white_hart

Consolation Songs is billed as an anthology of optimistic speculative fiction for a time of pandemic. It's being sold in aid of the University College London Hospitals charity and features stories from two of my favourite comfort-reading authors (Tansy Rayner Roberts and Stephanie Burgis), two of my favourite podcasters (Lizbeth Myles of Verity!* and Freya Marske of Be The Serpent) and several other authors whose work I've read and enjoyed (Aliette de Bodard, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Iona Datt Sharma, who also edited the anthology), and given that optimistic fiction is definitely what I want to read right now I preordered it and started it fairly soon after it arrived on my kindle last week.

The twelve stories in the anthology range in settings from the past to the far future; many of them feature queer characters and relationships, which was an added delight. Normally I find that anthologies have one or two stories I'm less keen on, but I really enjoyed all of these. I was going to mention a few particular favourites, but realised that was going to end up being pretty much every story in the anthology, so I'll just say that it's a lovely book, and if you are looking for cheerful reading material I definitely recommend it.

*which Tansy Rayner Roberts is also one of the hosts of