under my hat

I’ve undergone a transformation.  For most of my life I thought of short stories as the second-class citizens of the reading world.  Why read a short story anthology when you could pick a thick book that would keep you reading the same story for hours?  I wanted epic stories, the longer the better.

Things have changed since those days.  I don’t have hours-long blocks of time to spend immersed in a book (unless I want to stay awake all night and then deal with a reading hangover at work the next day).  Instead, I have a twenty-five minute bus commute, a fifteen minute lunch, one hour before bed. In those moments, a brief, vivid story is sometimes all that I can digest. And an anthology, created to collect related short stories or novellas, is the perfect solution.  It is this change in thinking and change in reading habits that led me to list ‘read more short stories’ as one of my goals for 2013.  And I did just that by picking up Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Diana Peterfreund, Margo Lanagan, Peter S. Beagle, and Garth Nix are just a few of the authors who have toiled over their cauldrons and conjured up bewitching new creations inspired by and celebrating the might and mystery of the witch. Assembled by one of the most well-regarded anthologists in the science fiction/fantasy world, this rich, intelligent collection will enchant readers of all ages.

Under My Hat is one of the strongest anthologies I’ve ever read.  Usually there are a couple of excellent entries, a few that register as fair, and one or two that are simply mediocre.  The quality of this anthology was ‘good and/or great’ across the board.  The theme, of course, is magic.  Specifically, magic that requires a hat: witchy magic.  Strahan gave the authors some flexibility within that theme, but all of the stories have a connection to the central motif.  Even within a strong anthology I had my favorites, and the mini-reviews for those stories follow below.

Payment Due by Frances Hardinge – When an unwelcome intruder takes the things that matter to a girl and her grandmother, something must be done – and it may be a bit… unnatural.  I have never, to my knowledge, read Frances Hardinge before.  I will remedy my ignorance posthaste, because this little story was not only about revenge and magic, it also managed funny, tragic, menacing, and heartwarming all in one go. 

A Handful of Ashes by Garth Nix – A school bully awakens old magic that should have remained buried, and it’s up to a few intrepid student witches to protect their lives and outwit the other side.  It doesn’t surprise me that a Garth Nix story should be one of my favorites of the collection.  Nix’s entry highlights the advantages of working hard, overcoming obstacles and paying attention to history – which are life skills too (not just magic).

Which Witch by Patricia A. McKillip – Bandmates may be facing a menace blind if a crow familiar can’t communicate to and protect his chosen witch.  Faceoff at show time.  Though short, this story is packed with detail.  Multiple character perspectives widen the scope, and while the threat is deadly, the focus is light and fun overall.

Great-Grandmother in the Cellar by Peter S. Beagle – When a witch curses his sister and threatens to keep her asleep forever, a young man makes the fateful decision to dig up his great-grandmother’s bones. This story is gruesome, hilarious, (again) revenge-filled awesome.  Just dark and unpredictable enough to make one shiver, while surprising the reader into laughs and an acknowledgement of the author’s skill.

Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow by Margo Lanagan – Even across many miles, Pen knows it’s time for her granddaughter’s birth.  The journey changes her, and her granddaughter will alter her even more.  When I first read Lanagan last year I predicted that I would be coming back to her writing.  Here’s the proof that I was right.  The tale of this woman’s journey and choices is beautiful, haunting, and human.

In all, Under My Hat is a delicious anthology: it combines wonderful work by some of the best fantasists in the business, and brings those stories to the reader in one delightful package. It’s early yet, but I predict that it’ll be in the running for best of the year.

Recommended for: fans of fantasy and the short story form, anyone who imagines magic in the everyday (or would like to), and the uninitiated reader who would like to sample the wares of some of the greatest (living) writers of fantasy.

the brides of rollrock island

I have a heart made out of stone.  I know this for various reasons (a long-standing lack of empathy being one of them. you probably think i’m joking…), but it is clear as glass in the case of Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island.  I liked the book, but it did not melt me down and make me into something new.  I couldn’t put it down, but when I was done I didn’t feel as if my heart had been engaged.  I recognize its excellence, but I am not buying it by the case for Christmas presents.  One thing this book did do?  It made me a fan of Lanagan’s writing.  I’ll be back for more.

On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings—and to catch their wives.

The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment.

Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love.

Selkie myth has always fascinated me, and I think it has to do with water.  I spent my childhood and early adulthood in water (pools mostly, with the occasional lake thrown in), swimming competitively.  I am familiar with gradations of water clarity, the taste of waves, the feeling of weightlessness, and the joy in cutting through calm with honest exertion.  Water is in my blood, and it will always be.  Because it is, books set on water, or on islands, or about sea creatures, will always hold a special interest.

To bring it back to the book at hand (which is called Sea Hearts in Australia, by the way) – Lanagan does an amazing job of writing about the mystery of the sea and a close, isolated island life.  Her narrative is a mixture of magic, sadness, bitterness and humanity. It is told from several character perspectives, and over several generations.  This structure no doubt contributed to my difficulty in latching onto one character or another as a favorite or most effective storyteller.  However, the central figure in the book is Misskaella Prout, a proud, miserable girl (and later, woman) who changes her island in unnatural ways.

Lanagan’s skill is evident in her portrayals of Misskaella and the other inhabitants of Rollrock – the reader understands and hates them equally, for different reasons.  There is no black and white here: Rollrock is all gray and there's a feeling that it has always been so.  This signals (at least to me) remarkable writing and storytelling.  However, the ambiguity and selfishness and humanity of each character also kept me from gathering them into my heart.  Rollrock, with all its complexity, felt like an adult novel (and by that I mean that the morally ambiguous characters overtook all other aspects of the story).  The Brides of Rollrock Island is an outstanding book, but I did not appreciate it as I had hoped to.

Recommended for: fans of selkie myth, those who enjoyed Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races, and anyone who likes their mysteries deep, their fairy tales dark, and their reading ambiguous and beautifully written.

Fine print: I received an ARC of this book for review via NetGalley but didn't read it in time... so I ended up getting it in ebook form from my library.