Bart R. Leib

"Makeisha in Time" by Rachael K. Jones was my favorite story in this issue. By itself I'd give it 4 stars. It was a fascinating story about a person who when she is a girl finds herself being drawn back in time to live full lives, only to return at the same time as she left. She struggles with the desire to live all of those lives and to live her present life, and eventually her struggle becomes that of someone who sees herself--and other women--erased from history. It was interesting and show more painful and just great. I'll be remembering this story when the Hugos come around next year. show less

FAT GIRL IN A STRANGE LAND is a collection of fourteen short stories about larger women who have adventures. The stories range from fantasy to heavy science fiction to horror to mainstream-with-a-speculative bent. Their protagonists' similar dress size forms the only concrete link between them, and even then, these women are many and varied.

I found the anthology’s choice of focus interesting and most worthwhile. I’m not sure that larger womens’ stories are never told, as the jacket show more copy claims, but they’re certainly rare. Looking at my reading list from the past couple of years, I spot few larger protagonists of any gender, and almost all of them are male. Society treats size as shameful, and the derision is all the more pronounced when one is a larger woman. It’s refreshing to see some editors branch out and promote stories about a segment of the population that often goes unremarked upon, unless someone’s cracking tasteless jokes at their expense.

That said, I should warn you that the anthology isn’t entirely fat-positive (or fat-neutral). There’s one story in which the protagonist out-and-out hates her body, and a couple of others where weight gain is recent and unwanted, if not explicitly railed against. Most of the pieces, though, are about people who’ve accepted their bodies and are comfortable with who they are. They acknowledge any limitations they may face, physical or otherwise, but they don’t let that stop them from living the lives they want to live. Often, weight-centric concerns are a non-issue. Other characters may judge the protagonists, sometimes in societally-sanctioned ways, but the protagonists don’t judge themselves.

Protagonists' body types aside, this is a strong anthology overall. There are some great stories herein. These women face challenges both physical and mental. They rise to the occasion. Sometimes, they learn the only way to move forward is to let go.

They’re people; strong or weak, as people tend to be, with realistic limitations and plenty of baggage. The contributing authors do a wonderful job of showing how their protagonists change and grow in response to the story’s events. I didn’t love every story, but I found much herein to delight over. Sabrina Vourvoulias’s “La Gorda and the City of Silver” remains a particular favourite, and I can't seem to get AJ Fitzwater's "Cartography, and the Death of Shoes" out of my head.

I most certainly recommend the anthology to anyone in search of good short fiction. It’s particularly worth seeking out if you’ve been longing for more stories with female protagonists.

(This review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina.) show less

Despite enjoying Crossed Genres's past anthologies and having some of my own stories in their magazine, I admit that I had reservations about this anthology. I've been overweight or obese much of my adult life and it's a sensitive subject for me. On one hand, I thought, "Wow, how great to have stories with plus size women in charge!" and on the other I cringed, worried about that fat issue being an overbearing part of the stories and the characters' personalities.

That said, I was pleasantly show more surprised at the work. It's as strong as Crossed Genres past anthologies. Each story is unique and handles the weight issue in a different way. Sometimes it felt a tad forced, but overall the work was excellent, readable, and at times, an inspiration. The first story, "La Gorda and the City of Silver" by Sabrina Vourvoulias, set the mood well by establishing a girl as a luchador turned superhero. Other favorites included "The Tradeoff" by Laren C. Teffeau, which uses body fat as a practical survival method for space-farers on a mission, and "Lift" by Pete Alberti, where a girl's determination to make her own spaceship put a big smile on my face.

On a negative note, my version of the ebook for some reason had the story titles and authors obscured at the front of each story. I'm not sure if this was purposeful hobbling for LibraryThing Early Reviewer copies or an issue with reading it on the iBook app, but it meant I had to scroll all the way to the table of contents to see the names of each story.

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for speculative stories about strong, resourceful women. show less

I would have rated this book higher but the collection was uneven, with a few of the stories being excellent and many being not very good at all. Some of the not very good stories were that way because I didn't think they were fat-positive, as I thought this anthology was supposed to be, and some stories didn't seem to be about fat girls at all.

La Gorda & the City of Silver by Sabrina Vourvoulias was my absolute favorite story. It was powerful and uplifting and left me smiling, both because show more of who La Gorda was and because her loved ones saw her just as she saw herself.

Lift by Pete "Patch" Alberti was my other favorite. This one just felt good. It's one of those stories where it's okay to be who you are, whether you're super smart, or fat, or a girl, or like pink glitter. You can do what you want and be happy doing it.

Nemesis by Nicole Prestin was also good. I liked the way the superhero simply ignored all discussion about her weight and appearance--and spandex--once she'd had the initial conversation. She was not at all interested in anything but doing her job and that was great. show less