books

Christopher Barzak

Books: Fantasy | Short Stories

Anthologies

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (2007), Firebirds Soaring (2009), The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People (2010), Teeth: Vampire Tales (2011), Magic City: Recent Spells (2014)

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (2007) edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

I love short stories. Aside from collections by Charles de Lint, I best love anthologies by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling best. Their books are like comfort food, and I save them up for when I'm sick or feeling low.

In the same vein as The Green Man and The Faerie Reel, Datlow and Windling have this time collected stories about tricksters, and they've got some of my favorite authors in this collection: Charles de Lint, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ellen Kushner. As usual, they manage to collect stories by some of my favorite story tellers.

If like short story collections, or trickster tales, then you will want to read The Coyote Road. It has stories from many of my favorite writers, and as with all their collections, I was delighted to discover new authors for whom I'll be on the lookout.

Published by Viking

Rating: 9/10

Firebirds Soaring (2009) edited by Sharyn November

Published by Firebird

The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People (2010) edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

Viking Books for Young Readers

Teeth: Vampire Tales (2011) edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

This is an Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling anthology, so as always, there are fascinating bits of folklore.

Rice, not garlic, was the most effective means of keeping Chinese vampires at bay, for they had a strange compulsion to count. Throwing rice at the ghost compelled it to stop; it would not move again until each grain was counted.

"Gap Year" by Christopher Barzak is Loretta's story, and how sometimes childhood friends aren't the friends you think they are.

As expected, this was a very good anthology, and although I didn't like the horror or the poetry, that's a failing of mine, not the anthology.

Published by Harper Collins

Rating: 8/10

Magic City: Recent Spells (2014) edited by Paula Guran

Magic-City-Recent-Spells

"Paranormal Romance" by Christopher Barzak is the story of a witch of makes love spells, but whose magic doesn't work for her. So her mother sets her up on a blind date.

When Myspace and Facebook came around, and her mother began commenting on photos Sheila had posted from some of her date nights with statements like, "He's a hottie!" and "Now that's a keeper!" Sheila had had to block her mother.

I really liked this story.

All in all this is a marvelous collection, that I highly recommend.

Published by Prime Books

Rating: 8.5/10