Post by John Smith on Jul 28, 2006 18:55:31 GMT -5
Troy by Simon Brown
Reviewed by Ben Peek
23 May 2006
It has taken eight years for Simon Brown's second collection, Troy, to see print. Originally slated for publication in 1998, the same year as his first collection, Cannibals of the Fine Light, Troy fell victim to the uncertainties of the independent publishing world. Since that time, however, the book has been rumoured to contain Brown's strongest short fiction work: a cycle of stories inspired by Homer's epic tragedy, the Iliad. Many of the stories comprising Troy were originally published in Australia's most respected magazines of the '90s: Aurealis and Eidolon. It is from the latter that editor Jonathan Strahan emerged, and where Sean Williams began has career. If being originally published in these venues was the best possible start for Brown in Australia, the work was further helped in its reputation by receiving good reviews and going on to be reprinted in various Year's Best volumes. "The Masque of Agamemnon" (1997, written with Sean Williams), for instance, was reprinted in Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction, and "The Mark of Thetis" (1996) was reprinted in both David Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer's Year's Best Fantasy and Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne's Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, while the story "Imagining Ajax" (1998) was most recently reprinted in respected editor and critic Peter McNamara's collection Wonder Years, a selection of the best Australian speculative fiction from the past decade.
Reviewed by Ben Peek
23 May 2006
It has taken eight years for Simon Brown's second collection, Troy, to see print. Originally slated for publication in 1998, the same year as his first collection, Cannibals of the Fine Light, Troy fell victim to the uncertainties of the independent publishing world. Since that time, however, the book has been rumoured to contain Brown's strongest short fiction work: a cycle of stories inspired by Homer's epic tragedy, the Iliad. Many of the stories comprising Troy were originally published in Australia's most respected magazines of the '90s: Aurealis and Eidolon. It is from the latter that editor Jonathan Strahan emerged, and where Sean Williams began has career. If being originally published in these venues was the best possible start for Brown in Australia, the work was further helped in its reputation by receiving good reviews and going on to be reprinted in various Year's Best volumes. "The Masque of Agamemnon" (1997, written with Sean Williams), for instance, was reprinted in Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction, and "The Mark of Thetis" (1996) was reprinted in both David Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer's Year's Best Fantasy and Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne's Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, while the story "Imagining Ajax" (1998) was most recently reprinted in respected editor and critic Peter McNamara's collection Wonder Years, a selection of the best Australian speculative fiction from the past decade.