In Praise of Anthologies

[bibliogramma]

Over the past few months, I’ve read a number of short story anthologies. I seem to go through phases with respect to reading anthologies. Last year, I read only two multi-author short story collections and two single-author collections.

Black Swan, White Raven, (eds.) Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Crossroads, (ed.) Mercedes Lackey

Consider Her Ways and Others, John Wyndham
Dressing for the Carnival, Carol Shields

So far this year, I’ve read nine multi-author short story collections (two of which – the James Tiptree Award anthologies – I have written about already) and six single-author collections (most of which I’ve discussed earlier in this journal).

Sex, the Future and Chocolate Chip Cookies: the James Tiptree Award Anthology Vol I, (eds.) Fowler, Murphy, Nothin, Smith
The James Tiptree Award Anthology Vol II, (eds.) Fowler, Murphy, Nothin, Smith
Women of War, (eds.) Tanya Huff and Alexander Potter
Aegri Somnia, (eds.) Jason Sizemore and Gill Ainsworth
The Doom of Camelot, (ed.) James Lowder)
Glorifying Terrorism, (ed.) Farah Mendlesohn
So Long Been Dreaming: Post Colonial Science Fiction and Fantasy, (eds.) Nalo Hopkinson, Uppinder Mehan
Tales from the Black Dog: A Wyrdsmiths Chapbook, (ed.) William G. Henry
The New Wyrd: A Wyrdsmiths Anthology, (ed.) William G. Henry

Stealing Magic, Tanya Huff
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, James Tiptree Jr.
Meet Me at Infinity, James Tiptree Jr
Boy in the Middle, Patrick Califia
Ordinary People, Eleanor Arnason
Bloodchild, Octavia Butler

I’m not going to discuss any particular anthologies at length here, because many of these I’ve already written about elsewhere, and the remainder I will write up sooner or later. I just wanted to talk about the short story anthology in general and my relationship to it.

I tend, overall, to prefer novels to short stories. I think part of it may be that I read very quickly – short stories, no matter how wonderful, are, well, short. I mostly read fiction to be deeply engaged, swept away, taken under the waters of creative vision and held there until I can’t endure the richness of the thoughts and images in my blood and have to come up and breathe the thinner air of reality. Novels do that better than short stories.

But short stories are often the faerie lights along the road that lure you toward the heady realms that are deeper in, further up. They intrigue, seduce, lure the reader toward the vast realms that await, often at the same time that they shine, perfect creations in their own right, short but intense experiences that leave haunting afterimages in the mind.

Anthologies serve a number of excellent purposes. They can introduce the reader to a new author – and many of the anthologies I’ve read this year have done just that. Best-of collections, anthologies set in a shared world, collections assembled – as in the two Wyrdsmiths collections on my list – by a group of writers creating a showcase for their work, are all great ways for me of finding new and interesting voices. I confess that I’m more likely to buy one of these if there’s at least one story by someone I know and enjoy – but the one known quality, so to speak, is usually enough for me to jump in and see what other, hitherto undiscovered treasures may be found.

Single author collections, especially from a favourite writer, can be a delightful change of pace, a smorgasbord of varied tastes and tones from someone you already know and appreciate. I’ve read a fair number of these this year, all from writers on my (admittedly large) list of favourite authors.

The kind of anthology I tend to like the most, however, is the one built around a theme, and there are a few of those in this year’s reading so far. It is fascinating to see how different authors approach a basic concept, to be required by the multiplicity of images and voices and paths and conclusions presented to examine that concept in greater detail, and broader scope. Which is one of the reasons that I think that Glorifying Terrorism – an anthology created in response to a recently enacted British anti-terrorism law that makes it a crime to “glorify terrorism,” whatever that means – may be one of the most important anthologies of the year. But more on that in a post devoted to that particular book.

Sometimes, in the midst of reading those all-encompassing novels I enjoy so much, I forget that less can be more, at the right place and time. It’s been a pleasure remembering that this year.

Comments

Anthologies

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

This being the case, I'm recommending Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century by Justine Larbalestier (http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/) (Editor) ISBN 0819566764 The stories alternate with critical essays. Somehow, the collection as a whole not only tells the story of Feminist Sci Fi (ie more than just a selection of stories on a theme) but astonishingly manages to fit the stories together to produce something more.