Shapers of Worlds by Edward Willett, Editor


Shapers of Worlds by Edward Willett, Editor
Publisher: Shadowpaw Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Within these pages lie eighteen stories, from eighteen worlds shaped by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its first year. There are original stories from Tanya Huff, Seanan McGuire, David Weber, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., John C. Wright, D.J. Butler, Christopher Ruocchio, Shelley Adina, and Edward Willett, plus fiction by John Scalzi, David Brin, Julie Czerneda, Joe Haldeman, Gareth L. Powell, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, Fonda Lee, Derek Kunsken, and Thoraiya Dyer. Some are international bestsellers. Among them are winners and nominees for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, Aurealis, Ditmar, British Science Fiction Association, and Dragon Awards. Some have been writing for decades, others are at the beginning of their careers. All have honed their craft to razor-sharpness.

A teenage girl finds something strange in the middle of the Canadian prairie. An exobiologist tries to liberate a giant alien enslaved on its homeworld by humans. The music of the spheres becomes literal for an Earth ship far from home. A superhero league interviews for new members. Strangers share a drink on a world where giant starships fall. Two boys, one a werewolf, one a mage, get more than they bargained for when they volunteer to fight an evil Empire. A man with amnesia accepts a most unusual offer. A young woman finds unexpected allies as she tries to win a flying-machine race in steampunk London . . .

Ranging from boisterous to bleak, from humorous to harrowing, from action-filled to quiet and meditative; taking place in alternate pasts, the present day, the far, far future, and times that never were; set on Earth, in the distant reaches of space, in fantasy worlds, and in metaphysical realms, each of these stories is as unique as its creator. And yet, they all showcase one thing: the irrepressible need of human beings to create, to imagine, to tell stories.
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To shape worlds.

These tales are filled with surprises, so keep guessing as you read them!

“The Tale of the Wicked” followed Captain Michael Obwije as his war ship, The Wicked, attempted to hunt down and finally destroy an enemy ship. When something unexplainable happened at the last moment, he had to quickly figure out what was going on before it was too late. The plot twists in this tale kept me on the edge of my seat. They felt like an episode of a fast-paced and thought-provoking science fiction adventure show. I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended, and the creative final scene only made me yearn for more!

There were some tales in this collection that I wish had been given more time to develop, and “Ghost Colours” was one of them. It was about a man named Brian who had inherited a ghost from a relative. Luckily, science had advanced to the point that hauntings could be permanently dealt with by having one’s DNA slightly altered. I was intrigued by how such a procedure would work and was a bit disappointed that the characters never went into detail about it. They only barely scraped the surface of how proving the existence of ghosts would change human society. With that being said, I loved the premise of this story and of the others that I thought could have used more time to grow. Their basic structures were good, they just needed to be filled out more.

As soon as I read the first sentence of “A Thing of Beauty” and realized two of the characters were talking about murdering orphans in order to save money, I raised an eyebrow and kept going. There’s definitely something about cutting straight to the chase when the stakes are high as these ones! I was intrigued by the main character’s plan to stop these murders from happening. While I can’t go into more detail about it than that, I will say that the plot twists kept me guessing until the final scene.

Shapers of Worlds was a well-rounded anthology that should be read by anyone who wants to lose themselves in other times and places.

Paths to the Stars by Edward Willett


Paths to the Stars: Twenty-Two Fantastical Tales of Imagination by Edward Willett
Publisher: Shadowpaw Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Contemporary, Historical
Length: Full Length (327 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

From Edward Willett, Aurora Award-winning author of Marseguro, The Cityborn, and Worldshaper (DAW Books), among many others, comes twenty-two tales of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, drawn from a long career of telling fantastic tales.

A young musician dreams of playing his songs among the stars…A Broadway performer on the lam is forced to direct aliens in The Sound of Music…Strange vegetables with dangerous properties crop up in small-town Saskatchewan…A man with a dark secret gets his comeuppance on a windy night on the prairie…An elderly caretaker on the Moon preserves the memory of the millions who died on Earth’s darkest day…A woman and a bat-like alien must overcome their own prejudices to prevent an interstellar war…

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Time to go exploring…

From dusty, old-fashioned farmhouses from generations ago to gleaming space ships who will fly around in the distant future, there’s something in this collection for a wide variety of tastes.

“Strange Harvest” showed what happened to the community of Drinkwell, Saskatchewan when the farmers and gardeners there began noticing that their crops didn’t look, taste, or behave like anything they’d ever seen before. I was fascinated by the thought of something as ordinary as a potato becoming dangerous for humans to be around. It made me think about farmer’s markets in an entirely different way, although I can’t say much more else about it without giving away spoilers. While I was satisfied with how this one ended, I also would have loved to know what happened to the characters after the final scene.

All of the stories in this anthology had attention-grabbing premises and were a pleasure to read. With that being said, there were a few of them that I thought could have used a little extra development. For example, it took me a while to understand what was happening in ““The Mother’s Keepers.” The protagonist, Praella, didn’t have a good understanding of how her society functioned at all. While I wouldn’t expect a drone like her to know everything, I was surprised by the gaps in her memory, especially once I got to know more about her insect-like race and began to make my own assumptions about how their society was structured and how they reproduced. This tale would have been one of my favorites if I’d had a better understanding of what her species was like and why she knew so little about the practical details of their lives.

Carl, the main character in “The Wind,” was haunted by his memories of his dead wife. Little did he know that a metaphorical haunting might not be the only thing he had to worry about. The plot twists in this tale were as clever as they were fun to read. While I did see them coming in advance, I was still quite curious to know if I’d made the correct assumptions about what the clues in the beginning were hinting at. It was rewarding to find out if I was right and see what happened to this character next.

Paths to the Stars: Twenty-Two Fantastical Tales of Imagination was a creative collection that I’d highly recommend to anyone who appreciates the occasionally humorous side of this genre.