Out of Tune

I received a free copy of this book in return for a review, via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

"It's all about faith," said Sister Joan. "So lacking in modern times. The legend of the Hollow Women is old . . . They have existed alongside civilisation under many names. Before this town was a town, there were Hollow Women preying on the men, Before there were people, there were Hollow Women. They learned to look like people, the better to prey on them. Perhaps these days they have learned to look like something else."

I found this collection of stories inspired by old ballads very enjoyable, as they were very varied, with some stories closely based on the songs and others less so. My favourites were "Wendy, Darling", "Hollow is show more the Heart", and the most light-hearted story in the book, "Fish Out of Water" which was a fun story about lost mermaids and Norse gods set in the Florida Keys.

But what makes this book even better, is the section after each story describing the ballads. Apart from the American ballad John Henry, most of these ballads came to North America from the British Isles, with some having altered quite a bit along the way, such as The Unfortunate Rake, which became The Bad Girl's Lament, The Streets of Laredo and the Saint James Infirmary Blues.

As she sings, other forms move forward from the shadows; a knight in the remains of ruined armour, his sword in one hand, his bent and twisted visor in the other; behind him comes a cowboy, classic and tall, spurs jangling with each step, holding his stained and tattered hat in wind-burnt hands; an older woman dressed in mourning black; a group of soldiers in uniforms crisp and funereal, carrying the shroud-covered form of a fallen comrade.

YouTube let me listen to versions of the ballads from both sides of the Atlantic, with my favourites being Mama Cass Elliot singing The Young Girl's Lament and Ebony Buckle singing Silver Dagger. show less

In "Out of Tune," each short story is based (some of them quite loosely) on an old ballad, and the results are a surprisingly fresh take on the traditional ghost story. The list of writers who contributed to this volume are quite impressive, and none disappointed. Even in the best of anthologies, there are usually a couple of stories that don't make the grade, either because they don't resonant with the reader or just don't meet the standard set by the others, but there were no stories here that didn't fit or felt inferior, thanks to an excellent pool of talent and skillful editing by Jonathan Maberry. I also enjoyed the short description at the end of each story of the history of the ballad that inspired the piece.

A Solid Collection of Short Horror/Fantasy

(Full disclosure: I receive a free e-copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. Also, the story summaries may include spoilers, so skip them if you'd rather read the anthology with fresh eyes. Trigger warning for rape.)

Confession time. I requested a review copy of Out of Tune based solely on the merits of one of its contributors: Seanan McGuire. I devoured the Newsflesh trilogy (penned under the pseudonym Mira Grant) and thought that her contribution (“Each to Each”) was the single best thing in Lightspeed's special "Women Destroy SF" issue (a magazine filled with awesome things, mind you). I recognized some of the other names, but no one struck a chord show more like McGuire. Additionally, my interest in old ballads pretty much begins and ends with covers recorded by my favorite folk singers - Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie. I didn't really have any expectations, good or bad, for this collection.

Overall, I came away pleasantly surprised. The fourteen stories in Out of Tune run the gamut: there's lots of horror and fantasy, peppered with a little romance and some good, old-fashioned ghost stories. Some, like "Wendy, Darling," incorporate elements of other, much-loved tales, while others have an air of historical fiction; here I'm thinking of "In Arkham Town, Where I Was Bound," which features Edgar Allen Poe as the incidental narrator. The authors' respective senses of humor - whether wry, playful, or just downright wicked - are evident throughout. A few of the stories are remarkably poignant and painfully beautiful; "Driving Jenny Home," I'm looking at you. As for the Big Bads, you'll spot a number of usual suspects - ghosts, demons, mermaids, and wicked women - as well as villains less common to ballads, such as gods from Norse mythology.

The majority of the stories are in the 4-star range, with a few 3- and 5-star pieces to round the curve out. I can't say that I disliked a single one, though some are more memorable than others. Among my favorites are "Driving Jenny Home" (no surprise there - it's McGuire's piece!); "Wendy, Darling"; and "Fish Out of Water." These are definitely stories I'll return to in the future.

*begin spoiler alert!*

"Wendy, Darling" by Christopher Golden - Based on the ballad The Cruel Mother, with elements of Peter Pan sprinkled throughout, "Wendy, Darling" kicks off the collection on a high note. The titular Wendy Darling, a twenty-something bride-to-be, is frequently visited by The Lost Boys - the spirits of children killed by their mothers...including the baby a very young and unwed Wendy drowned in the Thames. 5/5 stars.

"Sweet William's Ghost" by David Liss - After Maggie's fiancé William unexpectedly dies during a business trip to Scotland, she's "haunted" by her controlling meathead body trainer lover. Turning the original ballad (also called Sweet William's Ghost) on its head, it's William's ghost who comes to her rescue. 4/5 stars (mostly because said meathead is incredibly difficult to stomach).

"Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" by Del Howison - A child, conceived in sin and poisoned in utero by her mother. A father who knows that she's possessed by Satan, yet cannot bring himself to save her mortal soul by making the ultimate sacrifice. (Based on Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair.) 3/5 stars.

"John Wayne's Dream" by Gary A. Braunbeck - A middle-aged man, struggling with his father's disapproval, comes to realize that none of us will ever measure up to expectations, whether or own or those of others. What we are will ultimately destroy us - so why not go out in that clichéd blaze of glory? (Based on The Streets of Loredo.) 3/5 stars.

"Bedlam" by Gregory Frost - A pirate, long deceased, returns to claim his beloved through necessary deceit - only to find that it's she who tricked him into spending eternity with her. (Based on The Demon Lover / The Carpenter's Wife / The House Carpenter.) 4/5 stars.

"Awake" by Jack Ketchum - What starts out as a story about a dying jazz star (sympathetic, if a bit of a lout) quickly morphs into a twisted tale of infidelity, rape, and incest as Ketchum abruptly hands the story over to his long-suffering wife. (Based on The Silver Dagger / Katie Dear.) 4/5 stars.

"John Henry, The Steel Drivin' Man" by Jeff Strand - Freed slave John Henry was a steel-driver who was compelled to beat a series of increasingly powerful competitors in order to save the jobs on his fellow laborers: first a steam-powered hammer; then a warlock; then a dragon; and finally, all of them, working in concert. Each time the challenge killed him - and each time, his wife and friends resurrected him to do it all over again. Ultimately, John Henry ended up stealing their jobs, since he proved that he could perform them better than anyone.

Based on the ballad John Henry, Strand remixes the old tale so that it's a little more favorable toward technological advancement. Yet this arguably pro-capitalist stance feels vaguely problematic, given that the original ballad was a source of pride and inspiration to African Americans. 4/5 stars.

"Fish Out of Water" by Keith R.A. DeCandido - When mermaids begin appearing in the waters of Key West, driving all humans who see them to madness, dive master Cassie - who recently discovered that she's a Disir, a Norse fate goddess - sets out to right her friend Loki's wrongs. (Based on The Mermaid.) 5/5 stars.

"Making Music" by Kelley Armstrong - A songwriting fae-turned-human makes music by literally stealing the words right out of other peoples' mouths. I found it kind of nifty that Izzy reimagines old ballads - how meta. (Based on Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight.) 4/5 stars.

"Tam Lane" by Lisa Morton - When Janet's wealthy father purchases the old Daily Examiner building and asks his daughter, a budding architect, to transform the rooms into lofts, she's over the moon with excitement: the building was famed architect May O'Greene's final project. But she's stunned to find a long-disappeared actor living on the third floor. (Based on Tam Lin.) 4/5 stars.

"John Barleycorn Must Die" by Marsheila Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte - In an assignment that was doomed from the start, a recovering alcoholic reporter is sent to a local microbrewery to write a fluff piece on the three successful young female entrepreneurs who run it - and narrowly escapes becoming their latest sacrifice to the barley. (Based on John Barleycorn Must Die / John Barleycorn / Sir John Barleycorn.) 5/5 stars.

"In Arkham Town, Where I Was Bound" by Nancy Holder - Upon discovering that his deceased adoptive parents had some extended family in Arkham, Massachusetts, Edgar Allen Poe reluctantly leaves the bedside of his ailing wife Virginia to beg a loan - and bears witness to a witch's curse of the unfaithful at the behest of a jealous lover. (Based on Barbara Allen / Bonny Barbara Allan / Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan / Barbara Allens' Cruelty.) 4/5 stars.

"Driving Jenny Home" by Seanan McGuire - When Leigh's girlfriend Jenny dies in a post-Homecoming car accident, Leigh's unable to let go. Every day, she parks outside the cemetery gates; eventually, Jenny begins to appear to her, always requesting that promised ride home. Two words: lesbian cheerleaders. Also: a The Last Unicorn reference FTW. (Based on The Unquiet Grave.) ALL THE STARS.

"Hollow is the Heart" by Simon R. Green - A disgraced journalist pitches a story to his old newspaper - a local piece exploring the historic roots of the Hollow Women myth. An age-old superstition, the Hollow Women are women who look human but are really empty inside. They prey on young men, laying claim to their virtue - and sometimes their lives. (Not to mention their sperm!) It's all fun and games until the story turns on him, in a most personal way. (Based on The Foggy, Foggy Dew.) 4/5 stars.

