Laughter at the Academy

by Seanan McGuire

Hardcover, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF McGuire

Genres

Horror

Fantasy

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

[S.l.] : SUBTERRANEAN PRESS, 2019.

Description

"From fairy tale forest to gloomy gothic moor, from gleaming epidemiologist's lab to the sandy shores of Neverland, Seanan McGuire's short fiction has been surprising, delighting, confusing, and transporting her readers since 2009. Now, for the first time, that fiction has been gathered together in one place, ready to be enjoyed one twisting, tangled tale at a time. Her work crosses genres and subverts expectations. Meet the mad scientists of "Laughter at the Academy" and "The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells." Glory in the potential of a Halloween that never ends. Follow two very different alphabets in "Frontier ABCs" and "From A to Z in the Book of Changes." Get "Lost," dress yourself "In Skeleton Leaves," and remember how to fly. All this and more is waiting for you within the pages of this decade-spanning collection, including several pieces that have never before been reprinted. Stories about mermaids, robots, dolls, and Deep Ones are all here, ready for you to dive in. This is a box of strange surprises dredged up from the depths of the sea, each one polished and prepared for your enjoyment. So take a chance, and allow yourself to be surprised."--Amazon.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rivkat

A number of short stories by McGuire with various fantasy settings. I mostly liked them—McGuire’s tics of repetition and fairy-tale singsongs are not as apparent/annoying in short story form.

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LibraryThing member Carolesrandomlife

I liked this book even if it wasn't my favorite. I felt like I was reading this book forever. That has more to do with how I tend to read short story collections than the writing contained in these stories. A collection like this one that contains over 20 stories has a lot of natural stopping

points and I do tend to stop after finishing a story. I do think that this was a great way to see how Seanan McGuire's versatility.

This collection had a little bit of everything. If you are looking for a mermaid story, you will find it. A story about a little girl and the world's last tuna? It is here. There is a haunted house story, a story set in Neverland and another in Oz. There is even a story about a war with toys and another about a very special dollmaker. The writing was as varied as the stories. There was a story that was writing as a series of tweets, another as a series of office memos, and another as a crowdfunding proposal.

As is the case with most short story collections, I found myself enjoying some stories a lot more than others. There were some stories that I didn't care for much at all, some I loved, some I thought were okay, and a few that just confused me. I am easily confused so that doesn't really mean much.

I would recommend this book. I think that this was an overall enjoyable collection with some pretty outstanding stories. I haven't read a lot of Seanan McGuire's work but I do plan to read more in the near future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Subterranean Press via NetGalley.

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LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc

Most of the stories collected here have shown up in various anthologies but one is from her Patreon. I’m a fan of her stuff and there were a few that I hadn’t read before. None of the stories here are set in any of her current series and yet so many of these stories are almost begging for more

stories in their setting. A great collection for fans of short stories or fans of McGuire’s writing.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

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LibraryThing member marysneedle

I loved all the stories in this collection, some about mad scientists, some mocking technology and social media, some alternate takes on classic stories, and some about alternate secret histories.....
My top favorites were "Uncle Sam, Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage, Emeralds to Emeralds

Dust to Dust, We are all Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War, Bring About the Halloween Eternal, Office Memos, Please Accept my Most Profound Apologies for What is About to Happen (But You Started It), #Connollyhouse #weshouldntbehere.
This was my first exposure to Seanan Mcguire's writing and I am in love. I have found a new favorite author and cannot wait to check out more of her works.

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LibraryThing member g33kgrrl

This is an enjoyable short story collection. A warning that many of the stories involve disasters, including world-ending apocalypses, many of which explicitly involve children. As a parent quite a few were actually difficult to read - but of course YMMV. But all the ideas were interesting and the

stories were well-written.

I received this book as an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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