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Mythic Orbits 2016: BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION By Christian Authors
This anthology is a showcase for the best stories submitted in the general field of speculative fiction by Christian authors for this project. It represents a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal. There is no common theme to these tales, though the subject of empathy or lack thereof does come up in them repeatedly. This is most definitely not an anthology about orbits which are somehow mythical.
The main goal of this anthology was to demonstrate that Christian authors can write speculative fiction well. Stories with a wide range of appeal are included here, mostly serious, some with humor, some with "happy endings" and others clearly not so happy. All of them worth reading.
Some of these stories feature Christian characters in speculative fiction worlds, some make use of Christian themes either subtly or overtly, while some have no discernible connection to Christianity at all. Christian authors are featured in this collection rather than specifically Christian-themed stories.
There was no specific content or doctrinal test for these tales, though it happens to be that they are basically clean. As long as the violence mentioned in a few of these stories wasn't portrayed too graphically, this collection would rate a PG in the US movie rating system for the suffering mentioned in a few of these tales and a few relatively mild words like "bastard." Sexuality in this anthology is limited to being attracted to someone and a single story kiss.
In doctrine, these stories do what speculative fiction as a whole does--create worlds unlike our own and put the reader inside them. These stories do not assert these unreal situations are actually true...though things that are imaginary can reveal truths about what is real. Nothing here overtly contradicts the Bible. Even strict interpretations that there cannot possibly be ghosts or fairies or certain particular monsters as some of these tales include could be simply reinterpreted as involving demons, if a reader wished to do so.
As much as these tales do not engage in graphic sexuality or violence or wander into asserting strange doctrinal beliefs are actually true, they nonetheless create unusual worlds, make unexpected twists, and otherwise are mentally engaging stories for young adult and adult readers alike.
The main goal of this anthology was to demonstrate that Christian authors can write speculative fiction well. Stories with a wide range of appeal are included here, mostly serious, some with humor, some with "happy endings" and others clearly not so happy. All of them worth reading.
Some of these stories feature Christian characters in speculative fiction worlds, some make use of Christian themes either subtly or overtly, while some have no discernible connection to Christianity at all. Christian authors are featured in this collection rather than specifically Christian-themed stories.
There was no specific content or doctrinal test for these tales, though it happens to be that they are basically clean. As long as the violence mentioned in a few of these stories wasn't portrayed too graphically, this collection would rate a PG in the US movie rating system for the suffering mentioned in a few of these tales and a few relatively mild words like "bastard." Sexuality in this anthology is limited to being attracted to someone and a single story kiss.
In doctrine, these stories do what speculative fiction as a whole does--create worlds unlike our own and put the reader inside them. These stories do not assert these unreal situations are actually true...though things that are imaginary can reveal truths about what is real. Nothing here overtly contradicts the Bible. Even strict interpretations that there cannot possibly be ghosts or fairies or certain particular monsters as some of these tales include could be simply reinterpreted as involving demons, if a reader wished to do so.
As much as these tales do not engage in graphic sexuality or violence or wander into asserting strange doctrinal beliefs are actually true, they nonetheless create unusual worlds, make unexpected twists, and otherwise are mentally engaging stories for young adult and adult readers alike.
344 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 25, 2017
(Review also posted on The Page Dreamer in a slightly easier-to-read format. XD https://thepagedreamer.wordpress.com/...)
Ratings ranging from 1-5 stars; rounding to 2.5 stars for whole collection overall -- individual ratings later. :)
I don’t think this is a collection I would have picked up on my own, but I met a wonderful author, Lisa Godfrees, who has a story in this collection, at a writer workshop event, and she was kind enough to give me a copy. It looked like something very different from my previous experience, so I curiously dived in. (I WAS warned that they were dark stories, but I pressed on all the same. :P)
This anthology contains 14 short stories by various authors, as well as an excellent Editor’s Introduction by Travis Perry. The stories were nearly all well-written, gripping, and fascinating—I breezed quickly through them and couldn’t stop. They were also mostly dark, disturbing, or creepy as well—or at least in genres I don’t usually read—which is not my usual cup of tea. XD
I don’t read many short stories, and I also don’t usually read Sci-fi, Paranormal, or Horror, which is where some of the stories in this collection fall, so I don’t think I’m exactly the proper audience to review this? Though some are also Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, Time Travel, or have Christian or allegorical elements. The point of the collection was to have varying stories that fall broadly under the Speculative Fiction label, written by various skilled Christian authors, published in 2016. You won’t happen to find language or inappropriate situations in here, but most of the stories happened to be pretty dark and creepy, as it turned out. :P
It was definitely an interesting read, and I liked some of the stories, but most of them were not, overall, for me. I’m rounding the total collection rating to 2.5 stars... some were more or less. Below is a rundown of the contents of this anthology, with my brief thoughts on each.
