Bloody Fabulous: Stories of Fantasy and Fashion by Ekaterina Sedia

Bloody Fabulous: Stories of Fantasy and Fashion Reviews

• 
  Wealhtheow

  A collection of fantasy short stories with (sometimes tenuous) links to fashion.
  
  "The Coat of Stars" by Holly Black. My favorite of the collection, combining style and characters and a fairy tale all into one touching whole. Costume designer Rafael visits his estranged family and realizes that they can still connect to each other. Even as he opens himself up to them again, though, he comes to the stunning realization that his long lost love may still be alive--and trapped under the hill.
  
  "Savage Design" by Richard Bowes. A fashion boutique owner rides the vampire fashion fad, knowing all the while that her customers will inevitably either go through blood withdrawals or find some other trend. There isn't really a plot to this, just an unpleasant main character and unbelievable vampire fashionistas.
  
  "Bespoke" by Genevieve Valentine. A seamstress creates historically accurate clothing for the time-traveling rich. She yearns for the beauty she creates for the jaded philistines, and looks down on the mass produced reproductions that threaten her livelihood. I loved the subtle touches about the repercussions of time travel.
  
  "Dress Code" by Sandra McDonald. An airline attendant is an unlicensed banshee, but she sings for a man's dying father anyway. She and the man fall in love in classic, ridiculously fast paranormal romance fashion. It felt like this was a story she repurposed for this collection, adding a subplot about the main character not liking women's clothing. I found it impossible to believe that Colleen was so tormented by her liking of pants and short hair--she refuses to believe anyone could find her attractive because she has short hair, refuses to be a banshee because she thinks she'd have to wear a dress (even though this doesn't actually seem to be a requirement), and says stuff like "'Ask me if I'm a lesbian. Because that's what they call women who don't like to wear frills and lace and dresses barely to the thigh, right?'" She was born in 1988! She lives in Boston in 2012! The fae don't seem to care what she wears, anyway! So all her moaning about liking pants instead of dresses seems random and unnecessary.
  
  "The Anadem" by Sharon Mock. A sorcerer asks a craftswoman for a diadem for his bride. Knowing that he intends to use the diadem to control the woman, she crafts it so that every line, every gem of the work acts as a reproof to his intentions. I liked this.
  
  "The First Witch of Damansara" by Zen Cho. Vivian returns to Malaysia for her late grandmother's funeral, and finds her family at odds. Her younger sister is oddly insistent about including certain rituals in the funeral rights. Vivian helps her accept her grandmother's death, and channels her powers toward usefulness instead of destruction, while reconciling her own traditions and her fiance's. I loved this glimpse into another culture, and all the personalities came through clear and strong.
  
  "The Fairy Handbag" by Kelly Link. Truthfully, I don't think this belonged in this anthology. It was published eight years ago, has been included in countless other collections already, and the handbag of the title concerns a girl's feelings of loss, not fashion or style. And there's nothing bloody or fabulous about this at all! It's just another of Link's elliptical, surreal stories in which nothing actually happens. As to the story itself, it's overly stylized and precious--main characters who lie and loop into tangents are so old and trite. This is basically a magical realist short story version of a Paul Zindel novel.
  
  "The Truth or Something Beautiful" by Shirin Dubbin. One fashion house pits itself against another, until at last they turn to vampirism to maintain their eternal struggle. I dislike the purple prose, but at least it fits the collection's theme.
  
  "Waifs" by Die Booth. Marie wants to be a fashion designer but she doesn't have much talent. She's beautiful enough to be a model, but distracts from the clothes. But Marie is obsessed with fashion and she'll be part of it no matter what. Disturbing, well told.
  
  "Where Shadows Meet Light" by Rachel Swirsky. Princess Diana's ghost wanders the earth, and finally spends a few evenings with a tired middle aged man who just wants to be fabulous and famous. Great last few pages.
  
  "Capturing Images" by Marie V Snyder. Confident in her photography skills, Evelyn bets a publisher that she can transform anyone from ugly to beautiful. Then the publisher sends over a vampire that the camera cannot see. I liked all the things Evelyn tries, and what eventually works--clever!
  
