I won't belabor the point here as much as I did for the last collection edited by Parisien and Wolfe that I dipped into (the immortally wise and funny "Robots vs. Fairies"), but I will put it simply and straightforward ... ly: this is another fanstinkingtastic collection of stories from science fiction and fantasy authors of such range and skill that you're basically looking at a Hugo awards ballot, or perhaps the best possible mix of comic-con panelists. Every author with whom I was already familiar going into this collection: Seanan McGuire, Ann Leckie, J.Y. Yang, Arkady Martine, Sarah Gailey, Indra Das, Naomi Novik, and Amal El-Mohtar delivered an absolute show-stopper of a short story here. And authors of whom I'd heard but not read, or authors with whom I was completely unfamiliar, including Carmen Maria Machado, Alyssa Wong, and T. Kingfisher just ... well, they blew me away, quite frankly.

The format will be familiar to readers of "Robots vs. Fairies": a quick but pithy introduction explaining the "why myths?" of the collection, followed by the stories themselves, each appended with the author's brief take on the particular "why THAT myth?" and concluded with the contributing authors' short bios. Like their other collections, Parisien and Wolfe have managed to give this one an overarching "feeling" or perhaps motive that helps the whole thing hang together; without the specific idea behind this anthology, these would still be great stories. Together, though? They speak to each other. Together they are even more potent.

I do, of course, have my favorites. But given the overall strength and the overall level of excellence here among these short stories, favorites like mine are all down to shades and gradations of individual taste. I commend Parisien and Wolfe for yet another GORGEOUS and spectacularly fun-to-read anthology, and I'll be watching the shelves of my local indie to snatch up a print copy as soon as they trickle down to my part of the world.

Trigger Warning: Suicidal Thoughts, Self-Harm, Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, Cannibalism

The Mythic Dream is one anthology I couldn't pass up. I have always been fascinated by Greek Mythology, and I was ecstatic to read some retellings of new (to me) and old myths. I actually jumped for joy when NetGalley approved me for this book! This anthology does have some hits and some misses, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. Each myth was a quick bite-size story that kept me turning each page.

The one thing that I loved the most about this book is the fact that it has myths from other cultures. There were some myths that I had never heard of, and that made this anthology even more fun. I thoroughly enjoyed learning what other kids grew up hearing! It was a fun glimpse into their culture.

I also loved how the stories played off of the old myths. Each one brought a unique story that had the heart of the legend at its core. Even when I didn't know the lore, the story was enjoyable and exciting.
Out of the 18 stories here, I only disliked one or two. I will say that my favorites were Live Stream by Alyssa Wong, Phantoms of the Midway by Seanan McGuire, and Kali_Na by Indrapramit Das. I particularly loved Live Stream because it took a real-life issue and incorporated it into the story. It is going to stick with me for a while.

The Mythic Dream is going to be a fantastic book for anyone who loves myths. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants bite-size stories that will have you reliving the legends you know and enjoying new ones you never knew existed.

I very much enjoyed this collection. Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien have done an excellent job putting together the stories and authors that make this whole. I really enjoyed reading the stories, seeing if I could recognize the myth (mostly: no, but sometimes yes!), then reading the author's afterward about their story and the myth, then doing a little google search about the myth to see what the "canon" version was. It was fun.

I'm pretty much saving all of these to look back for my Hugo short story noms next year. Dang.

Alyssa Wong - Live Stream - A timely story of revenge porn and justice.

Amal El-Mohtar - Florilegia; Or, Some Lies About Flowers - A myth I had never even heard of before this book. I love this story and can't imagine that the actual myth could be better. Taking power back is timeless.

Ann Leckie - The Justified - A fun ride with a satisfying end that I didn't see coming. Ann Leckie is a treasure, honestly.

Arkady Martine - Labbatu Takes Command of the Flagship "Heaven Dwells Within" - This is a rollicking ship's tale, set in space but with a feel all the way back to the high seas.

Carlos Hernandez - ¡Cuidado! ¡Que Viene el Coco! - A myth I'd never heard of, and a really fun story that left me worried it'd be tragic but wasn't.

Carmen Maria Machado - The Things Erik Eats Before He Eats Himself - A story about greed, and exploitation, and lessons learned too late.

Indrapramit Das - Kali_Na - A near-future story of trolls, digital and corporate exploitation of religion, and how you really can't predict a goddess. Excellent.

J.Y. Yang - Bridge of Crows - A space fantasy of crows and sacrifice and revenge. This story could have easily been an entire novel, but was elegant and perfect as a short story as well.

Jeffrey Ford - Sisyphus in Elysium - I loved Greek mythology as a kid but haven't really spent a lot of time on it since then. I should return to it. I don't think a child can really understand eternity, and the stories of Sisyphus or Tantalus read as "interesting" instead of "horrific." Ford's take on Sisyphus, and what his task actually means, is definitely the product of someone pondering it seriously.

