Telling Tales

This sparkling anthology of 16 stories, assembled by acclaimed editor Datlow (Hauntings), celebrates 30 years of Clarion West, one of the most respected writing workshops in the speculative fiction genre. Kathleen Ann Goonan’s “The Parrot Man” and Susan Palwick’s “The Fate of Mice” explore the fallout from—and potential redemption for—experiments gone wrong. Louise Marley’s “Absalom’s Mother,” Mary Rosenblum’s “My She,” Daniel Abraham’s “Leviathan Wept,” and David Marusek’s “A Boy in Cathyland” consider the onus of rules and laws, and the price of freedom. Many stories—like Andy’s Duncan’s “Beluthahatchie,” Rachel Swirsky’s “The Adventures of Captain Black Heart Wentworth: A Nautical Tail,” and “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire” by Ysabeau Wilce—twist familiar ground into something delightfully new, with strong and unusual voices. The work is all the more noteworthy because many of these stories were written during the workshop, not after. Though all have appeared elsewhere, readers will love having them gathered in one place. This is a time capsule of not only the best of Clarion, but also some of the best short speculative fiction of the last three decades. (June)