This was not a review book that I actually requested but I am ever so glad I accepted it.  The author is known internationally both as author and poet.  She was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in Europe enabling her to bring an immediacy to the exotic locations in these stories.  Well…exotic to Americans, at least.  And almost every one was a gem; giving me moments of transcendence.  I don’t engage in hyperbole so what I’m trying to say is that each experience pulled me from my ordinary life.

I was three stories in when I finally comprehended the quality of these stories.  So I’m doing something I rarely do:  I’m reviewing each one as I read them.  As a collection, I’ve not read anything half so fascinating; and I mean that in the most classical sense of that word.

The first story is about six daughters of mad scientists: Frankenstein, Moreau, Jekyll/Hyde, Rappacini and Raymond.  I had to look up two of them.  This unique – in both content and style – story is really just days in the lives of these women; five of them live together and only one is married with a child. They are all influenced by their genesis and think about how their decisions and choices were a product of their uncaring fathers.  Their perspective was fascinating.

The second story, ‘Dora/Dora’, is almost impossible for me to describe. Dora was born in Hungary and when her parents divorced, Dora left for America with her mother; leaving behind herself, also Dora, to continue living with her Grandmother in Budapest.  The two knew of each other but didn’t meet again until they were adults.  The closest comparison I can make is an old Gwyneth Paltrow movie “Sliding Doors”; except in this case, both coexist. This was such a sweet story.

The third ‘Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology’ held me completely fascinated holding my breath to see how it ended. It isn’t the first of its kind to capture my interest (the other was played for laughs) but it was very intense.  The idea was that a group of intellectuals created a country, Cimmeria, that became real. Cimmeria, in our history, disappeared in the 6^th century BC but these researchers put together a complete history that brought Cimmeria into present-day.  The researchers even traveled to the country to conduct first-hand research…into the country they had created.  And no one could say it hadn’t always existed; for three thousand years.  But the focus of the story was one tiny little detail written into their culture: the way they regarded twin births. There have been weird cultures that did not see twin babies as normal and this story was horrifying in its depiction.  I absolutely loved it.

‘England Under the White Witch” was the next.  This one didn’t stand out quite as much, for me.  It was a cautionary tale about women taking power.  A woman appeared from the North; speaking to the working women of England, promising equality and power.  And they listened; because, of course, why wouldn’t they?  But she was not an ordinary woman although the author never named her.  And no one could stand against her.  In the end, the women might not have gotten the best deal.  It was quite chilling, no pun intended.

Next up was ‘Frankenstein’s Daughter’. Since there are two tales in this collection to use this character, this reader wonders how much the original story influenced the author.  This was an amusing story. Perspective is everything; and every story has two sides.  This one asks the age-old question of whether the monster was really the only monster in the story; but one’s perspective changes if the monster is someone you love or if they are just family.  I just loved the ending.

The next one has the longest page count of the collection: ‘Come See the Living Dryad.’ This is a documented examination of a murder in 1888 of a woman who was famous in a local freak show.  She was billed as a living dryad and married to a Professor – who wasn’t a professor, he barked for carnivals.  The examination is being carried out by her great-great-granddaughter; a woman who suffers from the same debilitating disease as her long-dead relative and is writing a book on English freak shows of the past century. We piece together a picture of murdered Daphne from old newspaper stories and letters between the researcher, D.M. Levitt, and experts at museums and in old police archives.  It ends pretty lackadaisically; as the researcher appears to be looking for answers to her own condition.  I didn’t think much of this one.

‘Beautiful Boys’ was the shortest piece but interesting.  For some reason, it feels vaguely familiar – in content – but I can’t think where I might have read a similar story.  Maybe more like a compilation of stories or shows that touched on the same plot.  A research scientist has identified a group of men – the beautiful boys of the title – that may not be entirely human, living amongst us.  They are here simply because they need humans to breed their species; just motivated by survival, not for conquest.  They aren’t parasitic either.  The story hinges on just how far a researcher is willing to go to get the facts.  It was spot-on.

