Guinevere's Truth

Twenty satisfying tales spanning two decades make up this collection of Roberson's short feminist fantasy fiction. Arranged marriages are brutally depicted in “Spoils of War,” while “Of Honor and the Lion” and “Blood of Sorcery,” linked to Roberson's popular Chronicles of the Cheysuli, describe cultural clashes between normal humans and shape-changing Others from the viewpoints of wives, sisters and mothers. More recent contemporary fantasies, like the wry “Jesus Freaks” and the hilarious “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” examine ordinary people under contemporary religious and societal pressures. The collection is bookended by tender and reflective Arthurian tales “A Lesser Working,” a gentle study in what may be, and “Guinevere's Truth,” a somber meditation on what should have been. Roberson quietly illuminates the fascinating, terrifying and perhaps inevitable gulf between women's destinies and men's desires. (Nov.)