Please keep in mind, these are only my PERSONAL thoughts/ratings/opinions, and others might like them more. :)
***
FAVORITE OF COLLECTION (5 stars; 1 story)
Cameo - by Linda Burklin
Time Travel
39 pages
5 stars
A young woman in our time finds a cameo necklace, and when she dreams, she seems to—impossibly—go back in time and visit the girl the necklace belonged to, who needs help... This one was super fascinating and I was SO WORRIED about what would happen, but it turned out to be my absolute favorite in the collection. :) The time-travel was really well done and I really liked the characters and the mystery and just... yes. I really, really enjoyed it. :) Some of it was still very creepy, but not as much as it looked like at first. Anyways, I liked. ^_^
***
MOSTLY LIKED (4 stars; 3 stories)
Dental Troll - by Lisa Godfrees
Contemporary Fantasy (/Horror?)
5 pages
4 stars
So, I LOVED this one for most of it. :D It’s well-written, humorous, and fascinating. What if tooth-fairies are made up but there are actually creatures like them, just... different—namely Dental Trolls? A little girl meets one. I thought I was going to love it, but the ending took a turn for the creepy/dark/horrifying and just... no. o.o So I’m taking a star off for that. I mostly loved it, especially the writing and humor and idea, but I didn’t care for this ending, personally. XD
HMS Mangled Treasure - by L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright
Contemporary Fantasy
51 pages
4 stars
Okay, so this one was definitely unique. :D A pirate ship with scary fairy-ish beings is stealing cars in a modern-day city, and a no-nonsense mother decides to get her car back (because it has her son’s doll in it), researching how to deal with fairies, and meeting a strange guy in a trench-coat who I quite liked. It gets points for all the fairy-lore references, in a modern-day setting, with creepy fairy-pirates etc. Some of it was weird, especially the ending, so I’m not totally sure how I feel about it, but it was definitely mostly fun to read about—extra points because of The Tempest reference. XD
A Model of Decorum - by Cindy Emmet Smith
Paranormal
20 pages
4 stars
So... this one was kind of... werewolf-ish. *twitch* Which I don’t usually care for. But it was also kind of a Little-Red-Riding-Hood retelling, and was well-written and interesting and I couldn’t help liking most of it, for some reason. XD But it’s still werewolves, which is kind of creepy for me... but I liked it more than some. :) And it just takes a lot for me to like something I normally wouldn’t, so I’m impressed. XD
***
GOOD BUT NOT FOR ME (3 stars; 5 stories)
Ghost Roommate - by Matthew Sketchley
Paranormal/Horror?
20 pages
3 stars
Even though I don’t really care for stories featuring ghosts, I was super surprised by really enjoying a lot of this. XD It was FUNNY, and I dearly like funny things. It started getting a little weird and then ended at a quite dark/creepy (but also vague?) point, so... it’s probably 3.5, rounding to 3, because I quite liked some of it, but the ending was... um... yeah, no. >.>
The Bones Don’t Lie - by Mark Venturini
Fantasy
27 pages
3 stars
WELL. That was fascinating and rather eerie and also confusing. It’s in a fantasy-world and it kept me interested but I was also confused about the different groups and couldn’t figure out what happened at the end and if it was happy or not. So. That makes me a little twitchy. I don’t know what I thought! o.o
Domo - by Joshua M. Young
Sci-fi
17 pages
3 stars
I don’t do well with sci-fi? Sorry, but it’s true. XD This was about an intelligent robot, featured some chess-games with an old priest, a dog, and some questions of robots and God. It was interesting for sure, but again, just... I’m not totally into sci-fi. :P
The Water Man - by Sherry Rossman
Christian Paranormal?
