Dreaming Again: Thirty-Five New Stories Celebrating the Wild Side of Australian Fiction

Short science fiction/fantasy has never really been a favorite thing of mine-especially in anthology form. But this collection was really, really well put together and totally changed me mind. With just enough authors I knew and respected already that I wanted to read it and lots of new people I'd never heard of but now look forward to spending some time with in the future this is an excellent little dive in the down under fantasy scene.

This is a book of short stories, and some folks just don't like short stories. If that means you, just pass on by. My husband swears no author can develop a plot and characters and successfully bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion in a few pages. I beg to differ. Some can't. I have read some real stinkers of short stories from great writers of full-length novels, as well as the reverse. Jack Dann, the editor of this book, has put together a collection of what are probably the finest of Australian science fiction and fantasy writers. Nearly every writer has been published multiple times and won awards. Let's just say they are all proven at their craft. There was only one story in this whole book where I felt bombed on. Went to turn the page, and there was nothing there! Hmm...! Only one story, not too shabby for a collection of 35. For my personal taste, there are far too many vampire, zombie, undead stories. Well, the cover does say "The WILD Side of Australian Fiction". Fortunately, there were two stories on time travel (my personal fav) and several that had absolutely nothing to do with the walking dead. To each his/her own. My major conclusion is that a talented writer is a talented writer no matter where they reside. My second conclusion is that if you like the macabre, and you like short stories, you can't go wrong with this book. If you don't like the macabre, but you do like short stories, beware; not all the stories may be appealing, but many of them are certainly worthwhile.

Speculative fiction is a term I hadn't heard before, though apparently it's pretty common. It encompasses fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, horror, etc. Basically any story that has a what-if premise that disobeys the laws of the real world. Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology. I think the short story is a great medium for speculative fiction, forcing authors to keep their focus because of the limited length. Almost all the stories in Dreaming Again are well-written and many have interesting and novel ideas. They tend to be darker, favoring dystopian worlds and/or bittersweet endings. While some of the stories have a strong driving plot or theme, most are vignettes that focus on developing a believable character in a what-if scenario. Unusually, fully half of the stories in this collection are told from the first-person perspective. Here are my comments on some of the stories that I liked best. Please visit my blog at [...] for a longer review with comments on all the stories. Old Friends - Garth Nix The opening story in this anthology is the best one. The story is about a man with a mythical background, missing lost friends as he faces his own last battle. Admirably efficient, Nix creates a complex character and a seemingly vast world in just a few pages, making this short story seem like a window into a much bigger, deeper world. A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead - Richard Harland Reminds me of Borges. A passive but mildly judgmental narrator listens to the deathbed tale of a braggart tourist whose greed for adventure bought him his death. The Constant Past - Sean McMullen An mystery story about a sleuthing librarian in the future who tries to stop a time-traveling serial killer. The only strange thing is: the librarian knows that the killer is the sole possessor of the secret of time travel, but he doesn't ever stop to wonder if he or his society might want that secret. Not once in the whole story. Not even when it's too late does he consider it. Luckily the story is so exciting it's easy to overlook that oddity. In From the Snow - Lee Battersby Excellent story, written in first person present tense, describes the life of a family in a bleak world where survival depends on strict culture and a cutthroat hierarchy.

So, I have a system with my books - as a military family, we move around too much to be able to keep all the books that I read. So, I only keep either my very favorite books or the ones I haven't gotten to yet. "Dreaming Again" has earned a spot on my bookshelf. I generally read fantasy without paying too much attention to where the author may be from. Either I like the author's style, or I don't. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only were there a few of my favorites in this anthology (ex. Garth Nix, Sara Douglass), but there are several more authors that I was unaware of, and am now planning to check out some of their novels (ex. Kim Westwood, Angela Slatter). I won't say that I *loved* all the stories, but that's the beauty of reading - what I bring to a story will be completely different than what someone else does. And what fails to capture me completely may well do so for someone else. And with these all being short stories rather than novels, there is no sense of being halfway through a story and not wanting to finish (but feeling a compelling need to do so, just in case I might miss something...). For example, I enjoyed "The Jacaranda Wife", a fable that uses similar elements as the old Celtic legends of the Silkie. However, I couldn't quite get as into "The Neverland Blues", a story about Michael Jackson (yes, The Gloved One) and his search for a new body far in the distant future. I can, however, honestly state that I would happily re-read at least 90% of the stories again...and would probably read the other 10% as well, just to see if my perspective had changed. Honestly, one of my favorite things about the way this book is set up is the information about the author(s) that comes before the story (and includes other titles, so I can follow up with those I have particularly enjoyed) and the 'Afterword' written by the author(s) themselves, typically explaining where the idea of the story came from. These can be almost as entertaining, and I always find it a pleasure to read about the many different ways authors find their inspiration. This is the second "Dreaming" anthology, coming 10 years after the original "Dreaming Down-Under". I will be purchasing the first, and since they are both edited by the same person (Jack Dann), I anticipate many more evenings of enjoyment!

I love anthologies. Short stories allow authors to show off, to show their technique and style in a concise manner. I knew several names that contributed to this work, but I'd only previously read Garth Nix, Terry Dowling, and Stephen Dedman. You can bet I'm buying some more of the contributors' backlists now. Of course, while anthologies are an excellent source of new authors to explore, there are always those stories that you feel bring the quality of the anthology down. Sometimes you wish you could pick and choose which stories you could buy if enough of them are duds. So far, with a mere ten stories to go, none of them have disappointed me. There have certainly been some I enjoyed more than others, but no bad stories whatsoever. I wish all anthologies were so well chosen. The stories cover a variety of subjects, moods, and themes. Some are extremely unsettling, others funny, others mysterious. It's hard to pick favorites. The end of "This is My Blood" by Ben Francisco (the only American in the book) and Chris Lynch was the first thing to truly terrify me. They left the details of the end to my imagination, which is apparently a sick, sick place. This one is followed by the unnerving "Nightship" by Kim Westwood. I wanted more elaboration on how gender worked in the society (for instance, the ship's captain appeared to me to be a member of an Iron Family and female), but this one really caught my attention and made me think. The final one that's truly freaked me out is "In From the Snow" by Lee Battersby, the story of a pack living outside of human civilization. This wasn't truly a horror story, but my mind seized ahold of the darkness and continued thinking of it after I finished. "The Constant Past" by Sean McMullen features a librarian and a time traveler. What more can one ask for, really? (The answer is found in "Undead Camels Ate Their Flesh" by Jason Fischer. To quote the TV Tropes wiki, it's Exactly What It Says On The Tin.) The viral mystery "Lure" by Paul Collins had a nice twist at the end, even though I did expect it. I enjoyed his style, exploration of cyber-cheating, and assertion that PCs are better than Macs. "Empire" by Simon Brown is an amusing look at WAR OF THE WORLDS and Gilbert & Sullivan. Shortly after finishing, I learned the Mikado would be playing in my area soon (swoon-worthy) and that bubbles and squeak is a real dish in England (bemusing). "Smoking, Waiting for the Dawn" by Jason Nahrung is a vampire story that stands out from the current pack I've been reading. (Added bonus: zombies.) I feel bad for not mentioning more of the stories I've read, because each had something special. These are just my personal highlights. Excerpted from In Bed With Books