This entire book is a demonstration of how amazingly Vanessa Fogg can write. I have never heard of them before but my head is turned and if they bring any more books out from now on I will be buying them because this is excellent storytelling. Each story was brilliant and compelling, they gripped your heart and made you think and feel. I wish each of these short stories were a full length novel, especially the clown one!

This one is a stunning collection of fantasy and scifi type stories for middle school aged kids to teens. Beautifully written and whimsical (and sometimes scary), these are entertaining without being too in depth. They are great for the kid who doesn't want to commit to a full legnth novel.

This collection includes a wide range of speculative fiction, with something to suit nearly every taste. The author has a lot of unique ideas and delivers intense emotional depth along with the clever premises. I was brought to tears several times. Some standouts for me included “Wild Ones,” “Traces of Us,” “Sweetest,” “All the Souls Like Candle Flames,” and “Between Sea and Shore.”
Some stories worked better for me than others. I found Closer Worlds more compelling while several stories in Farther Worlds lost my attention. A few left me waiting for a twist, a reveal, or a more dramatic resolution that never came. Still, given the wide range of settings and styles, it makes sense that each reader will connect with different ones. For example, I noticed that a couple of the stories that didn’t work for me were listed as favorites by other reviewers.
I think people who enjoy The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Black Mirror would enjoy this book. Thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a free advance copy.

Such an interesting collection of short stories! Magical realism and scifi, little flashes of extraordinary lives. After reading this book, the stories still stay in my mind, filling me with many emotions and thoughts.

The book is divided to Closer and Farther Worlds. There are 17 stories about thrilling, haunting and touching situations. Scary and sad, passionate and serene, the reader gets in the mood of wave rider eye-screening the surfing in the top of breaking wave, two girls combined by fanfiction reaching to each others in the opposite sides of the globe, an yearning mother worried for her child following a wild call on the sky, and many others. Don´t sing alone near the sea, or dolphin spirits may take you. And is it possible to find your love again apart of time and space?

"Wild ones" was haunting and passionate, "Traces of us" heartbreaking and still lovely. "Sweetest" made me shiver with it´s creepyness. "Between sea and shore" was captivating and fairytale-like. One of my favourites was "Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe", which was told by the point of view of persons people were writing stories about.

Vanessa Fogg writes beautifully, creates odd and eerie worlds, which combine science and fantasy in enchanting way. Most of the short stories are about yearn and wishing to get something lost back again. Can the illusions become real?

Wow!

Huge thank you to Vanessa Fogg and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC these stories were gorgeous!

I enjoyed the aspect of having one half being more earth rooted and the second being more worlds not of our own. Some amazing Asian influence is really felt in the stories and enriches them heaps.

As someone who is new to short stories this one felt like a big hitter! Some made me laugh and some devastated me.

<b>Beautifully written collection weaving together tales of fantasy, sci-fi and just a bit of horror.</b>

Rated this collection a 3.5 but rounded up to 4.

This entire collection was beautifully written from start to finish. I only enjoyed half to 3/4 of the stories but found myself continuing because of the writing style. Each story was unique and had it's own voice but it was easy to see how the same person could have written each one. I had favorites and ones I could not wait to finish so I could move on to the next story.

My favorites were Wild Ones, Sweetest, Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe and An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words.

Wild Ones was a heartbreaking fantasy about a mother trying to save her daughter from being taken away by the same entity she secretly wishes she had been called to.

Sweetest was a horror about clowns using children to capture other children and steal their essence...but what happens when the clowns leave their helper alone for the winter?

Fanfiction for a Grimdark Universe was my hands-down favorite of the entire collection. Hero hops to alternate universes where they have become the story of fanfiction to try and escape their fate.

An Address to the Newest Disciples of the Lost Words was both funny and the one story I wanted more of. The magic system Fogg wove into this particular story was so imaginative and I think that if they decided to write even a novella I would 100% pick it up.

This was a beautiful collection of short stories that ranged from dystopia to folklore fantasy. There were particular favourites for me which included the eeriness of the sea witches, and uploading minds to be viewed in thousands of years.

As with any collection, some stories caught my attention and some felt a little lackluster, but I found that Vanessa Fogg's whimsical writing style was captivating throughout and was so easy to read and fall into. I'll definitely be looking out for more of their work.

