The Lady in Glass and Other Stories

Short story collections are always chancy to me -- either love or meh. This one is a love for me -- the stories are dark but satisfying, the storytelling is spectacular, the breadth of subject and work is delightful, yet cohesive. There is definitely material here that some readers will be sensitive to. I really enjoyed it.

Advanced Readers' Copy provided by Edelweiss.

As with all anthologies I have read thus far in my life, some stories were wonderful, while others were not my taste. Many were good, if not especially memorable; some will stay with me whether I wish them to or not. In the end, I love Anne Bishop's writing and will definitely return to this anthology to reread my favorites. (I did especially enjoy the interpretation of "She Moved Through the Fair" - and not just because one of the characters was named Ellen.)

This collection of Anne Bishop's shorter works contains 22 stories which span her writing career to date.

The first section titled The Early Stories contains six stories which are various explorations from a variety of inspirations. They all had a fairytale sort of feel to me with sometimes large touches of horror.

The second section includes the Fairy Tales with Bishop's take on The Little Match Girl, Rapunzel, and two takes on Snow White. Again, many of the stories were trending toward dark fantasy.

The third section were stories from The Black Jewels universe which is firmly fixed on dark fantasy. Having read that series, I particularly enjoyed seeing a bit more about favorite characters especially Surreal.

The fourth section show more provides two stories from The World of the Others. This is my favorite of all of her series, and I was very glad to have a story about Simon and Meg. The other story takes place along the coastline of what had been Cel-Romano before the HFL caused the Others to destroy it.

The fifth section titled New Places introduces an unusual world where the dead don't die all at once and a person can get a job as a Deceased Reclamation officer -- otherwise known as a corpse catcher. I liked that story which was a mystery.

The final section is called Potpourri and contains five stories. After "Home for the Howlidays," all of my favorites from the collection came from that section. I really enjoyed "A Strand in the Web" about a spaceship set off on a tour of the universe to rebuild worlds. I liked the science fiction aspects of the story.

For a look at an author's growth as a writer, this was an excellent collection of stories. I loved all the worlds Anne Bishop has built. show less