A collection of works form one of my favorite authors, I loved discovering dew stories from her and revisiting ones I read

Reading a bunch of Willis’s well-known stories together, including The Last of the Winnebagos and Even the Queen, the word I most want to use is “kind.” Standard characters are oblivious to other people—sometimes harmfully so, when they’re the antagonists, and one of them really takes mansplaining to a whole new level in a story about choirs and uncommunicative, disapproving aliens. But ultimately the antagonists are silly rather than evil; fundamental conflicts of values appear as, essentially, mistakes. (This is, I think, why Willis’s fascination with the London Blitz involves a portion of the war where bombs just drop from the sky, faceless; she doesn’t have to deal with the bombers when the enemy is Death.) Wouldn’t it be pretty if it were true? Also included are three speeches for awards ceremonies; Willis’s love for books and the hope they offer did make me tear up.