DreamForge Anvil #14, Winter 2023
“A Tale of Two Tarōs” by Marie Brennan
“The Healing Moment” by R. J. K. Lee
“Love and Beans in Thin Times” by William Campbell Powell
“The All-Night Bookstore” by Grant Carrington
“How Coyote Borrowed the Devil’s Wings” by K. S. Charlotte
“Old Wounds, New Spears” by J. M. Williams
Reviewed by Mina
“A Tale of Two Tarōs” by Marie Brennan tells us of the beggar boy Tarō on the island of Urashima. Bullied by a boy who has everything but stops him from being able to beg for food, he steals a precious box from a visiting stranger. The stranger asks after people who nobody knows and Tarō finds him weeping on the beach. The stranger is also called Tarō and tells him an incredible story of having rescued a turtle that turned out to be the dragon king’s daughter. He married the princess and lived happily with her in her father’s palace. He returned to his village to bid farewell to his mother only to discover that three hundred years had passed. The beggar boy persuades him to not kill himself, returning the magic box while the other sleeps. The next day the stranger has disappeared leaving the box for his namesake. And you’ll have to read the story to find out what happens when Tarō tries to open the box. A charming and well-written tale.
“The Healing Moment” by R. J. K. Lee is an amusing tale about an interstellar librarian. Her next job involves changing into a giant squid and meeting her ex. Back home, her wife waits for her return for a well-earned sabbatical despite the machinations of homophobic HR colleagues. Who would have thought a librarian’s job could get so hairy?
“Love and Beans in Thin Times” by William Campbell Powell looks at what might happen if space grew larger than time. As the universe reaches its end, two entangled lovers keep popping in and out of time, sometimes missing each other but sometimes finding each other. Until they realise they must let go so that the universe can bounce back. I have no idea about the physics behind the story, but I can confirm that Russian (and Polish) do often omit the verb “to be” from declarative statements. How the story plays with that, fun it __.
In “The All-Night Bookstore” by Grant Carrington, the narrator works the night shift in a bookstore where the eerie and the wyrd congregate. Tonight is The Night when, every couple of decades, all sorts of creatures come out to play. The style is very anecdotal, which makes it pleasant but forgettable.
“How Coyote Borrowed the Devil’s Wings” by K. S. Charlotte starts with Lucifer having just been thrown out of heaven. He meets Coyote who tricks him out of his wings, so he plots to get them back. An intriguing combination of characters but a simple story.
“Old Wounds, New Spears” by J. M. Williams starts with strange new neighbours moving in, then builds up into a first contact situation (to use the Star Trek lingo). It could be subtitled: how to be a photo-journalist in the right place at the right time. It’s also a hymn to photo-journalism at the front line.