Recently re-discovered this collection in my pile of books that I need to review. I partially reviewed this already, but I got fatigued after reading Tanith Lee. Time to get this thing (more) reviewed!
I wasn't interested in The Initiate after reading a page from the story - it's not remarkably good or bad, but it is rather middle-of-the-road fantasy. I just figured I'd skip it rather than trudging through it.
Princess - Morgan Llywelyn
She neither laughed at them nor shrank away from them as the other townspeople did. Who was she to laugh at anyone? Homely old maid eking out a thin living in a rundown bar on the wrong side of a dying town.
This is just, simply, a good and short piece. I would venture to say that it actually qualifies as a cute piece of literary relinquishment, taking something that's already existing and doing something pretty unexpected with it. Let's just say that there is some real "fairy tale" inspiration in this story. The little illustration on the last page is very pretty and quite sad.
Bad Lands - Nancy Springer
A dark and mysterious tale of redemption, this story's pacing is flawless. There's not much else to say about this story - it's just a really great, tragic and exhilarating story, involving cultural heritage and wild horses. To top it off, the art on the opposite page to the first one is really spectacular.
These two stories were really just... great! It's nice to get the feeling that you didn't just buy a stack of old issues because they look awesome/nostalgic.
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 - Darrell Schweitzer (Editor), Stephen Fabian (Illustrator), Contribution by Nancy Springer, Contribution by Morgan Llywelyn, Cont)
