In a STARRED review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY praises Ellen Klages’ WICKED WONDERS.

Magical stories unfurl with marvelous subtlety in this delightful collection from Klages.

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Queer characters appear often, warmly included without any fuss. The emotional impact of the stories is carefully managed in a way that’s meant to sweep readers up, not knock them down. The tie that binds these works together is humanity, lovingly and quietly explored no matter the genre. 

BIBLIOPHIBIAN INC. enjoys the collection.

I was really interested to read more of Klages’ work after reading PASSING STRANGE. I think I’ve read one or two short stories before — one of the stories in here was definitely familiar — but I hadn’t consciously connected the author to them, if that makes any sense. Klages is a careful writer, as her afterword shows: she moves the words around until they’re just right, pays attention to pace and rhythm and all of that. It works: her stories are all readable and all seem to fit perfectly within the form.

It’s a good collection of stories, and I also enjoy the fact that there’s a section included on where each story came from and giving more details. There were one or two bits I hadn’t noticed about the stories, which is always fun to learn.

If you enjoy short stories, this is definitely a good collection; if you enjoy Ellen Klages’ work, doubtless you know what you’re in for. Either way, PASSING STRANGE is also worth a look…

Rating: 4/5

Photo: Scott R. Kline

Bridget McKinney at SF BLUESTOCKING is excited about the book.

After about a week-long reading slump (mostly due to getting stuck on a title I didn’t like but that had a concept too good for me to quit it right away), I just started an ARC of WICKED WONDERS by Ellen Klages (out May 2 from Tachyon Publications). I’ve only read the first story, but I’m already really excited about the rest. 

For more info on WICKED WONDERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story