Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
Realms of Fantasy - December 2006Nov 26, 2006 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line A pretty good issue, though not the greatest. There's definitely some fun to be had, though.
Realms of Fantasy - December 2006 The Stories "Lost Wax" - by Leah Bobet "In the Lair of the Moonmen" - by Jon Hansen "Echoes of Me" - by Michelle Thuma "Of Swords & Horses" - by Carrie Vaughn "The Valhalla Job" - by Sandra McDonald "Shelf Life" - by Thomas Seay "Infants in the Lake of Fire" - by M.K. Hobson The December issue of Realms of Fantasy has a running theme of reality versus fantasy, with three stories dealing with the intersection of the two concepts. There is definitely some good stuff in here, with "In the Lair of the Moonmen" harkening back to the old days, but avoiding the science fiction label by reaching the moon via wizardry. There's fun in some of the other stories too, but also some seriousness. Unfortunately, not all of the stories are winners, but there's enough there for any fantasy fan to like something. "Lost Wax" - by Leah Bobet Simon is a young man working in a wax shop, where the real magic takes place. Simon sweeps the floors, taking the spare wax and collecting it so that it can be burnt at the end of the day, but he desperately wants to understand the magic and taste it. Every night, he smuggles bits and pieces of the excess wax out of the shop, to mold and try to shape at home, but he meets no success. While the magic eventually speaks to him, he never understands it and is soon caught. His ultimate fate doesn't actually end the story, as we see that the magic he desired to possess may have, eventually, possessed him instead. This is an interesting little story reasonably well-told, but it doesn't have a lot of punch to it. Simon is fairly tragic, and Bobet succeeds in making us care for him a little, but he seems a bit too whiny at times. The ending is appropriate, however. Not a bad way to start the issue. "In the Lair of the Moonmen" - by Jon Hansen Now this is an interesting concept. Varkez, a lieutenant in the city guard, accompanies a wizard named Qon on an officially-sanctioned voyage to the moon to stop the regular attacks on the city by "Nightmen," strange creatures who allegedly make their home there. They go up in a magical balloon and discover that the Nightmen have been terrorizing other societies as well. But what is Qon really after, and will Varkez be successful? Or will the entire expedition die on a remote moon, far away from the civilization that they know? This is an extremely fun story with a kind of Golden Age SF feel to it. Hansen handles the characterizations beautifully given that kind of style, with Varkez being the reluctant hero but unafraid to jump into danger when it's required. The twists and turns are fairly predictable, though the details aren't necessarily. This was just a lot of fun to read. "Echoes of Me" - by Michelle Thuma Nancy is a woman who has lost her husband, and her own life in the process. She cannot leave the past behind her, and ghostly images of herself and her dead husband are her constant companions. Her sister tries desperately to pull her into the here and now, but is having little success. Sometimes, we have to come to our own conclusions, no matter how much somebody else tries to convince us. The ghostly pull is almost too much, so will she be able to resist it? This is a fairly touching story but it's also very slight. Yes, it has an important message about grief and moving on, but it could have used a bit more heft to it. At only two regular-sized magazine pages, there's just not a lot to it and Thuma doesn't much room for characterization. Well worth a read, but not really that great. "Of Swords & Horses" - by Carrie Vaughn What happens when our children's destinies aren't quite what we want them to be? A mother has to face that issue in this story. Young Maggie has been a prodigy, taking like a natural to fencing and wanting desperately to be able to ride horses. Her parents give her all they can, and she grows up leading a not completely normal life. She doesn't have any boyfriends and seems to live in solitude. Then, one day, she disappears. Her parents are frantic, doing everything that parents do in this situation and trying to deal with the possibility that their baby is dead. But then a group of people come out of the mist at their vacation lake house, and the mother discovers that her daughter has had a destiny she could never have chosen for her: to save a land not her own and to make use of the gifts that she's demonstrated over the years. I don't know if you're familiar with the old fantasy trope of somebody from our world going over to a fantasy world and becoming involved with saving