Stephen Leigh

When I picked up this anthology, I somewhat feared that the stories would become repetitive even though the theme itself intrigued me. Instead, I found that the fourteen stories here are all utterly distinct and original, each one written by a talented author whose writing made a whole world come to life within only 10-15 pages. It's rare that I can say I truly enjoyed every story in an anthology, but in this case, it's true. Although there were two or three where I didn't love the writer's show more style, even those stories were so vibrant and original that the reading experience itself was more than worthwhile. An added bonus is that most of these authors were new to me, and now I'm looking forward to looking up the novels that they've written.

Some of my favorites in the collection were: "Ganbold and the Best Drone in Mongolia" by Dana Berube, "This Cold Red Dust" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, "Traveling Hopefully" by Jacey Bedford, "Brewing Insurrection" by Jose Pablo Iriarte, "Sassi's Last Ride" by Alethea Kontis, and "Beneath the Pall" by Edward Willett.

I would absolutely recommend this anthology to lovers of science fiction. show less

Stephen Leigh’s Immortal Muse blends modern day fiction with alchemical history. As a chemist and artist, and fantasy genre fan, this was a perfect match for me. How neat would it be if your muse was not just a one-way source of inspiration? What if you muse was a person who provided feedback and even shared a symbiotic relationship with you such that your creations benefited her? What if your muse’s life was threatened by a darker counterpart?
“Yeah, artists want immortality all right, show more but the immortality we’re after is the kind you don’t know you achieved because you’re dead when it happens. It’s the work that’s supposed to live forever. Not the artist.”

Complementary Art & Alchemy: Prior 1600, scientists and artists had overlapping interests/skills; scientists had to draw their own data in sketchbooks; conversely, artists had to craft/prepare their own pigments and materials (via chemistry). Artists and alchemists frequented the same apothecaries. The art & science of transmuting materials was a shared goal. Alchemists codified their goal in the substance called the “philosopher’s stone,” which was either the understanding to transmute materials into anything they wanted (i.e. gold)…or the base material itself. Harnessing the power of the stone could also enable one to live forever (in which case the “stone” was called “the elixir of life”).

Immortal Muse blends these complementary disciplines. It is half contemporary fantasy (New York, 2010), and half Historical Fiction, which covers a range of times, European geographies, and art (detailed below). This is an entertaining soap-opera/thriller.
-1400, Paris: Perenelle Flamel & Nicolas Flamel (scribes, alchemists)
-1635, Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roman artist &sculptor)
-1737, Vienna: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Musician)
-1790, Paris: Jacque-Louis David (Painter)
-1814 England: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelly (Poets)
-1900 Vienna: Gustave Klimt (Painter)
-1940 Nice, Italy: Charlotte Salomon (Jewish artist)

Artistic Philosophy: Immortal Muse is chock full of artistic perspectives and shout-outs. I was thrilled for the mentioning my favorite artisanal recipe book : Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. There is a somber but nicely executed arc regarding the persecution of Jews, beginning with the ~1394 Jewish migration from Paris and ending with Charlotte Salomon’s tragic plight during the Holocaust. There are plenty of moments like the quote below in which an artist is caught between following their muse (and creating something to be shared) and lacking the trust of the audience to care or judge them (or having their art taken away).

“Ana let the pages of the sketchpad fall back and handed it to [Charlotte]. She pressed it to her chest as if she’d never expected to have it returned.”

Author Stephen Leigh: The writer taps his own artistic experience for this. As a musician and creative writer, who also practices Aikido, it is obvious that he funneled a lot of his own muses in this. I half wonder if there is a bar called the Bent Calloipe in Cincinnati which he plays his guitar. His Immortal Muse is recommended for historical fiction, art philosophy, alchemy buffs, and fantasy enthusiasts. show less

Great story. Full of magic, political intrigue and classic coming of age fun. At times so gritty you can taste the crunch. This was a great find and even though it's in a series, the book stands on it's own--which is a relief in this age of cliffhanger endings (that, frankly, seem to me a cheat on the part of today's writers)

Wow, that was one of the shortest post-climaxes ever, and I've read a lot of Neal Stephenson.

I do actually get to the end of the book curious to see where the rest of the series takes the world, but I can't say I really enjoyed reading the book much. It really lacked narrative drive - it was less "the character wants x but y intervenes" and more "here are a bunch of character who want conflicting things - let's watch what happens!" Added to this, I didn't particularly like any of the show more viewpoint characters (with the exception of Dhosti, but he mostly spent his time going, "Alas! If only I'd moved sooner!") and I didn't particularly care about them, which made the whole thing decidedly underwhelming.

Not to mention that once the ultimate bad-guy IS revealed, he's then dealt with and the book wrapped up in the space of ten pages. Er... what? show less