Dark Beauty and Space Stations
Review of Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato and some short fiction
Review: Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato
Sleeping Beauty is an interesting fairytale. Dark Woods, Deep Water is not a Sleeping Beauty retelling, but the concept has some similarities.
It has the cursed castle surrounded by thorns, but instead of the inhabitants being asleep, they’re very much awake. And their death goddess is hungry.
But it felt like a Sleeping Beauty retelling, especially towards the end. I would say that it has inspiration there. The author claims Slavic folklore (and the language used is very Slavic, but the worldbuilding echoes chivalry with its tournaments and favors). Sleeping Beauty, on the other hand, appears to be French in its origin, with the first published version being “La Belle Au Bois Dormant” from Charles Perrault in 1697. The Brothers Grimm turned this into “The Briar Rose.” They claimed the story as German.
I suspect that elements of it flow all the way across Europe and, yes, into Slavic folklore.
Dunato uses this base to weave a story that is about mistakes and how we don’t always see all the consequences of our actions. I found the three narrators a little head hoppy at the start, but once Dunato hit her stride that issue went away. This is Dunato’s debut, so it’s not surprising it’s rough in a few places.
I enjoyed it, although be warned…while this has the feel of a fairy tale or a Medieval romance, it’s not Disney. Not at all. This story gets darkin places.
I particularly loved the character of Ida. Fantasy con artists are always entertaining.
What I loved less was the traditional patriarchy, although she did at least include women, such as the Queen, who have found power in their own way.
Recommended to twisted fairy tale fans.
Short Fiction
Heart of the Wood by D.J. Tyrer (Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter)
Guy looks for sister in haunted wood and has to fight for her. Very dark.
An Offering by Lyndsey Croal (Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter)
He thinks he’s going to be initiated into the cult. Pitch black Both of these two are much darker than my own submission on the theme, so I think I now know why it was rejected!
Closer than your Kidneys by Ursula Whitcher (Frivolous Comma)
Fantasy space opera. A bodyguard is sent to assassinate a rival, but is caught and forcibly turned. It’s about love, loyalty, and interstellar economics. Recommended for everyone who likes space lesbians.
Death by Water by Maria Haskins (Lightspeed)
Post apocalyptic horror fantasy or…surrealism or…I’m not sure what’s real in this story and I’m pretty sure that’s the reaction I’m supposed to have. Recommended to people who like things really weird.
The Whisper of Their Blood by Maria Haskins (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
You think it’s one thing, it’s another. This is a darker story than I normally expect from BCS and I would actually call it horror. But it’s also an indictment of the way men treat women. Recommended for people who like to see the “witch” win in the end.
Tigers For Sale by Risa Wolfe (Clarkesworld)
I have never read a story that made me feel so sorry for a space station. This story starts dark, goes darker, and has a lot of lessions about fascism.
A Room Of Her Own by Cameron Cooper
It’s about a generation ship…where they have let the population get too high. It’s about space in both senses, and quite in-world political.
Winds of Change by Cameron Cooper (Blaze Ward Presents: Every Tomorrow Worse?)
Much better than Cooper’s other story, this is climate fiction in disguise, and a great read. It features a deaf-mute character with a superpower…but she doesn’t have it because she’s deaf-mute. Rather, her disability makes it hard for her to communicate the knowledge she has. I liked this one.
A Place For Everyone by Cameron Cooper
Cameron is a woman using her brother’s name as a pen name to separate her SF from her romance. Her protagonist is a woman who has stolen a male clone body and it’s the secret of her success. The author clearly intended this story to be about sexism. Unfortunately, it ended up feeling vaguely transphobic…which is a shame, given how well she handled disability in “Winds of Change.” I’m giving her a pass because I can tell the intent, but…
Strawberries and Bayonets by Dorian Wolfe
This story has a problem. It needs a content warning. I can’t give the content warning without ruining it. So all I’ll say is…dark.
The Desire, Death, And Dance Of The Planet Aysudalit by Monica Louzon (Archive of the Odd)
A really weird story about a fleet of generation ships that choose the wrong planet to refuel at. I’d call this horror, although it takes a while to get there. I’d also call it climate fiction. Fun, but strange.
The Three Tests by David Mancera, translated by Monica Louzon (Futura House)
I can’t judge the original, but assuming Louzon’s translation is reasonably faithful this is an interesting story. It’s actually a triptych with a framing device, that goes deep into Arab folklore. It’s more of a fairy tale narrative than deep character exploration. Recommended to fairy tale fans.
All works are either free on the internet or were provided to me for review and award consideration purposes.