Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories

The conceit of this collection of short stories is that a group of authors were invited to choose a word that had been the winning word from one of the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee competitions. The word Logorrhea itself was the winning word of the 1999 spelling bee that was featured in the film Spellbound. Logorrhea means "pathologically incoherent, repetitious speech," which is not an accurate descprition of this book. In a moment I'll give a brief review of each story, but overall the book is excellent. The stories span a wide variety of genres, although most lend themselves to a kind of magical realism or even fantasy & science fiction. There are very few that don't involve some sort of supernatural element, although a disturbing number involve grotesque bodily conditions, especially skin conditions. I could have used fewer descriptions of bodies breaking apart in ways that involve lots of pussy fluid, but there are plenty others that avoid the gross-out descriptions. At least one of these is award nominated, and some of the others are also effecting enough to stay with you long after you put the book down, even without resorting to turning your stomach. The one funny bit that I found is that 7 of the 21 words chosen are all from the last 10 years of the spelling bee. In spite of all the rhetoric that is logorrhically repeated about American students getting dumber, these words are hard. Much harder than, say, 1930's winning word of "knack." Not exactly a brain-buster there. "The Chiaroscurist" by Hal Duncan: a wonderful short about a painter who works with light, contrast and shadow(hence the use of "chiaroscuro"). "Lyceum" by Liz Williams: a forgettable mystery story, set in a world that seems like a multiplayer level from Halo more than a real environment. "Vivisepulture" by David Prill: a wonderfully evocative story of a mysterious building that haunts the dreams of a young man who's own dreams have fallen apart. "Eczema" by Clare Dudman: aside from some gross mentions of skin sloughing off, this story is a fascinating tale of alternate worlds and mixed identity. "Semaphore" by Alex Irvine: A war story, a ghost story and a coming of age story, all in one. I don't remember much of the details, but I didn't hate it either. "The Smargadine Knot" by Marly Youmans: the story of a mysterious and powerful book that passes through a family for generations. Lots of wonderful small anecdotes, and an atmosphere that would be appropriate to Lovecraft. "A Portrait in Ivory" by Michael Moorcock: Elric of Melnibone (Elric). By Michael Moorcock. What. A. Surprise. Seriously though, this one isn't bad, just lacking in any substance. Elric passes through a city and has his portrait done by an artist. I can't muster any real feelings about it, but it might be because I never cared for Elric stories anyway. "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics" by Daniel Abraham: Hugo nominated for best sh