  "How Galligaskins Sloughed the Scourge" by Anna Tambour. I don't know if I'm not smart enough or patient enough, but I could not get through this.
  
  "Avant-Noob" by Nick Mamatas. Olivia finds a strange garment while thrifting, and in her struggle to figure out how to wear it finds she has friends on the internet. Already feels dated, but I like that Olivia finds a way to wear the garment without giving in to the garment's designer's controlling demands.
  
  "Incomplete Proofs" by John Chu. In a world in which math and economics proofs are presented as clothing and physical action, Professor Grant Tsai is one of the best. The idea is strange enough that I needed to be convinced, but Chu presents it well--and does so in the background while Grant finally lets himself be ambitious. I really liked the prickly relationship between Grant and the more cut-throat mathematician/designer Duncan.
• 
  Anna

  Now that I have found a new library and a library card to go with it, I've re-established my habit of examining the shelves for anything interesting and that's how I found this anthology.
  
  It's an anthology of stories that examine the intersection between fantasy and fashion which is SO up my alley like you wouldn't believe. Genre-wise, except for two stories, "The Anadem" and "How Galligaskins Sloughed the Scourge," the stories are more urban fantasy than high fantasy or folklore.
  
  Overall, it has all the strengths and weaknesses of most anthologies: a great variety of interpretations of the theme that is nevertheless uneven across the board. My favorite stories, Kelly Link's "The Faery Handbag," Holly Black's "Coat of Stars," and Zen Cho's "The First Witch of Damansara," all manage to thoroughly explore their concepts and create rounded characters within the compression of a short story. Other stories either felt underdeveloped or had WAY too much going for what's supposed to be a tight form.
  
  Nevertheless, a very fun, brisk read for Memorial Day Weekend, especially for those who like their magic with their fashion.
  
• 
  Caitlin

  Ekaterina Sedia has never let me down in an anthology--and this was a stunning example of a collection of stories on fashion. The stories range from funny to dark, magic to mathematics.
  
  Stories about vampires draining each drop of profit from the fashion industry, mathematicians wearing proofs as clothes, witches, and human tailors bargaining with fairies--there's a little here for anyone who has ever thought about what the witchy women wear, or where vampires buy their cloaks.
• 
  Hesper

  As with many themed anthologies, this one is a mixed bag, although I definitely appreciated that none of the stories were downright terrible (still giving
  Running with the Pack the stink eye). All together, it's an entertaining collection.
  
  The standouts, in order of appearance:
  
  "Bespoke" by Genevieve Valentine, which expertly layers the longing a seamstress to the time traveling rich has for her own historically accurate and exquisite creations with the surreal consequences of time travel. Restrained, and more complex than it first appears.
  
  "The First Witch of Damansara" by Zen Cho. After years in an unnamed Western country, Vivian returns to Malaysia for her grandmother's funeral, where family tensions cause her to examine and reconcile her origins with the life she's chosen to lead. It felt particularly authentic to negotiating identity when caught between cultures.
  
  The solid offerings, in no particular order:
  
  "The Coat of Stars" by Holly Black. Costume designer Rafael attempts to reconnect with his family even as he discovers that the stories his first love told him about faeries may very well be true. Charming and sweet and very Holly Black.
  
  "Avant-n00b" by Nick Mamatas, which gets the prize for Best Title. It takes a not so subtle stab at the tyranny of fashion, although the main character subverting the ghostly designer's intentions rescues it from heavy handedness.
  
  "The Anadem" by Sharon Mock, in which a master jeweler frustrates a sorcerer's design for his bride. The subject matter could have easily turned this in a message story, but it instead offered a more nuanced resolution.
  
  "Capturing Images" by Marie V Snyder. A fashion photographer makes an impossible bet, resulting in a vampire showing up on her doorstep. Yes, you can probably guess what at least a portion of that bet is. For me, this succeeded solely on the strength of the main character, though I found the vampire's characterization more gross than the creepy yet alluring the author probably intended.
  
  The I'm not sure about this:
  
  "Where Shadows Meet The Light" by Rachel Swirsky. This was actually a lovely story about loss and longing and the things we display to mask all that, but I found Princess Diana as the POV character off putting. She doesn't quite feel public domain to me, at least not in the intimate and wistful way this story characterizes her.
  
