Map of Dreams

The stories in Map of Dreams are simply touching. Which is to say that every single story ends with a combination of words that leaves you feeling some kind of emotion. For me, the emotions these stories induce were never easily labeled, but maybe that is just my limited vocabulary. M. Rickert touches life though the genre of fantasy. In her stories you can find all of the things that make life so wonderful and so awful. She mixes both tragedy and hope, touching what it is to lose and to love. I don't mean to sound so cheesy, but she really does touch the very fabric of human existence. And the best part is that she is only getting better with time. All of the new stories I have read from her have been nothing short of wonderful. M. Rickert is indeed a "find".

M. Rickert's first collection, Map of Dreams, is beautiful, magical, real, incantatory, evocative, lush, poetic, full of narrative momentum and characters and situations that you will not easily forget. There is a generous amount of heart and sympathy in these stories, and a wealth of wisdom. Don't read this book at your own risk.