Book Description: Firebirds gathers together sixteen original stories by some of today’s finest writers of fantasy and science fiction. Together, they have won virtually every major prize— from the National Book Award to the World Fantasy Award to the Newbery Medal—and have made bestseller lists worldwide. These authors, including Lloyd Alexander, Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Patricia A. McKillip, Meredith Ann Pierce, and Nancy Farmer, tell stories that will entertain, provoke, startle, amuse, and resonate long after the last lage has been turned. And they all share a connection to Firebird—an imprint, like this anthology, devoted to the best fantasy and science fiction for teenage and adult readers.
Not Free SF Reader False advertising you could call this. The cover says Fantasy and Science Fiction, except there is none of the latter.
Unless you call the plane story a really inconsequential sort of alternate history perhaps, or Garth Nix's superhero Western.
If you are looking for SF, do not buy this book.
Whoever wrote the cover needs a whack upside the head.
On the whole it appears to be aimed at kids going by what the editor is saying, and that appears to be the case as this is very lightweight stuff.
Firebirds : Cotillion - Delia Sherman Firebirds : The Baby in the Night Deposit Box - Megan Whalen Turner Firebirds : Beauty - Sherwood Smith Firebirds : Mariposa - Nancy Springer Firebirds : Max Mondrosch - Lloyd Alexander Firebirds : The Fall of Ys - Meredith Ann Pierce Firebirds : Medusa - Michael Cadnum Firebirds : Byndley - Patricia A. McKillip Firebirds : The Lady of the Ice Garden - Kara Dalkey Firebirds : Hope Chest - Garth Nix Firebirds : Chasing the Wind - Elizabeth E. Wein Firebirds : Little Dot - Diana Wynne Jones Firebirds : Remember Me - Nancy Farmer Firebirds : Flotsam - Nina Kiriki Hoffman Firebirds : The Flying Woman - Laurel Winter
Hell boy tithe grapple rescue.
3 out of 5
Bank life inheritance withdrawal.
3 out of 5
Tree bloke.
2.5 out of 5
Soulless upbringing.
3 out of 5
Job description.
3.5 out of 5
Riddle me this deadman.
2.5 out of 5
Reptile garden ornament.
2.5 out of 5
Wizard vs King and Queen a bit rough.
2.5 out of 5
Tengu shafting.
3.5 out of 5
Superspeed shootist sheriff slays sister on the way to silver bullet showdown with supervillain shyster.
3.5 out of 5
Plane advance.
3 out of 5
Cat overload.
3 out of 5
Soul asylum.
3 out of 5
Elfgate.
3 out of 5
Magic, the gathering.
2.5 out of 5
Kind of flat I found Firebirds kind of flat. I think the best children's stories can be read at many levels. Think of "The Hobbit," which appeals to readers ranging from roughly third or fourth grade all the way up to adulthood. At the simplest level there is just an easily accessible story which appeals to a very young and uncomplicated person. At other levels the story should appeal to more sophisticated readers: there might be complex moral decisions, satirical references only an adult would catch, interesting use of language, etc. I know that all the authors featured in "Firebirds" are capable of writing for multiple audiences, but (other than Wynne-Jones's "Little Dot") I found the work presented here somewhat disappointing. It wasn't horrible; it just didn't have the richness I expected from a collection of writers this talented.
One of the best anthologies I've ever read This is a collection of some of the finest authors in the biz, and I think every single one of them would be proud of their work here. I loved this book, and although I do admit that it is a little misleading calling it an anthology of fantasy and sci fi when there's pretty much no sci fi in it, I forgive it that small glitch because it's just so good.
If you're an intelligent reader, or someone who likes incredible reimaginings of traditional tales, or someone who likes their authors to think outside of the box and move into truly bizarre and undiscovered realms, then this book is for you. And if you're the kind of person who doesn't just want action and adventure, but who likes stories that truly make the reader think and feel and wonder, then you will definitely like this. I actually cried several times whilst reading this, I was so moved. But don't get the impression that it's a sad book, because it isn't. It's just that a few of the stories were really poignant in an emotional sense to me.