17 pages
3 stars
This was almost written in a sort of code, which I didn’t totally get till the end. It was interesting, set in an old-folks home, from the point of view of an old man; it’s kind of dark, with a murder mystery sort of thing, and I’m torn on what to think of the ending. Dunno. I think I liked some of it and it was well-written and interesting, just it was super creepy and not... totally... for me.
Graxin - by Kerry Nietz
Sci-fi
28 pages
3 stars
This one was actually super-well written and fascinating—set on some planet’s moon, about a robot searching for a kind of ore, and finding... something mysterious instead. It was intriguing and I felt like it was trying to say some interesting stuff, but I just don’t connect well with sci-fi and the ending was... kinda strange. I think I was rooting for him, but... still... ACK, I don’t know. I can’t decide what I thought about this one.
***
NOT QUITE (2 stars; 2 stories)
The Disembodied Hand - by Jill Domschot
(Uncertain of genre; Christian Paranormal?)
6 pages
2 stars
This one had some interesting bits (maybe an angel?) and was intriguing but kind of confusingly written. I don’t know. It was fine but not my thing.
Nether Ore - by Kirk Outerbridge
Sci-fi
77 pages
2 stars
Okay, so I’m torn. This was the longest story in the collection, and it had me positively hooked. It was super fascinating, original, and unique. It’s kind of like a post-apocalyptic sci-fi place with squids and mines and scientists with creepy-creepy secrets, and elements of a mystery and of residual Christian stuff. It was well-written and I couldn’t stop reading but it was just super-super creepy and just... Nope. Not my thing at all. So I’m torn because in a sense it was really good, and it even had a fairly-good ending, but for me personally, it was too horrifying. O.o Meep. Others might enjoy it, though.
***
ABSOLUTELY NOPE (1 star; 3 stories)
Baby, Don’t Cry - by R V Saunders
Sci-fi?
8 pages
1 star
This is more a “what?” than an “absolutely nope,” but still. I had no idea what the point of this story was, and I think it turned out to be sci-fi but... I’m not even sure. It was weird and confusing and I didn’t understand it until the end (so I’m not going to say because it might be a spoiler but I don’t know) and then I wondered what the point was? Perhaps I’m missing something. Just kind of disturbing and not that interesting for me.
Escapee - by Richard New
Sci-fi/Paranormal
9 pages
1 star
On a space-ship (or two), following a criminal who is more than he seems at first, with a couple of alien creatures. Mixing sci-fi and paranormal, this just... was not my thing. It was okay but kind of creepy. I was intrigued but I don’t care about sci-fi and I’m not a super fan of following the point-of-view of such a creepy person? Other people might like it, but... not me.
Clay’s Fire - by Kat Heckenbach
Horror/Paranormal
8 pages
1 star
Absolutely least-favorite in the collection, this was positively horrifying and I wish I hadn’t read it. I simply don’t do horror like this. Just. No. WHY. Far too creepy for me.
***
Overall, an interesting experience! I think it’s just me personally who didn’t like some of these, or “get” them. If they intrigue you at all, and if you don’t mind a bit of darkness/weirdness, you might find a story or several to enjoy in this collection. And I did enjoy a few. :)
(I was given a free copy of this book by one of the authors, and was not required to write a review. These are, naturally, my own opinions.)
Ratings ranging from 1-5 stars; rounding to 2.5 stars for whole collection overall -- individual ratings later. :)
I don’t think this is a collection I would have picked up on my own, but I met a wonderful author, Lisa Godfrees, who has a story in this collection, at a writer workshop event, and she was kind enough to give me a copy. It looked like something very different from my previous experience, so I curiously dived in. (I WAS warned that they were dark stories, but I pressed on all the same. :P)
This anthology contains 14 short stories by various authors, as well as an excellent Editor’s Introduction by Travis Perry. The stories were nearly all well-written, gripping, and fascinating—I breezed quickly through them and couldn’t stop. They were also mostly dark, disturbing, or creepy as well—or at least in genres I don’t usually read—which is not my usual cup of tea. XD
I don’t read many short stories, and I also don’t usually read Sci-fi, Paranormal, or Horror, which is where some of the stories in this collection fall, so I don’t think I’m exactly the proper audience to review this? Though some are also Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, Time Travel, or have Christian or allegorical elements. The point of the collection was to have varying stories that fall broadly under the Speculative Fiction label, written by various skilled Christian authors, published in 2016. You won’t happen to find language or inappropriate situations in here, but most of the stories happened to be pretty dark and creepy, as it turned out. :P
It was definitely an interesting read, and I liked some of the stories, but most of them were not, overall, for me. I’m rounding the total collection rating to 2.5 stars... some were more or less. Below is a rundown of the contents of this anthology, with my brief thoughts on each.