John Chu - Close Enough for Jazz - A story about body-morphing technology, start-up capital, and finding your audience.

Kat Howard - Curses, Like Words, Like Feathers, Like Stories - A story about the past, and how we tell it, and what we know, and how we know it, and what are stories, even.

Leah Cypess - Across the River - I loved this story. I didn't know the myth involved, so it was a totally fresh read. I loved the mechanism by which the myth was bound into the plot, and the characters were exceptional as well. Lovely.

Naomi Novik - Buried Deep - A take on Ariadne and the Minotaur that was lovely and powerful. And once again I need to revisit my Greeks.

Rebecca Roanhorse - A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy - A future where you can mainline memories of your loved ones. No thank you, but yes please to the story.

Sarah Gailey - Wild to Covet - This was well-written and totally fair and I enjoyed it intellectually a lot more than I felt it emotionally. Which is on me, not Gailey; my kid is too young for me to deal well with any story about mothers who aren't all in, and forced motherhood is not something I can deal with emotionally so I have to divorce myself entirely. Basically it was too good for me to deal with.

Seanan McGuire - Phantoms of the Midway - I loved this story! It was sweet and thoughtful and nothing like I'd have ever expected. I would have loved to know how I felt about it as a teenager; now, I can only read it as a mother.

Stephen Graham Jones - He Fell Howling - Not a myth I was familiar with, so I had (have?) no idea how much of the story is the actual myth and how much is the story. Which is not a problem! But it made it an even more interesting read. I was also pretty horrified by the entire story, in general. This one is straight-up horror.

T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon - Fisher-bird - An (gosh I hate to use this word, but needs must) irreverent take on a pretty famous myth. I really enjoyed this one.

This is a really interesting mix of myths retold by some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi authors who naturally put their own spin on each one. If there are authors here that you enjoy I think you will definitely like their contributions but you will likely find a few new favorites mixed in as well. I love the brief write up by the author after each story that lets you in on their thought process and explains why they chose the myth they chose. As with any short story collection some stories are better than others but overall this is a really strong collection.

4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I want others to read this and I really did love it.

When you have a short story collection like this, by so many different authors, it's kind of hard to give it an overall rating, especially if there were some stories you didn't like quite so much. But overall, this is a very strong collection of stories and I discovered some new authors along the way. The theme of this set is the retellings of myths from all cultures, and that, in itself, was quite interesting, since the most common myths studied in school are those of Greek/Roman mythology, with maybe some mention of Egyptian and Norse mythology. What I loved about this collection is that the authors were given the chance to explore retellings of different mythologies across cultures and civilizations in order to say something about the present and future. This was a mix of fantasy/mythology, and science fiction written by a nice cross section of current sci-fi/fantasy authors. While I loved some more than others, overall, I looked forward to reading each new story and discovering something new. I would probably recommend this for older teens and young adults, partly because there are some pretty graphic scenes of violence, sex, abuse, cannibalism, and language (though I'm not nearly as concerned about language as the other stuff). I would probably let my 15 year old read this if she were interested, with just a heads-up about some of the stuff she would find in it.

Here is a summary of my ratings:

Phantoms of the Midway (Hades and Persephone), Seanan McGuire, 4.5 stars
The Justified (Hathor and the Destruction of Mankind), Ann Leckie, 4 stars
Fisher-Bird (The Labors of Hercules), T. Kingfisher, 4.5 stars
A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy (Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden), Rebecca Roanhorse, 5 stars
Bridge of Crows (The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl), JY Yang, 4 stars
Labbatu Takes Command of the Flagship Heaven Dwells Within (Inanna Takes Command of Heaven/Inanna & Enki), Arkady Martine, 2.5-3 stars
Wild to Covet (Thetis) , Sarah Gailey, 4.5 stars
Cuidado, Que Viene El Coco (El Coco), Carlos Hernandez, 5 stars
He Fell Howling (Lycaon), Stephen Graham Jones, 2.5 stars
Curses Like Words, Like Feathers, Like Stories (The Children of Lir), Kat Howard, 3 stars
Across the River (The Legend of Akdamot/The Legend of Rabbi Meir and the Sambatyon), Leah Cypess, 4 stars
Sisyphus in Elysium (Sisyphus), Jeffrey Ford, 3.5-4 stars
Kali_Na (Kali), Indrapramit Das, 4.5 stars
Live Stream (Artemis and Acteon), Alyssa Wong, 4.5 stars
Close Enough for Jazz (Idunn and her Golden Apples), John Chu, 4-4.5 stars
Buried Deep (Ariadne and the Minotaur), Naomi Novik, 3.5 stars
The Things Erik Eats Before He Eats Himself (Erysichthon), Carmen Maria Machado, 3 stars
Florilegia; Or, Some Lies about Flowers (Blodeuwedd), Amal El-Mohtar, 4 stars

The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe, collects 18 short stories from authors invited to retell mythological tales. The authors chose different mythological traditions (Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Hindu, Welsh, Sumerian, and more), different genres (sci-fi, cyberpunk, contemporary, historical fiction, etc.) and approached their retelling in wildly different ways, but the collection as a whole works well together. Some of this cohesion comes from the high quality of the stories, which ensures that despite the varied approaches to the task of retelling a myth, no single approach stood out as the most successful.