This is a beautifully written collection of short stories. I enjoyed some stories much more than others. The prose absolutely draws you in. Vanessa Fogg’s writing style is unique and a bit whimsical. She sucked me right into these stories. I would absolutely read more work by her! I took my time making my way through this collection by reading a story here and there. Some of them really stuck with me. The eerie stories of the clowns and the sea witch still have a hold on me. Others I found rather boring and uneventful. However, many of these stories were beautifully dark and captivating. As a whole, I loved it! If you like speculative fiction and haunting writing, check this collection out! Thank you NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review this immersive collection!

This is a good but very bittersweet collection of stories. I’m giving it 3.5 stars rounded up because it was well done but also felt draining and incomplete.

The stories rely very heavily on generational and cultural trauma and miscommunication to convey all the things people don’t say to one another and the ways it impacts children further down the line. There are Lots of stories about the way that the tales we tell instill in us fear and prejudice but also hope and compassion and while each entry in the book is incredibly vivid and well-written… it feels as if they all end right at the very moment of potential conflict resolution. I would assume it’s a narrative choice, to leave the future incomplete and hopefully better, but after a time, it began to weigh on me as a reader. I found myself getting more bummed out the further I read because it felt like we kept getting these intimate glimpses into inter-personal, cultural and situational conflicts but the hope was tenuous and fleeting.

I’ve read the book at a time of increasing unrest in the US so maybe I’m just not in the right headspace for it, but I will definitely not be re-reading in the near future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ms Fogg for the chance to read early in exchange for honest review!

4 ⭐️

“𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬.𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.”


This book is basically a collection of 18 beautifully written short stories. I’d recommend this book to Teens especially Pre-teens , who want to dive into the fantasy or sci fi genre. These stories are sooo creative like the author must be a genius to come up with these ideas!


“𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑾𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆, 𝑾𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆.”


Here are the synopsis of some of my favourite stories !

⋆.˚✮𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕✮˚.⋆
A boy’s soul is trapped by people in creepy smiley masks. Now, he looks like a child and tricks other kids into coming to their candy stall. The sweet they give is so tasty, it makes kids forget everything—and then they disappear. Even their parents forget them.When the mask people leave, they put the boy in charge. But then he meets a strange girl… and that’s when things start to change.


⋆.˚✮𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒚✮˚.⋆:
This one is very emotional and written in second person POV. You’re a mother. You have a daughter you love deeply—but you never say it out loud. You never hug her, never show it on your face. Still, she waits for it. For a smile. For a soft word. For a sign that you care.


⋆.˚✮𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝑴𝒊𝒅𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 ✮˚.⋆
This one is THE BEST. In a quiet kingdom, a princess falls in love with a prince who holds a dangerous power—one strong enough to destroy the world if he ever loses control. He promises to care for her garden, a place full of life and love.But one day, he breaks that promise. The garden is ruined. All that’s left is memory.


⋆.˚✮ 𝑨𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 ✮˚.⋆
This is literally like SO CREATIVE ! You’ve been chosen to study at a school where forgotten words are taught—a place where language lives and breathes. There, you meet an old man who once sat where you sit now. He tells you his story. What he did after he left. What the words meant to him.And one thing stays with you:Words never leave. They always find their way back.


⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕀 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕀’𝕞 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕕𝕦𝕞𝕓 ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ Between Sea and shore and The house of illusionist.

I know there are people who will not like this book because it gives YA vibes and there’s no romance sub plot , but still it has really heartwarming stories ❤️I’d recommend it if you are looking for short lighthearted stories or keeping up with your book goals!

Thanks to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the e - arc in exchange for an honest review!

Really enjoyed this short story collection and its exploration of the fantasy/sci-fi spectrum. The highlight was truly the author’s lyrical writing! It pulls you into the different worlds, whether they resemble ours or are entirely magical.

I was so eager to read this, as the descriptions made it sound terrific. Alas. The stories aren't very original, are often maudlin, and the characters are almost interchangeable between them. The characters who upload their brains )a perfect, tragic couple) aren't all that different from the brother and sister who are witnessing great cataclysms in the world, who are undifferentiated from the couple in which one partner mind-streams their high-risk surfing, who is a lot like the woman who can't marry the man she loves and, being half water-spirit, walks off into the water. They're also overlong and could really have benefited from strong editing; there are also errors of hypercorrection throughout, mostly in the "he gave the house to Fred and I" variety. Overall, these remind me of Hans Christian Andersen's weaker tales in their length, boring and cloying sentimentality, and perfect, self-sacrificing characters.

This short story collection is a beautiful speculative sci-fi mixed with fantasy collection of stories, which is incredibly crafted and would make the perfect fall read.

