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Book Review: Flights of Fantasy

© Mary Wilson

The book had a bird on the cover; I had to buy it. Better yet, it was an anthology edited by my favorite author, Mercedes Lackey. No stranger to birds, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books feature glorious Hawkbrothers, native tribes that bond with large raptors to aid them in their endeavors. Her book, the Black Swan, is a novellization of the ballet Swan Lake, and she is a liscensed raptor rehabilitator and shares her lives with many parrots as well.

In Flights of Fantasy, she weaves a new novella from the world of the Black Swan, a minor character that just wouldn't let go. But we'll save the best for last.

Including the novella, this novel contains eleven stories by new and not-so-new authors alike. Fantasy and science fiction readers will reconigze the names of SM Sterling, Diana Paxson, Josepha Sherman. Lawrence Watt Evans, a contributor to the anthology, frequents the sff.net newsgroups and provides his invaluable insight, and I had the good fortune to meet Jody Lyn Nye at a luncheon several years ago. Samuel Conway's first sale graces the pages of this book, and it stands proud right along with stories by seasoned novelists.

My favorite story out of the collection is Tweaked in the Head by Samuel Conway. In his story, he puts an interesting twist on genetic experiments involving intelligence gathering and stealth capabilities. How the bird fits into this story, I'll let you, the reader, figure out. Conway's depiction of a cigar-smoking, smark-alek red tailed hawk fits closer to the depiction of our avian children than does all the nobile depictions in the world. After all, our birds are programmed two do two things -- make noise and make a mess -- all at the emotional level of a toddler.

My other favorite story was Eagle's Eye, by Jody Lyn Nye, a coming of age story with a unique twist.

Flights of Fantasy takes the reader into mystical and magical realms, where birds play an important role in the lives of their people. All the authors work to present birds in the truest sense of their nature, whether a raptor soaring high above the clouds, or a satiric buzzard, and the bird information is as good as the stories.

This summer, when you're out on the beach, entertain Flights of Fantasy.

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