Courageous and deeply subversive.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

An imaginative, innovative collection of short stories that should have something to appeal to most fantasy readers.

Unique and enjoyable collection of short stories, almost all of which have some kind of fantasy or science fiction element - though very much grounded in the real world. My favorite story actually was one of the few that was totally realistic, Woodsmoke, about summer camp, though several stories of all kinds will stick with me for a while I think.

Got this from Netgalley many years ago but never got to read it because it was archived before I could download it - glad I found it at the library and was able to finally check it off!

An excellent collection of short stories. I haven't read much of Ellen Klages's work, but this collection certainly made me want to read more. The included pieces range across a variety of genres (fantasy, science fiction and more), and feature an interesting and diverse cast of characters.

Well written, with some great description, and characters who are often trying to find their place/way in the world. It's difficult to pick favourites from the book, so I'll just say: give it a try. A great introduction to the author's work. Recommended.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

This was such an awesome collection of short stories! I’ve never read anything by Ellen Klages but I definitely will after reading this. If you’ve ever read any of my reviews for a Jacob M. Appel anthology, you’ll know how much I love his work. This anthology had that same type of feeling and tone. There are some stories with elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism but even with those aspects the stories really just feel like real people experiencing very real emotions in what feel like very real scenarios. I can’t really say which of these stories were my favorite because I really did love all of them. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that enjoys character driven short stories.

ARC received via Netgalley. All opinions are expressly my own.

Wicked Wonders is an absolutely lovely collection, with some stories that I continue to recommend well after having read them here. The author’s notes on each story were insightful and interesting, and often funny as well. It’s a great collection of tales – here were my favourites:

“Amicae Aeternum”
A young girl spends a last day in her hometown with her best friend. I loved the things she chose to focus on, and the slow kind of reveal of why, precisely, it is her final day there.

“Mrs. Zeno’s Paradox”
This story delighted me. It really is cheeky and almost whimsical – which feels like such an odd thing to say about a story that centres on theoretical physics. I’ve recommended this story quite a bit as it is so fresh and playful while still being interesting and engaging.

“Singing on a Star”
This one is weird in every sense of the word. It has a strangeness that stuck with me, and an ambiguity that forced me to think about the ending well after I had finished reading. It’s a kind of take on portal fantasy that plays on the more sinister side of the theme.

“Friday Night and St. Cecilia’s”
I am really into the playing a game for your soul type plot or motif - it’s the kind of tension that works for me, and this story executed it well.

“Caligo Lane”
This story is my favourite of the collection. It’s unapologetically queer, and the magic within is so fresh and exciting. I am so glad Klages went on to include these characters in her novella Passing Strange – a piece of fiction that has a place in my all-time favourites.

“Woodsmoke”
The main character is so heartachingly familiar, this child striving for a specific kind of special. Summer camp can be such magic on its own that it didn’t feel odd at all that this story was surrounded by others with speculative aspects while this one had no such element.

Wicked Wonders is a fantastic collection to have. Beyond the enjoyment I got out of it as a reader, the author’s notes on each story were delightful and fascinating insights that have helped me better recognize and appreciate aspects of writing as well. I am glad to have it on my shelf to put in the hands of others who need these stories.

This is a wonderful book and would definitely recommend. It is full of useful information and the writing was beautiful.

A story that stirs the imagination in a reader. A collection of wondrous short stories, definitely not for children, but each touching the reader in the best way.

I'm sorry to say that I know nothing about Ellen Klages. I'm sorry about this because this was a really tremendous collection of short fiction.

I'm not quite sure how to define these stories - there's a wonderful, eclectic mix of fiction here, from style to genres, dramas and comedies. The stories flow easily and the characters are smart, clever, funny, sad, and very, very real. As Karen Joy Fowler writes in her Introduction:
<blockquote>Ellen’s young protagonists are both tough and sensitive. Like so many of us, they don’t quite fit in. So they’re always looking for the chance, unavailable in their homes and schools and communities, to be their true selves. This desire to live authentically, to speak with one’s true voice, is where Ellen’s work cuts the deepest.</blockquote>
There really isn't a bad story in this collection and I haven't been this excited about a collection of stories since I read Margaret Atwood's <em>Bluebeard's Eggs</em> back in 1986. A few stories stood above the rest....

In "Hey, Presto!" a young girl visits her father - a magician - in London and the two bond over the science behind the tricks.

