I bought this around 2009 (because of the Bujold short story), but then never got around to reading the book because I have a tendency to put off short story collections in favour of reading novels. But I strangely felt like reading some short stories now, so here we go.
First of all, the feel of the book is just odd. It’s published by Penguin, but the book is printed on totally white paper, and the binding is stiff and awkward — not like a Penguin book at all. It feels like an early print-on-demand book… Oh yeah, it doesn’t mention a printer but just says “Made in the USA, Lexington, KY” on the final page. Yeah, I guess it’s a POD book — I didn’t know that they even had those in 2009. Perhaps I bought this later?
The reason I bought this book is obviously the first story — Winterfair Gifts by Lois Macmaster Bujold. And it’s great! I read the entire thing with a smile plastered on my face. It’s centred on Loic and Taura… and ends with (not much of a spoiler) the Vorkosigan marriage. It’s amazing that Bujold would put something like this in a short story, and one published in a collection like this. My guess is that 99.97% of the people who bought this did it for the same reason as me — the Bujold story.
Because, let me tell you — the rest really isn’t up to snuff. I made a valiant attempt at reading the second story, by Mary Jo Putney, and got halfway through it before realising that I really didn’t care at all. And after losing faith in the editor like that, I dropped each subsequent story earlier and earlier.
So I didn’t much like the rest of the book, but it’s worth it just for the Bujold story. But it’s included in the Miles in Love omnibus, so I guess you don’t have to buy this.
Editor Asaro talks in the introduction about how controversial it was it mix science fiction/fantasy with romance (as all the stories here do), but I guess that’s no longer the case, 20 years later: Apparently romantasy is the major seller in fantasy these days? So she won.
Irresistible Forces (2004) edited by Catherine Asaro (buy new, buy used, 3.52 on Goodreads)