Nov 10 2022

Into The Forest: Tales Of The Baba Yaga edited by Lindy Ryan

I love the idea of this anthology that collects works from 26 different women worldwide, all on the theme of the mythical Baba Yaga. It’s a really rich subject open to different, intriguing interpretations. For those of you unfamiliar with the myth, our subject is the old wise woman of Slavic lore, who lives in a house that walks on chicken legs, dispensing terror or justice as the mood strikes. Christina Henry’s excellent foreword points out that Baba Yaga wasn’t necessarily ever just one figure either, but was sometimes three, often sisters, but always otherworldly and beholden only to her or their own rules.

Fitting, then, that she’s the subject of this fiercely feminist grouping of tales. Her ambiguous reputation provides fertile ground for the speculative fiction author. Is she a benefactress or beastly or both? Is she something to be run towards in hope or run away from in horror? I found that my favorite stories of this bunch definitely leaned more towards the former than the latter, but that’s the beauty of this collection, its absolute openness to any variation on the theme.

That is also, perhaps, its greatest weakness. In its eagerness to accept any spin on the tale, the anthology occasionally loses coherence, as the tone whipsaws wildly between moods instead of building gradually to an overarching whole. The ending, for example, felt better left to the quietly poetic Baba Yaga In Repose by Heather Miller. Instead Saba Syed Razvi’s equally poetic but much more metaphorical, almost anthropological, Shadow And Branch, Ghost Fruit Among The Lullabies provides an unnecessary coda that pulls focus from the lady in question to talk about the women she haunts instead. I can understand the argument that those inspired by her are more important in the long run than the witch herself, but I didn’t really come here to read about them, did I? Centering her influence instead of her actions makes this collection feel more like sociology than fiction, more like textbook than entertainment.

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Nov 08 2022

Bipolar Bear And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable For Grownups by Kathleen Founds

As someone who has had the most frustrating experience with the United States’ health insurance system — my insurance company refused to pay for the $200+/month asthma medication my doctor prescribed because it can… also be used to treat COPD? Cigna is garbage — I found this book deeply relatable.

Theodore Bear is bipolar, and wants to figure out how to manage the condition. A friend tells him about medication, and he decides that that sounds like a good idea. But in order to get pills, he’ll have to get a job that pays him both money and health insurance, which requires that he put off getting treatment until he qualifies for that latter. Unsurprisingly, his mental state does not improve while he “proves” that he’s “worthy” of getting health insurance. Finally being able to see a psychiatrist and get the prescriptions he needs feels like a massive achievement because, frankly, it is.

And then he gets the medical bills. Theodore has to navigate a labyrinth of bureaucracy in order to figure out why he owes so much money, even with insurance. The answer further aggravates his mental state, sending him into a spiral that finally lands him in debtor’s prison. Fortunately, he soon acquires a network of friends who rally with him to fight back against the oppressive system and attempt to make meaningful change for everyone, including poor Theodore himself.

Anyone who’s been at the mercy of the US’ byzantine for-profit health insurance system will find themselves nodding along grimly at the scenes depicted in this book. It is utterly bizarre that one of the richest countries in the world so stridently espouses the idea that healthcare should only go to people considered worthy, which for the most part means the capitalism-approved “productive” members of society and those lucky enough to be their dependents. Progressive politicians and their supporters are working to fix this injustice but the sheer number of empathy-deficient jerkfaces trying to stop us is equal parts bewildering and infuriating.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/08/bipolar-bear-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-health-insurance-a-fable-for-grownups-by-kathleen-founds/

Nov 04 2022

Stolen Words / kimotinâniwiw itwêwina by Melanie Florence & Gabrielle Grimard

with Cree translations by Dolores Sand & Gayle Weenie.

Happy Native American Heritage Month! Meant to post this earlier but had the worst time finding this book in the mess that is currently my household, the result of two busy working adults and three small children who can make an outsize mess.

