[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons, April 17, 2023

“Cassia De Claire’s Revolving Cabinet Cards” by Sarah McGill

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

The narrator of “Cassia De Claire’s Revolving Cabinet Cards” by Sarah McGill operates a zoetrope for a man who trains nightingales. In conversation, she learns of the witch who transformed the man in a strange way. She visits the witch to undergo her own change.

I have deliberately kept the details of the plot vague, in order to avoid giving away too much. Suffice to say that the story refers to a famous fairy tale, and that the woman’s desired transformation deals with female issues.

Of more interest than the premise, perhaps, is the work’s style. Combining the moods of folklore, magic realism, and Victorian fantasy, this evocative tale holds the reader’s interest, even if the conclusion is not unexpected.

Victoria Silverwolf likes the word “zoetrope.”