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ellenkushner. . . and at a very reasonable price! The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, edited by the fabulous duo of Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, and illustrated (yep, one "decorative illo" per story plus a truly glorious cover) by Charles Vess, made a huge splash in 2007 hardcover with stories by Charles de Lint, Kelly Link, Holly Black, Carol Emshwiller, Caroline Stevermer, Ellen Klages, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Patricia McKillip and other faves - and had stories on last year's Nebula ballot by Delia Sherman (read her great interview about it - and writing in general - here, and interviews with all of last year's nominees here) & Kij Johnson (also a World Fantasy nominee), and for some weird Nebula reason I hope no one will explain to me, Jeff Ford's story in the same volume is on this year's Nebula ballot.
I have a story in it as well, "Honored Guest," with Jessica Campion (Rose & Alec's daughter-to-be in TPOTS, Theron's sister in The Fall of the Kings) as the trickster, narrated by a young girl (love that first person!) in a setting based on the Chinese Story of the Stone , which I read back in college and have loved ever since. I remember hearing about the anthology, desperately wanting to write a story for it - I do love tricksters, and have even done an entire Sound & Spirit radio show on them! plus an essay, "Meeting Trickster" - but I really wasn't sure what I could write about. Then I remembered Jessica.
People have asked me whether I'll ever do a novel about her; but realizing she's a trickster made me understand why the answer was always "No": tricksters are unreliable. They are good for an anecdote, an episode, a last-minute rescue . . . but plots (for novels) do not ride on the backs of tricksters.
Feel free to argue me wrong. Cite Jack Vance & Patricia HIghsmith if you like. All I know is, I couldn't do it.
I have a story in it as well, "Honored Guest," with Jessica Campion (Rose & Alec's daughter-to-be in TPOTS, Theron's sister in The Fall of the Kings) as the trickster, narrated by a young girl (love that first person!) in a setting based on the Chinese Story of the Stone , which I read back in college and have loved ever since. I remember hearing about the anthology, desperately wanting to write a story for it - I do love tricksters, and have even done an entire Sound & Spirit radio show on them! plus an essay, "Meeting Trickster" - but I really wasn't sure what I could write about. Then I remembered Jessica.
People have asked me whether I'll ever do a novel about her; but realizing she's a trickster made me understand why the answer was always "No": tricksters are unreliable. They are good for an anecdote, an episode, a last-minute rescue . . . but plots (for novels) do not ride on the backs of tricksters.
Feel free to argue me wrong. Cite Jack Vance & Patricia HIghsmith if you like. All I know is, I couldn't do it.