Queen Victoria's Book of Spells

An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy

By: Ellen Datlow - editor, Terri Windling - editor

Narrated by: Kelly Lintz

"Gaslamp fantasy", or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. A number of wonderful fantasy novels, including Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest owe their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers ranging from Jane Austen, the Brontes, and George Meredith to Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and William Morris. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature inspired by this period.

Queen Victoria's Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves these works of neo-Victorian fiction and wishes to explore the wide variety of ways that modern fantasists are using nineteenth-century settings, characters, and themes. These approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen-and-Trollope inspired works that some critics call "fantasy of manners", all of which fit under the larger umbrella of gaslamp fantasy. The result is 18 stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, mainstream, and young adult fields, including both best-selling writers and exciting new talents such as Elizabeth Bear, James Blaylock, Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Gregory Maguire, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth-century invested (or cursed!) with magic.

©2013 Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (P)2015 Audible Inc.

Fabulous Fantasy

Fans of nineteenth-century literature and fantasy will find Delight in this selection! I felt I was Taking a Chance on this particular anthology because of the negative reviews, but I am so glad that I did take the time to listen to it. After the first story, the narrator gets her wind and sails onto a stellar performance. In my opinion, the last tale was the best.

enchanting,wonderful

I could listen repeatedly this is a exciting creation. Well worth the time money memories.

A Delicious Entrée to Gaslamp Fantasy

Any additional comments?

According to Amazon, Gaslamp fantasy is "historical fantasy set in a magical version of the Nineteenth Century." While its first cousin Steampunk emphasizes mechanics, science and steam power, Gaslamp plays with magical possibilities.

This anthology includes spinoffs of Dickens and references to real people of the Victorian era. Queen Vicki herself gets a cameo in at least two stories. One of her prime ministers, Benjamin Disraeli, stars in The Jewel in the Toad Queen's Crown while William Morris, textile designer, poet, translator and social activist, takes the stage in the story For the Briar Rose. This is definitely one of those books that whets your thirst for more information. I have a brand new fascination with both Morris and Disraeli and can't wait to see where these rabbit holes lead me!

I listened to the audio version of this book. It's one I wish I had read instead. Three of the stories are epistolary, which sometimes doesn't lend itself to audio. The performance by narrator Kelly Lintz was fine, but it's a book to dip into again and again. I will probably end up buying a physical copy for my shelves.

The list below includes what I felt were the standout stories:
Queen Victoria's Book of Spells by Delia Sherman (Epistolary - entries in a young Victoria's diaries as she learns magic)
Phosphorous by Veronica Schanoes (Some very interesting social history here.)
The Vital Importance of the Superficial by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stervener (Epistolary, and superbly done.)
A Few Twigs He Left Behind by Gregory Maguire (A fascinating epilogue of Scrooge)

Maguire's offering in particular left me hankering for more of his writing (which surprised me because Wicked (the book) was not a big winner with me). I will also seek out works by Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner. Book one of the Tremontaine series (Kushner) has been ordered…

Fine

I read this both physically and via the audio book. The narrator Kelly Lintz was fine, very good in some particular stories, imo. I believe this is going to be a very forgettable anthology for me (which is not unusual for me as I tend not to connect with anthologies) and because I have already forgotten some of the stories, but the stand out for me would be:

1. The Vital Importance of the Superficial by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer which was my absolute favorite, the only one I have given ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and I have reread it immediately after I finished reading the book
2. The titular story of Queen Victoria's Book of Spells by Delia Sherman which I found fun and interesting
3. Phosphorus by Veronica Schanoes, which, while not for me due to its graphic imagery (which I don't believe was written to be gratuitous, but was a deliberate choice that had a purpose to the story), has certainly left an impact.

Here's also my thoughts and ratings of all of the stories, which I made while reading the book:

1. (and titular) Story - Queen Victoria's Book of Spells by Delia Sherman was interesting - ⭐⭐⭐

2. Story - The Fairy Enterprise by Jeffrey Ford I found to be quite disgusting and was not at all cozy, whimsical autumn vibes that I am looking for; also all of the characters were extremely unlikeable, seemingly by design, but, since I am a character driven reader, that only made me dislike the story more - ⭐⭐

3. Story - From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premiere at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire) by Genevieve Valentine I found to be quite a boring read; this is where I incorporated the audiobook to help me move along the stories which I wasn't enjoying as much - ⭐⭐⭐

4. Story - The Memory Book by Maureen McHugh I found to, once again, be filled to brim with unlikeable characters and I am not certain why that seems to be a trend - ⭐⭐

