March 29, 2009, 5:31 pm
I like the idea of doing a short story feature every Sunday. The truth is that I seem to collect anthologies that I then don’t actually read because I’m afraid the short stories are all going to run together. So I’m hoping that my participation in the Once Upon a Time reading challenge will motivate me to keep reading short stories.
Anyway, I’ve chosen to review the first four short stories from the Chicks in Chainmail anthology edited by Esther M. Friesner. Friesner describes the book as “Amazon comedy”, and the first four stories certainly fit the mold.
I’m not going to assign letter grades to these stories, because they’re so short and I’m not even sure how I’d grade them. But here are my thoughts on the first four.
“Lady of Steel” by Roger Zelazny: I have Zelazny’s famous Books of Amber TBR. I really like his writing style, and this story, which is an inversion of a classic trope, is cute and quite short.
“And Ladies of the Club” by Elizabeth Moon: This is a delightful little romp about how a group of women warriors combat unfair sex discrimination with hillarious results. I might have preferred this one to be a little shorter, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Ms. Moon is another author I have been meaning to read.
“Exchange Program” by Susan Shwartz: This story has to be experienced to be believed. It involves a woman being transplanted to Valhala–which is why I intend to make sure my friend the Norse mythology expert experiences it–and the result is rather like the old folk song The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife. (Incidentally, the sound quality on that video isn’t very good. But it was the only one I could find actually being sung by a woman. Oh, another thing. This story is definitely dated now and requires being at least a certain age to appreciate it. I’m a little too young for it, but the humor still worked for me for the most part.
“Goddess for a Day” by Harry Turtledove: An author I’ve never really considered reading before now. This story is pretty much exactly what the title implies–a woman journeys to Athens with a man who wishes to rule over it. The man needs her to pretend to be the goddess Athena, which will strengthen his claims. But how far will the charade go? This one was satisfying. I could see someone in real Ancient Greece actually doing this, and I really like how the story resolved itself.
Not a bad start to the collection, I’d say! Stay tuned next week for reviews of the next four short stories.
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