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Reading: Sword Stone Table
Mar. 4th, 2022 06:54 pmSword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices is an anthology of short stories inspired by the legends of King Arthur and the Round Table by diverse writers. I've never been able to resist an Arthurian retelling (seriously, that or Sherlock Holmes), so obviously I had to get a copy.
Ranging from the early middle ages to the far future, from Britain to outer space, the stories in Sword Stone Table bring women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ people to the forefront. There's a woman swordsmith who makes the finest of blades; a lesbian knight rescuing a damsel in distress; a lonely mixed-race teenage girl spending the summer with family; two young gay men at the height of the AIDS pandemic; a Martian take on the Green Knight; and even a coffeeshop AU. My favourites included Maria Dahvana Headley's 'Mayday', a story in the form of an auction catalogue, set in late nineteenth century America; Silvia Moreno Garcia's 'A Shadow in Amber', which transplants the Lady of Shalott to near-future Mexico City; Nisi Shawl's 'I Being Young And Foolish', which reimagines the Lady of the Lake as a Uganda sorceress, but in general the quality of the stories in this anthology is high. There were a couple of stories that didn't quite work for me, and one based around baseball which is a sport I really know nothing about, but other than that I enjoyed them all, and would definitely recommend this to anyone else who enjoys Arthurian retellings.
Ranging from the early middle ages to the far future, from Britain to outer space, the stories in Sword Stone Table bring women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ people to the forefront. There's a woman swordsmith who makes the finest of blades; a lesbian knight rescuing a damsel in distress; a lonely mixed-race teenage girl spending the summer with family; two young gay men at the height of the AIDS pandemic; a Martian take on the Green Knight; and even a coffeeshop AU. My favourites included Maria Dahvana Headley's 'Mayday', a story in the form of an auction catalogue, set in late nineteenth century America; Silvia Moreno Garcia's 'A Shadow in Amber', which transplants the Lady of Shalott to near-future Mexico City; Nisi Shawl's 'I Being Young And Foolish', which reimagines the Lady of the Lake as a Uganda sorceress, but in general the quality of the stories in this anthology is high. There were a couple of stories that didn't quite work for me, and one based around baseball which is a sport I really know nothing about, but other than that I enjoyed them all, and would definitely recommend this to anyone else who enjoys Arthurian retellings.
