Wicked Wonders

After reading Ellen Klages’s Passing Strange, I decided to check out more of her work. Wicked Wonders is a collection of her short stories, spanning many different genres. Many of these stories are set in the past, seen from a child’s perspective. Writing from the point of view of children can be tricky, but I think Klages handles it phenomenally.

There’s one story that I could swear I read before, but for the life of me I can’t figure out where – “Education of a Witch.” In this story, a four year old girl sees the then new movie Sleeping Beauty and becomes fascinated with Maleficent. She’s powerful and fashionable. She can turn into a dragon, and she has her own castle. Why be a princess when you can be a witch? The show more story works on a broader level as a criticism of the limited roles available for girls. Given the narrow categories available for women of the time, there’s an appeal to stepping outside the acceptable and becoming a witch.

I found some of the other stories also looked at the limitations placed upon girls and how their families try to restrict them to socially acceptable roles. In “Woodsmoke” a girl relishes her summers spent at camp, where she gets to live truly as herself without restricting herself to her mother’s standards of what’s acceptably feminine. The story chronicles her love for summer camp and her blossoming feelings for another girl. This story is beautifully written and will stick with me for a long time. However, I did think the way it used the existence of intersex people as a plot twist could be considered exploitative.

I wasn’t a huge fan of either of the two science fiction stories. “Amicae Aeternum” is the last morning of two best friends, before one of them has to board a generation ship and leave Earth forever. In “Goodnight Moons” an astronaut on a trip to Mars discovers that she’s pregnant. Like all of Klages stories, the writing is lovely, but for whatever reason they don’t appeal. Maybe I have different expectations for science fiction than for her more historical stories.

While most of the stories are serious in tone, there’s a couple of more humorous takes. In “Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl,” a down on his luck thief acquires a magic map that he’s told leads to a wizard’s hideout. This wizard is said to posses the pearl that the emperor is asking a fortune for. In actuality, the pearl is a recipe for artificial fat and the wizard is a young woman who’s using her knowledge of chemistry to try and create it. When the thief comes sniffing around, she and her girlfriend set a plan in motion.

The other more humorous tale is actually non-fiction. When technical difficulties were causing delays in the Nebula Awards, Ellen Klages went up on stage and entertained the audience by telling them about a ham her father had hanging in his basement for years, “The Scary Ham.”

I could see traces of the life experience Klages described in “The Scary Ham” (cleaning out the house of a parent who has passed) in one of the fictional stories, “Echoes of Aurora.” In this story, an older woman arrives to clean out her childhood home and ends up spending the entire summer with the mysterious woman she finds there.

Other stories include the subtly creepy “Singing on a Star,” the historical “Hey, Presto!,” the origin of a character from Passing Strange in “Caligo Lane,” the mind bending “Mrs. Zeno’s Paradox,” the magic of math in “Gone to the Library,” becoming literally immersed in board games with “Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s,” and a closer look at Sherlock Holmes’s landlady in “Household Management.”

Ellen Klages is a phenomenally skilled writer with the miraculous ability to immerse her readers into nostalgic years of childhoods passed. Her stories also have a clear feminist bent, with the focus on the lives of smart and strong willed women. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Wicked Wonders.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. show less

Blurbed this collection. Devoured this collection. Here's what I said.

The stories collected in Ellen Klages’ Wicked Wonders are the best kind: ones that deliver charm and delight the first time, then open further and compound their meanings on each consecutive read. As I devoured the collection, I kept saying, ‘This one is my favorite. No. This one.’ And then I turned the page to find even more . . . A fantastic achievement.

I don't think it's at all an exaggeration to say that this anthology honestly has something for everyone. Fantasy, science fiction, fairy tale, you name it--it's here. And to top it off, every one of these stories is well written and kept me engaged from beginning to end. This was my first experience reading anything by Ellen Klages, and I am glad I picked this up. This is an author who demonstrates great skill in both creating richly-developed worlds and unique, three-dimensional characters over and over again in short stories. It's no small feat, and she does it so very well. Definitely worth a read!

[Disclaimer: This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.]

