Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy (Paperback)

by Ekaterina Sedia (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
SignatureReviewed by Jeff VanderMeerOriginal genre anthologies have been a mixed bag in recent years, with an overreliance on established household names at the expense of nurturing new talent. At times, too restrictive themes have tended to create a sense of sameness. Not so with urban fantasy. As Jess Nevins points out in his excellent introduction, urban fantasy is a mode of storytelling rather than a subgenre, and as such accommodates a variety of themes and approaches. This idea of variety, along with a willingness to publish new and established writers alike, helps explain the considerable appeal of this ambitious and entertaining anthology. Stand-out contributions include Richard Parks's folktale-influenced Courting the Lady Scythe, Cat Rambo's ethereal The Bumblety's Marble, Jay Lake's sometimes brutal Promises; A Tale of the City Imperishable (set in the same milieu as his novel A Trial of Flowers), Ben Peek's more contemporary The Funeral, Ruined and Anna Tambour's indefinable but brilliant The Age of Fish, Post-Flowers. In Tambour's story, man-eating orms threaten New York City, despite the presence of an iconic wall. The nameless narrator's account of her group's attempts to survive is both matter-of-fact and mysterious. Similar elements power many of the other stories: a keen underlying intelligence and an easy acceptance of fantasy, with little explanation of that element, wedded to strangely resonant images and situations. Not every tale in the anthology is successful. Hal Duncan's The Tower of Morning's Bones continues his trend of excessive symbolism, summary and posturing in short fiction. Forrest Aguirre's Andretto Walks the King's Way, a forced march of a story illuminating different aspects of a feudal-era society, is an honest effort that never really comes to life. The editor also might have been better served excluding a couple of ill-advised short-shorts like Vylar Kaftan's workplace fantasy, Godivy. Yet for all of their flaws, even these stories display a high level of technical expertise and ambition. Rounded out by very good contributions from Mark Teppo, David Schwartz, Barth Anderson, Catherynne M. Valente and Cat Sparks, Paper Cities is a delightful and absorbing read. In coming years—as the talents collected herein, including editor Sedia, become better known—this quirky anthology may take on even greater significance. (Apr.)World Fantasy Award–winner Jeff VanderMeer's latest novel is Shriek: An Afterword (Tor, 2007).
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From Booklist
The action of the stories of Paper Cities occurs, in some manner or another, in an urban setting. Their other aspects are as various as one could imagine. The collection opens with Forrest Aguirre’s “Andretto Walks the King’s Way,” set around a carnival and the arrival of plague. That’s followed by Hal Duncan’s characteristically bizarre and fascinating “The Tower of Morning’s Bones,” with its elements of familiar mythologies and a certain amount of nearly cyberpunk technology. The closer is Catherynne M. Valente’s “Palimpsest,” which denominates an ever-shifting city in which the vermin are made in a factory and maps appear on people’s skin. Other stories are about street kids, doomed love, the children of office workers and photocopiers, and ghosts; their settings range from the suburbs to the city of the future; and their approaches to the idea of the urban, what urbs are, and how we might interact with them as they become ever more fantastic, are wildly varied, intensely satisfying. --Regina Schroeder

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Senses Five Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979624606
• ISBN-13: 978-0979624605
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #230,058 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic cities, April 1, 2008

By	Michael Curry (CT, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Paper Cities is an eclectic collection of fantastic stories that are about, obviously enough, cities. While that makes them urban fantasy, these stories don't fall within that part of the genre most recently popularized by writers like Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison or Kelley Armstrong. Instead, they use a broader definition of the term that results in some wildly different settings and a variety of writing styles.

There are outstanding stories from some of my favorite writers, such as Jay Lake's "Promises: A Tale of the City Imperishable" (a story set in the City Imperishable from his novel Trial of Flowers) and Hal Duncan's "The Tower of Morning's Bones" (a story using the mythology of Vellum: The Book of All HoursVellum and Ink), excellent work from notables like Ben Peek ("The Funeral, Ruined") and Forrest Aguirre ("Andretto Walks the King's Way"), and great efforts from authors I'd never read before, including "Sammarynda Deep" by Cat Sparks and "They Would Only Be Roads" by Darin C. Bradley.

Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy is sure to find it's way onto plenty of "Best of" lists for 2008, and I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly what I expected, but that wasn't a bad thing, March 11, 2009

By	Steven Warfield (Scotia, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I guess my expectation of 'urban fantasy' was different than what was actually presented; I was under the impression that it was a more modern genre, not merely focusing on a particular location. Learn something new every day.

As such, many of the stories in the book fell outside what I would describe as a 'fantastic modern' setting, and that wasn't really all that bad.

The second story - "The Tower of Morning's Bones" - was the only one that completely escaped me; I thought that I had a glimmer of an idea of what the author was talking about toward the end of the 'story' (a term I use very loosely here as there wasn't any plot or characterization to speak of), but that turned out to be incorrect. I think.

The rest of the stories were all quite serviceable, with few standing out as being written by authors that I would like to see more of: Steve Berman's "Tearjerker" and Paul Meloy's "Alex and the Toyceivers" really stood out in this regard.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dark and twisted tour of fantastical urbania, July 10, 2008

By	Paul Jessup (Erie, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book contains great short stories by some of my favorite writers. Sure, the intro essay can be ignored or tossed away, but each story in this is fantastic. The level of imagination involved is awe inspiring.