“I’m quite impressed, not only by the writing, which gleams and sparkles, but also by [Lisa Mason’s] versatility. I also really like her afterwords to each story, which tell something of the genesis of each one. The book starts with “The Oniomancer,” previously published in Asimov’s; a tale about a bicycle messenger with a pink mohawk and sticky fingers. (No, she’s not a thief, but one of her mantras is “finders, keepers,” and she finds a lot of stuff. Oniomancy is . . . well, read the story and you’ll know.) I loved this one; it’s SF with just a hint of fantasy. Mason follows that one with a little tale about a woman who has worked her butt off to be able to move up to a swanky condo, but there’s a sneak thief in the area, one with a taste for willful destruction. Vaughn Kennedy discovers that a veve is good for more than just decoration. “Felicitas” is a horror/fantasy about a shapechanger; what ends well for the protagonist may not end well for other people! All the previous stories are somewhat standard SF/F, but with the fourth story, Mason starts really stretching her writing muscles; she is a wordsmith, and “Stripper” is where she starts strutting her stuff in this collection. And the next story, “Triad,” goes off into full-on fireworks—both in the writing and the science-fictional bending of gender roles (inspired, she says in her afterword, by Ursula K. LeGuin’s Left Hand of Darkness)… it sparkles, whirls and fizzes. Mason is clearly a writer to follow! And one more: her modern take on Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland is a hilarious gem! Along with all the SF/F, I grew up reading those two books (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass), so I got every single reference. And I laughed all the way through this story; if you know the books I practically guarantee you’ll laugh too! (I won’t describe every story in this anthology, for the same reason I don’t like to give spoilers; I think there should be a few surprises and a little mystery left once you’ve read a review.)
Steve Fahnestalk, Amazing Stories Magazine Online
http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2016/05/times-running-get-storybundle-review/
So there you have it, my friends. The Story Collection Storybundle is live! You the reader name your price—whatever you feel the books are worth. You may even designate a portion to go to a charity. Savor traditionally published, multi-award-winning stories from diverse and varied publications which the authors have collected for you.
The Bundle includes What I Didn’t See (a World Fantasy Award Winner) by Karen Joy Fowler (the New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club), Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner, Errantry by Elizabeth Hand, The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams, Women Up to No Good by Pat Murphy, Strange Ladies: 7 Stories by Lisa Mason, Wild Things by C. C. Finlay, and 6 Stories by Kathe Koja.
But you must act now. The Story Collection Storybundle lasts only until June 2, 2016 at https://storybundle.com/storycollection
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