Like many nerds, I consider myself a gamer - board and card games, not video games - and "Friday Night at St. Cecilia's" had an interesting game theme that really hooked me.

"Goodnight Moons" is the most science fiction-y story in the collection and yet, like most great fiction, it's about people. In this case, a woman has fought her whole life to be an astronaut on a Mars mission. Once in flight, a serious complication arises and the woman, Zoe has a serious, life-changing decision to make.

Possibly the best story in the collection, "Woodsmoke," is intense and beautiful in some way. The sense of nostalgia is strong for those of us who are old enough to remember summer camp with some fondness. The story is really powerful.

"The Scary Ham" is a very funny story which is more of a memory than a piece of fiction. Here Klages brings us into the room with her remarkable writing, whether we want to be there or not.

It is because of books like this that I keep reading works by authors I am not already familiar with ... the delight in 'discovering' a powerful literary voice. This collection is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book? <em>Wicked Wonders</em> by Ellen Klages is a collection of short stories that are powerful, touching, and very much worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I generally do not like short story collections. I always feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle or not understanding deeper meanings, so, with a few exceptions, I generally end up not loving them. However, I really loved this collection of short stories. They have a fun, vintage feel to them and most of them have some sort of science fiction or fantasy aspect that I adored. Some are happy, some bittersweet, and some are a little dark. Together, they make one wonderful collection.

Some stories, like the Maleficent story mentioned in the synopsis, are quirky and have unexpected happenings. Other stories are quick slices of life from surreal circumstances, like the last day on Earth of a girl who is being forced to move off-planet. Some of the stories were more realistic, but all have this wonderful nostalgic, vintage-y feel to them. Despite the overall feel being the same, each story has its own character, set apart by the writing style. The writing in some stories is also very descriptive–but not in a way that bored or annoyed me (and I’m not a huge of fan of lots of description outside of certain types of writing, like classics).
I also love that a lot of the stories, though they involve magic, make magic a part of our world through ideas and concepts. For instance, there is one story where a woman uses maps as magic. and another where math is magical. While these concepts are realistic, I think we can all agree that adding a small bit of magic to them is attractive, and doesn’t feel unrealistic or weird.

Overall, I really really loved this collection of stories. As someone who doesn’t love short stories, it’s always nice to be reminded that I can like short stories, and that makes me more likely to keep trying out collections that fit my particular brand of story. In this collection, Klages is at times heartbreaking, dark, funny, and whimsical. The stories were hard to put down and really enjoyable to read. If you’re looking for some good stories, this is a great place to look.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I'm on a bit of a short story roll at the moment! I thoroughly enjoyed these stories, as a major fan of the slightly magical, these were right up my alley. Imaginative, whimsical and character driven, these sweet little stories overwhelmed me with nostalgia, and I loved them for it!

From moving to Mars, to an unseelie Queen, to a small child who loves Maleficent over the princess. Wicked Wonders is a collection of wonderfully written short stories from Ellen Klages.

Because there are multiple short stories, it felt like it took much longer to read than a normal length novel. I found it particularly difficult to jump in and out of each story. This was because they're all so different. Some were magical. Other's were more sci-fi leaning. And then there were some that were contemporary.

Although vastly different, the writing style was consistently good throughout. Each story caught my attention and pulled me in. I was intrigued every time a new story started. Often confusion at first would turn to faster page turning.

I especially loved St Cecelias. We end up playing within board games such as Cluedo, snakes and ladders and Monopoly as part of Queen Mab's games. I loved the settings that were described. The Queen was manipulative but fair with her deals. Plus I definitely would have read a whole series based on that one premise.

Singing on a Star was also one that has really stuck in my mind. I would love to have delved deeper into that storyline. Especially as the ending was ambiguous. So many of the stories were truly wonderful plots. I would love to read more from Klages as she has wonderful ideas and entrancing writing.

Such a delightful collection of short stories! I enjoyed them all immensely and it seems very likely that people will enjoy at least a couple of them. Definitely a good collection for easing people into the fantasy/sci-fi genre a little bit.