it, but this is the mirror of that kind of story. This is what happens to the people left behind, and how they deal with it. I really liked this story as Vaughn captures the characters beautifully. "The Valhalla Job" - by Sandra McDonald After the seriousness of the previous story, this one is just a lot of fun. It's the new reality show craze of home makeovers, but with gods! The host of "Mission: Afterworld", after successfully renovating Mount Olympus (with a couple of bumps), is now taking on Asgard! The home of Odin and Frigg is buried in clutter, and it's their job to clean it up and make good television in doing so. Odin is resentful of the whole thing, but Frigg is very happy. Both are reluctant to part with their stuff, though, making the job harder. It gets worse when the base of Odin's throne is going to have to be rebuilt, as only a frost giant could lift it. Can they renovate Asgard to everybody's satisfaction as well as settling a long-standing feud between Odin and Freya? I loved the writing in this story, enhancing my enjoyment. It was funny (I loved the image of a Valkyrie warrior on a cell phone, as well as her "you've got too much of a pulse to pass through this door, mortal" she says to the host when he tries to enter Valhalla), and even when it gets a little serious there's still plenty of humor to be had. Certainly not the best story, and it is light (like a lot of the stories in this issue), but you'll laugh out loud if you know anything about Norse mythology. Odin and Frigg's yard sale to get rid of their junk is a real hoot. "Shelf Life" - by Thomas Seay What's it like to be a lonely library book that nobody checks out? What if you had dreams of being a popular book, or perhaps even improving yourself to be original rather than popular? The other books may not like that, and your parents may just shake their heads and hope you turn out to be a serviceable book. But then a young girl picks you up off the shelf and looks intrigued, reading a few pages. And utters these horrible words: "I don't get it." You're crushed, and the experience never leaves you, almost defining your life. You may decide to conform and become "Hardy Boys #27," become popular and satisfying to your family. But that experience never leaves you, until one day that girl comes back, looking for that strange book she found all those years ago. Maybe you did make some kind of impact, and maybe it is ok to be a little bit strange. But unique. This is a weird little story of sentient books, and Seay has created an interesting concept. It's also a fable about conformity and being your own individual. Eventually, somebody will get you, or at least be intrigued by you. It's very short, but Seay packs a lot in this little narrative, and it worked for me. "Infants in the Lake of Fire" - by M.K. Hobson "Limbus Infantum" is the home of those who die without actual sin, such as infants, but also "idiots, cretins, and the like." 5-year old Jill is playing when she hears screams over the green hills. Andrew is a simple young man who agrees to go with Jill to investigate where these screams are coming from. They come upon a lake of fire, and they pull a burning man out of the lake. In this land, they don't have a word for "hurt" or "pain," so they can't understand this man's suffering. Over time (another concept they don't have), they pull others out of the lake, but there are always hands sticking up. But a little knowledge can destroy paradise, and Jill finds herself unable to fit in anymore, now that she has gained knowledge of these concepts. This story is definitely interesting, but didn't grab me as much as it could have. It's told from Jill's point of view, so the language is quite child-like, and effective because of it. However, that wasn't enough to make me care about anybody in it. I would be interested in reading a story from Hobson that involves more adult prose, as I think her storytelling is quite good. Other features of this issue "Movies" - A couple of Hugh Jackman movies, The Prestige and The Fountain. Not reviews, but an article about them. Also, some must-see fantasy television shows: The Librarian (TNT), Hex and Life on Mars (BBC America) “Books” – reviews of upcoming and just published books "Folkroots" – Personifications of Death through historical literature, written by Terri Windling. It seems like Windling's articles are always of interest, and are often the best "Folkroots" articles of the year. "Interview" – Laurell K. Hamilton. The reason why there's so much sex in her latest books is revealed! I found the whole interview interesting, and think it would be even more interesting for fans of her books. "Games" - Reviews of upcoming and just published RPGs and video games.  |
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