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Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection Of Steampunk Fables (2013)

by Stephen L. Antczak(Favorite Author)

3.32 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

045146494X (ISBN13: 9780451464941)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Roc Trade

review 1: Wobbly collection. Starting off with strong re-workings by K.W. Jeter (La Valse) and Steven Harper (Fair Vasyl) - the remainder of the collection struggled. Most authors seemed to struggle to try to push all the required buttons in a short stories span and failed to do it in an unforced, "look, there's the fairytale part; look, there's the steampunk part!" kinda way. Middling were the pieces by Kat Richardson (The Hollow Hounds), Nancy A. Collins (Mose and the Automatic Fireman), G.K. Hayes (The Clockwork Suit), and Pip Ballantine (The Mechanical Wings). These stories just never gelled - often tripping over themselves and in the case of "Automatic Fireman" - leaving behind a "so what?" residue. Bottom of the barrel: Paul Di Filippo's overly affected "The Kings of Moun... moret Golden", Jay Lake's awfully muddled "You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens", and, in last place, "The Steampiper, The Stovepiper, and the Pied Piper of New Hamelin Texas" by Gregory Nicoll. The twee title should be warning enough to waste no further time - but if venturing on, the author's constant need to wink and raise an eyebrow at his own cleverness are regrettable: "you're the kind of man who likes to try all three." Dumbly crafted.
review 2: I love fairy tales, and I love steampunk... but I have to admit that I love steampunk more as a visual style. I'm still trying to figure out if I really like it as a fiction genre. Maybe not... if it's a good story I like it regardless of the steampunk or not, but if the fact that it's steampunk is all it's got, I'm not so excited. I had to rush to return this book to the library (I had it too long without getting time to read it) and so I admit I missed a few of the stories towards the end, but overall I wasn't all that in love with most of the stories I did read. They seemed a bit 'cold' to me, they were intricate, but they didn't have enough heart. (which I admit is an apropos, but not insincere, criticism of a steampunk book) Or maybe it's just me, I don't always do that well with short stories. There were a few in here I did enjoy - I think the one that stuck with me the most is the one about baba yaga (Fair Vasyl) - but mostly I forgot the stories even as I read them. less

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