The Weight of Words by Dave McKean (Editor), William Schafer (Editor) (Subterranean Press, 2018)

★★☆☆☆

I’m dying to find an anthology that gets me firing on all cylinders. Granted, I don’t read that many anthologies, but the last was probably Rogues, from (*checks*)… 2014‽

When a friend recommended I check out “The Orange Tree” by Maria Dahvana Headley, I found this out-of-print book at the library. It’s a beautiful square-format illustrated hardcover; readable artifacts like this, I’m given to understand, are the kind of thing SubPress is known for. The stories inside are all inspired by the art of Dave McKean, who is also a contributor.

While I did enjoy “The Orange Tree”—about a crafted woman (golem) who claims a voice, a name, and a purpose—my favorites were:

“Belladonna Nights” by Alastair Reynolds. A clone, joining her memories to the core strand, has déjà vu. Of Reynolds’s work, I’ve only otherwise read Terminal World, which dragged. In comparison, this story—set in the world of House of Suns but standalone—is just the right length, focused and crystalline and cohesive.
“All I Care About Is You” by Joe Hill. A coin-operated friend helps a young girl’s dreams come true. Read for: how to use dialogue and subtext to establish conflicted relationships; how to skip the unnecessary when building rapport between characters; how to “yes, and.”
“Objects in the Mirror” by Caitlín Kiernan. A meditation on what looks back when we look at our reflections. Kiernan eschews plot as a principle, it seems; yet here she masterfully commands atmosphere and structure. I’m curious how her longer works read.

If it weren’t for the remaining stories’ (including the Neil Gaiman and Catherynne Valente) completely failing to move me, this book is exactly the type of thing I’d love to have in my home collection.