5. Story - La Reine D'Enfer by Kathe Koja was fine, tho I didn't notice any speculative element in the story - ⭐⭐⭐

6. Story - For the Briar Rose by Elizabeth Wein was also fine, although I found it a bit weird and I am not sure that I understood it, but that that probably because 1. I am not a mother and 2. because I am not familiar with the people that the author based her story on; also no speculative elements -⭐⭐⭐

7. Story - The Governess by Elizabeth Bear was also fine, although the last sentence of the story was quite chilling - ⭐⭐⭐

8. Story - Smithfield by James P. Blaylock I found to be quite boring - I finished it just a few days ago and I already barely remember what it was about. To be honest, the afterword about the story left a much larger impression on me than the story itself - even if my personal impression was that the author is one of those people that believe that past was better than the present or the future, that the past was better than the present or the future, which I am very much against. But at least it was passionate - ⭐⭐⭐

9. Story - The Unwanted Women of Surrey by Kaaron Warren was quite disturbing, but without much logic, imo - ⭐⭐⭐

10. Story - Charged by Leanna Renee Heiber was fine - ⭐⭐⭐

11. Story - Mr. Splitfoot by Dale Bailey I also found to be fine, but forgettable - ⭐⭐⭐

12. Story - Phosphorus by Veronica Schanoes was very hard to read for me, with its quite graphic descriptions, which, while definitely not something that I was looking for, certainly made an impact I believe the author intended - ⭐⭐⭐

13. Story - We Without Us Were Shadows by Catherine M. Valente was... hmm, well, knowing CMV's reputation for weird stories and writing style, I kinda expected something more quirky than a fantastical imagining of a day in the Bronte siblings childhood. Additionally, since I don't personally care about either the Bronte siblings or reimaginings or stories about books, I felt very meh about this one- ⭐⭐⭐

14. Story - The Vital Importance of the Superficial by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer I loved so much (despite its epistolary format to boot!!) that I reread it immediately after I finished the book!! It is absolutely my favorite one in this collection - it has 2 awesome female chars, 2 funny male chars, a parent who isn't useless and not one but 2 charming romance subplots - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

15. Story - The Jewel in the Toad Queen's Crown by Jane Yolen - sigh, the same comment applies to this one as the one for the reimagining of the Bronte siblings - I just don't care about reimaginings nor the life of British Prime Ministers - ⭐⭐⭐

16. Story - A Few Twigs He Left Behind by Gregory Maguire - I feel that I am becoming a broken record - same as with reimagenings, I don't care about retellings either. And I am also not a fan of Christmas Carol - ⭐⭐⭐

17. Story - Their Monstrous Minds by Tanith Lee - oh, look, another retelling! Of Frankenstein this time! 🙄 - ⭐⭐⭐

18. Story - Estella Saves the Village by Theodora Goss - this was the story I looked forward to the most because I love her Athena Club stories so much. However, this was quite a distressing read for me and I believe that this story should come with a trigger warning - ⭐⭐⭐

Just couldn't get into these

These stories are shallow. The narration is cartoonish - a faked little girl voice. The stories themselves lack originality. Boo

I was okay for the sample

...but about 15 minutes into the first story about Victoria's Book of Spells, I couldn't take the combination of smug, plummy-toned dramatization (combined with the author's patently obvious dislike & chip on her shoulder the first writer has for nonUSians, specifically British culture.) seemed okay for a few minutes. But it went on & on...! How someone with such US national exceptionalism writes a short story with Queen Victoria as a vehicle is bewildering. What was her motivation? ...to snark?

I just couldn't enjoy it. I was relaxing in the tub & it went from odd, to confusing to so aggravating that I had to get out, towel off, blow out the candles & do laundry.
Suffice to say, the self-satisfied notes in the performer's chosen style carried the same impression into the subsequent readings.
I'm sure it was just the combination of the first story with the first writing style. Maybe if they hadn't occurred together? Maybe they resonated off each other?
I tried to get into the other ones, but gave up, as it all blended together into one nails-on-a-chalkboard experience.
I really wanted to like this, but I'm not about to try as hard as I did for simple fantasy fiction.

Not for me. I wish I could return it, even for a partial credit.

Avoid this one

I would have loved to like this book, but unfortunately the narrator spoiled it for me, sounding like she was forced to read the text. I did try to pick the book up multiple times over the last month or two, each time failing to muster enough resolve to keep on listening for more than 15-30 minutes at a time.

Maybe the stories would have been more interesting if read by someone else. However, as it stands, the ones I did get through felt shallow and didn't seem to go anywhere. It could be that there's a gem hidden somewhere in there and I just never got to it, but I seriously doubt it would have been worth the effort to keep on dredging through this book.

Life is too short and there are plenty of good books read by great narrators out there. This just isn't one of them, so save your time and go listen to something else.