Please keep in mind, these are only my PERSONAL thoughts/ratings/opinions, and others might like them more. :)
***
FAVORITE OF COLLECTION (5 stars; 1 story)
Cameo - by Linda Burklin
Time Travel
39 pages
5 stars
A young woman in our time finds a cameo necklace, and when she dreams, she seems to—impossibly—go back in time and visit the girl the necklace belonged to, who needs help... This one was super fascinating and I was SO WORRIED about what would happen, but it turned out to be my absolute favorite in the collection. :) The time-travel was really well done and I really liked the characters and the mystery and just... yes. I really, really enjoyed it. :) Some of it was still very creepy, but not as much as it looked like at first. Anyways, I liked. ^_^
***
MOSTLY LIKED (4 stars; 3 stories)
Dental Troll - by Lisa Godfrees
Contemporary Fantasy (/Horror?)
5 pages
4 stars
So, I LOVED this one for most of it. :D It’s well-written, humorous, and fascinating. What if tooth-fairies are made up but there are actually creatures like them, just... different—namely Dental Trolls? A little girl meets one. I thought I was going to love it, but the ending took a turn for the creepy/dark/horrifying and just... no. o.o So I’m taking a star off for that. I mostly loved it, especially the writing and humor and idea, but I didn’t care for this ending, personally. XD
HMS Mangled Treasure - by L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright
Contemporary Fantasy
51 pages
4 stars
Okay, so this one was definitely unique. :D A pirate ship with scary fairy-ish beings is stealing cars in a modern-day city, and a no-nonsense mother decides to get her car back (because it has her son’s doll in it), researching how to deal with fairies, and meeting a strange guy in a trench-coat who I quite liked. It gets points for all the fairy-lore references, in a modern-day setting, with creepy fairy-pirates etc. Some of it was weird, especially the ending, so I’m not totally sure how I feel about it, but it was definitely mostly fun to read about—extra points because of The Tempest reference. XD
A Model of Decorum - by Cindy Emmet Smith
Paranormal
20 pages
4 stars
So... this one was kind of... werewolf-ish. *twitch* Which I don’t usually care for. But it was also kind of a Little-Red-Riding-Hood retelling, and was well-written and interesting and I couldn’t help liking most of it, for some reason. XD But it’s still werewolves, which is kind of creepy for me... but I liked it more than some. :) And it just takes a lot for me to like something I normally wouldn’t, so I’m impressed. XD
***
GOOD BUT NOT FOR ME (3 stars; 5 stories)
Ghost Roommate - by Matthew Sketchley
Paranormal/Horror?
20 pages
3 stars
Even though I don’t really care for stories featuring ghosts, I was super surprised by really enjoying a lot of this. XD It was FUNNY, and I dearly like funny things. It started getting a little weird and then ended at a quite dark/creepy (but also vague?) point, so... it’s probably 3.5, rounding to 3, because I quite liked some of it, but the ending was... um... yeah, no. >.>
The Bones Don’t Lie - by Mark Venturini
Fantasy
27 pages
3 stars
WELL. That was fascinating and rather eerie and also confusing. It’s in a fantasy-world and it kept me interested but I was also confused about the different groups and couldn’t figure out what happened at the end and if it was happy or not. So. That makes me a little twitchy. I don’t know what I thought! o.o
Domo - by Joshua M. Young
Sci-fi
17 pages
3 stars
I don’t do well with sci-fi? Sorry, but it’s true. XD This was about an intelligent robot, featured some chess-games with an old priest, a dog, and some questions of robots and God. It was interesting for sure, but again, just... I’m not totally into sci-fi. :P
The Water Man - by Sherry Rossman
Christian Paranormal?
17 pages
3 stars
This was almost written in a sort of code, which I didn’t totally get till the end. It was interesting, set in an old-folks home, from the point of view of an old man; it’s kind of dark, with a murder mystery sort of thing, and I’m torn on what to think of the ending. Dunno. I think I liked some of it and it was well-written and interesting, just it was super creepy and not... totally... for me.