Childhood memories are a potent force in our lives, continuing to resonate within us even as we grow older and come to believe that we've left the magic of that early age behind. Ellen Klages's collection of short stories recaptures some of the innocence and enchantment of childhood, in a series of tales by turn evocative, romantic and poignant. Sometimes her stories bring us into the world of children who are on the brink of new lives, new potential and new discoveries; while sometimes we find characters closer to ourselves: adults who have put away childish things, but who find themselves drawn back in various ways to the brink between that age and this. We find children confronted with the cruel realities of the adult world, and show more fairy tales for adults, with nods to fantasy, science fiction and straightforward fiction. There really is something for everyone...

The full review will be published on 13 March 2017 on my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/03/13/wicked-wonders-ellen-klages show less

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I've never read Ellen Klages before, but I can definitely say that she has a talent for understated and richly-drawn character tales.

These aren't meant to blow you away with reveals, but they are subtle and powerful explorations of youth (mostly) and they're definitely good for nostalgia.

A great deal of them will have slight magical twists, but I've got the impression that they're mostly nostalgic histories of Americana. It's mild and slightly subversive and the kinds of reveals are almost always social or personality.

It's nice.

Not particularly the kind of fiction I generally go for, and I generally liked the future SF in this collection better, especially the one about a baby on Mars, but I can easily show more say that all of these stories are very well written. Quality. :) show less

3.5 stars. I am not a short story reader, as I like to have something that keeps me turning pages. Several of the stories in this book though, did just that. I was looking forward to seeing what the author would come up with next. Some of the stories were very good and some just didn't excite me but all were written well. The story notes at the back were great. Interesting to see the thought process behind the story.

Wicked Wonders by Ellen Klages is a very highly recommended collection of fourteen short stories. I enjoyed almost all of the stories in this collection immensely, with just a couple I was slightly less enthusiastic about. Those are pretty impressive odds. The stories consist of a mix of science fiction, fantasy, humor, coming-of-age, magic, and real life. All the stories except for one, Woodsmoke, have been previously published.
Contents:
Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler: "There is something powerfully strange and strangely powerful, but it is off to the side or coming up behind you. You’ll sense it in the small, particular details at which Ellen excels..." "The only thing you can depend on is magic. However sober and quotidian the show more world, Ellen always brings the magic."
The Education of a Witch: Young Lizzy loves Maleficent the witch from Sleeping Beauty while dealing with changes in her life.
Amicae Aeternum: Before she and her parents board The Goddard, a generation ship, Corrine Garcia-Kelly is saying good-bye to everything she will miss on Earth.
Mrs. Zeno’s Paradox: Annabel meets Midge for a treat, which they split, repeatedly.
Singing on a Star: Becka has her first sleep over at her friend Jamie's house where a song opens an elevator to a different world where she meets a man named Hollis.
Hey, Presto!: Polly is working with her father, the magician Vardo!, for the summer.
Echoes of Aurora: Jo Norwood returns to her hometown to settle her father's estate after being gone 35 years and meets Aurora.
Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s: Rachel Sweeney was supposed to be playing backgammon with her friend Addie, but instead gets caught up in the grip of a fairy queen and is trapped inside several board games.
Caligo Lane: Located in San Francisco, Caligo Lane might be an illusion. Difficult to reach, or find again, it is here that Franny, a cartographer, lives and combines mapmaking and origami.
Goodnight Moons: Zoe is part of the first team of six astronauts to go to Mars. She discovers she is pregnant after they have already started their voyage.
Gone to the Library: Izzy, an eight year-old girl who loves math, meets her neighbor, Bibber, who needs her help.
Household Management: We get a glimpse into the life of Sherlock Holmes landlady.
Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl: A thief buys a map that he believes will lead him to a wizard who owns a pearl of great value.
Woodsmoke: "Every childhood summer is special. School is out and freedom beckons. Then comes a magic summer.... For Patricia Ann Maas that summer was 1963..." Patty spends her fifth summer at camp Wokanda, where she can be herself and is known by the nickname Peete.
The Scary Ham: A true story. Klages father was given a full-sized ham which he hung in his basement for twenty years, in the room with the litter box. This story and pictures can be found on the Tor website. http://www.tor.com/2014/05/22/the-scary-ham/
Afterword: Why I Write Short Fiction
10 Facts About Ellen Klages
Story Notes About the Author

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Tachyon.
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