These 15 collected stories marvelously the wonder and possibilities of our imagination during childhood. A couple are realistic portrayals of special moments in a girl’s life, which the author admits in the afterword are autobiographical. The one that captivated me brings to life the freedom, adventure, and special friendships that arise at summer camp. In another, a preschooler, faced with the competition of a newborn sibling, gets a needed sense of empowerment through the choice of a witch puppet as an imaginary playmate. Other stories put a human face on neglected situations from typical science fiction scenarios. For example, one has a young girl saying goodbye to all the things she loves on Earth before she and her family embark on a space trip to colonize another planet. Another imagines what it might be like for a female astronaut when she turns up pregnant during on a trip to Mars But the majority of the stories fall embrace the forms and elements of fantasies, some with mythological overtones, others seeming like fresh takes on a fairy tale.

One that did some magic on me correspond to wish-fulfillment among children as a means to dispel the limitations of ordinary reality. In “Singing on a Star”, an 11-year old girl on a sleepover with a friend takes a ride on an elevator which is a portal to another world, one where you can accept candy from strangers and watch trains bound for wonderful places. In another tale of wish fulfillment (not even a true fantasy), “Hey, Presto!”, a 15-year old girl visiting her stage-magician father in London gets the chance to help him with a vanishing act and apply her chemistry skills in a way that saves him from his enemies. My two favorites have more involved stories the lead the characters through a mind-expanding evolution in their fate. In my favorite, “Echoes of Aurora”, a woman comes to grieve and dispose of the penny arcade her father ran when she was growing up, which reawakens memories of her formative years and opens a new door to love and a weird and wonderful attunement to the makers of cave art thousands of years before. The other tale that enthralled me the most, “Gone to the Library”, a teen-aged girl in the 50s who loves math gets inspired by the inventor of computer programming, Grace Hopper, who is staying with her academic parents for a conference, and with an odd neighbor kid take up the task of using the power of numbers to conjure up a universe creation scenario found in the ancient history section of the library.

Through reads like this I am well on the way to surmounting my bias against short stories (they tend to leave me wanting more). My last effective experience along this line was with the collection "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" by Karen Russell. In the afterword, Kluges shares on her inspirations and methods as an author who favors the short story format:

"A good one is compact and complete, a telling little slice of life, capturing a moment in time that—for the character—defines her, changes her, is the tipping point for all that will follow. Picture yourself walking down a street at dusk, passing by an open front door. Perhaps you see a family at dinner, arguing. Perhaps you see a brief kiss. Just a sliver of a stranger’s life before you walk on. That house will never be the same for you.
…When I write, I try to capture one of those pivotal moments. If I succeed, I have shifted the reader’s view of the world, just a little."

I am coming to appreciate the potency of short stories to do a lot where every sentence has to fit precisely, and a tale’s beginnings and endings make a world that points the reader beyond the frame:

"When do I know a story is finished? When the last line feels inevitable. Not predictable II hope), but the moment when the door to that stranger’s house closes, leaving the reader satisfied, but also musing and pondering.."

This book was provided for review by the publisher through the Netgalley program.

An outstanding collection of short stories by acclaimed author Ellen Klages.
The title Wicked Wonders fits just perfect for the unique array of often heartfelt and truly magical tales.

Ellen Klages' storytelling is one of kind and not to be missed.
There isn't one story which I didn't enjoy to read.
Highly recommended.

In  Ellen Klages’ dazzling new collection of short stories, "Wicked Wonders," she crafts one perfect sentence after another.

Published by Tachyon, a small press in San Francisco, this extraordinary collection is introduced by PEN/Faulkner Award winner Karen Joy Fowler.   Klages has a reputation for eclecticism:  she won the Nebula Award in 2005 for her novelette “Basement Magic” and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction in 2007 for her Y.A. novel, "The Green Glass Sea."

Klages’ perceptive stories cross genre.  Are they miniature fantasies?  Magic realism?  Retold fairy tales?  A little bit of all three, plus some smart homages to Ray Bradbury.

Klages is an evocative chronicler of childhood.  In “Amicae Aeternum,” Corry gets up early one lovely morning to take a  walk through her hometown. She has a list of things she wants to see:  she appreciates every detail, from flowers to fire hydrants.

Klages writes,

"A dandelion’s spiky leaves pushed through a crack in the cement. Corry squatted, touching it with a finger, tracing the jagged outline, memorizing its contours. A weed. No one planted it or planned it. She smiled and stood up, her hand against a wooden fence, feeling the grain beneath her palm, the crackling web of old paint, and continued on. The alley stretched ahead for several blocks, the pavement a narrowing pale V."

It is gradually revealed that Corry’s future life, unlike a dandelion, will be planned.  But for now, Corry goes bicycling with her best friend, Anna.

"No traffic, no cars.  It felt like their last day on earth."