Graxin - by Kerry Nietz
Sci-fi
28 pages
3 stars
This one was actually super-well written and fascinating—set on some planet’s moon, about a robot searching for a kind of ore, and finding... something mysterious instead. It was intriguing and I felt like it was trying to say some interesting stuff, but I just don’t connect well with sci-fi and the ending was... kinda strange. I think I was rooting for him, but... still... ACK, I don’t know. I can’t decide what I thought about this one.
***
NOT QUITE (2 stars; 2 stories)
The Disembodied Hand - by Jill Domschot
(Uncertain of genre; Christian Paranormal?)
6 pages
2 stars
This one had some interesting bits (maybe an angel?) and was intriguing but kind of confusingly written. I don’t know. It was fine but not my thing.
Nether Ore - by Kirk Outerbridge
Sci-fi
77 pages
2 stars
Okay, so I’m torn. This was the longest story in the collection, and it had me positively hooked. It was super fascinating, original, and unique. It’s kind of like a post-apocalyptic sci-fi place with squids and mines and scientists with creepy-creepy secrets, and elements of a mystery and of residual Christian stuff. It was well-written and I couldn’t stop reading but it was just super-super creepy and just... Nope. Not my thing at all. So I’m torn because in a sense it was really good, and it even had a fairly-good ending, but for me personally, it was too horrifying. O.o Meep. Others might enjoy it, though.
***
ABSOLUTELY NOPE (1 star; 3 stories)
Baby, Don’t Cry - by R V Saunders
Sci-fi?
8 pages
1 star
This is more a “what?” than an “absolutely nope,” but still. I had no idea what the point of this story was, and I think it turned out to be sci-fi but... I’m not even sure. It was weird and confusing and I didn’t understand it until the end (so I’m not going to say because it might be a spoiler but I don’t know) and then I wondered what the point was? Perhaps I’m missing something. Just kind of disturbing and not that interesting for me.
Escapee - by Richard New
Sci-fi/Paranormal
9 pages
1 star
On a space-ship (or two), following a criminal who is more than he seems at first, with a couple of alien creatures. Mixing sci-fi and paranormal, this just... was not my thing. It was okay but kind of creepy. I was intrigued but I don’t care about sci-fi and I’m not a super fan of following the point-of-view of such a creepy person? Other people might like it, but... not me.
Clay’s Fire - by Kat Heckenbach
Horror/Paranormal
8 pages
1 star
Absolutely least-favorite in the collection, this was positively horrifying and I wish I hadn’t read it. I simply don’t do horror like this. Just. No. WHY. Far too creepy for me.
***
Overall, an interesting experience! I think it’s just me personally who didn’t like some of these, or “get” them. If they intrigue you at all, and if you don’t mind a bit of darkness/weirdness, you might find a story or several to enjoy in this collection. And I did enjoy a few. :)
(I was given a free copy of this book by one of the authors, and was not required to write a review. These are, naturally, my own opinions.)
December 12, 2017
TBH Mythic Orbits wasn't exactly what I expected. (Actually, I don't really know what I expect these days.) The title and the cover made me think that it might be more space/scifi than it actually turned out to be; 'speculative fiction', of course, is a rather large umbrella term (though 'Mythic' is also another clue). The actual stories, however, are skewed to the more paranormal/fantasy side of things.
There isn't any single unifying factor that ties these stories together, other than that large umbrella term 'speculative fiction' and the fact that all writers are professing Christians. This resulted in a rather mish-mash offering (this is explained in the Editor's Introduction), in which case it comes across as more of a sampler than anything else.
Mark Venturini's The Bones Don't Lie is a stellar start to the book; fantasy with a slight religious bent.
The Disembodied Hand (Jill Domschot) turned a little more paranormal (and slightly creepy) as was Richard New's Escapee. Though I have to say I didn't quite expect the twist at the end of the latter.
Nether Ore by Kirk Outerbridge was another excellent piece -- and one of the more scifi ones, also with a lovely twist at the end! I'd like to read a sequel to this if there is one. (It's also a story I could imagine becoming a full novel, if it isn't already one)
Cindy Emmet Smith's A Model of Decorum was slightly predictable as a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but still very well-crafted. I rather enjoyed it, even though I could see the ending from miles away.
