I have been craving a cozy fantasy as of late and this book definitely delivered on that front and so many more! Seanan McGuire has such a poetic and descriptive writing style that you are immediately immersed within the story and can relate to many of the characters. Not to mention the world-building, which is very lush and intriguing. Unlike anything you’ve come across before. I highly recommend this read to any lover of fantasy stories, or anyone interested in dipping their toes in the genre.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Subterranean Press presents The Proper Thing and Other Stories, a collection of short works by Seanan McGuire. There are 24 pieces of fiction in this anthology along with accompanying illustrations for each. The stories chosen were written by McGuire between 2016 and 2022. None of the featured stories are exclusive to this collection aside from McGuire's introduction to the collection and her introductions for each piece. Many of the collected pieces were originally available on Patreon. The chosen works span the genre of speculative fiction to include fantasy, scifi, and horror.

I always mention this in my anthology reviews, but there will always be stories a reader is more or less attached to. I will say that this is the third (I think) collection of Seanan McGuire's works specifically that I have read, and I love how she does short fiction. Even if the story doesn't connect for me, I love McGuire's crafting of words and worlds.

Given that I read Laughter at the Academy, the previous Subterranean Press Seanan McGuire anthology, one can't help but to compare the two. I would say that overall this anthology is a bit more bleak as a whole as it includes writing generated during the pandemic. Nothing included in this anthology got under 3 stars for me, but likewise nothing got over 4 stars either. My personal highlights were as follows:

- Coafield’s Catalog of Available Apocalypse Events (an alphabet story which is a format I love)
- Now Rest, My Dear
- In the Land of Rainbows and Ash
- Vegetables and Vaccines

Overall, this was a cohesive collection that I was happy to have the opportunity to read early. I will undoubtedly continue to read Seanan McGuire's works in the future.

Me 🤝 The writings of Seanan McGuire.

I am biased in her favor. McGuire is one of the few authors that I feel like I am cut from the same cloth as.

Imaginative but mature, colorful but bleak, and curious but oh so fearful.

The illustrations, the variety in writing styles, and the heartfelt introductions to each piece solidifies this as one of my favorite collections of an author's work. It's also a behemoth. This is not a single sitting read. It's best enjoyed in small, mulled over doses.

"The Land of Rainbows and Ash" took my heart and stomped on it- then I immediately thanked it for doing so.

I now wonder how hurt I'd be if new music turned to static once I am older and what I'd do if I occupied a more fantastical world.

The heavy handed and unsubtle opinions of McGuire that are baked deep into her writings will likely be too loud for some. I, though, find it at the perfect volume for these issues severity.

One of my favorite things about Seanan McGuire's releases with Subterranean Press is that she writes introductions to each of the stories giving you a glimpse into the writing process and her thoughts while working on them.

I also appreciate McGuire saying <i>Laughter at the Academy</i> had a different vibe, and how these stories are from a different era post-COVID. A lot of stories were available in different books and a few were posted on her Patreon.

Coafield’s Catalog of Available Apocalypse Events - If you've read anything Seanan McGuire, you know her penchant for scientific apocalypse stuff and how much detail goes into it. Her research is incredible and she goes into so much detail. This is just a fun little alphabet story of the various ways this shop offers to end the world.

Now Rest, My Dear - A BEAUTIFUL story about libraries and the impact they have on children

Mother, Mother, Will You Play With Me? - A child wakes up each morning and their mother asks them if they would like to play a game. As the child navigates the games, they learn about feelings

In the Land of Rainbows and Ash - McGuire says this isn't a Wayward Children story, but it so easily could be, especially with that ending.

Heart of Straw - A Halloween adventure with three friends who are growing up and finding out who they are. While trick or treating they run into two more kids, and have some very interesting conversations.

The Levee Was Dry - Five minutes into the future, a virus is unleashed with nanobots that humanity has been using. This virus causes people to immediately lose the ability to hear music the exact second they reach the age of 35. Our protagonist navigates this future with her family.

Fresh as the New-Fallen Snow - McGuire's twist on the legend of Snegurochka. This would fit in perfectly with her Indexing series.

Good Night, Sleep Tight - In her introduction for this story, McGuire mentions she read a news story about a bedbug outbreak at a library. TW for that because, while this was brilliant, I felt so itchy the entire time.

Rise Up, Rise Up, You Children of the Moon - Another story that would brilliantly fit in with the Indexing series. There's a war between the children of the moon and the children of light. And one side is making advances in the fight.

