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October 20, 2020

A gorgeous, decadent collection, THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS showcases some of Jane Yolen’s best dark stories

Rick Klaw blog haunted by deadlines, how to fracture a fairy tale, Jane Yolen, jonathan thorton, nonstop reader, rebecca herzog, review, sloth reads, the emerald circus, the fantasy hive, the midnight circus 0

The beloved Jane Yolen dazzles with her latest collection, THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS.

HAUNTED BY DEADLINES enjoys the collection.

THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS is a decadent collection of immersive fairytales from a seasoned American author.

[…]

As a whole, this collection of a career’s worth of successes is a celebration of an American author that is often times called a modern Hans Christian Andersen. Frankly, I think Yolen reaches far beyond tragic girls and their macabre endings.

NONSTOP READER agrees.

I enjoyed every single story in this collection; there were no weak ones. All of these have been published previously and date from the last several decades. Many of the stories are quite difficult to find and several were new to me in any form. One reason I prefer collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It’s spare and the author doesn’t have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love collections because if one story doesn’t really grab me, there’s another story just a few pages away. I can only recall a few times where I’ve read a collection (or anthology) straight through from cover to cover. This one I did. I even re-read the stories which I had read before.

[…]

A worthwhile collection for Yolen fans, readers of fantasy and speculative fiction, and folks who just appreciate well written fiction. She’s a master writer with a prodigious oeuvre and these are some of her best dark stories.

Five stars. Gorgeous.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale — Covers by Elizabeth Story

As does Rebecca Herzog on SLOTH READS.

I have had my eye on THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS for months and months and I was so excited to get a digital ARC copy. I read and reviewed both THE EMERALD CIRCUS and HOW TO FRACTURE A FAIRY TALE when they first came out and I enjoyed them both. I do believe that THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS is my favorite of the three. Probably because I always enjoy a good dark fairy tale.

Jane Yolen is the queen of the fairy tale genre and this collection of her previously published stories had everything I have come to expect from a master storyteller. Each of these stories had a level of spookiness that I relished. There was one story in particular that unsettled me enough to get up and check on the kiddos in bed to make sure that the Redcap hadn’t stolen them away.

[…]

If you’re looking to read some excellent dark fantasy, definitely check out this collection.

At THE FANTASY HIVE, Jonathan Thorton completes this quartet of praise.

THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS explores an unexpected aspect of a beloved author and reminds us why Yolen’s writing means so much to us. Like Tachyon’s previous anthologies of Yolen’s work, THE EMERALD CIRCUS (2017) and HOW TO FRACTURE A FAIRY TALE (2018), not only does THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS provide a strong overview of this particular aspect of Yolen’s writing, it is also accompanied by Yolen’s own notes on each story, plus a poem she has selected to complement each story. These notes give fascinating insight into Yolen’s approach and process, and the poems show that Yolen is a first rate poet as well, highlighting the attention she pays to word choice, rhythm and imagery in her writing. As such, THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS is essential reading for all fans of Yolen’s work, especially those who are less familiar with the darker side of her imagination.

April 20, 2020

Lavie Tidhar is one of the most exciting writers working in speculative fiction today

Rick Klaw blog by force alone, gareth d jones, heinrich bolton, interview, jonathan thorton, lavie tidhar, many books, review, sfcrowsnest, the fantasy hive, the violent century, unholy land 0

Unholy Land; cover by Sarah Anne Langton — Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

In an extensive interview for THE FANTASY HIVE, Jonathan Thorton calls Lavie Tidhar “one of the most working in speculative fiction today.” The discussion ranges far and wide, covering most of Tidhar’s books.

Your novel UNHOLY LAND came out last year with Tachyon, and mixes metafiction with an alternate history where the Jewish state is set up in East Africa. Where did this mix of ideas come from?

I really think of the book as a sort of coda. I wrote Osama, THE VIOLENT CENTURY and A Man Lies Dreaming and I think UNHOLY LAND is kind of like the coda to those three books. The new books that are coming out, By Force Alone and The Escapement, are very very different. I’ve moved on. These books were kind of doing the political alternate history noir thing, you know, its own genre. Its own very specific mini-genre! And UNHOLY LAND kind of just takes it to the extreme. I mean it’s been up for like five awards and its reviews have been very good, but no one actually read it I think, and I can’t necessarily blame them. It’s a book that doesn’t give a shit in some ways, it just says well I’m going to do my thing. So it does the metafiction, it comments on itself. Which is what the other books have done but not as explicitly. It talks about how detective fiction works, how we construct reality. The whole book is really about how we construct the reality we see through fiction. The whole Israel/Palestine thing is fascinating, because it is the same place, the same location, the same geography, told by two different people in a very different way. I thought, that’s fascinating. And China Mieville did it very well with The City And The City, but that’s not to say no one else should tackle it.

The Violent Century; cover by Sarah Anne Langton — Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

Heinrich Bolton at MANY BOOKS includes Tidhar’s THE VIOLENT CENTURY in Books Like Wild Cards (Part Two).

Another element that fans of Wild Cards will enjoy is that even though many of the characters in this book have superpowers, they are still flawed and filled with doubts and fears. It also results in a story that is a lot more somber and less focused on over the top action than typical superhero stories.

For SFCROWNSNEST, Gareth D. Jones praises By Force Alone.

If you come to the book expecting something classically Arthurian or pleasantly Tolkienesque, then you’ll be in for a shock. If you’re looking for something riotously, uncompromisingly graphic and frenzied, then this book well certainly stand out from the crowd.