Subject: Review: _Starlight 1_, ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden

From: [email-masked] (Aahz)
Date: 11 Aug 1997 20:41:22 GMT

Starlight 1
                      edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
                      reviewed by Aahz (copyright 1997)

Summarizing Patrick's introduction, _Starlight 1_ is an attempt to
recapture the best of the old book anthologies, taking the time that
magazines cannot afford, to ensure that only the best stories get
published.  To a large extent, _Starlight 1_ succeeds.  In fact, let me be
a bit more fulsome in my praise and say that every single story is
excellent by some measure, and all are well-written.  Furthermore,
_Starlight 1_ is SF in the broadest sense, speculative fiction that covers
much of the landscape traditional for SF/F and also goes beyond it.

I'm not sure how much editorial effort Patrick put into _Starlight 1_, but
at the very least it is a showcase for his ability to extract excellent
stories from a variety of authors.

If you consider yourself a collector of SF, you should absolutely buy this
book as it contains a large portion of the best stories of 1996, including
two Hugo nominees: Swanwick's "The Dead" and McHugh's "The Cost to be
Wise."

If you're the kind of person who likes Pamela Dean's _The Dubious Hills_
or Steven Brust's _Agyar_, you'll definitely want to buy this, too.
Surprise, surprise, both of those novels are also published by Tor.  Not
every story is similar in style, but from what I've seen, it's hard to
find short stories similar to what they write.

For everyone else, let me try to give a better idea of what you will and
won't find in _Starlight 1_:

* You won't find any space opera or sword & sorcery.

* You'll find several stories that would feel comfortable between the
pages of _Atlantic_ or _New Yorker_.

* Several stories contain no clearly definable science fiction or fantasy
element.  I refuse to use the phrase "magical realism", but those who do
can now search for it in this review (cf. a recent discusion in
rec.arts.sf.composition).

* While I would not categorize any of the stories as being horror, there
were several stories that, for lack of a better phrase, I would say had a
horrific element to them.

* All but one of the stories take place on Earth; don't look for exotic
locations here.

* No stories that focus on humor.  This is probably the biggest lack in
the collection, from my point of view.

* Several of the pieces are not 'stories' as my partner defines the term,
because they lack a key element: a recognizable problem that the main
character tries to solve, and a change that results from the attempt.
This is not to say that the pieces aren't stories in the broader sense;
it's the same thing as saying an account of what I did yesterday is not a
'story.'

I actually picked up _Starlight 1_ at the library precisely because I
wasn't sure I was going to like it.  Patrick has excellent taste, but it's
not my taste; I tend to prefer Brust's 'Vlad Taltos' series, Bujold and
Weber, and even Eddings.  Still, I found enough to like that I think I'll
probably buy it.  Certainly _Starlight 1_ is going to age well, and I'm
looking forward to _Starlight 2_ next year.

%E Nielsen Hayden, Patrick
%T Starlight 1
%A Swanwick, Michael
%A Duncan, Andy
%A Yolen, Jane
%A Feeley, Gregory
%A Reed, Robert
%A Clarke, Susanna
%A Palwick, Susan
%A Soukup, Martha
%A Scholz, Carter
%A Ford, John M.
%A Kreighbaum, Mark
%A McHugh, Maureen F.
%I Tor
%C New York
%D September 1996
%P 316pp
%O Trade paperback
%G ISBN 0-312-86215-6
%O hardback
%G ISBN 0-312-86214-8

                      --- Aahz (@netcom.com)
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