Anyhoo, my eight year-old twins’ school recently asked parents to sign up and buy a diversity read book for the third grade students, shared between classrooms. Being an overachiever, I bought several, but was so intrigued by this title that I bought myself and the kids a copy with the Plains Cree (y-dialect) translation included. I’ve been reading enough work by American Indian authors lately that their different languages continue to fascinate me, even as I wish I had enough time to apply myself to learning any of them in addition to the French and Arabic I’m already working on. This book has both the original English text and the Cree translations on the same two-page spreads, with a brief pronunciation guide in the back for the key Cree words used in the English.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/04/stolen-words-kimotinaniwiw-itwewina-by-melanie-florence-gabrielle-grimard/

Nov 03 2022

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

The Grief of Stones begins with the execution of a murderer uncovered by Thara Celehar in The Witness for the Dead. His friend Anora is trying to talk him out of attending, saying Celehar is punishing himself, and Celehar replies that he believes he has a responsibility. The friend loses the argument, though both of them are right. Once there, “I reminded myself of the women [the prisoner] had murdered, after seducing each one into believing he loved her.” (p. 2) Celehar takes no satisfaction in the execution, and after the event he reflects, “Maybe now I could stop dreaming of his wives.” (p. 2)

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

While on the surface The Grief of Stones is a charming, almost cozy recollection of incidents in the life of Thara Celehar, prelate of Ulis and Witness for the Dead, there is an undercurrent pulling at both Celehar and the reader, drawing them into the depths of how far Celehar is willing to go for his witnessing, and what it will cost him. In the world that Katherine Addison has developed in two books about Celehar and The Goblin Emperor, a Witness for the Dead can contact people newly deceased and return with limited information from the remains of the person’s consciousness. Judicially, they also represent the dead person and are required to always tell the truth about the results of their inquiries. Once asked by a living person to witness for someone, they become investigators, not formally a magistrate, but recognized by law and custom. The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones are in a way fantasy cousins of the mystery novels featuring English vicars.

Celehar’s first investigation is slightly unusual within his cultural context: he is called by the Marquess Ulzhavel to witness for his late wife. It is unusual in that the Marquise has been dead for more than three months, and thus the ability to contact the newly departed will be useless. The Marquess has discovered evidence that she was murdered — a threatening note — and he is adamant that he does not want a judicial Witness, but an advocate for his wife, a Witness for the Dead. Celehar agrees to take the case.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/03/the-grief-of-stones-by-katherine-addison/

Nov 02 2022

Ralph Azham Vol 2: The Land of the Blue Demons by Lewis Trondheim

Wonderfully translated from the original French by Joe Johnson, and with truly magnificent colors by Brigitte Findakly.

Now that Ralph has discovered the truth behind not only the identity of the ruler of Astolia but also the fate of the other children marked by their superpowers as Blueys, he’s decided that the enemy of his enemy must be his friend. With this maxim in mind, he endeavors to travel to the far-off land ruled by Vom Syrus, the warlord who’d struck so much fear into his little village in the first book in this graphic novel series, and bid for an alliance.

His curmudgeonly father decides not to come with him, having secret plans of his own. So Ralph strikes out with his best friend, the religious young mage Yassou, hoping to come up with a plan as they travel to Vom Syrus’ domain. In the port city where they’re hoping to charter a ship, they encounter trouble, in the form of both an alluring cat burglar turned ally, as well as the young oracles who roam the streets, collecting tithes and giving pronouncements on the fate of penitents. One of these oracles almost immediately accuses Ralph of planning to rob the church, which is enough in this town to get him thrown into jail. But no prison can really hold Ralph when he sets his wily mind to escape it.

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Oct 31 2022

Uncanny Times (Huntsmen #1) by Laura Anne Gilman

What a fun way to get into the mood for spooky season, as we follow a pair of sibling monster hunters on the trail of an unusual killer in early 20th century New York!

To most eyes, Rosemary and Aaron Harker are an orphaned brother and sister living quietly as adults in New Haven, Connecticut, with their over-sized dog, Botheration. Sometimes they travel, as when they’re summoned north to the town of Brunson by Margaret Lovelace, the widow of their distant relative, Uncle Tucker. Aunt Margaret herself is only passing on one of his final requests: should he die, Rosemary and Aaron must be summoned to investigate.

