Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness

I obtained a review PDF of this collection from its editor Mike Allen (time_shark): having finished it, my review. The short takeaway is that it's an excellent read that repays the investment of time and attention handsomely; all of the stories herein live up to the billing as "new tales of beauty and strangeness."

As is the case with such things, I find myself wanting to talk about only those stories that lingered in my mind for what, I suspect, are almost entirely personal reasons; the stories I didn't mention here are equally interesting, and other people will no doubt prefer them to the ones I especially liked. I want to commend Allen, though, for choosing a slate of stories that by and large do genuinely expand the horizons of fantasy beyond the conventional, both in setting and in protagonists.

( phoenix in flight )

At any rate, an excellent collection; I'm quite happy that the original awaits me in my "to read" pile even as I write this.