At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories [Paperback]

Kij Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2012

A sparkling debut collection from one of the hottest writers in science fiction: her stories have received the Nebula Award the last two years running. These stories feature cats, bees, wolves, dogs, and even that most capricious of animals, humans, and have been reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, and The Secret History of Fantasy.

At the Mouth of the River of Bees
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss
The Horse Raiders
Spar
Fox Magic
Names for Water
Schrodinger’s Cathouse
My Wife Reincarnated as a Solitaire
Chenting, in the Land of the Dead
The Bitey Cat
The Empress Jingu Fishes
Wolf Trapping
The Man Who Bridged the Mist
Ponies
The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles
The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change

Kij Johnson's stories have won the Sturgeon and World Fantasy awards. She has taught writing; worked at Tor, Dark Horse, and Microsoft; worked as a radio announcer; run bookstores; and waitressed in a strip bar.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kij Johnson: Kij Johnson's stories have won the Sturgeon, World Fantasy, and Nebula awards. She has taught writing and has worked at Tor, Dark Horse, Microsoft, and Real Networks. She has run bookstores, worked as a radio announcer and engineer, edited cryptic crosswords, and waitressed in a strip bar.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Small Beer Press (September 25, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931520801
• ISBN-13: 978-1931520805
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.4 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kij Johnson is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Sturgeon Award, and the Crawford Award, and the only person ever to have won Nebula Awards for three years running. Her novels, The Fox Woman and Fudoki, have been called "haunting," "lush," and "brilliant." She has lived in nine states, most recently Kansas where she is a professor of writing at the University of Kansas.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Fun Reading October 13, 2012

By A. Gaynor

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm not a reader of SciFi and Fantasy, but I was persuaded to pick up this book after a review on NPR and I have no regrets at all. If I could assign this collection of short stories a flavor, it would be Bitter-Sweet. The theme that runs throughout the book is loss, but with hope.

The opening story, "26 Monkeys.Also the Abyss", alone is worth the price of admission as we follow Aimee and her troupe of monkeys as they travel the Northwest as carnival nomads in an old bus, her charges performing a trick that Aimee doesn't understand, but accepts. The story line is clever and told in vignettes, not unlike viewing a slide show.

Other standouts include "Fox Magic", where a vixen falls in love with a human and creates an alternate universe where she appears to him to be a beautiful woman who resides in a grand manor. It is not an original theme by any means, but Kij Johnson's story telling is masterful enough to make the story feel fresh. The title story, "At the Mouth of the River of Bees" is a classic tale of love, loss, and hope as Linna, with her aged dog, discover a river of bees while on a road trip with no destination and she is driven to follow the 'river' to its end.

Among the remaining stories, I would have to count "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles" as a favorite because of its simplicity and I would guess that in this case Ms. Johnson just let the story tell itself as she put the words down. "Wolf Trapping" is a haunting tale of obsession; "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" also deals with obsession, but on a human level.

Of the remaining stories, "Spar" is the most confusing due to its density. My first reaction was, "Huh?", and I was ready to pan it as the worst of the collection. But as I write this I can see that I was reading the story too literally; Ms. Johnson actually creates a capsule of isolation and deprivation and lets us ride along. The story only stands out because I found it to be so different from the others but not by any means worse, and maybe among the best.

So whether or not you are a reader of Fantasy Fiction, I can only say, without reservation, buy this book. There is only one caveat; be careful reading it in public if you tend to get emotional over a character or a story, or at least keep a box of tissue close at hand.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect. November 13, 2012

By Mattrss

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Loved this collection so frigging much. Rarely any dead spots (Schrodinger's brothel? Wasn't sure about that one) but almost entirely beautiful, gentle, heartbreaking and strange. Somehow manages to make everything from bridge-building, to castaway jelly alien sex, to the stories cats tell each other, specific, sad and wonderful. Though you may feel a little bad about being a dog-owner, afterwards.

Plus, I basically want to marry the title of the collection, so there's that.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Kick Butt Collection of Stories November 14, 2012

By Neodoering

Format:Paperback

This kick-butt collection of short stories does Kij Johnson proud. "26 Monkeys" is a funny little story of stupid animal tricks, and "At the Mouth of the River of Bees" is the story of a woman and her old dog going on a road trip, and "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" is the story of an engineer who builds a bridge over a monster-infested river. All of these stories have in common animals in one capacity or other, and many of the other stories in this collection also have to do with animals. It is a successful gambit for Ms. Johnson, as her animals are fully realized characters who bring the stories to life.

Heavy-duty emotionalism is Ms. Johnson's subject matter in this collection, and many of these stories pack an emotional wallop, either funny or contemplative or very, very sad. Another reviewer said have a box of tissues handy for this collection, and I have to second that recommendation. "At the Mouth of the River of Bees" nearly made me weep, and "Fox Magic" struck me as terribly sad as well. Some of Johnson's characters get what they want, some grow and learn, some suffer losses and gain little from them. This collection will engage you, it will push you, it will wring your heart. If you want stories that move you, this is your collection; if you like stories that are cerebral and cool, this book won't do it for you.