Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata and Other Uncollected Tales
Tanith Lee
Immanion Press
Paper $18.99
Ebook $4.99

Tanith Lee was born on this date, September 19, in 1947.  She passed away in 2015.  Lee wrote in a variety of genres, including fantasy, horror, and science fiction.  She was highly prolific, and many of her short stories haven’t never been collected.

Until now.  Immanion Press is collecting all of her work that hasn’t appeared in any of her collections.  In observance of her birthday, I read two stories from the collection Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata and Other Uncollected Tales.

The first was “Persian Eyes”.  This was a historical fantasy set during the days of the Roman Empire.  It concerns an apparently young slave girl from Persia.  I say apparently because there’s much more to this particular slave girl than meets the eye.  In fact, if you are wise, you won’t look her in the eye.  Every man who does so comes to a bad end.

I liked this one. Lee captured the period and did her research, showing us a world strange and exotic but familiar in many ways.  The viewpoint character changes, giving a more nuanced view of the horror that stalks the family who has been given this slave girl by a friend.

Tanith Lee

The second story I read was “Question a Stone”.  This was an imaginary world fantasy about two sentient swords and the swordsmen who carry them. They swordsmen are necessarily the ones in control of the situation.  This one wasn’t my cup of tea.  While I liked the basic idea, I didn’t care much for the characters.  One thing I did like and thought was intriguingly underdeveloped was the chameleons.  The story is set in a vast inn located in an oasis.  It’s a high end tourist destination, and one of the draws are the chameleons that are all over the place.  I liked the way they were used and have a few ideas of my own riff on them.

I’ve not read a lot of Tanith Lee’s work, and most of that has been short stories.  I’m familiar with her reputation enough to know that I’m not exactly in her target demographic.  However, I’ve enjoyed most of the short fiction I’ve read by her and will keep reading her as long as I’m enjoying her stuff.  Her writing is very lush without being overwritten.  If nothing else, there’s a lot I can learn from studying her prose.