Review: Lady Stardust edited by Art Critic Panda

Trade paperback, 112 pages
Published 2012
Acquired October 2012
Read June 2013

The Obverse Quarterly: Year Two, Book Two: Lady Stardust
edited by Art Critic Panda

I guess this Iris Wildthyme anthology is based on David Bowie or something; I wouldn't know. But who cares? This is one of the most fun, most diverse Iris Wildthyme anthologies yet. Vince Cosmos makes an appearance in Paul Magrs's "Hold onto Yourself," which is fun (where's the next audio drama, though?); Scott Liddell gives us a creepy and evocative story in "Slip Away"; and Stewart Sheargold's "Cracked Actor" is a deranged murder mystery on the set of an Italian vampire film. All good fun, without going over-the-top in an alienating way.

The only story I felt didn't work was George Mann's "Low/Profile," which purports to be the Wikipedia entry for a Bowie album, but ended up telling a pretty standard narrative; I don't think Mann really utilized the form well beyond the occasional "[citation needed]" or "[original research]" gag. Real Wikipedia entries aren't quite this coherent.

(I was disappointed at another Obverse title with sloppy typesetting; it seems to be a different size in each story, and sometimes fluctuates within one story. It makes this book look amateurish.)

Review: Enter Wildthyme by Paul Magrs

Trade paperback, 330 pages
Published 2011
Acquired November 2011
Read May 2013

Enter Wildthyme
by Paul Magrs

There's a good story in here somewhere, about learning to find magic again in your life. Unfortunately, it's buried beneath a deadly dull hunt for a mystical artifact, the stakes of which are never made clear... or interesting. This felt like it went on forever, when it probably didn't, and all of the concepts seemed squandered. And it doesn't even finish up properly, but you won't catch me buying Magrs's other standalone Wildthyme novels (Wildthyme Beyond! or From Wildthyme with Love) based on this.