Sweet & Salty Reviews - Empyrea (and other stories) by Carrie Gessner

The Dish

Let me introduce you to my new favourite author. Carrie Gessner is the speculative fiction writer behind the ‘Heartfriends’ epic fantasy trilogy and the standalone ‘The Stroke of Thirteen’. I recently had the pleasure of working with Carrie on the anthology, Reign of Queens by Dragon Soul Press, and her story ‘The Tower of Ithadir’ was an impressive introduction to her work that is embodied in the short-story collection, Empyrea.

The Sauce

Empyrea is a series of short, speculative fiction tales with varying hooks. You’ll find classic fantasy, planet-hopping science-fiction, Lovecraftian weirdness, post-apocalyptica and even cowboy elves. While the stories are all different, there are strong, unbroken themes running throughout. Expect nice characters with charming personalities, unabashed feminism and lifelong friendships.

The Sweet

Carrie Gessner’s voice is soft and lyrical. Her descriptions paint a vivid picture of the worlds she creates and the characters within and there is a conversational tone to them all that makes you feel as though you’re being given a private history lesson to each of these incredible universes. An author’s voice really determines how easy a book is to read and Empyrea has a marvellous flow that will carry you from first page to last.

The collection is loaded with female characters who display a range of strengths, from emotional articulation to compassion, physical prowess to nobility. The book is a celebration of all the best things female but without the contempt one can sometimes find towards men in similar books. It’s this balance that makes Empyrea an especially good read.

Anyone who has ever spoken to me for longer than five minutes on the subject will know that I don’t harbour any love for literary fiction. I tend to find it dull and pretentious, laden with unpleasant characters doing unpleasant things, and distinctly lacking in dragons. Genre fiction, on the other hand, can tackle issues just as important (and often does), while being a whole hell of a lot more interesting.

Every story in Empyrea is a magnificent example of genre fiction that drives at the heart of issues people actually care about - friendship, grief, women’s liberation, strength and redemption. It's also proof that genre fiction can be pretty and well-crafted while still having substance. THERE’S EVEN A DRAGON!

It's difficult to say which stories from Empyrea are my favourites. It’s a strong collection from start to finish. If you’re going to put a gun to my head (please don’t) then ‘At the End of the World’, ‘Uneasy Lies the Head’ and ‘How You Find It’ are the ones that match gorgeous imagery with powerful characters and evoke the strongest emotions. But, then, how can I really leave out humorous delights like ‘Creatures of the Night Shift’ and ‘The Real Lizard Wives of Earth’? What about ‘The Planet of Purple Forests’ or ‘A Whisper from the Waves’, which turn alien invasion and Lovecraftian horror on their heads?

And here’s a special mention for ‘Lonesome’ and ‘The Journal of Cutthroat Cass’, which form a two-part saga about a cowboy elf and her delightful found family, which was, in my opinion, the perfect final note for this collection.

In short, if you told me I could only read one of Carrie Gessner’s short stories for the rest of my life, I honestly couldn’t pick.

The Salty
If I’m going to pick nits (after all, what is this section for?), Empyrea is maybe a little charitable about female-female interaction. Throughout, the women are gentle and respectful towards one another and even the petty aspects of superficial womanhood are lauded in ‘The Real Lizard Wives of Earth’. Unfortunately, women are sometimes assholes to other women.

But I don’t want to overstate this point because it’s pedantic. I adore these worlds where women love each other unconditionally, where people are bursting at the seams with kindness and warmth and compassion, where we can heal and move forward no matter what might have happened to us and where the broken and abused know where to look to find solace. The subtle gloss over the uglier parts of human nature feels like it has been applied knowingly and with purpose.

I will never punish someone for writing stories filled with characters who are nice. It’s one of my favourite things to read about and, after all, isn’t the dislike of fantasy the rage of Caliban not seeing himself reflected in a glass? Maybe I just need to be a nicer person before I can fully appreciate these amazing women.

And, obviously, there’s my usual criticism when I find a book I really like, which is, why is it finished?

The Aftertaste
The thing I liked most about ‘Empyrea and Other Stories’ is the feeling it left me with. I was uplifted. I was happy to have soaked in these tales for a few hours. I had met interesting, kind people and looked through their eyes into magical worlds where I would be treated with respect if that was what I chose.

The feeling isn’t a common one and very few books have left me with such a pronounced sense of ease after reading. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Carrie was doing to her stories what Ainsley from ‘Steeping Spells’ does to tea.

Fortunately, this won’t be my last foray into the worlds of Carrie Gessner, because I am three chapters deep in ‘The Dying of the Golden Sun’, first book in the ‘Heartfriends’ trilogy, as I type. I look forward to bringing you a review of that very soon.