Having read the full collection, the lasting impression I got from The Mythic Dream is of an invitation to sample and explore. Depending on whether you are already familiar with the underlying myth, each retelling asks you either to revisit your opinion and think more deeply a story you think you know or introduces you to a new mythological tradition you might want to explore further by finding the story in its traditional form. While I loved the stories that offered a new perspective on a story I already knew, like “Phantoms of the Midway” by Seanan McGuire and “Close Enough for Jazz” by John Chu, it was just as fascinating exploring myths from traditions that I wasn’t familiar with, like “¡CUIDADO! ¡QUE VIENE EL COCO!” by Carlos Hernandez and “A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy” by Rebecca Roanhorse. In the same way, I greatly appreciated the stories from authors whose work I already know and enjoy, like Seanan McGuire, Naomi Novik, and Rebecca Roanhorse, but had just as much fun discovering new authors whose other published works I now need to seek out, like Indrapramit Das, Amal El-Mohtar, Alyssa Wong, Carlos Hernandez, and Arkady Martine.

As with most collections that bring together stories from different authors, I enjoyed some stories more than others. For me, the standouts of the collection are “Buried Deep” by Naomi Novik, “Kali_Na” by Indrapramit Das, “Florilegia; or Some Lies About Flowers” by Amal El-Mohtar, “Across the River” by Leah Cypress, and “Live Stream” by Alyssa Wong, but on the whole, more stories work than don’t and some are truly extraordinary.

The Mythic Dream fascinates with its unique collection of classical myth adaptations. The tome features a brilliant cast of science fiction and fantasy’s top authors, each with a unique writing style that resonates throughout the retellings. Many of these myths were new to me, adding an important learning moment about the stories that shaped so many world cultures. Overall, you’ll find expertly written stories, each with a unique twist on tales that enchant, horrify, and entertain.

A few favorites:

A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy, by Rebecca Roanhorse

This story floored me. It starts out by examining the lifestyles of the rich and famous. A major actor has lost his girlfriend and decides to cope by injecting her memories into his head. What follows borders between science fiction and horror. We see him gradually begin to lose himself to the hallucinations and, at the end, the barrier between reality and fantasy is torn down.

Bridge of Crows, by JY Yang

Yang acts as a brilliant narrator, filling the retelling of the story with life. The beginning paragraph is a hilarious adaptation of ‘once upon a time’ that shows true originality. It’s clear Yang is having loads of fun adapting this tale to a new setting, and that makes for an enjoyable read. 

The Things Erik Eats before He Eats Himself, by Carmen Maria Machado

This strange tale mixes humor, horror, and absurdity to present an important moral about mankind’s insatiable need to acquire wealth and possessions. It’s startling to see the curse in action, but it drives the point home in an epic way. 

Review to be published on 9/3: http://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/09/03/the-mythic-dream-book-review

Several of my favorite authors were featured in this Anthology, so even though I'm not normally a fan of short stories I wanted to check it out. As is always the case for me with short story collections, I skipped over several, enjoyed a handful, and absolutely adored a few. No surprises, the late included the authors that I already knew and liked - Seanan McGuire, T Kingfisher, and Kat Howard predominant among them. But I was also pleasantly surprised to discover a few new Authors who I will be following in the future, most notably Rebecca Roan horse and Alyssa Wong.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for sending me a free ARC copy of The Mythic Dream in exchange for an honest review.

The Mythic Dream is an anthology of 18 classic myth retellings by a mix of talented authors. Some authors I was previously familiar with & several are new favorites that I am looking forward to reading more of. This anthology covers an incredible variety of myths from cultures across the globe, with some of the retellings sticking close to their original narratives & others exploring how far they could go. I was surprised with how few myths I was familiar with, but reading this anthology showed me how much I’m missing & I’ve found a new section to add to my monthly TBR.

Overall, I give this anthology a 4 out of 5 stars, based on my average rating for each of the stories. Of the 18 stories, I rated 11 at least 4 stars or higher. My two favorites were “Fisher-bird” by T. Kingfisher and “Kali_Na” by Indrapramit Das.

Unfortunately, a couple of the stories were too graphic for my taste. In terms of trigger warnings, there’s not much that isn’t covered in these stories. Rape, drug use, cannibalism - each story tackles a different topic & this would be a good anthology for book discussion groups. Some stories dealing with tough topics needed more room, but I’m not sure what limitations the authors were given. However, I really enjoyed how each story was approached in a different style & each author’s creative twists on the original myths & the possibilities of our future.

The Mythic Dream releases September 3rd & is available for preorder on Amazon. Thank you again to NetGalley and Saga Press for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.