smalltimereads

Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J Miller will be published by Tachyon Publications on 14 June 2022. I received an early copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Although, fun fact- Tachyon actually reached out to me in January to ask if I wanted to review the book, I just didn't see their email until I'd already requested it on NetGalley. A good reminder to check that email more often, and also very exciting to me!)

Boys, Beasts & Men is a short-story collection, which are always difficult for me to review, because part of me wants to just review the stories individually, but I also know that, as a collection, they're part of a whole, and care was taken to determine what stories would go in, and in what order. This collection was well-chosen, and the title is a perfect summation of what the stories are about.

There's a wonderful triple punch in Boys, Beasts & Men- "Calved," followed by "When Your Child Strays from God," and finally "Things With Beards." The first two stories work well together, both stories of parents learning more about their children and dealing with issues of their own. "Calved" was devastating, both the world it's set in and Thede's father trying to connect with Thede and the consequences of that. "When Your Child Strays from God" was a more hopeful story of parental connection, and had some absolute stunners of sentences in it. Miller says he wrote it right after "Calved," and the two of them are a fascinating conversation (also- I love that there's a section at the end where Miller talks about each of his stories). "Things With Beards" doesn't really have much connection with the first two stories, but it follows them, and the three of them are my favorite in the collection, so. It's a continuance of John Carpenter's The Thing The Movie 1982, and it's about fighting for police reform, and it's about passing, and more- it's a lot of stuff I really like, and I was delighted and intrigued.

I also really enjoyed "Angel, Monster, Man," because I love stories about how symbols mean different things to different people, and myths becoming real, and all that jazz. The collection has a framing device throughout, and the transition from the second to last framing section to the last story to the final framing section was excellent.

My biggest problem with this book is that the starting story, "Allosaurus Burgers," is the one I found the weakest. I read the first three stories, and an hour later couldn't remember anything about "Allosaurus Burgers," which was pretty disappointing, considering it had a dinosaur in it and also was the start of the collection. It definitely didn't ruin the book, but it did color my reading of the rest of it.

Over all, it's a strong collection of stories with themes I'm really into, dark and interesting, and I'm interested in checking out Miller's other works.

In Calabria was published by Tachyon Publications, an independent sff publisher.

I think I'm just not that into Peter S. Beagle's recent books, which is disappointing considering how much I love his older ones. But between In Calabria and Summerlong, it feels like the magic has been...not entirely lost, but lessened.

Everything with the unicorn was lovely- Beagle has a way of writing them that really makes me believe in their wonderful otherness. You can't see a unicorn without somehow being changed by it. The everyday farm scenes and descriptions of the farm and the little town life were charming. Bianchi and Gio were lovely characters.

The plot was fine. There wasn't anything wrong with it, and I do enjoy stories of people coming together to protect one another, but it didn't excite me either. And the romance. There are times I've enjoyed older man/younger woman romances, but they have to be pretty special and also not feature several moments in which the man recalls knowing the woman as a child. There wasn't anything skeevy about the relationship when it happened, but I just don't really like the dynamic.

Also: there is a short but graphic scene featuring cat death.

In Calabria wasn't awful! But it was just ok, and I am disappointed.

This book was published by Tachyon Publications, an independent SFF press that strikes me as very "classic" SFF. Peter S Beagle, Patricia McKilip, lots of anthologies.

I've read at least five books by Peter S Beagle, but I always find myself comparing them to The Last Unicorn. Not in a bad way, but because The Last Unicorn is one of the most beautiful books I've read, and because the movie meant so much to me as a kid.

Summerlong doesn't have the lyrical prose of The Last Unicorn, and that's ok- it takes place in Washington state, and that's a location that works better with the more straightforward prose of Summerlong. And Beagle still writes magic as wonderfully as ever, whether high fantasy or no.

I really liked that it follows an older couple, who have been together for decades but still have their own lives independent of one another. Lily was also great, and I loved her complicated relationship with Joanna. The way they obviously cared about each other but also just...didn't always understand or get along with one another is a complex but real family dynamic, and one I always forget I enjoy until I come across it.

I thought the Persephone and Hades reveals were well done, with hints liberally sprinkled throughout but also a good amount of ambiguity. And neither of them ever seemed really human, which I always appreciate.

The biggest problem for me, that kept me from enjoying the book as much as I would have liked, is my hatred of cheating, especially 'older man ill-advisedly cheats with younger woman.' It did result in the excellent kayaking chapter with Joanna and Lily, and heavily contributed to the bittersweet ending, which I did like, but the fact it happened really soured me on the book. It was still good! But I didn't love it the way I wanted to.