Dental Troll (Lisa Godfrees) was sheer fun -- and a little younger, whilst L Jagi Lamplighter's HMS Mangled Treasure kept that light, humorous tone in a rather more serious (and disturbing) story.
Another more scifi offering was Domo by Joshua M Young, with sentient robots slightly reminiscent of Asimov.
Cameo (Linda Burklin) went back to something more fantasy, featuring a magical artifact with time-travelling properties and a murder mystery to solve. It had me thinking of Skyping Back in Time which has roughly the same premise.
Going back to the more freaky/weird were Clay's Fire (Kat Heckenbach), Ghost Roommate (Matthew Sketchley) and Baby, Don't Cry (R V Saunders) in a WTH, Paranormal, and Scifi way respectively. Oh wait, and
The Water Man (Sherry Rossman) as well, which I don't think I really got.
The final story in the anthology was Kerry Nietz's Graxin. It's a well-written story about an AI in space, reminiscent of Quinn's Containment. (Though Graxin was first published in 2012, so should that be the other way around?)
Anyway, as you can see, Mythic Orbits 2016 seems to have a little bit of everything, which makes it a rather hard thing to define.
Note: I received a sponsored copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes.
There isn't any single unifying factor that ties these stories together, other than that large umbrella term 'speculative fiction' and the fact that all writers are professing Christians. This resulted in a rather mish-mash offering (this is explained in the Editor's Introduction), in which case it comes across as more of a sampler than anything else.
Mark Venturini's The Bones Don't Lie is a stellar start to the book; fantasy with a slight religious bent.
The Disembodied Hand (Jill Domschot) turned a little more paranormal (and slightly creepy) as was Richard New's Escapee. Though I have to say I didn't quite expect the twist at the end of the latter.
Nether Ore by Kirk Outerbridge was another excellent piece -- and one of the more scifi ones, also with a lovely twist at the end! I'd like to read a sequel to this if there is one. (It's also a story I could imagine becoming a full novel, if it isn't already one)
Cindy Emmet Smith's A Model of Decorum was slightly predictable as a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but still very well-crafted. I rather enjoyed it, even though I could see the ending from miles away.
Dental Troll (Lisa Godfrees) was sheer fun -- and a little younger, whilst L Jagi Lamplighter's HMS Mangled Treasure kept that light, humorous tone in a rather more serious (and disturbing) story.
Another more scifi offering was Domo by Joshua M Young, with sentient robots slightly reminiscent of Asimov.
Cameo (Linda Burklin) went back to something more fantasy, featuring a magical artifact with time-travelling properties and a murder mystery to solve. It had me thinking of Skyping Back in Time which has roughly the same premise.
Going back to the more freaky/weird were Clay's Fire (Kat Heckenbach), Ghost Roommate (Matthew Sketchley) and Baby, Don't Cry (R V Saunders) in a WTH, Paranormal, and Scifi way respectively. Oh wait, and
The Water Man (Sherry Rossman) as well, which I don't think I really got.
The final story in the anthology was Kerry Nietz's Graxin. It's a well-written story about an AI in space, reminiscent of Quinn's Containment. (Though Graxin was first published in 2012, so should that be the other way around?)
Anyway, as you can see, Mythic Orbits 2016 seems to have a little bit of everything, which makes it a rather hard thing to define.
Note: I received a sponsored copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes.
January 24, 2019
Mythic Orbits 2016 is a short fiction anthology. It features speculative stories written by Christian authors, it is not "about orbits which are somehow mythical."
I thoroughly enjoyed each of these stories, though I do have favorites.
My favorite story was HMS Mangled Treasure, by L Jagi Lamplighter Wright. In this story a single mother goes after a gang of car pirates (yes you read that right) to reclaim her son's favorite toy. It is a tale of sorrow and wonder and you will enjoy every minute of it.
My second favorite was Cameo by Linda Burklin. Cameo combines my two favorite genres, time travel and ghost stories into one amazing narrative.
This would be a very long review if I let myself go into each story, so I won't but I will say that each story is unique and enjoyable.
I thoroughly enjoyed each of these stories, though I do have favorites.
