So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction

Reviews:

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its provocative title and aggressive opening vignette, sex and sexuality fade into the background of Berman's quiet compilation of fantasy tales. The modern urban and suburban settings that dominate the anthology may be partly responsible. Two of the 22 stories feature New York backdrops, and a number of others occur in unnamed cities that might as well be the Big Apple. Most tales also feature classic Shakespearean or Celtic-inspired faerie folk, though Eugie Foster's Year of the Fox and Craig Laurance Gidney's A Bird of Ice draw effectively on Asian motifs, and Christopher Barzak nods toward Egyptian myth in Isis in Darkness. The tone is mostly light, often with more than a touch of ironic humor, as in Elspeth Potter's Detox; hauntingly tragic romances from Kenneth D. Woods (The Kings of Oak and Holly) and Laurie J. Marks (How the Ocean Loved Margie) provide some ballast. Neither pornographic (despite a handful of explicit sex scenes) nor militant, this anthology is wholly readable and likely to engage general readers as well as its target audience. (Nov.)
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Review
Explores both meanings of the word fairy, using the age-old themes of folklore to tell stories relevant to gay and lesbian life today... The 22 authors in this book have taken the threads of old folk tales and woven them into modern adult fairy stories about men who love men, women who love women, and mortals who love creatures of magic. The stories range from light to dark, whimsical to disturbing, introspective to erotic. Berman has mixed tales by talented newcomers with those by long-established, award-winning authors. A few stories are set in fairyland, or take us back in history, but most of the tales unfold in towns, cities, and suburbs much like our own, in places where fairy magic casts its glow on modern life. These are stories for all readers who have ever loved or desired what they've been told that they must not--whether that's men, or women, or stories of fairies long after childhood is done. ------Terri Windling, co-editor of The Faery Reel

Green Man Review

Something more than a collection of short stories. Perhaps it's the connection with the faeries of folklore that causes this particular anthology to take on a little more depth, a little more meaning, a little more richness than are apparent at first glance.... Berman deserves congratulations, and if he wants to do another volume, it will find a ready audience here.

Product Description
Twenty-two captivating stories where queer culture and fey folklore meet!
The legends of Fairyland tell that one should never taste the food or sip the drink, or else risk being caught there forever. But the tempting morsels in So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction are irresistible! Lambda Award-finalist Steve Berman brings together acclaimed fantasy writers with some of the brightest names in LGBT fiction to create tales that are moving and magical. These stories of romance and grief, adolescence and identity, struggle and hope will enchant readers who long for a fantastic escape--and a wonderful twist! One sample of this bewitching treat is sure to trap you in its pages!
From the pains of loss in Holly Black's ''The Coat of Stars'' to dealing with issues of identity in Richard Bowes's ''The Wand's Boy'' to Melissa Scott's look at the dangers of love in ''Mister Seeley'' So Fey takes you into worlds that are at once amazing and familiar. With tales that tear and tug at the heart but never cease to enchant, this exciting and unique collection will long last in the minds of readers.
Other authors featured in So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction include:
Tom Cardamone
Catherine Lundoff
Craig Laurance Gidney
Ruby deBrazier and Cassandra Clare
Sarah Monette
Kenneth D. Woods
Elspeth Potter
Aynjel Kaye
Laurie J. Marks
Christopher Barzak
M. Kate Havas
Carl Vaughn Frick
Delia Sherman
Sean Meriwether
Lynne Jamneck
Eugie Foster
Joshua Lewis
Eric Andrews-Katz