Strange Attractions (Polestars 1) by Jaine Fenn (book review).

The ‘Polestars’ books, of which there are three volumes, are anthology collections and are each by a different contemporary author. The first volume, entitled ‘Strange Attractions’, is authored by Jaine Fenn. This is the first of Fenn’s works that I have read, despite having known about her work for quite a while, so I anticipated this with some enthusiasm.

There are fifteen stories included in this volume. One entitled ‘Sin of Omission’ is brand new and published in this book for the first time. The other fourteen are collected over a twenty-year period, with the oldest being ‘Path to the Sun’ from 2001. That story, along with ‘Paying for Rain’, adequately demonstrate Fenn’s obsession with Aztec culture. The first story, ‘Sin of Omission’, is something of an alternative reality where Cortez was defeated by the Aztec king, resulting in a world-spanning empire riveled only by Queen Victoria’s British Empire. Whereas ‘Paying for Rain’ is a contemporary tale with a twist that is rendered horrific with Western sensibility but would make fine sense to a central American Aztec.

Probably the best story in the volume is ‘Twilight at the Change House’. I believe this is the longest tale in the book and has an interesting `nested’ structure whereby one tale encases the second, which in itself encases a third. Fenn gives a short commentary about each tale at the end of each story, and, in this case, she relates how the writing came about due to the collision of two other ideas. I enjoyed it because it is a fine yarn with a supernatural hint that lends it an unexplained air, but it also includes great historical verisimilitude and well-realised characters.

I have seen quite a lot of anthologies where the writer seems to feel a need to explain, or maybe excuse, the story included. I am not sure whether I actually like this, as I don’t always want to see the man behind the curtain, as this can break the spell, and if you need to excuse the inclusion, maybe it should not have been included.

For me, the low point would be the penultimate tale titled ‘A Dormitory Haunting’. There is nothing actually wrong with the story per se, although I did feel that it did not explore its conclusion enough and so felt curiously unfinished. However, this is Fenn’s contribution to the Sherlock Holmes `expanded universe’. It seems almost every writer these days has to have a crack at adding to the wider Arthur Conan Doyle legendarium. As I am something of a Holmes Purist, this never seems to quite hit the mark for me, and thus these end up being wasted on myself, although it is possible this is your thing.

The tales in this volume are certainly varied. They take in oddity from a supernatural viewpoint, a Celtic-feeling tale of May sacrifice, a Fortean journalistic investigation, and the futility of religious war, but probably my favourite stories are the more SF ones. These include ‘Death on Elsewhere Street’, which feels like cyberpunk but is really set a bit post-that. In this story, a street urchin named Geal finds herself helping an angel. The Angels turn out to be justice-bringing assassins who ensure that society does not get too out of hand, but the one Geal has allied herself to is somewhat of a rogue agent, and it takes a fair bit of Geal’s tenacity to avoid coming to a sticky end.

The other strictly SF story in this volume is the excellent ‘Liberty Bird’. This is a Dune-esque tale of the scions of mighty interstellar houses engaging in a baroque ritual called the Flamestar Challenge, whereby they race each other around a gas giant called Yssim in one-man spaceships designed for the purpose. The main protagonist here is Kheo of Clan Reuthani, who has won the race twice flying the Liberty Bird and is determined to win it a third time. Umbrel of Narvel challenges him while she is in her ship, the Aurora Dream. Will he be able to beat the plucky and risk-taking underdog? Maybe the main tale here concerns forbidden love secreted in the shadows.

A special mention must go to ‘Fear Not Heaven’s Fire’ in which Fenn shows how holy forbidden lust can be. Fenn’s comments on this story might be a little hard on herself, but they do ring lewdly true. She studies both the suppression of desires within holy cloisters and the relationship between the human and the divine. Pretty neat, really.

Overall, I found Fenn’s writing to be vivacious and full of life. This probably stems both from the sheer variety of the tales and the natural ease with which Fenn seems to inject life into her characters. Never a dull moment occurs in this volume, and it is all for the better. I am happy to recommend the volume, as it delights and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Indeed, you may be disappointed when you get to the end. If the remaining volumes of the ‘Polestars’ books can live up to this, then we can surely be in for more treats, and I look forward to finding out!

Dave Corby

March 2024

(pub: NewCon Press, 2023. 234 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £13.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-914953-58-3).

check out website: www.newconpress.co.uk