THE BEST OF ELIZABETH BEAR
Introduction
Elizabeth Bear is my friend. I knew her when we were deep into the transformation from novice writers to journeymen. I read her stories and she read mine, and when I left writing for years, she never forgot that I was there or left me behind. Over the years, she sent me stories.
I read her stories, and those stories became my friends—stories that knew pain, understood loss, joined hands with bravery and vulnerability and hope. Each one was a gift. They all talked to me, dazzled me with wonder and feeling and humanity. She sent me stories, and I read them.
I hope I get to keep reading them for a long, long time.
Bear’s stories invite the reader to settle into an intimate experience with characters who may not necessarily be like the reader, or even human. And once we’re reading about this character, who is often an outsider or orphaned or alien in some other way alone, we get to see inside the defenses, their exterior, their otherness. And when that happens, often what we see in this outsider is ourselves.
Sometimes it’s as shocking as catching sight of yourself in an unexpected mirror. Sometimes it’s a moment of empathy that reaches out to join hands with the person in the pages. Her stories show how experiences shape and change us, how facing the ordeal that we make for ourselves—with the intention of staying safe and protected—can transform us, bring us to wisdom, compassion, and strength.
The stories of this collection are a full picture of Bear’s range as a storyteller and the scope of a prolific career. Between masterful prose and the intimate view of people (and war machines, and living spaceships) Bear’s stories are vivid, personal experiences. They linger in one’s memory and invite reflection. They can touch a reader in tender spots, and at the same time, grant the space to feel that gap in one’s armor and understand it a little better.
Watching the protagonist of an Elizabeth Bear short story transform themselves never gets old. Characters on the very edge of life-altering change fall into the ordeal that drags them into the thing they need to face, and upon facing it, they re-enter the world wiser, kinder, and clear-eyed. An Elizabeth Bear story shows you how people become more than what they were before, showing how they face the things they don’t want to see but hold them back from healing or moving forward.
All these stories are gifts. I want to enthuse about them, but I also don’t want to spoil anything. Read them however the whim strikes you—in the order they were given, or simply opening to a random page. Read them all right away or save them for when you need them. Hopefully, my remarks will serve as a guide.
In “Covenant,” Bear walks us into the darkness of a serial murderer, and with her sense of unflinching compassion walks us out beside a hero who has us hoping for their success.
“She Still Loves the Dragon” is a knight and dragon story on the outside. The peerless knight with a list of achievements that could keep a bard busy for a lifetime climbs a mountain to face the dragon. But then the knight burns—and in burning, becomes an exploration of trust, vulnerability, identity, and love.
“Tideline” is a heartbreaking, beautiful story about family and remembrance that pairs up a war machine and the boy who found her on a beach as she uses the last of her energy to memorialize her fallen comrades. She tells the boy stories and uses some of her limited resources to protect him, raising him until she has only one gift left.
In “The Leavings of the Wolf,” Dagmar’s runs are haunted by the ruins of her marriage. She’s trying to run her way to being able to pull off her wedding ring, followed by the crows she studies, running until she’s ready to face what she’s running from.
“Okay, Glory” explores the point where the smart house of the future breaks, imprisoning a tech genius in the remote mountain fortress he built himself. Brian has to break through his smarthouse’s airtight protection system because Glory won’t acknowledge the disconnect between her programming and reality. There’s more than one story going on here—while Brian is trying to carefully show Glory that she’s operating with beliefs that contradict each other, Brian is confronted with how his isolating behaviors affect the people who care about him.
“Needles” stops in the middle of an eternal road trip to watch over a Mesopotamian undead woman in search of change, eating up the miles in a ’67 Chevy Impala with a vampire and hunters on their trail. But breaking out of old patterns and survival behaviors isn’t easy. Sometimes it takes more than we’re ready to give.
“This Chance Planet” reminds me of all the times we politely say nothing about a friend’s partner, even though they’re being held back by the relationship. Petra, a cocktail waitress working hard to get out of poverty with the burden of a partner who does very little, makes an alliance with the pregnant street dog she met in Moscow’s light rail system. Petra makes the sacrifice that will set her free, thanks to her new friend.
“The Body of the Nation” is an Abigail Irene Garrett mystery set in the fascinating New Amsterdam universe. We’re hauled up onto a grand riverboat to investigate a murder that quickly becomes more than it seems and must be solved before the ship makes port in Albany. Abigail Irene is a grand character succeeding in a world that resists her competence and skill, however politely, solving mysteries in stories I wish were bingeable in twelve-episode seasons.
“Boojum” is a living being repurposed as a vessel for space pirates, and Black Alice loves her. Black Alice keeps her head down and does her job, but when it’s clear the Boojum’s being kept prisoner to serve as a ship, Black Alice wants to help. It’s a story about love and trust, about taking the leap into the unknown and becoming something more.
“The Bone War” is a hilarious story about bunfights and professional interference. Bijou is called to perform their particular magic on the remains of a dinosaur skeleton but has to contend with a pair of experts determined to have their input on Bijou’s work.
“In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns” is another top-notch mystery set in a future India. But it’s also an examination of our relationships with our own personal histories, whether they’re treasured or abandoned. I could wander around the setting for many more pages—it’s a thoughtful, detailed exploration of how societies could adapt to the environment of the future. Instead of being dystopic and grim, it’s determined, community-minded, and green.
“Shoggoths in Bloom” pulls on the Cthulhu mythos as a Black professor investigates the peculiar creatures that come ashore every year to bloom in the November sunshine, shortly after America learned the news about Kristallnacht. If Paul Harding discovers the shoggoth’s secret, he can publish a work that will secure his academic position with tenure. But the horrifying truth of these creatures pushes Harding into making a choice for the whole world.
“Skin in the Game” explores a favorite speculation of future entertainment—the empathy recording. Neon White’s star isn’t as high in the sky as it was—she’s pulled back from the edge and into comfortable, commercial territory, but the audience is hungry for something new. Her publicist has a plan to bring it all back using the Clownfish app, allowing her fans to plug into her experience. Neon faces the hard-nosed, sometimes cynical choices that come when your career depends on an audience that craves the feeling of authentic connection to their idols while maintaining an idealized, carefully curated brand.
“Hobnoblin Blues” continues the journey into fame, celebrity, and rock music with Loki, exiled from Asgard and fallen to Earth, striding the world in black leather boots and an electric guitar. Loki as a rock god and a Luciferian figure (oh, how they would sneer to read that comparison) fits right into the drug-soaked decadent glam of 70’s rock, simultaneously alluring and tragic and mad as hell. Loki doesn’t give a moment’s thought to branding or inching away from the edge—what Loki wants, more than anything else, is for the world to hear them.