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 Writing.Com Item ID: #1094333
 Title:  Setting Suns by Elizabeth Donald
 Item Type: Static Item
 Brief:  Peeking into the dark corners
 Last Modified: 04-15-2006 @ 5:38am
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This was written by Reannon and I plan to raid her port now that I've finished... or maybe I'll just wait for the next collection to be published.

Elizabeth Donald's collection of short stories rather deliciously makes a point against the adage that shining a light on our fears makes them go away.

What I liked (??) about this collection is that some of the stories ["Gauntlet," "Memoir," and "Our Turn" from her first (unpublished) novel, Sanctuary] touched the fears hidden within my own soul. Growing up when I did (early cold war), I have a latent fear of the "enemy" attacking. The enemy in these stories is as unknown as the one I feared as a child, and perhaps more worthy of fear. The fear is the same, though not as buried.

Another story that I particularly liked was "Symphony of the Woods." The young heroine of this story has a lovely ability that is apparently both her burden and her salvation.

"Wonderland" takes a look, with a classic science fiction stance, at the fear many have of any new technology -- even some of us who embrace it.

Each of these fifteen stories held my attention and even compelled me to continue. I appreciated the diversity of stories -- from present day psychological tensions to futuristic science fiction, with a dash of fantasy, and not a little adventure.