We are barely into 2021 and Angela Slatter is already having quite a year. A novel (
All the Murmuring Bones as A.G. Slatter) and a collection of microfiction (
Red New Day and Other Microfictions) were both reviewed here last month. Add
The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales to the list. It is a gorgeous new mosaic collection of tales (with illustrations by Kathleen Jennings) of the world Slatter previously explored in collections
Sourdough and Other Stories and
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, novella
Of Sorrow and Such, and the aforementioned novel. Only four of its twelve stories have been previously published. Slatter’s Lodellan (and its fictional environs) is vaguely Victorian, sometimes a bit Irish, a somehow-familiar “other.” It’s a comfortable place (as most are) for those with the means to buy comfort – not that many do. And – just as in the real world – whatever one may possess is always in danger of being lost. There are forces at play, though,
Sam J. Miller‘s “
Tyrannosaurus Hex” posits a future in which alternative realities can be all too real. The story is particularly chilling (and resonates as true) with children as the “early adaptors.” “
A House Full of Voices Is Never Empty” by
Miyuki Jane Pinckard also deals with reality of a sort. Two sisters flee the chaos of Vietnam as the US withdraws. The elder is consoled by familiar objects that speak to her; the younger does not have that comfort but is also “free to imagine a new life.” As time passes, Pinckard offers a beautiful perspective on the solace and burden of memories. The children in
Isabel Yap’s debut collection
Never Have I Ever offers a wide variety of stories. They range from the definitely horrific “Good Girls” (The Retreat is a place intended to reform bad girls; whether it works on its young inmates is, in general, an open question, but it definitely doesn’t work for the monstrous Kaye) to the science fiction of “Milagroso”. (In the near future, manufactured food is tasty and both more affordable and more nutritional than the real thing. Still, people yearn for the natural and thrill when, with an annual miracle, a saint allows a taste of the old.) In the moving “Cup of Salt Tears”, Makino, who grieves for her terminally ill husband, was saved from drowning as a child by a kappa (a Japanese river monster that can be benign). Now her husband is dying, and the kappa reappears to assert his love for her. This is a modern fairy tale about bargains. “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?”, set in a Filipino girl’s school, is a c
Paula Guran Reviews All the Murmuring Bones and Red New Day by Angela Slatter locusmag.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from locusmag.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.