My favorite story was HMS Mangled Treasure, by L Jagi Lamplighter Wright. In this story a single mother goes after a gang of car pirates (yes you read that right) to reclaim her son's favorite toy. It is a tale of sorrow and wonder and you will enjoy every minute of it.
My second favorite was Cameo by Linda Burklin. Cameo combines my two favorite genres, time travel and ghost stories into one amazing narrative.
This would be a very long review if I let myself go into each story, so I won't but I will say that each story is unique and enjoyable.
March 2, 2018
Good spec fiction collection
I really enjoyed this collection of speculative fiction. Most are fantasy of some type, but a couple are sci-fi. Dental Troll was one of my favorites, reminding me of the old versions of Faerie tales. I also liked the Red Riding Hood re-imagining.
I really enjoyed this collection of speculative fiction. Most are fantasy of some type, but a couple are sci-fi. Dental Troll was one of my favorites, reminding me of the old versions of Faerie tales. I also liked the Red Riding Hood re-imagining.
January 20, 2021
I know these stories fairly well - translation. I think they're all quite imaginative while still including many of the Christian values that exist. I'm sure I could say more, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone. WORTH READING!!
February 6, 2017
What a fascinating collection of stories! There is a little bit of everything in here, from ghosts to twisted fairy tales to robots to aliens. If you can’t find a story in this anthology that you like, there must be something wrong with you. Just kidding. But seriously, I was impressed with the breadth of speculative fiction that is represented in this collection.
Equally important to me was the variety of lengths of the pieces. I know that may sound weird, but if you only have a few minutes, there are some rather quick stories you can dip into and enjoy. On the other hand, some of the pieces are quite a bit longer, giving you something to really sink into and soak for a while.
While all the stories were good, I did have a few favorites: “Nether Ore” by Kirk Outerbridge, “Cameo” by Linda Burklin, “Clay’s Fire” by Kat Heckenbach, and “The Water Man” by Sherry Rossman, all stood out for me. I definitely recommend that you pick up a copy for yourself and see which stories you like best.
Review originally posted at http://laurinboyle.wordpress.com
Equally important to me was the variety of lengths of the pieces. I know that may sound weird, but if you only have a few minutes, there are some rather quick stories you can dip into and enjoy. On the other hand, some of the pieces are quite a bit longer, giving you something to really sink into and soak for a while.
While all the stories were good, I did have a few favorites: “Nether Ore” by Kirk Outerbridge, “Cameo” by Linda Burklin, “Clay’s Fire” by Kat Heckenbach, and “The Water Man” by Sherry Rossman, all stood out for me. I definitely recommend that you pick up a copy for yourself and see which stories you like best.
Review originally posted at http://laurinboyle.wordpress.com
February 2, 2017
Mythic Orbits is subtitled “best speculative fiction by Christian authors,” and it’s intended to be an annual anthology.
The 2016 edition is packed with well-written stories in a variety of speculative flavours, including fantasy, dystopian, paranormal, horror, and science fiction. Some are disturbing, some funny, some sweet. And some have happy endings.
You’ll meet fairies, monsters, robots, ghosts, and more… and humans from young to old.
Some stories have an overt Christian thread, others a more allegorical faith element, and others none at all. They’re all clean reads, although I did notice some of what I’d call minor swear words in a few places.
Definitely some powerful imaginations were at work for this project, and they’ve delivered an impressive collection of tales.
[Disclosure: I have a personal connection with one of the 14 authors, but I can review the other 13 stories and the overall collection without bias.]
The 2016 edition is packed with well-written stories in a variety of speculative flavours, including fantasy, dystopian, paranormal, horror, and science fiction. Some are disturbing, some funny, some sweet. And some have happy endings.
You’ll meet fairies, monsters, robots, ghosts, and more… and humans from young to old.
Some stories have an overt Christian thread, others a more allegorical faith element, and others none at all. They’re all clean reads, although I did notice some of what I’d call minor swear words in a few places.
Definitely some powerful imaginations were at work for this project, and they’ve delivered an impressive collection of tales.
[Disclosure: I have a personal connection with one of the 14 authors, but I can review the other 13 stories and the overall collection without bias.]
April 11, 2017
What an interesting collection of stories! It will appeal to a wide range of people. The variety of stories and writing styles keeps the pace moving, and it is great for anyone who likes sci-fi fiction.
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