“Child-Empress of Mars,” a new short story written by Theodora Goss, was just published in the acclaimed Interfictions 2 (Nov 2009), an anthology of interstitial writing edited by Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak and published by Small Beer Press of western Massachusetts.I haven’t had an opportunity to read "Child-Empress of Mars" but according to a review by T. S. Miller for Strange Horizons, it is “a pseudo-pastiche of Edgar Rice Burroughs […] a rewriting of the early genre of ‘interplanetary romance’ by someone more likely raised on post-Tolkien high fantasy, the spectacular result of which somehow ends up being nearer in many ways to Roger Zelazny's thoughtful SF yarn "A Rose for Ecclesiastes."”
Interestingly, three pieces of artwork based on Goss’s short story will be auctioned off as part of a fundraiser for the Interstitial Arts Foundation:
• “The Child Empress of Mars,” mixed media art doll, by C. Jane Washburn. Bidding opens November 12th.
• “Dream of the Child Empress of Mars,” mixed media diorama box, by Connie Toebe. Bidding opens November 15th.
• “The Child Empress of Mars,” decorative piece, by Laramie Sasseville. Bidding opens November 26th.
[via Charles Tan of SF Signal]
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1 comment:
Assuming that "pseudo-pastiche" is just a wordier way of saying "pastiche", I disagree with the "Strange Horizons" review only in the following respects: (1) I don't see Tolkien in the story at all; (2) I'm not convinced that the substantial similarities to "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (good catch!) are purely coincidental, and (3) the story is not "spectacular" or even especially interesting or entertaining.
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