Consolation Songs, edited by Iona Datt Sharma

[sophia_sol]

A lovely collection of short stories being sold with all proceeds going to support UCLH Charity's COVID-19 appeal. A thoroughly enjoyable book, with an intention that the stories within are at least somewhat optimistic. Also they're all various flavours of sff. Also a high percentage of queerness. All of which is WHAT I WANT out of a story so YAY.

The stories I loved the most (I HAD FEELINGS) were, in order of appearance:

• Storm Story by Llinos Cathryn Thomas, about people working together to survive on a generation ship crossing an endless ocean in search of land


• Bethany, Bethany by Lizbeth Myles, about changelings and sisterhood


• Seaview on Mars by Katie Rathfelder, about having survived the early hard years of a colony establishing itself on a new world, and how to live in it now that you're old and the colony's thriving


• A Hundred and Seventy Storms by Aliette de Bodard, about a spaceship who's a person and her human cousin, doing their best to support each other in difficult circumstances


• This is New Gehesran Calling by Rebecca Fraimow, about a diaspora being connected to their community and their identity in various ways via underground radio

My second-favourite stories (still all very good!) were:

• Upside the Head by Marissa Lingen, about a concussion researcher with an experimental treatment to help people with post-concussion syndrome recover, and the hockey players who grow in new directions as a result. I felt invested in the concussion researcher and her work, but I felt a bit distant from the experimental subjects.


• Four by Freya Marske, about seeing the good in the world and in other people and continuing on, even when there are still bad things that happen, and also about the four horsepeople of the apocalypse. I struggled with remembering names because three different significant characters had names with very similar vibes to me, so I kept getting Felicity and Patricia and Olivia mixed up with each other, which made it challenging to follow. And I was sad that uh Olivia's (I think??? it was Olivia?) story didn't have a happy resolution within the narrative, but the overall feel of the story was still really lovely and great.


• St Anselm-by-the-Riverside by Iona Datt Sharma, about an alternate-universe Earth dealing with a Chilling instead of global warming, and a completely different pandemic. A little too close to home for me to be fully into it right now, and I had a brief moment near the beginning where I thought the fantasy plot stuff was going in a COMPLETELY different direction than it actually was and now I secretly want that story instead, but as a story it's still very good despite the things I was bringing to it.

I found The Girls Who Read Austen and Love, Your Flatmate to be just kind of boring to me, I didn't love the (unintentional?) thematic implications of Low Energy Economy that the abject suffering of workers under capitalism is worth it because the work they do allows other people to thrive, and I don't feel like I quite followed enough of the beginning of Of A Female Stranger for the payoff to be successful for me.

So yes, not every story worked for me, because that's just the nature of short story collections, but a very respectable percentage of them did! Sometimes I finish a collection having only felt strongly about a couple stories in it, but this one didn't have that problem. A good collection, very worth reading, and your money goes to a good cause!

Comments

[skygiants]

Aw thank you, I'm really glad you enjoyed the anthology! :D

[sophia_sol]

Me too! Your story was one of the best parts of it :)

[skygiants]

<33333

[genarti]

I loved Freya Marske's story, I know she loves Good Omens, and I literally ONLY JUST NOW realized that they were meant to be the four horsemen instead of a general Friendship With Different Suburban Woman Tropes in a general Magic In Suburbia story. I'm laughing at myself so much now! (In my defense, I read very few Revelations-inspired stories as a kid, and lots of magic-in-suburbia stories.)

[sophia_sol]

lolll, fair! I only picked up on it when the viewpoint character got out the scythe, because that's such a metaphoric-resonance-loaded symbol. If there wasn't a scythe I don't think I'd have noticed either. Honestly I think I would have preferred it as NOT being about the four horsemen, despite being a person who also loves Good Omens, but oh well!

[lokifan]

This sounds lovely! Definitely on my list.

[sophia_sol]

Wonderful, I hope you enjoy it! :)