For the Harkers are Huntsmen, a bloodline that specializes in hunting the Uncanny, the catch-all term for the supernatural creatures that prey on humanity. Their remit is to use deadly force against those that kill, and to be prepared to act in self-defense. Castigated by the Church as unclean, Huntsmen form a worldwide network dedicated to protecting humankind against killers that very few want to admit are real. Usually, they’re called in by others of their association to investigate reports of Uncanny slayings, or to assist in the termination of same. Being invited on the vague terms of their aunt by marriage is something new, but a summons they’re ready and willing to answer.

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Oct 29 2022

Premature Evaluation: The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson

In the first hundred pages of the book of her translation of The Odyssey, Emily Wilson introduces readers to this three thousand year old epic poem that is one of the foundations of Western literature. She opens doorways to the poem for readers not already well versed in Homer, but she also makes clear that what readers find through those doors will be a strange and different world, where people act differently because the things that matter to them are different from modern concerns. Wilson explores some of the long-lived questions surrounding the poem — Who was Homer? When was The Odyssey composed? — and some of the concepts that run through the poem that modern readers might want to know more about before sailing on Homer’s seas of verse: the Homeric world; gods; friends, strangers, guests; the roles of women; becoming a man; slaves; Odysseus’ choices; people in the poem who hate Odysseus; endings; how The Odyssey has been seen through the centuries. Before that, though, she bids readers welcome.

The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson

Modern connotations of the word “epic” are in some ways misleading when we turn to the Homeric poems, the texts that begin the Western epic tradition. The Greek word epos means simply “word” or “story” or “song.” It is related to a verb meaning “to say” or “to tell,” which is used (in a form with a prefix) in the first line of the poem. The narrator commands the Muse, “Tell me”: enn-epe. And epic poem is, at root, simply a tale that is told. (p. 1)

Odysseus, for anyone who would like a brief refresher, is one of the men who went off to fight in the Trojan War, a story told in The Iliad, the other Homeric epic (which I still have not read, despite several attempts). He left his wife Penelope and infant son Telemachus behind on their home island of Ithaca. This edition of The Odyssey provides several maps of the ancient Greek world, so readers need never feel lost, at least geographically. The war lasted ten years, and another ten years have passed since its end, and still Odysseus has not returned. The Odyssey tells the story of his attempts to return. It also tells the stories of the people left behind, and indeed the first several books of the epic follow his son, Telemachus, as he makes his own journey to try to find out what has happened to his father. Penelope has remained faithful to Odysseus, but she is beset by aggressive suitors, who want her to declare Odysseus dead and choose one of them to take his place. In the meantime, they are abusing Greek laws of hospitality and eating her out of house and home. Telemachus, though nearly grown, is not strong enough to battle the suitors alone.

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Oct 28 2022

Smurf Tales #5: The Golden Tree And Other Tales by Peyo

There are four different stories collected in this volume and I was kinda surprised by which ones my favorites were!

It seems almost churlish to say that the two that were fine but not otherwise astounding were the tales that bookend the volume, both classic Smurfs tales created, if not completely birthed, by comics legend Peyo himself. The shorter one, which he wrote and did the art for, was actually my preferred of the two, as The Miniature Smurfs tells its cute tale of a green witch miniaturizing and kidnapping various woodland denizens, including several Smurfs, as a gift for her granddaughter. The tale is punchy, sweet and not over-long, with a comeuppance for series nemesis Gargamel to go with the lesson the granddaughter learns about empathy and kindness.

In contrast, the titular opener feels like it drags on for quite a while. After the Smurfs’ ceremonial golden pole, made from the remains of a rare tree, is struck by lightning and burnt to a crisp, bad luck seems to plague their village. Papa Smurf knows this is nonsense, but try persuading the superstitious Smurfs that they make their own luck. So off Papa Smurf goes to find them a new rare tree around which to dance and ensure prosperity for the village for another year. Hijinks ensue.

