book cover of Starlings
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Starlings

(2018)
A collection of stories by

 
 
Awards
2019 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee)

“Starlings isn’t really a short-story collection. It’s something better: a written showreel, illustrating yet again that [Walton’s] imagination stretches to the stars (or the starlings), and that she’s endlessly inventive in finding new methods to express it.”—NPR Books

An ancient coin cyber-spies on lovers and thieves. The magic mirror sees all but can do nothing. A cloned savior solves a fanatically-inspired murder. Three Irish siblings thieve treasures with bad poetry and the aid of the Queen of Cats.

With these captivating initial glimpses into her storytelling psyche, Jo Walton shines through subtle myths and reinvented realities. Through eclectic stories, subtle vignettes, inspired poetry, and more, Walton soars with humans, machines, and magic—rising from the every day into the universe itself.


Genre: Fantasy

Praise for this book

"Exquisitely written feats of imagination, each one leaving an impression long after it’s done." - Kelley Armstrong

"Walton's diverse collection of stories and poems sparkles with originality and fun. The joy of this book will linger with me for a while." - Beth Cato

"Stephen King once wrote that ‘a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger' - that is, sudden, pleasant, mysterious, dangerous and exciting - and the collected short fiction of Jo Walton is exemplary of the principle." - Cory Doctorow

"Jo Walton’s delightful collection, Starlings, runs the gamut from homemade fairy tales to hard-boiled cloned-Jesus detectives (just wait for the shaggy dog); to a play with figures out of Irish myth, and a talking dragon; to a selection of her fantastic poems. It’s the kind of collection you can glide through, often while laughing out loud." - Gregory Frost

"Jo Walton's short writings have for decades been among the things that make the Internet worthwhile. She makes science fiction illuminate life. This collection lives up to its title: iridescent, dark, gregarious, talkative and ever ready to fly up." - Ken MacLeod

"Starlings is a showcase of Jo Walton's diverse talents?a collection too varied to be summed up in a few words. From fairytale fantasy to hard science fiction, from laugh-aloud play script to finely crafted poetry, with a writing experiment or two thrown in, Starlings should delight Walton's existing fans and garner many new ones." - Juliet Marillier

"One of the things I love about Walton’s work is her range of human possibility, from laughter to horror, but above all a reveling in profligate beauty. This collection celebrates the best in the human spirit." - Sherwood Smith


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