There's something here for everyone. There's even a poem and a comic book story. I would thoroughly recommend this book to any of the fans of the writers contained within it, and also to readers who have never read any of these authors' works before, since it's a great introduction to their talents. Bravo, Firebirds.
Firebirds Firebirds is a short story book by Lloyd Alexander, Michael Cadnum, Kara Dalkey, Nancy Farmer, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricai A. Mckillip, Garth Nix, Meridith Ann Pierce, Sherwood Smith, Nancy Springer, Megan Whalen Turner, Elizabeth E. Wein, Laurel Winter, Emma Bull with illustrations by Charles Vess. The book is edited by Sharyn November. Firebirds is a collection of stories all based on different themes. Each author has a different style of writing. Firebirds has two genres, fantasy and science fiction. I liked this book because the endings were always surprising. I didn't know many of these authors and reading these short stories gave me an idea of how they wrote. All the stories in Firebirds were interesting and different. I would rate this book an eight on a scale of one to ten because some of the stories weren't very interesting. I haven't read many short story books but this was one of the books that I enjoyed. Many of these stories are parts of books that the author has written or sequels. Some of my favorite stories were Beauty by Sherwood Smith and Little Dot by Diana Wynne Jones. Beauty's about a princess named Elestra. Elestra didn't have any beauty and no one really cared about her. In the throne room, there was a tree that was really a person turned into a tree. One night the Elestra goes into the throne room and is captured by Flauvic, the person who was tree. Beauty's a story that makes you wonder what's going to happen. Little Dot's a story about several cats and a human named Henry. One day Henry is told that there is a Beast that's eating many animals. Find out what happens by reading Firebirds. Little Dot's an engrossing story that captures your attention.
Solid anthology with a few standouts "Firebirds" came into my hands with high praise from sources I respected, and I was not disappointed. I was not overly impressed either. The collection of stories is fairly broad, but the focus is clearly on fantasy (broadly defined, not just swords and sorcery, although there is that too). I have no idea why it includes science fiction in the title, I can't remember a single title I would classify as SF.
There are several stories that revisit old tales to give them a new spin: "Cotillion" (D Sherman) places Tam Lin in 1960's New York, "The Fall of Ys" (MA Pierce) questions the character motivations of the original, "Medusa" (Cadnum)retells the story from the title character's point of view, "Lady of the Ice Garden" (K Dalkey) sets an Andersen tale in Japan. With the ties to classic tales and the strong female leads all around, these stories are particularly well suited for classroom use.
Changelings also play a prominent role: "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box" (M Whalen Turner) in which a magical child is raised by a bank; the surprisingly effective "Hope Chest" (G Nix) which combines elements of horror, political dystopia and, of all things, the Western; "Remember Me" (N Farmer)in which a changeling's differences ostracize her family and "Flotsam" (N Kiriki Hoffman) an overly ambitious about a little boy lost among worlds that ultimately fails to move the reader.
Most of the stories feature female leads, but the two stories with male leads were standouts for me: "Max Mondrosch" (Lloyd Alexander)an understated and oddly comical story about the horror of modern life and "Byndley" (P McKillip) a more traditional tale of a wizard, a fairy queen, and the things that can be stolen in the forest.
Of the remaining stories, I would recommend "Beauty" (S Smith), an "odd princess out" o fthe sort that have become popular since "The Ordinary Princess". "Black Fox" (E Bull) also bears mention as the only graphic entry in the anthology, illustrated by Charles Vess.
"Mariposa" (N Springer), "Chasing the Wind" (E Wein), "Little Dot" (D Wynne Jones, for the magical cat lovers) and "The Flying Woman" (L Winter)were all fine stroies, but none of them proved memorable for me.
The title is definitely recommended if you are a fan of fantasy short stories or the Firebird authors. If this is not something you read every day, I would recommend a Datlow/Windling anthology, such as "The Faery Reel" or one of the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (Datlow/Windling and Datlow/Link).
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