  "Waifs" by Die Booth. A chilling, well crafted little story about one young woman's consuming yearning for fashion, but I felt like I've read it before. Not it, specifically, just its theme. Reminded me of an inverted "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" by Fritz Leiber, and that came out in 1949.
  
  The why is this here:
  
  "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link. Full disclosure: I'm not a huge Link fan; I think she's an excellent prose stylist, but I find most of her material too affected for genuine substance. This old and often anthologized story--which rankled me when I first read it years ago for reasons that have nothing to do with why I'm panning it now--is a prime example of the kind of elliptical magical realist shenanigans Link loves. It also commits the offense of not being about fashion at all.
  
  "Dress Code" by Sandra McDonald, in which a banshee named Colleen is professionally tormented by her need to cross dress until she finds and falls in love with a man who doesn't care. Um... yeah. Leaving aside the Discourse™ for now, this story is more about acceptance than clothing or fashion.
  
  The tried too hard:
  
  "Savage Design" by Richard Bowes. So back in the late 90s, I used to play
  Vampire: The Masquerade Revised, and this story is a lot like what happened to the the game when Aaron Spelling
  got a hold of it, which is a convoluted way of saying that "Savage Design" takes every last sexy creature of the night trope urban fantasy has and then bleeds it dry of any potential fun by taking it seriously. Yes, the pun is on purpose. No, I am not ashamed.
  
  "The Truth or Something Beautiful" by Shirin Dubbin, which could just as easily be titled "The Purple Prose or Something Overwrought." Seriously. It must be because vampires are involved.
  
  The I'm not extra enough to appreciate this:
  
  "How Galligaskins Sloughed the Scourge" by Anna Tambour. Lovely wordplay throughout, but what is it? Interesting enough on a linguistic level, but for me, it failed to communicate anything more than the author's deftness with phrase
  
  The killer concept:
  
  "Incomplete Proofs" by John Chu. Mathematical proofs manifest as clothing and actions, and the author pulls it off. If fashion designs were stories, this one would be an
  Iris van Herpen. Well played, John Chu, well played.
  
• 
  Die Booth

  (Contributing author review, but I'm very honest!) From the off, this anthology is striking. I liked the premise right from the start and I love the cover and design of the thing – quite fitting for an anthology themed around the importance of fashion to fantasy and horror.
  
  I won’t mention every story, but some of my favourites were: Holly Black’s ‘Coat of Stars’, a charming and prettily written version of the classic changeling tale; ‘The Anadem’ by Sharon Mock, a subtly sinister story of magical control; ‘The First Witch of Damansara’ by Zen Cho, which features wonderful characters and gentle humour; ‘Capturing Images’ by Maria V. Snyder with its imaginative take on vampire mythology; and ‘Avant N00b’ by Nick Mamatas for its nicely believable protagonist and very imaginative couture!
  
  
• 
  Shay

  Not sure why I thought this book was a good idea - I'm not fond of vampires, fashionistas or the 'under the hill' story. On the other hand some of these stories were worth the read (the others I didn't finish):
  Bespoke (Genevive Valentine) - Really interesting concept, but I'm not certain it went anywhere 2/5
  The Anadem (Sharon Mock) - Enjoyed this, would be happy to read more 4/5
  The First Witch of Damansara (Zen Cho) - Really fabulous, and only tangentially about fashion 5/5
  Capturing Images (Maria V Snyder) - Interesting story, though the logic of the resolution didn't really work. Still, vampires I didn't hate! 3/5
  Incomplete Proofs (John Chu)- Fun and fascinating. I really liked the main character. 4/5
  
• 
  L.D.

  I was not expecting to like this anthology. The cover art seemed a bit kitschy and really turned me off. Normally I would never buy anything like this, however, the book came as part of a gift box for donating to Patrick Rothfuss' charity of choice: Worldbuilders. I did this through
  http://thetinkerspacks.com/ which is definitely a website worth checking out.
  