Phantoms of the Midway - I just happened to read this a few weeks ago in the Mythic Dream! A genderbent retelling of Hades x Persephone, following two characters, one of whom lives with a traveling circus. On their most recent stop, she meets someone who makes her question everything.

File and Forget - McGuire's take on the corporate espionage between two companies that could also be five minutes into the future with the way we're headed. I loved the bioreactive documents; McGuire's brain is just something else.

Under the Sea of Stars - It's so cool seeing shades of McGuire's other works in her fiction. This could go well in the Rolling in the Deep universe, where a team explores the Bolton Strid and our protagonist has more of a connection to it than she could've guessed

Vegetables and Vaccines - If you read In the Kingdom of Needle and Bone, you've gotten a dose (haha) of this story. A traveling train of scientists in dystopian USA is attempting to help a population who have embraced the antivaccination movement. Particularly terrifying because, yeah, this could happen

Come Marching In - I felt a particular way about this story because I myself am mentally ill, and this story deals with a future where, since everyone keeps blaming gun violence on mental illness, there's a registry. Furthermore, you have to be tested and placed on it, unless, of course, you can afford to have a doctor give you a clean bill of health

Foundational Education - A girl tests into a very good university, with a few stipulations

Ratting - This one still managed to hit close to home in 2024. A disease has ravaged the world and split it, almost literally, into those who have money and those who don't. Those who don't are considered expendable and fenced in to do the labor for the haves. When a few of the have-nots get sick, they gather in groups and go "ratting" in the neighborhood of the haves.

Love in the Last Days of a Doomed World - McGuire does these superhero / time travel / doomed world stories so well. This one she calls a "conversation" with Superman and it deals with the main character being in love, her brother's obsession with Superman comics, and, of course, the state of the world

What Everyone Knows - This felt like such a McGuire story, somewhere her brain would go and think about and write. A Godzilla-like monster comes out of the sea, destroys a city, and is killed. The protagonist happens upon one of the monster's eggs and hatches a child from it

Belief - I don't know if you can be a fan of McGuire's and not care about the same things she does, so when she mentioned in the forward that this was about the postal service and the state of it, you could tell this was gonna be a passionate but brutal look into McGuire's mind and how it could go

So Sharp, So Bright, So Final - I happened to be reading Good Night, Sleep Tight at work, and, as luck would have it, I read this one at work too. McGuire imagines what would happen if rabies goes airborn and it's every bit as terrifying as you could imagine.

Sweet as Sugar Candy - A woman opens a bakery specializing in marshmallows and an old school recipe. Her partner in her college cooking class offers to find investors for the shop, much to her chagrin.

On the Side - I think this was possibly one of the more surprising stories and definitely a pretty neat one. Five minutes into the future, certain foods and spices have been cracked down on, leading to food trucks serving food under the radar, and our protagonist dreams of being able to serve and eat avocados again one day

Pedestal - Another superhero story and one McGuire said she'd love to return to some day, and I hope she does. Alice has the ability to command clones of herself from mirrors. Due to sexism in the superhero industry, she usually has to go without a mask, which makes her mundane, day to day existence pretty hard to navigate, and all she wanted to do in this story was buy some ice cream

The Proper Thing - The titlular story and the longest in the book! Fantastic, but I feel like that's synonymous with Seanan McGuire really. There's a special shop you can't get to easily that sells cheese with magical properties, staffed by people who might be more than they let on. One day, the shop is robbed and Maisie, our hero, is left to sort out the mess the villains left for her...

I love Seanan McGuire, particularly her Wayward Children series, so I was stoked to read a collection of her stories. These were a mixed bag for me, though there were some incredibly high highs toward the middle of the collection. I know collectors will love what I'm sure will be a gorgeous edition from Subterranean Press, though. (And the cover is stunning.)

"The Proper Things and Other Stories" is like a box of assorted chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. Some of the stories are like delicious truffles, rich and satisfying, while others are more like the odd flavor you politely try and then set aside.

One thing I really appreciated was the author's personal touch in the forewords. It felt like sitting down with a friend who's about to tell you a great story and giving you some background to set the scene. It made diving into each tale all the more enjoyable.

While not every story hit the mark for me, there's no denying McGuire's knack for spinning a yarn that's completely out of this world. "The Proper Things and Other Stories" might not be a perfect read, but it's definitely worth a dive for anyone who loves a good speculative adventure.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this in advance!

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors. She excels in all genres of fantasy/paranormal. Moreover, she knows how to pull emotions out of her readers. Her honesty shines through.