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Oct 27 2022

Love From Mecca To Medina (Love From A To Z #2) by S.K. Ali

First, I want to say that I really did eventually enjoy this book but OMG, the parts I hated were so aggravating!

I think about 75% of my irritation with the first half of the book would have been eliminated if this had been marketed as a contemporary romance instead of a Young Adult. Because not only are Zayneb and Adam in their 20s when this novel starts, they’ve also been married for a while, so it’s deeply weird that this book is marketed at teens instead of a general audience.

But here’s the other weird thing. If I’d known this was meant to be a romance novel, with a HEA or HFN guaranteed, I would have been mentally prepared to put up with the absolute shit decisions our protagonists make over the course of the story, all in service of “not worrying” the other. The genre is well known for its manufactured drama, and if I had been assured that the protagonists would sweetly reaffirm their commitment to each other by the end, I wouldn’t have felt so stressed out at how deeply stupid they were being in the process. I want Muslim novels and Muslim romances to succeed, but going in cold (i.e. not having read the first book in the series — I meant to, but my TBR pile is too large!) made me fear that this would be a cautionary tale against getting married young and for lust-filled reasons.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/10/27/love-from-mecca-to-medina-love-from-a-to-z-2-by-s-k-ali/

Oct 26 2022

Native Realm by Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz has a captivating mind. In Native Realm he invites readers to join him on what his subtitle calls “A Search for Self-Definition,” and is a journey from the wooded interior of what is today Lithuania, where he was born into a family of Polish-speaking gentry, through his young adulthood in interwar Warsaw, past the terrible crucible of the Second World War in Nazi-occupied Poland, and finally into postwar political exile after he broke with the Communist government and his own socialist tendencies. When Native Realm was first published in 1959 (the English translation dates to 1968), his long and fruitful years in California were ahead of him, as was his Nobel Prize. The Communist yoke seemed firmly settled on Poland. Milosz could see where it fit poorly, but even he could not see it being loosened. Twenty-one years after Native Realm was published in English, Poland held its first semi-free elections since World War II; every Communist candidate who was on the ballot was voted out. Milosz eventually returned to his native country, dying in its ancient capital of Krakow in 2004.

Native Realm by Czeslaw Milosz

The beginning of Native Realm is far from that, in so many ways. At Milosz’s birth in 1911, the area where his family lived was part of the Russian Empire. The Great War came and upended much in that part of the world, not least because it was soon followed by war between Soviet Russia and a Poland that returned to Europe’s map for the first time since 1795.

The process that was taking place in Eastern Europe, more or less simultaneous with the building of the railroads, was not paralleled in other parts of the continent; it is closer to what happened in the American South after the Civil War. It was not accidental that I mentioned Faulkner earlier. Poles find the atmosphere of his novels considerably more familiar than that of Balzac’s or Zola’s. In Poland as in the American South, the equilibrium of a whole community was disrupted by a sudden shock. The impoverished gentry fled to the cities, but their former customs and habits did not altogether disappear. Far from it. They left their stamp on all classes; thus, the Polish proletariat, not to speak of the intelligentsia, which maintained close ties with the surviving members of the nobility, inherited many of the gentry’s characteristics. (p. 31)

That attachment to the values of the nobility — Poland’s was an elected king, and the electorate of the time was a larger share of the populace than the share of the British people who could vote for Parliament — made many Poles keen on democracy even during long years of Communist oppression. Milosz shows how other values from the old Polish gentry, namely disdain for money and commerce, could also open people to the changes promised by the government the Soviets installed after the war. Many paragraphs, throughout Native Realm are like this one: ranging forward and backward to trace connections, relating art to politics and daily life, supporting sharp judgments, and offering details from Milosz’s own background to illustrate all of the forgoing elements. They make the book a delight to read actively, to argue internally with Milosz, or just to consider his perspective and the many unexpected notions he brings.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/10/26/native-realm-by-czeslaw-milosz/