Hiromi Goto

When twelve-year-old Sayuri Kato and her little brother Keiji enter the root cellar in their new home, they find themselves transported to Living Earth, a magical world in which humans are the story-book characters, and kappas, shape-shifting foxes, onis, tanukis, and other creatures of Japanese folklore are the real-life beings. When Keiji becomes lost, Sayuri must journey through this myth-inhabited land, accompanied by her new friends Echo and Machigai. Her search leads her to Great Uncle show more Mischief the fox, who calls himself the Patriarch, and is destroying Living Earth and its inhabitants in his quest for power...

This lovely book was published by Coteau Books, a small Canadian press located in Saskatchewan, and is part of their multicultural series In the Same Boat. It functions on a variety of levels, all of which appeal to me. First and foremost, it is an engaging fantasy story that should please young readers of all stripes. It is also a multicultural story that encourages the young reader to think about issues of diversity, without ever being preachy. It is especially valuable in this regard, because of its genre, since so much fantasy has a European or Euro-American cultural background (which I don't object to, as long as it's not the only thing being made available). The folkloric content is especially high, which pleases the researcher in me.

But most of all, it is a very philosophical book. During her journey, Sayuri learns important lessons about balance, and the need for all beings to respect one another and the environment in which they live. In keeping with the idea of balance, Goto resists the urge to demonize the villain of the piece, and although Great Uncle Mischief's actions are seen as evil, he is never depicted as completely bad. His great crime, in trying to usurp all power for himself, was to ignore the virtue of balance: between creatures and environment, and between male and female (his overthrow of Yamamba). But even he is not hopeless, and is offered a chance to redeem himself... which in avoiding extreme notions of punishment, again demonstrates balance. Goto's strong feminist and ecological themes are worked seamlessly into the excellent writing and storytelling. A simply wonderful book... show less

It's always so difficult to review short story collections, and this one is no exception. New Suns may be even harder than most. The authors hail from many backgrounds and cultures, including African American, Native American, Japanese, Korean and more. Several are award-winning and well-known authors with other story collections or novels. Some I'd heard of; many, I'm afraid, I did not, but that's part of why I read it - to introduce myself to more and diverse authors writing in genres I show more enjoy.

The stories themselves are quite as varied as the authors. There's some SF with aliens, there's more fantastical involving magic or djinn, and there's some deliciously creepy leaning-towards-horror tales. Some I enjoyed, others left me cold. But each one did give me a taste of an author I had never read before, and most if not all were excellent examples of short stories complete on their own, not leaving you feeling like they should have been longer. One of my favorites was "The Fine Print," in which a man who has made a contract with a djinn - just as many in his village have - is told he must fulfill the terms, by bringing his firstborn son and realizes just what the fine print has meant all these years. show less

New Suns is what it says on the cover, and it is astonishingly good. I only recognized two of the authors, and as we all know an anthology of this type can be a mixed bag, but every story was good and several were great! I usually skip out on at least one story per collection, but even the weaker entries kept me intrigued. My favorites were "The Virtue of Unfaithful Translation" by Minsoo Kang , "Burn the Ships" by Alberto Yanez, and "The Shadow We Cast Through Time" by Indrapramit Das, but show more this is a strong collection.

Editor Nisi Shawl assembled this collection on the basis of identity, part of a decades long quest to get more people of color in speculative fiction, but what's fascinating is a clear thematic link. Each story is about kinship, about the kinds of people we call family, the bonds between people who are more than friends, and how those bonds linger on. This is speculative fiction descended from Octavia Butler, rather than the technocratic impulses of Campbell's vision of the genre, and the questions posed and answered are really novel.

Absolutely recommended! show less

THIS WAS MY FAVORITE READ FROM MY EXPERIMENT OF READING ALL THE NOMINEES FOR THE IGNYTE AWARDS' BEST COMICS TEAM, I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

This is the story of Kumiko, who moves herself out of assisted living when she feels death all around her. Kumiko is a fantastic and lovable protagonist who takes joy in life's small pleasures, sees value in what others discard, and keeps a matter-of-fact attitude even when fighting off Death's shadow itself. The story takes places in an urban Canadian show more neighborhood, with a diverse cast of supporting characters. The illustrations are simple and beautiful and fit the story so well. There is magic and messy families and reclaiming old relationships and queer happy endings and so much charm and humor and good-naturedness that I teared up at the end.

Easily one of my favorite books I have read so far this year. show less