The New Voices of Fantasy – Peter S. Beagle & Jacob Weisman

Most of the stories in this anthology are fairly strong, and none are terrible. There are several that could have used a stronger editorial hand, and some deal with very familiar themes without adding anything new to them. The strongest stories are:

• Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon – the dangers of desire. Strongly reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin, but very nicely written.
• The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu – the political systems of hymenopterae. I liked this less than when I first read it, but it’s still innovative, well written, and interesting.
• Here be Dragons by Chris Tarry – the life of a fake dragon hunter. A familiar concept, but largely well executed.
• Tiger Baby by JY Yang – a girl who dreams of her real self. A nice concept. As with several of the stories in this anthology, it weakens at the end, but it’s largely well done.
• Wing by Amal El-Mohtar – a mysterious girl with a secret. Again, the ending could have been stronger, but a largely successful mood piece.

All in all, an interesting but not exceptional collection.