People of the Book: A Decade of Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy

the-knights-who-say-book:

Rating: ★★★★☆

Blurb: Jewish literary tradition has always been rich in the supernatural and the fantastic. In this book, gathered from the best short fiction of the last ten years, twenty authors prove that their heritage is alive and well — in the spaces between stars that an alphabet can bridge, folklore come to life and histories become stories, and all the places where old worlds and new collide and change.

The average of all the ratings I gave all these stories is 3.75 stars, so I’m very happy with this collection! I’ve had bad experiences with anthologies of multiple authors before, but this one was really good.

Being a Jew who loves fantasy, it’s awesome to have a book full of fantasy that centers Jewish characters (well… mostly? There was one story where I couldn’t find any connection to Judaism and I don’t know what was up with that. Neil Gaiman explain yourself).

My favorite stories:

• Geddarien by Rose Lemberg, a devastating and beautiful story about a Jewish musician in a ghetto during the Holocaust who plays music for a dancing city.
• The Dybbuk in Love by Sonya Taafe, a gorgeously-written tale about exactly what the title says.
• Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel by Peter S. Beage, in which a grumpy Jewish painter is unimpressed by the literal actual angel who appears in his studio.
• Semaphore by Alex Irvine, about a boy struggling to come to terms with his brother’s death by absorbing words and etymology.

And those are just the ones I rated five stars. I absolutely recommend this book.