I read this book for the Lois McMaster Bujold story, which was excellent. It brought back characters I loved from previous books, involved them in a mystery, gave Armsman Roic a love story of his own, and showed happily ever after for Miles and Ekaterin. Lois gift for characters and how they drive the story really shines through. ( )

{Anthology; fantasy/ science fiction, romance, female writers} (2004)

i) Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold

Told from Armsman Roic's perspective, Miles and Ekaterina are about to get married in a small ceremony (only 150 guests, including the emperor and empress of Barrayar) at the winter solstice and receive wedding gifts from their many friends who cannot attend.

A short story in the Vorkosigan saga (occurring after the butter bug incident) and excellent, as usual. I really enjoyed seeing many of the characters that Lord Miles Vorkosigan/ Admiral Naismith have encountered over the years again including, and especially, Sergeant Taura. Somehow, though, I felt the writing style was not as smooth as her usual though the story was up to standard.

4****

ii) An Alchemical Marriage by Mary Jo Putney

Isabel de Cortes and Scotsman Sir Adam Macrae join forces to create a sorcerous storm to save England from the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Interesting idea but this story felt too rushed, as though the short story format compressed it too much. And I was rather worried that the lady's feelings weren't getting enough consideration, up until the end.

2.5***

iii) Stained Glass Heart by Catherine Asaro

What should Vryl do when it comes to deciding between interstellar duty and his first love?

Asaro has created an intriguing planet which has been terraformed but with alien fauna and flora (some bioengineered) which, much like Barrayar in the first story of this collection, is more concerned with planetary than galactic affairs.

Reed-grasses rippled around him, the translucent tubes sparkling like glass but bending easily, supple and soft. Iridescent spheres no larger than his thumb topped many of the stalks and floated off their moorings when he brushed by. The drifting bubbles marked his path through the plains. …
He tilted his head up, letting sunlight bathe his face. Two gold suns hung in a lavender sky, side by side right now, shaped more like eggs than spheres, and speckled with dark spots.

I think I'll look for more of her work - though I was disappointed with the choices her character made in this story, in the end.

ETA: I see this falls within her Skolian Empire series, 7th in the chronological order.

3-3.5****

iv) Skin Deep by Deb Stover

Similar premise to the film R.I.P.D.; it starts in Heaven with Nick Riley being given a chance to return to Earth in a different body to put right the mistakes he made in life and set his wife's future back on track. Fun.

3.5-4****

v) The Trouble with Heroes by Jo Beverley

When refugees from Earth found Gaia, it was perfect and didn’t need to be terraformed. Instead of technology they had fixers, people who used magic to heal, to mend, to fix. But maybe Gaia was too perfect - and when something started attacking humans, they rediscovered the word ‘refugees’. Only fixers could help them but even their magic wasn’t enough … unless they tapped wild magic. Jen’s friend, Dan, was a fixer but would using wild magic change him?

I love the way they use old films to learn about Earth

“Talking of hurling cows,” she interjected, “do you still show that film? The grail one. Though I suppose they were hurling cows from inside.”
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail?” Polly said. “Of course. It’s a key work to understanding ancient Earth warfare.”

(And, naturally, they find the definition of ‘Monty’ in The Full Monty)

3.5***

vi) Shadows in the Woods by Jennifer Roberson

A story of some of the legendary heroes of Britain, continuing on from her Lady of the Forest and Lady of Sherwood books, according to the end notes.

3.5****

(February 2022)
Averaging: 20-21/6=3.33-3.5 stars ( )

This book contains:

"Winterfair Gifts" by Lois McMaster Bujold. The reason I read this book. I always love returning to Bujold's Vorkosigan series, but this, like the last several novels, felt a bit slack to me. Miles's marriage is the background to Armsman Roic's love affair with Taura. Despite poison and intrigue, the plot never had the sense of urgency that used to make me tear through these books. Instead, it kinda felt like Bujold was wrapping up her time with the series by pairing the last spare characters off.

"The Alchemical Marriage" by Mary Jo Putney. Two mages have to work together to prevent the Spanish Armada from invading England. In so doing they join their hearts, their magic, and their ~bodies~. Purple prose, silly plot.

"Stained Glass Heart" by Catherine Asaro. Yet more purple prose and silly plot, but at least it's a twist on that old tune, the arranged marriage: to ensure his family's success, would-be dancer Vyrl is engaged to the Matriarch of Majda, but loves a simple farm girl he grew up with. The Matriarch is an experienced woman, older and wiser than Vyrl; although it's an arranged match, she hopes they'll grow to like each other in time. Which woman will Vyrl choose? Not that I gave a crap, but he chooses the girl described as having "waist-length curls flying in the wind, streaming around her, shiny and red-bronze, touched with gold sun-streaks." (She also has violet eyes, naturally.) He and his luvah experience no hardships for dissing a powerful leader of a planet, and instead get an epilogue about all their babies. Blegh.

"Skin Deep" by Deb Stover. A ghost is given one last chance to get into heaven: get his ex-wife to fall in love with her old boyfriend. Apparently the ghost had framed the boyfriend as a cheater, thus getting the girl. In the guise of a hot lady, the ghost pushes his ex-wife into the path of the boyfriend she should have stayed with. There's a subplot about the boyfriend being a DEA agent, but it feels pretty unnecessary. I don't really know what I was supposed to think about this story: was I supposed to care about the selfish ghost character? The bland ex-wife or blander boyfriend? Another slog.

"The Trouble with Heroes" by Jo Beverly. On an alien planet, people with extra powers are named "Fixers" and tasked with everything from healing to preventing alien incursions. Then a lady falls in love with a Fixer and finds out that a lot of people have a tiny amount of Fixing power, and that they can all work together to make the world a better place. I guess? I started skimming this about 10 pages in; it felt very scattered.

"Shadows in the Wood" by Jennifer Roberson. Merlin emerges from a tree and asks Marion and Robin Hood to help him return Excalibur to its rightful place. Fans of the Mists of Avalon and that kind of pagan fantasy would undoubtedly appreciate this a good deal more than I did. I thought it clunky and artless.

A surprisingly uninspired, uninspiring collection, overall. ( )

Like many other readers, I bought this book for 'Winterfair Gifts'. It was worth it for that alone. The other stories were a mixed bag. There were two that I was unable to finish, one that I managed to read all the way (by Jo Beverley), but still found immensely irritating for that dated/cliched use of English English that exists only among American writers.

Jennifer Roberson (another American writer) did a much better job of setting a story with English characters and I quite enjoyed her Robin Hood/Marian story.

Catherine Asaro's story was enjoyably as well, in spite of feeling as though it was set in 'My Little Pony' land.

Looking at the writer blurbs after completing the book, I concluded that the stories I liked were written by the three fantasy writers who also enjoy romance, and the three I didn't care for were written by romance writers who were attempting fantasy stories. ( )

I bought this for Lois McMaster Bujold's "Winterfair Gifts", and I'm glad that was so good since the other stories were poor. But Bujold's story was a delight, and worth the price of admission. ( )