The House of Illusionists by Vanessa Fogg is such a good story... this was definetely a 5 star read for me. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

Short stories demand rigor and efficiency, making them particularly difficult to execute effectively. Hence, I started this with fairly low expectations; if 1 of every 2 short stories was good, it'd be satisfying enough.

The House of Illusionists blew my expectations out of the water, almost every short story in here hit hard.

The Message was one that left the strongest impression; it was a beautiful contrast of how one can feel disconnected from those next to us, and yet intimately connected to those on the other end of the globe. Very apt in the face of the loneliness epidemic and the rise of social media.

Yes, there's speculative fiction.
Yes, there are fantasy worlds.
But no matter how the world shifts around us, every story in this collection reminds us of the human experience.

Overall, a great book to pick up for a quick read that hits.

The Run-Down: The House of Illusionists by Vanessa Fogg contains fantasy and science fiction stories filled with evocative imagery that explore the allure of the mystical unknown.

Review:
In The House of Illusionists by Vanessa Fogg, characters stand at the boundaries between their known world and other realms. Some of these worlds within worlds are predatory forces that prey upon the weak and vulnerable, sow chaos and grief. Others promise the possibility of relief from the sorrow and frustrations the characters experience in their everyday lives. Many realms represent a mixture of escape and danger—or which exact a bittersweet price for entry—that the characters must contend with as they stand on the precipice of transformation.

Vanessa Fogg’s elegant, evocative prose infuses her stories with delectable imagery. She understands how to quickly immerse a reader in a world and provide an emotionally effective story within the span of a handful of pages; her stories have purpose and emotional weight. Some of them, such as “The Things We Will Never Say,” require only a few pages to deliver a gut punch of emotion. Others, like “The House of Illusionists,” take more time to develop the setting and themes.

The idea that there is more to the world than what we know can be a wonderful and terrible thing, and Fogg uses the mystery and allure of the unknown to touch upon a wide range of human experience. Some of the stories touch upon anxieties of climate change and political uncertainty; others are more intimate in their portrayals of relationships and grief. A few of the stories feel a bit redundant in their beats and themes, but the collection is overall freshly imagined and expertly crafted. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction.

This is a well written collection of short stories with twists and turns. I liked that a lot of them had a tragic or dark theme but a few had moments of hope too.

The writing did feel a bit clunky in places but it was also very descriptive and beautiful at times.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the ebook copy.

This is a very imaginative collection of short stories, which I find similar to The Illustrated Man. Many of the stories have a futuristic, sometimes dystopian, twist and remind me of a black mirror episode.

Though short, a lot of these tales have a lasting affect and as I'm reading them I can picture everything.

The only flaw for me was that the pacing felt slow at times and it took me a while to get into some stories. Also, while the writing for the most part seemed strong, sometimes it felt overwritten.

Overall, I liked the stories and would recommend this author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

The House of Illusionists is an anthology of short stories. There are stories that highlight more the science fiction aspect and others that are more fantasy and paranormal. As a lover of both genres, the stories appealed to me.

The book is divided into two parts (Closer Words and Farther Words). A lot of stories speculate on how science might develop in the future and I liked the focus of neuroscience, which I also really like. The stories like "Traces of us" and "Wave" were among my favorites.

I really liked the style of the author. It was evocative and delicate. And I enjoyed that the stories were told in different POVs. I believe that anyone who enjoys sci-fi fantasy will appreciate this collection.

Thank you NetGalley and Interstellar flight press of this e-ARC.

I'm not usually a fan of short story collections — I tend to avoid them whenever I can. But The House of Illusionists by Vanessa Fogg? There’s just something about her writing that pulled me in and wouldn’t let go.

Yes, a few of the stories dragged a bit and honestly, in most cases I would’ve dropped the book right there. But not this one. There’s a magic in the way Fogg describes things, especially the more surreal and fantastical scenes. Her words are soft and strange and somehow beautiful, and the way each story wraps up in the end? Phenomenal.

Up until now, only two authors had managed to fully captivate me with their writing: Stephen King and Hanya Yanagihara, Vanessa Fogg just joined the club.

Not gonna lie, there were a couple of stories I didn’t totally “get” or connect with — but even then, reading them felt like drifting through a dream. A magical experience in itself.

Personal favorites? Traces of Us, Sweetest, and Between Sea and Shore. Absolutely loved them. I’d definitely recommend this book.