Women kicking mal a** and not bothering to take names. Fun reads. ( )

I liked the stories very much. They are about tough women.
I particularly liked the story Sidestreets, with its twists and turns I didn't see coming. But the alternative Old Testament, where the story is seen through the eyes of the 'other people' near Eden, the Paradise, I liked a lot too. The first story, The Ninth Tenant, is a nice proof of what will be coming next.
On the other hand, I did not like the story before the last one, Revocare, very much. I thought the woman in that story was too suspicious (in which she was right, by the way) and too harsh. ( )

I am a big fan of short stories and am in love with the form which I am convinced is the way forward for fiction in today's environment. This collection from Leslie Fish is in some sense motivated by a wish to re-examine the masculine hegemony without an aggressive feminism and again to some extent it succeeds. It is however a very odd collection with no other really connective tissue other than the original motivation and that, in my book, is a fault. There are a couple of really well thought our stories, particularly the retelling of the biblical creation story but there are some very slight stories that are lacking the work needed to make them work on the page. Think of these as sketches rather than finished works - I did. As with the quality of the ideas so with the quality of the writing which is patchy. I might read some more Leslie Fish but will not rush so to do. ( )

The Ninth Tenant - neat turnaround, but now she's the bully. And why did it need that many trappings to find the problem? Not bad, lots of questions. Script Change - weird angle on things. And what solves everything in a dream is going to be serious trouble in the real world, especially if all he does is bellow (though it's implied, not stated, that he goes much further - and what can she prove?). Crone's Gambit - yeah. It was pretty clear what the end was, early on, but very rich. And the poison-visions were unexpected - an odd kindness. Might be trouble down the line, if the Southland kings know about them...or not, as long as they're useful. Sidestreets - a very Leslie Fish story, the Magic of Guns. Postulate cops are useless and on the take, postulate Our Heroes have guns, yay for freedom and a new world! Never mind about the people who don't have guns, they can just crawl to the new warlords. Also never mind hitting a target (a person shooting at them) a block away, with a pistol, from a moving car, on her first use of the gun...And the guns are apparently black-powder revolvers - they don't have to reload in the middle of a running gunfight. Really, Leslie. The Hounding - heh. Sort of the other side of the story - cop's-eye view. But it's still cops on the take vs civilians with guns and the latter are the heroes (and the former the villains). In this story, with these characters, it's true - but Leslie apparently sees it that way always (a cop/government agent/authority is automatically the bad guy). The Testament of Elitu - uhuh. New creation myth, the gods are aliens who meddle and the Christian god is a mad-scientist renegade among them. The story itself is OK, interesting - but it carries too much baggage. Revocare - _weird_. Big questions like why did the trucker react that way; smaller but important questions - why did the hero hang on to the mace all the way up? Overall very nasty - "a mean place" and the protagonist fits right in. The best ungendered protagonist I think I've ever read - has a female spouse, has long hair, and behaves like a person (not one I'd like to know, but a person) rather than like "a man" or "a woman". Cancel/Balance - I like this one - everyone gets their due (though I'm not sure what the protagonist owes for). Mild stimulant indeed. So apparently there's a whole book named Revocare - the rest of the story, after the protagonist makes it out? Don't know, don't much care - not going to read it. I'm curious, but not curious enough to subject myself to any more of that worldview. Overall, it seems I have the same problem with Leslie's books as with her songs; she's a great writer, amazing use of language, evocative descriptions, etc - but she uses them to tell stories with An Agenda that I think is seriously warped. Oh well. Some of her songs, and now I see some of her stories, are enjoyable to me. The rest are worth reading once, but unless you share her libertarian/anarchist viewpoint are unlikely to be favorites. ( )

Stories of people who overcome whether it be the System, nosy neighbors, invading armies, or prehistoric beings in a deep cave. Each, as is apparent, is quite original in character, setting, and consistently ironic conclusion. I particularly enjoyed "Script Change", in which a teenaged girl travels a different road to her future. ( )