illustration by Benjamin Carré — Find this book

(Drug SF) In the middle of preparations for Tindal’s roommate’s funeral, two teenagers show up and start eating the psychotropic drugs off the wall. (6,331 words; Time: 21m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Recommended By: JStrahan

Pearl, by Aliette de Bodard

(Space Opera; Xuya) Da Trang earned favor with the Empress because his remora, Pearl, feed him information. He has lost Pearl, but cannot stop searching for it. (8,244 words; Time: 27m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Recommended By: NClarke

This story is set in the author’s Dai-Viet universe, but it does not depend on readers having any familiarity with it.

The Briar and the Rose, by Marjorie M. Liu

(High Fantasy) The Duelist serves the cold, beautiful Carmela but loves Rose. Separating Rose from Caramela is going to be the challenge of her life. (9,439 words; Time: 31m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Rich, Complex, and Rewarding

(Fairy Tale) A mouse, a bird, and a sausage live together happily, but a tyranny arising in the world threatens to disturb their idyll. (3,986 words; Time: 13m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

(Historical Fantasy) Coyote and the red fox girl ride across the western desert looking for a man and a score to settle. (5,045 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

(Science Fantasy) As a physics grad student, Sophie researches mirrors as potential gateways to alternate realities. She shares her unexpected results. (4,839 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Effective Fantasy in a Scientific Setting

(Fairy Tales) A collection of traditional fairytales recast to different times, places, and genres. (109,956 words; Time: 6h:06m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Excellent Concept, Beautifully Executed

We reviewed Seasons of Glass and Iron, by Amal El-Mohtar when it was reprinted in Uncanny.

(Fairy Tale) Young Miryem supports her family lending money at interest, but things get difficult when someone from Faerie makes her an offer she can’t refuse. (11,747 words; Time: 39m)

Rating: ★★★★★ Beautiful Writing, Clever Plot, Plenty of Tension

Recommended By: RHorton:4 JStrahan

(Meta Fiction) Mahliya will be down in a bit to tell you the story, but we'll begin by telling you a love story. (3,449 words; Time: 11m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Fairy Tale) Tommelise really doesn’t want to marry Mr. Muldvarp, the mole, but she feels beholden to Mrs. Markmusen, the mousewife who has cared for her all winter and who insists it’s a good match. (5,427 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

(Modern Fantasy) Thea graduated from witches school six months ago and should be at Harvard now, but the lack of her shadow, which she lost as a child, is depressing her, and if she can’t find it soon, she’ll fade away entirely. (11,021 words; Time: 36m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

(Transhuman) One of the ascended humans wants to help the ones who stayed behind on now-primitive Earth, but bureaucracy appears to have survived ascension. (3,645 words; Time: 12m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Horror) When old Merle was young, he wanted to paint all the bars in South Jersey. He did The Thousand Eyes last. A hard place to find. A place where The Voice of Death performs on Wednesdays. (4,482 words; Time: 14m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Recommended By: SFEP

(Horror) When one child disappears, it’s a tragedy, but a series of disappearances is another matter. Especially when they're disappearing from their own bedrooms--and appear to be going willingly. (5,846 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

(Historical Fantasy) In the Old West, a murder under a full moon brings a thing across “The Line.” A thing seeking vengeance, and with a broad idea of responsibility. (5,662 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Fascinating, Mysterious, and Uplifting

(Horror) Badgirl worries about Deadman who brings her daddy "sugar," so she hides when he visits. But he wants something from her when her daddy can't pay. (5,854 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Meta Fiction) A man wants a child, but his wife does not. A princess had seven sons in seven days, sent them away, and was swallowed by them eighteen years later. And there are wolves. (4,847 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Slipstream) Hedvig’s father accidentally trades her to a cursed prince—which doesn’t happen every day in modern America—and then things get strange. (4,475 words; Time: 14m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Seasons of Glass and Iron, by Amal El-Mohtar

(Fairy Tale) Tabitha has been walking a long time, trying to wear out seven pairs of iron shoes; Amira has been sitting alone on a glass hill that suitors try to climb. (5,617 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Recommended

Recommended By: JStrahan Nebula

Reprinted in Uncanny Magazine issue 13.