"Miss Emily Gray" by Theodora Goss
"A Beggar in Shadow" by Holly Phillips
"Sand Dollars and Apple Halves" by Barth Anderson
"The Venebretti Necklace" by Sarah Monette
"Sour Metal" by Amber Van Dyk
"Passing to the Distant Shore" by Dale Baily

The moment you lay eyes on Alchemy, you’ll want to read it! The cover is the epitome of gorgeous, featuring a disproportionate king and other persons, perhaps servants, on a floating wooden barge above a distant castle and foliage. One cannot help but think the stories inside must certainly match such a beautiful exterior. (The art is courtesy of James C. Christensen. I advise everyone to go check out his work).

They teach you in grade school assuming makes an "ass" out of you and "me," but in this case assumptions are a good thing. Alchemy is a fantastic read! Of all the things I’ve reviewed here at Tangent, this is a no contest winner for best read. A look at the stories will reveal the reason for my passionate adoration.

"Miss Emily Gray" by Theodora Goss is a tale about a young girl with an unhappy family life. She seeks out magic to grant all her heart’s desires, which soon brings the arrival of a new governess, the mysterious Miss Emily Gray. The author left no stone unturned when constructing this thought-provoking tale about whether we are always in touch with our heart’s "true" desire or only imagine we know the things we want. However, what really won me over was the protagonist, Genevieve; the particular details Theodora uses to depict the character’s active imagination and relationship with her father makes the story feel like an all-star cast in a Shakespeare play performing a private show in your honor. You’ll feel like you know each and every one of these characters personally. I would recommend this story for the Year’s Best in a heartbeat.

"A Beggar in Shadow" by Holly Phillips tells the tale of Julian and Desambouche and their attempts to seduce Dame Marguerite, while avoiding her jealous husband, the Duke. This can best be described as a romantic fantasy, dealing with power, control, and battles between the genders. There’s no doubt a feminist element prevalent here, but unlike most stories dealing with this issue, it never comes off as heavy-handed or anti-men. This is a good example of how to write a story about gender relations without offending or attacking either of the sexes. I’ll definitely be checking out more of Holly Philips’ work in the future.

"Sand Dollars and Apple Halves" by Barth Anderson is a story about an adopted giant constructing a wall to keep the sea from invading the land. Eventually, the giant seeks to learn about his origins from the people who adopted him, leading to a very mythological-inspired plot progression. In all honesty, the beginning of this left me rather cool, and I thought this was going to turn out to be a cheap imitation of other Jordanesque fantasies, but then the author cranks the imagination factor up a notch and things get good. To paraphrase something Gordon Van Gelder told me at Clarion: "not many people write or have the ability to write very good myth stories anymore." Barth Anderson is the exception.  At the heart of this story lives an unbridled imagination, the very core of good storytelling.

"The Venebretti Necklace" by Sarah Monette is easily the longest tale in Alchemy #2. It also happens to be the best, which if you’ve read the review so far is certainly saying something. The story is about two museum curators who find a dead body inside a basement wall and must solve the mystery of her death, while becoming entangled in the dark history of the museum and the cursed Venebretti Necklace. The opening begins with the powerful hook: "There were fingers in the wall."

This isn’t an in-your-face-style fantasy, but rather a slow-developing tale for the thinking reader. It has a lot of literary trappings. I normally dislike "slow" stories, yet this one succeeds for me on so many levels. The mark of a great story is one that has the ability to shatter your expectations of what you think you enjoy.

"Sour Metal" by Amber Van Dyk is a story that mixes the vampire myth with the New Orlean’s slave trade and prostitution rings. For what it lacks in solid plot, it makes up in strong character arc. The story follows a vampire girl who returns to her former home in New Orleans in order to deal with the ghosts from her past. In particular, Amber uses details economically; if you’re not reading carefully you might miss something important. Very short, but will sink its teeth into you.

"Passing to the Distant Shore" by Dale Bailey is a story about an immortal witch who desperately wants to die so she can return to a former love. The arrival of a man looking to save his son from death offers her an opportunity to have her wish, but only if he’ll trade his own death. This story attempts to overturn the standard "immortality" plots seen too much in speculative fiction. It didn’t do much for me and left me feeling lukewarm. The prose was over-written, consumed under the weight of too many adjectives, especially noticeable in the beginning and middle. The dream sequences in particular annoyed me. At times it seemed like the writer was just trying too damn hard. So, while not a bad story, it wasn’t a particularly good story either; the best term might be "mediocre."

Five amazing stories. One mediocre story. Not a single bad story in the bunch. A gorgeous cover by a talented artist. What more could a person want from a speculative fiction magazine?

(Ralan.com currently reports Alchemy has temporarily suspended publication. I sincerely hope this truly is only temporary because it would be a shame if the speculative fiction community lost this magazine).