Talebones, Summer 2007 (#35)  (http://www.talebones.com)

If you haven't picked up a copy of Talebones before now, you should really give it a try. Apart from the fact that it's one of the nicest of the small fiction magazines out there (habitually good covers and interior paper that rivals most hardcover novels), it almost always has a selection of good stories that are well worth reading. The Summer 2007 issue is no different, and has a slick cover by Richard Pellegrino (http://www.richpellegrino.com).

Talebones features science fiction and dark fantasy as a rule, but this issue is rather heavy on the dark fantasy side. Not a bad thing, if that's to your taste.

Wolf Song by William F. Nolan

A lycanthropy story that is the anchor for this issue, Nolan's story shows an alternative side to being a werewolf. With the explosion of the "paranormal" sub-genre of dark fantasy in the last several years, we're used to seeing werewolves (and were-bears, and were-sloths, and were-buffalo) in rather a more positive light than we did before. But while Nolan's story does continue in that vein to some extent, it doesn't follow the current standard of "let's mainstream those poor werewolves." Instead, it embraces the traditional idea of lycanthropes as monsters, but sees it as a blessing, rather than a curse.

While not an exceedingly complex or awe-inspiring story, it is nonetheless a quite enjoyable read and a good solid piece. There are times that Nolan's narrative drags a little, but that's not a big deal here, and the story certainly scores a plus on the balance sheet.

Landing Day by Michael Canfield

This story is also heavily character-driven, following an astronaut and her criminal father in juxtaposed scenes on Earth (him) and landing on an alien planet for the first time (her). It explores how people react to – and change with – the catastrophic events that they face.

An enjoyable tale, well written and digging into the psyche of both father and daughter. Canfield avoids the all-too familiar tendency of some SF writers to dwell too much on the science/tech side of the astronaut daughter, instead sticking with the character-oriented nature that’s this story’s strength.

Two by Jack Skillingstead

It’s hard to describe this story without giving spoilers, which is something I don’t want to do. Suffice it to say that it’s a creation story. Skillingstead has talent, that much is clear, both from this story and from his strong sales to Asimov’s. This story doesn’t seem to really make it, though. An old story, told well, but not quite well enough to overcome the cliché.

Sweep Me to My Revenge! by Darrell Schweitzer

It’s hard to pass up a story that combines time travel and literary criticism with Elizabethan history. Okay, so perhaps not the lit crit, but Darrell Schweitzer does a nice job with this story that deals with the Shakespeare authorship issue in a novel way. The main character, a professor of Shakespearean literature, goes back in time to prove that Shakespeare did write his works, with untoward results.

My quibbles with this story aren’t big, although they did bug me (mostly because I trained as a historian. The portions of the story that take place in Elizabethan England don’t quite ring true. For example, the main character makes a point of getting some antique coins before time traveling – gold angels and sovereigns, to be exact. And while back in time, he goes to a tavern and, presumably, spends them. But this is the equivalent of going to a bar and paying for a beer with a thousand-dollar bill.

With the exception of the historical issues, though, it was an enjoyable story, if not an exceptional one.

Mildred's Garden by James C. Glass

It's often thought that talking to your plants and giving them love (as well as taking care of them) will have positive benefits. But how about the reverse -- what if treating them cruelly also has an effect? That's the premise in this story, and it's a real concern when the plants aren't simply shrinking violets. The main character of this story is as much the garden itself as it is Mildred the gardener, and the story chronicles what happens to both when the garden is attacked.

Another very enjoyable story, which is no surprise coming from Glass, who won the grand prize in the Writer's of the Future contest back in 1990. A few relatively minor issues, but I don't want to spoil it for you, since this is a good, solid story that's well worth your time.

The Old Husband's Tale by Patricia Russo

This is a short little story about growing old with someone, and some of the pitfalls that can come along with it.

My biggest problem with this story is that it doesn’t actually feel all that much like a story, more like a vignette. There’s character change, sure, but not a lot of story surrounding it. While well-written, this one left me a bit unsatisfied.

Death Comes But Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal

This story follows the main character, who takes advantage of the elixir of a doctor he knows to try and understand the suicide of his elder brother. Not surprisingly, the quest takes a turn he doesn't expect... I can't really say too much more without turning this into a spoiler.

Kowal does a nice job with this story -- it's short, to the point and elegant. It doesn't stray from the base idea and its implications -- and its results. The story is clearly based in works like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other such period pieces, but it's only vaguely a pastiche of such works. Although the format of the story brings those to mind, the text is more up-to-date and comfortable to the modern audience (but without being out-of-place with the story). My only quibble with it is that I'm not sure the title really fits, but that's little enough in the scope of things.

This was probably my favorite of the issue, even above the Nolan and Glass pieces.

A Little Animal Throb by Andrew Tisbert

This is a little ghost story that isn’t really quite what it seems – indeed, it may take you a moment or two at the end to realize the implication. And oddly enough, written in the second person, which is rare, and which works even more rarely. It works here, though – it’s hardly noticeable, but in the end puts you a little more closely in with the main character and her situation.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure about this story to start with – part of its story involves getting you to make some assumptions and then to turn those assumptions upside down. In a way, it almost does this too well, which made it take a little longer for me to get the point than perhaps it should have. Nevertheless, definitely a good story.

Iron Ties by Hayden Trenholm

A story that finds its roots in the author's experiences working with survivors of the Canadian Indian Residential Schools. It follows the story of David Absalom as he goes from an inner-city heroin dealer enmeshed in modern-day society to being on the brink of returning to his native roots.

This story seemed to move from the opaque (the connection of the main character to Indian (or First Nation) society is never made very clear -- indeed, I'm not sure I would have seen the connection clearly if not for its mention in the editorial introduction) to the heavy-handed (naming the character Absalom in a Biblical or possibly Faulknerian reference to a wayward child attempting to push aside or escape from the empire his "fathers" placed him in. While David Absalom does grow in the story, it's from a relatively unrealistic and unsympathetic odd-man-out figure (he uses heroin but isn't affected by it) to a far-too grounded character on the verge of being handed the keys to all his life's puzzles by a mysterious stranger. I'm pretty sure there were a number of allusions to mythical or other stories (the iron spike in Victor's side, for instance), but while they may have been clear to the author, they weren't to me.

I'm afraid this one didn't do it for me.

I wish I could review the poems in this issue -- there are five of them -- but alas, that's an area in which I can't even pretend competency. Pick up this issue and see what you think of them yourself -- I don't think you'll be sorry.

And while you're at it -- you should subscribe to Talebones...