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Loading... Filter House (original 2008; edition 2008)by Nisi Shawl
Work InformationFilter House by Nisi Shawl (2008)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I don't generally read short stories for a petty reason: I'm a fast reader, so I end up going through multiple short stories in one sitting, and then they get muddled in my head and it's no fun. However, I've had less time to read recently anyway. And reading multiple stories in one sitting is not a problem with "Filter House" - each one is unique, and I find myself still thinking about them about a week after I finished the book. I hear she's writing a steampunk novel in colonial Congo. I cannot wait to read it. This was a great collection of stories which varied from light fantasy that bordered on the realistic to science fiction and everything in between. Despite the variation in worlds, these stories shared the theme of focusing on the African American experience, which is something that I feel is seen far too little in speculative fiction. I always try to give short story collections the most representative rating that I can, and a lot of these stories were 5-star reads for me. The only complaint I really had with any of them was that some could be a bit vague or unclear about what was going on with the fantastical or sci-fi elements. no reviews | add a review
Filter House collects the short fiction by Nisi Shawl and includes an introduction by Eileen Gunn (author of Stable Strategies). The collection's fourteen tales offer a haunting montage that works its magic subtly on the readers subconscious. From the exotic, baroque complexities of At the Huts of Ajala to the stark, folktale purity of The Beads of Ku, these fourteen superbly written stories will weave around you a ring of dark, dark magic. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I think this may be the only collection of stories to have won the Tiptree / Otherwise Award. Perhaps I was just in a tired mood, after an exceptionally busy period at work, but none of these especially grabbed me. I guess the two that lingered most are “The Pragmatical Princess”, whose title character cuts a deal with the monster that was supposed to eat her, and “The Water Museum”, about a society where water is scarce and its guardian is an assassination target. I slightly bounced off Shawl’s Everfair as well, and perhaps this is just one of those authors who is not for me. ( )