And then we learn that it IS Corry’s last day on Earth.   She and her parents are  leaving on a “generation” spaceship headed for a distant planet.  She will spend the rest of her life on the ship, and her great-great-great–she doesn’t know how many “greats”–grandchildren will live there.  She will never see the planet.
The melancholy narrative is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s depictions of t of Midwestern small towns in "Dandelion Wine" and "The Martian Chronicles," where astronauts on Mars never stop missing their hometowns.  Is the journey  worth it? As in Bradbury’s stories, small town characters are split between Earth and space.  But the girls make a pact that may sustain Corry.

Klages’ other stories of childhood are equally fascinating. In “The Education of a Witch,” Lizzie, a small girl, sympathizes with Maleficent in the movie "Sleeping Beauty."  She finds Maleficent beautiful, unlike the warty witches in storybooks, and thinks the king and queen were wrong not to invite her to the christening.  Later, at a toy store, she persuades her mother to buy her a Maleficent puppet. And after her mother has a baby, Lizzy  spends more time with Maleficent, who tells her stories. When Lizzy tells her nursery school teacher she wants to be a witch, we wonder if she already has the power.

Klages is also fond of portal fantasies. In “Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s,” the heroine Rachel plays a game of backgammon with the school’s cleaning lady and is transported through a portal to living board games, where she must win Clue, Snakes & Ladder, and Monopoly for the lives of her best friend and herself.

Klages’ stories also explore identity.  In “Woodsmoke,” the heroine Peet, whose real name is Patty, is excited about spending  the summer at camp while her parents go to Europe. She loves camp, where girls get to do everything boys do.   Another strong girl, Margaret, whose parents live in Asia, is also there for the summer.  The two girls become close friends, because  other campers leave after one- and -two-week session.  But there’s an identity twist at the end.story.

In my favorite story, “Echoes of Aurora,” a single retired woman, Jo,  returns after her father’s death to the resort town where she grew up. Her father owned a penny arcade, which decades ago was successful, and she repaired the machines.  She plans now to fix some up and sell them to a circus museum.

Again, it is Klages’ prose that makes the story so special.

"Cedar River was a summer town.

"You’ve seen it, or one just like it. Off a state highway, on the edge of a lake—a thousand souls, more or less, until Memorial Day. Then the tourists come, for swimming and fudge and miniature golf. They laugh, their sunburns redden and peel, and when the first cool autumn breezes ripple the water, they leave. The carnival is over."

I have seen it!
One day, while Jo listens to the
nickelodeon in the arcade, a beautiful young woman, Aurora, shows up dancing.  The two become lovers, and Jo stays longer than she had planned.  In the fall, we learn Aurora’s real identity.  It is so fitting–why didn’t we realize it all along?  But you won’t guess it.

I loved these stories.   I am so glad to have discovered this writer.

This is the type of collection that you give to your scifi/fantasy/not-quite-reality novel snob friends and family to turn them into short story lovers. So many good stories in one book.

Wicked Wonders is a collection of very unassuming stories. Their voice and narrative contain no embellishments, particularly because most of them are about children or told through a child’s perspective. The ploy of initially presenting the world as a normal place is all part of Ellen Klages’ technique of bleeding reality into the downright bizarre and unsettling. Because of the child’s perspective (related through a third person) and utilizing them as unreliable narrators, you are left wondering how much is real and how much is not.
Although subtle and understated this collection is loaded with meaning and conceptual complexity (‘Caligo Lane’ has a mesmerizing and novel take on the use of origami). The result is something emotionally very powerful (‘Amicae Aeternum’ describes a child’s last day on earth with her friend before she leaves forever on a spaceship into the unknown). There is gentleness and compassion (In ‘Echos of Aurora’ Jo Norwood returns to her old home to find a mysterious woman there), but at other times the stories ripple with an undercurrent of tension and a devious unpleasantness (‘Singing on a Star’ sees two girls enter a mysterious world through a closet). In ‘The Education of a Witch’, a child’s perception of the world through the logic of a film she has seen takes an interesting turn and results in an unsettling outcome.
These are effectively modern fairy tales that say a great deal about who we are and makes the reader really think about the effect their actions might have on the people around them.
Although primarily written for an adult audience, these stories are likely to appeal to a young adult reader looking for something with a bit depth and sophistication to get their teeth into.
Wicked Wonders was courtesy of Tachyon Publications via NetGalley.