Customer Reviews

So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed this collection. Some of the stories were quite original while others were contemporary takes on the Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin legends. Holly Black's "Coat of Stars" was a standout - how have I never read any Holly Black? Laurie Marks' "How the Ocean Loved Margie" was creepy and disturbing in a very good way, while Christopher Barzak's "Iris in Darkness" had a deliciously Bordertown feel to it. (And I see that he'll have a story in the upcoming Welcome to Bordertown book - hooray!)

The thing I love about anthologies is how they provide tasty samples of wonderful writers' works for me to try. I definitely hit the jackpot here.

I was so excited when this book came in the mail! I've been a long time fan of the Fairy Tale anthologies put out by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling, including their similar offerings in the Young Adult market. The way those authors took the old fairy tales and reinvented them in each volume was always so satisfying to me, every story was a jewel.

Steve Berman's SO FEY reminds me very much of those anthologies and is now high on my list of fairy tale retellings. For me, as a gay man, it was truly wonderful to see fairy stories and queer fiction woven together to create shining, new takes on the old familiar themes. I thought this was an outstanding collection and want to congratulate Berman and all the authors on their beautiful work.

Here are some of my favorite stories from the collection:

"A Faun's Tale" by Tom Cardamone is a short but sensual story about a faun's romp in New York's Central Park...

"A Bird Of Ice" by Craig Laurance Gidney, where a spirit falls in love with a mortal...

"Three Letters From The Queen Of Elfland" by Sarah Monette, where a woman is torn between her duty to her husband and her attraction to Nyx, the Queen...

"Detox" by Elspeth Potter is a hilarious story where a brownie turns the tables on his mistress...

"The Coat Of Stars" by Holly Black has a gay, Latino man returning home to find his long lost love...

"Year Of The Fox" by Eugie Foster is a beautiful story of a princess in exile who turns hate into love...

and "Ever So Much More Than Twenty" by Joshua Lewis features a gay man who travels with his daughter back to the cabin of his youth, and the memories of his fairy lover...

Again, I thought this was a great collection of stories and I hope Mr. Berman will bring us another volume some day. It is a must read for lovers of fairy stories and for fans of gay fiction.

There's been a substantial body of literature published about the Fair Folk in recent years, in both the high fantasy and urban fantasy genres. But I've not come across much material which deals with the subject matter from a gay perspective, so this collection helps fill in the gap. As with any anthology (most particularly those anthologies in which each story is written by a different author), the results can be a bit of a hit-and-miss proposition. There are bound to be some stories which really "speak" to the reader, and others that aren't particularly liked. The batting average for this collection was decent enough for me---I'd say that I enjoyed about 75% of the stories here (or at least found them to be of interest). The remaining 25% I took a dislike to or was indifferent to, for one reason or another, with one or two stories leaving me scratching my head in puzzlement.

The mix here is about evenly divided between tales written from a male perspective, and those written with women in mind. I don't suppose it's any surprise to know that I was automatically most interested in the entries written about gay men---the lesbian-oriented material, while at times quite good, simply didn't grab my attention to a great degree (go figure---heh).

Anyone familiar with the genre will recognise elements from many classic folk tales that have been explored in some interesting new ways---for instance, the book contains at least two or three variations on the well-known Tam Lin story.

As one of the reviews above states, there is a mix of tales here---some quite serious, some sad, some happy, some comedic. Overall I'll call this a "pleasant diversion." While the greater portion of the book was diverting, only a handful of tales really made a great impression on me. My favourites would have to include "The Kings of Oak and Holly" by Kenneth D. Woods, "Ever So Much More Than Twenty" by Joshua Lewis, and (most particularly) "The Coat of Stars" by Holly Black (perhaps best known for her "Spiderwick Chronicles"). Two of these three stories have happy endings, and one a tragic finish. Upon a re-read, I'm now wondering if one of the three tales can in fact be viewed as an allegory---if that is the case, I'm not sure I'm very happy about what the author is really trying to say. But hey---perhaps it's all in my imagination...

So, I'll recommend the book for those generally interested in the genre. Does anyone have other books to recommend, containing subject matter in the same vein?