The Proper Thing is an eclectic, interesting, relatable mix of stories. One of my favorites is Now Rest, My Dear. As a child, I found solace in reading and valued the libraries where I found so many new worlds, This story moved me.

Fantasy lovers, I recommend giving this book a try.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the chance to read this ARC.

Seanan McGuire moves in mysterious ways. Her mind is a thing of wonder and beauty, and I kind of want to examine it under the microscope, (which, given the subject matter she sometimes writes, she should not consider that to be macabre, at all—plus, I’m joking).

I had recently finished the short story anthology “Wink”, edited by Henry Herz, when I saw Ms. McGuire’s book come available on NetGalley. Her story in “Wink” was disturbing to the max, but I still read it with horrified fascination and wanted to see where she’d go next.

This anthology stacks UP. It’s so, so good. Yeah, there were a couple of tales in here that didn’t grab me as much, but by far the majority of them were amazing. Where does she come up with this stuff??

The author’s forewords about each story are so informative, and I enjoyed the background knowledge as I dove into the tales.

Here are my very favorites:

“Now Rest, My Dear” - Seanan perfectly captures the magical comfort and peace a library can give, and blessed is the child who grows up cherishing the library as a safe haven, where those who enter can lose themselves in fantastical new worlds, until they are jarred abruptly back to reality by the clock nearing 5pm (or 6, or even 9pm). This story takes me right back to my own childhood, where my siblings and I were taken to the library on a regular basis, where my mother had to limit each of us to ten books, probably because we couldn’t physically carry more than that on our own, and/or because she didn’t want us losing them and accruing fines. We have since grown up to adore books, and I am truly grateful for it.

“In the Land of Rainbows and Ash” - This one got me right in the feels. It really matters who or what you encounter first when you step through that magical doorway. Best be careful.

“Phantoms of the Midway” - I did not grow up roaming the carnivals. We had Cedar Point forty-five minutes away (Cleveland, baby), and it was too expensive to go to except maybe every other year. My parents didn’t want us going on rides that were iffy, and they considered most carnival rides to be iffy.
However, in this story, the author really makes you feel what it would be like to be a child of the carnival. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the boundaries, the edges where the lights don’t quite reach. I think we all remember what it’s like to be in that awkward space where you’re not a child anymore, but you’re not quite an adult, either—and you’re just itching to break some of those inexplicable-to-you rules that are beginning to chafe.

“Under the Sea of Stars” - Oh my gosh, I adored this one. All I will say is that it’s about the Bolton Strid in England, and it is absolutely a must-read.

“What Everyone Knows” - This is a fascinating take on monsters of the embiggened variety. Yes, that’s the technical term. I personally wouldn’t do what the MC did, but I was enthralled reading about it.

“Sweet as Sugar Candy” - A very few of us do one thing and do it very well. We don’t need to be the leaders, but we do need to be left alone.

“Pedestal” - Speaking of needing to be left alone…

And finally, “The Proper Thing” itself. This is a longer tale, and it takes you places you never thought you would go. It delves into what it means to be human, and it’s a perfect way to end the anthology.

There are many more stories, and once you finish this book, you will see that my favorites tend to be the fairytales, myths and the fantastical come to life, rather than the ones set more in the real world, although I do enjoy the latter from time to time. This anthology is a good mix of both sets, and I highly encourage everyone to pick up a copy when it becomes available (very soon!) on April 30th.

Thank you to NetGalley, Subterranean Press and the inimitable Ms. McGuire for the advance copy for me to feast upon early. All opinions are my own.

"From the end of the world to the beginning, with a nice charcuterie plate to sustain us on the way, it's time for another journey through the eccentric, eclectic short fiction of Seanan McGuire. From dangerous holidays to the beauty of the library, from the power of cheese to the power of love, this volume will take you from the past to the future, sometimes on the same page. Learn about the insecurities of the superheroic world, and how hard some people will work to survive the end of absolutely everything. Discover what everyone knows, and watch what happens when the cultural foundations are pulled from under your favorite cuisine. See what people will do when all else is lost, and watch what happens on the day the music dies. And when all that is through, visit our magical cheese shop for something truly delicious, impossible and unique. We have a little something for everyone in our box of delights. Don't be afraid - just reach in, and choose a treat to improve and enhance your day. We've been waiting for another trip to the store on the corner, where they sell Wensleydale and wishes side by side. Come along now, let's go."

Another stunning edition from Subterranean Press that also adds to Seanan McGuire's copious output. She has to support those cats somehow!