Prophecies, Libels & Dreams: Stories

by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Publication

Small Beer Press (2014), 272 pages

Description

Praise for Ysabeau S. Wilce's previous books: "This fresh and funky setting is rich with glorious costumes, innovative language, and tantalizing glimpses of history."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review These inter-connected stories are set in an opulent quasi-historical world of magick and high manners called the Republic of Califa. The Republic is a strangely familiar place--a baroque approximation of Gold Rush era-California with an overlay of Aztec ceremony--yet the characters who populate it are true originals: rockstar magicians, murderous gloves, bouncing boy terrors, blue tinted butlers, sentient squids, and a three-year-old Little Tiny Doom and her vengeful pink plush pig. By turn whimsical and horrific (sometime in the same paragraph), Wilce's stories have been characterized as "screwball comedies for goths" but they could also be described as "historical fantasies" or "fanciful histories" for there are nuggets of historical fact hidden in them there lies. Ysabeau S. Wilce is the author ofFlora Segunda, Andre Norton Award-winnerFlora's Dare, andFlora's Fury, and she has published work inAsimov's,Steampunk!, andFantasy & Science Fiction. She lives in San Francisco, California.… (more)

Rating

½ (14 ratings; 3.9)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Xleptodactylous
A confusing start to what I assume will be a confusing book. Probably a side order to the previous books from this author, but the writing nor the stories made me care for any of it.
LibraryThing member allison_s
Happy to finally get some Califa-themed tales geared towards adults! :DDD

(STILL LOVE FLORA THOUGH)
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Weird and tasty, hilarious and surreal. If you don't know Flora I can only assume that this book would be incredibly hard to follow, but at the same time Califa is hard to get under the best of circumstances, so it doesn't much matter. Fascinating in writing, in language and slang, in costume and
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imagery and all the backfilled corners of story that are here revealed. I only wish for an audio version, because the only thing better than following Wilce down the rabbit hole is hearing the language sung aloud.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

272 p.; 7 inches

ISBN

1618730894 / 9781618730893
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