Well, the Eating Season is officially upon us. I survived the surplus of Halloween candy and yesterday's eating festivities (including three pies*), so I'm off to the gym to fight the good fight. Wish me luck. I'll need it - This will be my first visit to the gym since World Fantasy.
But before I subject myself to a morning of pain and ridicule, I want to make my bid for the "Genre-gift-for-the-person-who-doesn't-read-genre" prize. We all have friends and family whom we love in spite of their indifference/disinterest/outright condemnation of genre. With some of these people, we've probably given up, but with others, we continue to hold out a bit of hope.
Even though I haven't quite finished it, my choice for the genre holiday gift for the non-genre reader is Best New Fantasy, edited by Sean Wallace from Prime Books. Here's why:
1. Size - This collection contains 16 stories at 237 pages. Sure, most genre readers have no problem tackling the mammoth 500-page anthologies with twice as many stories, but for those new to the field, this is the perfect size.
2. Price - At $12.95, you can afford to buy one for yourself and one (or two) for a friend. Or a potential friend. Or Uncle Stinky who thinks you're a freak anyway.
3. A little bit of everything. You've got fairy tales, historical stories, horror tales, slipstream, action, beautiful prose, weirdness, you name it. There's truly something for everyone here. Even Uncle Stinky.
There's my pitch.
* No, I didn't eat them all. Not quite.
2 comments:
You mean you didn't eat all the pies YET, right? Because you didn't leave pie just sitting there by itself, did you? Do you know what kind of trouble abandoned pie gets into if left to its own devices? My advice: go now and eat the pie. It's for the best. Really.
And I heartily agree about Best New Fantasy, though I'd be even more enthusiastic about it if I could figure out what the hell Joe Hill's story is about.
Fortunately -- even with seven other people around -- I was able to finish one of the aforementioned pies. (And it was outstanding.)
Yeah, the Joe Hill definitely begs for multiple readings as does the Holly Phillips story. But if a story doesn't make you want to read it again, what good is it?
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