*end spoiler alert!*

Out of Tune is an original, inventive collection that's sure to appeal to a variety of readers: those who have made ballads a hobby or career, as well as those who just have a passing interest; fans of horror, fantasy, and the supernatural; and people who dig short fiction and are looking for a solid collection.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/12/01/out-of-tune-edited-by-jonathan-maberry/ show less

I received this book as a LibraryThing early reviewer in ebook edition. I must admit to being a cherry picker in most anthologies. I buy them for one or two authors and too often end up flitting through the remainder of the stories without truly enjoying many of them. Not so with this book. Like my beloved Windling/Kushner anthologies, this book has a strong thematic feel that draws on older sources and leaves you wanting to delve into the original material to inform your reading. My only complaint is that I'm wishing desperately it had come with a CD of the old ballads it pulls from so I do't have to do the work of tracking them down myself! I came for Seanan McGuire and stayed for the rest!

This book is an anthology of eerie and creepy stories loosely based on old folk ballads. Overall, the stories are quite good, with the better stories being VERY good. I particularly liked "Driving Jenny Home" by Seanan McGuire and "Hollow is the Heart" by Simon R. Green, but there were several other stand-out stories.

There were a couple that I didn't really care for -- "Sweet Williams Ghost", by David Liss, probably being my least favorite. However, that being said, the story was very well written and did a very good job of flipping your expectations based on folklore... But since I have a strong distaste for arrogant body-builder types, so I didn't relate very well to the central character of the story.

This collection is definitely show more worth the read. show less

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers scheme in July 2015, though sadly through a combination of circumstances had not the opportunity and ability to read and review it until now [November 2015].

There are a great many themed anthologies of short fiction sent out into the world. Some themes are broad, some narrow; some popular, some obscure; some old and some new. The stories therein can be as contrasting as their themes, naturally; I've found that in many such anthologies, with quality as well as all other features.

Most multiple-author anthologies I've read have had at least one story that feels rather like a dud, or that's no better than "almost good enough to be mediocre". This anthology, show more however, doesn't fall into that category. I was surprised and very pleased while reading this one. I can say honestly that there is not one single story of truly poor quality in the book. Perhaps one or two might not be to everybody's taste, but even where that is or may be the case, the quality of their writing - and of the editing done for this anthology - is not lacking.

Usually, when I read short-story anthologies, I take them bite by bite, reading one or two at first, then another in a few days' time, and so on, and so forth. With this particular anthology, though, I didn't feel compelled to follow that pattern. I didn't get bored enough to stop reading even once; I simply paused to take in the annotations regarding the song each tale had been based upon, and carried on to the next.

Not all the tales in Out of Tune are flawless, nor all the characters or songs chosen by the individual authors participating especially likeable. However, every one is worth reading, for one reason or another. I requested this advance copy for the contribution by Seanan McGuire, a casual online friend and favourite author of mine, and when I say that her story didn't particularly stand out from the book, apart from by the gender of its central couple (which is, in fact, a way in which I was a little unhappy that it did stand out, since it meant the anthology featured only one female couple among its many romantic pairings), I am insulting neither her nor it, I do assure you. McGuire has a talent for short stories - and so, it seems, do several other authors who took part in this project. I look forward to investigating their work further.

The anthology loses just half a star from its 5-star rating, and that is for its apparently determined heteronormativity (with the exception of Seanan McGuire's aforementioned contribution). This non-heteronormative reader wasn't terribly happy about that, on looking over the anthology after first reading. If anybody reading my review wants me to say more about the individual stories, I might just revisit my review later to do that. However, I read the book as one unit, so that's how I'm approaching it to review it, at least initially. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. show less

I am a sucker for fairy-tale retellings and the folk-music premise behind Out of Tune struck me as a close enough concept that I had no hesitation requesting a copy of this for review. If there's any sorrow in that decision, it's in discovering that, upon reflection, I am not nearly so enamored of folk music. This isn't to say it was a bad collection -- indeed, there were several stories I highly enjoyed -- but that lack of inherit affection was enough to bump me from the gut I will love this book to bitty little pieces reaction to the I might read some of the stories again sometime, maybe.

I seem to be more of a mood to give fairy tales retellings a pass when they shoehorn or subvert a traditional element in the narrative at hand. The show more authors of these folk-music tales were likely no less affectionate to the traditional details in their own retellings, but I had a much harder time relaxing into the stories. Wendy, Darling was particularly problematic for me -- elements seemed arbitrarily picked and chosen from the Barrie original in order to force a mesh with "The Cruel Mother" lyrics, and not with any great finesse. I also disliked the editorial decision to follow each story with a bit of folklore background; I'm unfamiliar enough with traditional folk music that I would have vastly preferred for those mini essays to have prefaced each story instead.

Still, those irks are pretty specific reactions on my part and might not give the same reaction to another reader. I'd consider this collection worthwhile to those interested in this genre. Three stars. show less