In 1972, Robert Beech, First World War veteran and prominent figure in the arms industry, is killed by a car bomb. The event cuts short the career of his son Harry, a news photographer, and comes close to destroying his granddaughter Sophie. Ten years later, Harry, now working in aerial photography, and Sophie, visiting an analyst in New York, remain scarred and divided by the event. Around their broken relationship and Harry’s memories of his truncated career and his father, the novel builds a story that is acutely private yet sweepingly public, at the heart of which lies Harry’s lifelong dedication of the camera.

In this story, a bookstore clerk Ash finds himself in quite an unusual situation as he goes on a quest for the Norns.

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Jenna starts off with very low self-esteem, but finds a whole lot of self-confidence as the book progresses and is a great role-model for girls who don’t think they are smart enough. Harry Beech was an internationally recognized photographer traveling the world to shoot the often horrific scenes that would appear in the media. He needed to stay emotionally distant from his photos, though his constant traveling caused him to be physically and emotionally distant from his wife and daughter. He realizes the problem with photography "is what you don't see"but he never realizes that is true in his personal life as well.

A Scent of Roses" is a brilliant story about Janet who has rescued her husband from the Queen of the Fae. The author writes captivatingly about how Janet becomes interested in the Queen and what she thinks about her husband. I think that this story will enthrall everybody who loves stories about the Fae. Since they are young children they find themselves making mistakes that seem so common sense, and then regretting their decision, but learning from it none the less. Each world they jump through they find new and interesting characters that become more and more dangerous. Because I've always enjoyed reading beautifully written stories, I was instantly captivated by this richly told story. The author writes excellently about the protagonist's search for Vadija and where it leads her. So far, so good. The characters are simple but believable, the settings are well constructed, the plot flows smoothly and logically... for about 80% of the way through.Matthew finds a half drowned woman, he rescues her and takes her home. She says her name is Puabi and that she is a Sumerian queen. Puabi looks exactly like Matthew's dead wife. I didn't like this story as well as I liked the first two novellas. Like most readers, I got this book for "Interlude in Death," an enjoyable off-planet novella in the Dallas/Roarke compendium. This had so much potential! Space! I mean, just look at Total Recall to see all the fun ways to do murder off-world! But it was just ok, falling into the common novella hole of introducing things and not exploring them. Rest of the stories were ok to less-than-ok.

Catherine Lundoff's Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories is an excellent and highly enjoyable collection of eleven stories that can be classified as the queer fantastic and feature LGBTQ characters. It's the first book from Queen of Swords Press, which is a new independent small press. As you may already know, we aren’t like other online book stores. For starters, we don’t believe that books should only be read once, or have a single owner. Literature should endure and be continually recycled, which is why we help millions of used books find new homes every year. Zachary & Jenna are having breakfast when suddenly there is a shimmering in the air and their parents disappear. What are two bright middle school kids to do but jump through after them? Well....I liked Susan Krinards Kinsmen, though I've read some of her other works in anthologies, i have yet to read an actual novel of hers. Again, 4 stars on it's own and would read more by this author. If I had to sum up Lundoff’s collection Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories in a single word (which would be a totally unfair thing to require me to do) it would be “versatile.” This volume touches base on a broad variety of genres and subgenres yet succeeds in being a unified stylistic whole. There is everything from steampunk horror to hard-boiled alien invasion to magical police procedural, each story both drawing lovingly from its literary inspirations and turning them upside down.