Out of This World

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In this story, a bookstore clerk Ash finds himself in quite an unusual situation as he goes on a quest for the Norns. An interesting story about a young man, Arin, who works in a brothel and has to prove that he's innocent of killing a nobleman with poison. I received Out of This World for review and didn’t actually realize it was a middle-grade novel before starting it. It became fairly obvious as I read through, but it’s definitely one of those books that you have to keep pushing through to the end because it all makes much more sense and reaches a whole new level of awesome! When I say the collection is a unified stylistic whole, I’m not talking specifically of the titular theme of “queer speculative fiction.” While I appreciate the market targeting signaled by that title, non-default identity here is pervasive but casual. The characters, in their myriad genders and orientations, are all queer in some fashion, but queerness is never the central point of the story. It simply is. Someday we’ll be able to expect that sort of inclusion in stories without needing to be reassured of it in the marketing (which can have the down side of inspiring non-queer readers to pass on by). As many speculative fiction readers are aware of, LGBTQ characters are seldom seen in speculative fiction stories, because heterosexual characters can be found everywhere. LGBTQ characters have mostly been featured in novels and stories published by independent presses, because independent presses tend to be more open-minded towards elements concerning sexual orientation and gender issues than bigger presses. Because LGBTQ characters still remain rarities in modern speculative fiction, it's great that Catherine Lundoff writes about them and explores their lives.

I found this story entertaining, because it was fun to read about Judith, Will and Kit. I enjoyed the ending, because it was excellent. There are times when the characters feel the need to explain words or plot points to the reader, which is obviously to help newer readers, but this probably could have been done more subtly; show not tell and all ;-). Immortality, Shayne - Not my kind of story at all, but fans of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier might like it. I just don't care for dark psychological mysteries or those with their roots in paganism. Also, two smaller problems are that I saw the twist coming from the very beginning and this book didn't take place in outer space. The furthest it got from earth was an airplane ride, which didn't seem to fit the theme.I have to mention that this story was an unexpected pleasure, because it's a wholly successful combination of different elements. This book was great because there were many life lessons to be learned. There were also many adventures and brave feats accomplished along the way. One of my favorite ones was when Jenna and Zachary answered the riddles to save their lives. My ABSOLUTE favorite world was Tular's world. My favorite characters were: Zachary, Jenna, Wyland, Tular, and Lisgar. Oh, and the cover is AWESHOME! This is a book for young readers [especially 11 year olds] ;). But my mom loved it, too, and it's definitely a book I will reread throughout my life."

attention upon the invisible state until it has the feeling of reality. Chapter 3: The Power of Imagination I used to believe once that ours was the age in which we would say farewell to myths and legends, when they would fall off us like useless plumage and we would see ourselves clearly only as what we are. I thought the camera was the key to this process. But I think the world cannot bear to be only what it is. The world always wants another world, a shadow, an echo, a model of itself.” This wasn't an easy read, neither because of the subject matter nor because of the double narrative but because of the loose ends.However, the speculative is only part of the title, the fantastic only part of the adjectives given for these tales. These are stories of the queer fantastic. The protagonists found are lesbians, bisexual, gay, or “somehow queer-identified,” as Lundoff explains in her introduction. These are important to her, as a “bi/queer-identified writer,” and to such readers like me. That detective on another planet is transgender. “Beauty”, the vampire retelling of Beauty and the Beast is also a gay love story, a “bit of yaoi with vampires” (v). This vampire gay love story was among my favorites. Shakespeare’s sister has to pass as a man, thus she is a crossdresser. The tale of the witches is a lesbian love story, one marked by jealousy, and slightly less than expert spellcasting. “A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace,” another of my favorites, is about political intrigue, dynastic quarrels, body switching at the palace, among other things. As Lundoff asserts in the introduction, “We need to be able to see ourselves as heroes and villains, gods and monsters, knights and wizards, and fair ladies and dragons and all the points between” (v). I read this and cheered! However, I did want to note that a good story, and this is a collection of excellent stories, is a good story, and that the reader does not have to be “somehow queer-identified” to enjoy them. These are human stories, about the human condition and human experience, seen through the lens of fantastic fiction. Here are some answers to the question of what it means to be human, answers that are thoughtful, often funny, sometimes dark, and always, well told, by an award-winning writer with a gifted imagination and keen sense of language and story.