The New Voices of Fantasy

Read to me by Levar Burton.

A collection of fantasy stories from relatively new authors.

Most of the stories in this anthology are fairly strong, and none are terrible. There are several that could have used a stronger editorial hand, and some deal with very familiar themes without adding anything new to them. The strongest stories are:

• Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon - the dangers of desire. Strongly reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin, but very nicely written.


• The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu - the political systems of hymenopterae. I liked this less than when I first read it, but it's still innovative, well written, and interesting.


• Here be Dragons by Chris Tarry - the life of a fake dragon hunter. A familiar concept, but largely well executed.


• Tiger Baby by JY Yang - a girl who dreams of her real self. A nice concept. As with several of the stories in this anthology, it weakens at the end, but it's largely well done.


• Wing by Amal El-Mohtar - a mysterious girl with a secret. Again, the ending could have been stronger, but a largely successful mood piece.