Bitten by Books
Elementary: All New Tales of the Elemental Masters includes 19 short stories all woven around of themes of elemental magic-–Earth, Fire, Air, Water. The timeframes of the stories range from early Greece to Great Britain’s steam-age.
Mercedes Lackey created the world of the Elemental Masters and has published a lengthy (and wonderful) series. In this book of short stories, she has brought together eighteen diverse authors, who beautifully created eighteen diverse tales of those who use and live with elemental magic. The reader will find myths and legends woven through many stories, and many of the authors captured the whimsy that is an integral part of the Elemental Masters series. The book includes one original short story from Ms. Lackey.
The following authors who contributed to the collection: Jennifer Brozek, Ron Collins, Samuel Conway, Dayle A. Dermatis, Rosemary Eghill, Rebecca Fox, Tanya Huff, Cedric Johnson, Michele Lang, Jody Lynn Nye, Benjamin Ohlander, Fiona Patton, Diana L. Paxson, Gail Sanders and Michael Z. Williamson (collaborators), Kristin Schwengel, Stephanie Shaver, Louisa Swann, Elizabeth A. Vaughan, and Elisabeth Waters.
Outside of simply greatly enjoying the stories, there was also the benefit of being introduced to authors who are new to me (all are established authors). Many of the stories piqued my interest in an author, and a few flat-out grabbed my full attention. With the beautifully done bio for each author at the end of the book, I am now able to follow-up to read more works from them.
The joy of a collection of well-done short stories is that one has the leisure to read a complete tale in a short amount of time and walk away satisfied. The downside, of course, is when the story is so good that it whets the appetite for more and ends too soon. Elementary is a nicely-balanced collection of both types.
Book Stats:
- Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: DAW (December 3, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0756409594
- ISBN-13: 978-0756409593
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Summary : The joy of a collection of well-done short stories is that one has the leisure to read a complete tale in a short amount of time and walk away satisfied. The downside, of course, is when the story is so good that it whets the appetite for more and ends too soon. Elementary is a nicely-balanced collection of both types.
