The Curiosities Review

Authors: Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff
Release date: October 1, 2012
Pages: 304
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
How I got it: For review from Netgalley 

From acclaimed YA authors Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff comes The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories. 

- A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.- Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.- A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).  

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction. 

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author's comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors. 

So, are you curious now?

Let me start off this review by saying that there are little notes the authors made in the pages, but I was unable to read them on my e-reader, so I might have missed some stuff.

Stories I Liked

Vampire Box by Tessa Gratton

A Murder of Gods by Maggie Stiefvater

The Madness of Lancelot by Brenna Yovanoff

The Wind Takes Our Cries by Maggie Stiefvater

Auburn by Brenna Yovanoff

Puddles by Tessa Gratton

The Bone-Tender by Brenna Yovanoff

Death-Ship by Tessa Gratton

Cut by Brenna Yovanoff

Philosopher's Flight by Maggie Stiefvater

Dumb Supper by Tessa Gratton

Neighbors by Brenna Yovanoff

The Summer Ends In Slaughter by Tessa Gratton

Berserk by Tessa Gratton

Lazarus Girl by Brenna Yovanoff

Stories I was "Eh" About (Most os these ended up confusing me)

Blue As God by Brenna Yovanoff

Thomas All by Tessa Gratton

The Power of Intent by Brenna Yovanoff

A History of Love by Maggie Stiefvater

Girl Raised by Wolves by Brenna Yovanoff

Council of Youth by Maggie Stiefvater

Rain Maker by Maggie Stiefvater

Stories I LOVED

Another Sun by Maggie Stiefvater

Date with a Dragon Slayer by Tessa Gratton

Scheherazade by Brenna Yovanoff

The Deadlier of Species by Maggie Stiefvater

The Last Day of Spring by Maggie Stiefvater

Ash-Tree Spell to Break Your Heart by Tessa Gratton

Overall, this was a really cool look into three awesome author's creative process, especially as the stories were mostly uneditied. I'll definitely need to be buying this one for my shelves so a) I can read the notes and b) I need to re-read the ones I loved. Because I really did LOVE those. I would definitely recommend this one.

Guest Post from Brenna Yovanoff, Author of The Replacement

Hi all,

I'm Brenna Yovanoff. My contemporary YA fantasy The Replacement just came out from Penguin in September, and Jessica has graciously invited me to write a guest post for her blog!

Today I'm going to talk about music. Mackie, the main character in The Replacement, loves music. He plays the bass and spends as much time as possible at the Starlight, which is the venue for local bands in Gentry. His love of music figures pretty heavily into the story and something people have been asking me is whether I play any instruments myself.

Here is my dark, tortured confession: I am terrible at music. And when I say terrible, I mean on a fundamental level. It goes far (far, far, far) beyond tone-deaf. Singing is only a small sliver of the problem. I also lack rhythm. And nuance. When it comes to music, I Just Don't Get It.

You might be tempted to ask, how bad am I? I will tell you. I'm so bad that I failed my introductory music class in high school. And it wasn't failing in one of those lazy ways—I actually did the work and showed up every day. I was really just that bad. So when people ask me if the scenes where Mackie talks about music are based on personal experience, the answer is no. It is also no, NO, and absolutely not.

And this is exactly what makes fiction so great! Even though I am never—not in a million-trillion years—going to play a really amazing solo, I'm still allowed to pretend.

Thanks for having me, Jessica!