  So it was with great surprise that I actually found myself enjoying the book. I read it in less than 6 hours and was quite happy with it. The stories aren't earth-shattering, but they were good. They were engaging. It was definitely worth the read.
• 
  Louise

  This is a great bunch of stories, well collected by a loose theme of fantasy (mostly urban fantasy) and fashion. I like anthologies because I get introduced to new authors, but I'm usually disappointed in a story or two. I have to admit, there was not one story in here that I didn't like for some reason, which is really rare for me! One of the last, about a fashion photographer trying to figure out how to photograph vampires, has a lovely twist to it. Highly recommend for light but well-written fantasy reading.
• 
  Shannon

  I bought this collection because it had a Zen Cho story in it, and while her piece ("The First Witch of Damansara") is my favorite in the book, I enjoyed several of the others as well. As might be expected from a fashion-themed speculative fiction anthology, it's heavy on the vampires, but there's also fairies, ghosts, time-travelers, immortal children of an Aztec blood god, and acrobatic mathematicians. (I quite liked the acrobatic mathematicians.)
• 
  Amanda

  I really enjoyed most of the selections here! A few weren't stellar, but on the whole, it was a pretty interesting collection, and focusing it on fashion made for an unusual theme, though it fits very well with fairytales and fantasy. After all, old fairy tales spend an awful lot of time around tailors and describing dresses.
• 
  Berrendsci

  Meh. One expects unevenness in an anthology, but also for wading through the stack of tales, one hopes for gems: no nuggets here. One passable tale by Snyder. The stories were not fit for any one audience...from cutesy to gritty in rather disparate branches. They all had some connection to cloth, but the 'bloody' had so many interpretations that the collection was erratic and unsatisfying.
• 
  Dawn Albright

  This is a rare anthology where I thought the whole was better than the sum of the parts. Only one of the stories (Kelly Link's) stuck me as wonderful in its own right. However, the variety in the stories and the enormous range in the ways they worked fashion into the stories was endlessly fun. I kept being surprised.
• 
  Anna

  i really liked the idea for this anthology. most of the stories were average, with some standouts being holly black's, the one about nightwalker, capturing images and grandma zofia's skin bag. the worst one that i mentioned in my status updates (because i remember nothing except the story about the sleeping guy) was the galligaskins, which was written in old-timer language, which i hATE.
• 
  Katrinkarose

  This was a good anthology I actually read all of the stories, which I don't often do with collections. The only author I was familiar with was Holly Black and I'd actually read that in before. I did enjoy the vampire ones the best:)
• 
  Cheryl

  As with most sets of short stories, some were good, some were not so good.
• 
  Karmen

  I
• 
  Mandy

  It was okay. Most of the stories were not to my taste, that didn't make them bad. My favorites were “Capturing Images” by Maria V Snyder and “Dress Code” by Sandra McDonald.
• 
  Terra

  there was maybe two decent stories in this whole book. total let down.
• 
  Elise

  Very uneven collection of stories. The concept was an interesting one but only a few stories were worth reading. About a third.
• 
  Charmaine Ohl

  Some stories a little bland to get through, but the majority were quite good. None were OMG stand out, but none were terribly bad. Holly Black as the first up story was great as she is one of my favorites to read, Maria Snyder about the middle was enough to keep me going. Not my favorite Maria short (Beserker Eyes and Halloween Men take that place) but still and enjoyable unique look behind (or In??) a camera.
  
  Creating a collection of Fashion based stories (in some form) seems like it would be a very tough job to do as fantasy based on fashion is not something heard of often. Each story offers twists and turns and sometimes confusion and maths to their tale to create a great little collection.
  
  How Galligaskins Sloughed the Scourge, Incomplete Proofs and Savage design were my let downs of the stories, for various reasons.
  
  
• 
  Chantelle

  My favourite stories in this anthology are "The Coat of Stars" by Holly Black, "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link and "Capturing Images" by Maria V. Snyder.
• 
  Belinda

  Short story compilations are always difficult. The writer and reader need to connect almost immediately with very little time to develop characters, setting or story line. If the stories are good they leave the reader wanting more, they are too short. You guessed it, many of these were too short for me. "Luckily" there were several in this book I would gladly see as full novels. This book is jam packed with original / unique ideas within a well written tidbit.
• 
  Korvidae

  Read for Holly Black's story Coat Of Stars.