Next up was a mild little story about the sorts of people that no one really notices; they are quiet, unassuming and usually assumed to be dull.  People who never have anything really happen to them.  Maybe things happen to them that never happen to other people; so we never really know about it, do we?  Anne is a sickly little girl, never had a strong heart.  Her life is constricted because, you know, she shouldn’t do anything taxing.  But, oh so boring. One day she meets Pug (the dog for whom the story is named) and Pug shows her something extraordinary: a door that takes her places.  She finds she can wander about and no one notices her; until she figures out that she can ‘notice’ others just like her.  So maybe, this sort of magic only ‘notices’ those who need it.  {And yes, I did notice the similarity to Seanan McGuire’s doors.}

‘A Letter to Merlin’ was attractive to me; as are any stories that touch on King Arthur or Merlin.  It’s a letter written to Merlin from a woman who lived as Guinevere.  But it’s a science-fictiony-type story.  This woman hails from a far future where the time line is about done.  Her scientists keep sending people back to inhabit key people in order to effect small changes that might, in the long run, make the time line run a little longer.  Janelle 13 is one of those people.  She has an affinity for Guinevere or Camelot (she once spent time as Jacqueline Kennedy) so she gets returned to the time line over and over again; trying to find those moments to change that will make a difference in the future.  We hear her despair that although she has a mission, she is desperately in love with the King and cannot change the main events that have her betraying him.  She hopes that Merlin, who might be one of her people, could help her; if he would just reply to one of her letters.

‘Estella Saves the Village’ is a thoughtful piece that explores the idea that we live in a reality that is really someone else’s fantasy or dream.  But Estella is special; she is in a unique position to recognize this fact.  She’s also very unique in her belief that she can make her own changes.    I did not see the ending coming.

‘Pellargonia: A letter to The Journal of Imaginary Anthropology’ is another of those stories like ‘Cimmeria…’ (see review above) where belief alters reality.  (I am really liking that theme.)  A group of high school students – above average intelligence, of course – invent a country.  It wasn’t an assignment, it was just interesting to them to see if they could do it.  After all, if they succeeded, they might get written up in The Journal of Imaginary Anthropology. The obvious problem is that although they are all really smart; they aren’t experienced.  There were things they wrote into their country’s history that probably should have gone differently; but it was only an exercise into ‘what if’, no one had ever really created a country from belief/thin air. The Journal was terribly excited in their findings and intensely curious as to how these high schoolers succeeded at something that adults had not.  Fortunately, their researchers are interested in helping the teenagers to fix the horrific problem they created.  I think, however, the kids themselves had learned enough from their mistakes to fix their own country.  The jury was still out when the story ended.

I have always been a total Oz-geek so I’ve been waiting for this story since I read the synopsis.  And so we have ‘Lost Girls of Oz’ – which is a completely appropriate title; something either Baum or Thompson might have used; Oz was, of course, always for girls.  Eleanor is a reporter for the San Francisco Ledger and following a story of missing girls.  She ends up following an ‘underground railroad’ into Oz.  This was an adorable story of Ozma’s and Glinda’s intent to free all girls in the United States from abuse or neglect; by force, if necessary.  But Eleanor entered Oz under false pretenses; and she’s not so sure she can support such a war.  The detail added in would have made Baum envious and I loved it.  But…it seemed a bit out of character for this author; unless I’m projecting myself too much into the story to appreciate her take on it.  Yes, I think the familiarity is getting in my way of appreciating Goss’ approach.  I still love it.

The next story was more a love letter to a city and a childhood:  “To Budapest, With Love.” The author, having been born and lived in Hungary until moving the US as a teen (I think) has a perspective on being an alien that most Americans would never understand. (Our country is so stupendously huge and different that we all just assume differences are part of our identity.)  To actually feel alien within this country is to not only look at the differences but to experience them, as well.  The style of the story might be off-putting as it isn’t linear; but it’s rather as one might talk when reminiscing.

“Child-Empress of Mars” was weird (think last-century-type ‘weird’ stories) and I appreciated it all the more after reading the author’s notes at the end of the book.  She wrote a story of Barsoom from the POV of the natives; surely, John Carter would have provided loads of entertainment and potential for misunderstandings.  There is no John Carter in the story which is why I didn’t immediately connect with its origins. I loved the aliens’ (from our POV) interpretation of the human’s nature and their obligation to honor him.  This was a hoot.

The title story, “Letters From An Imaginary Country” was remarkable.  Apparently the author had the title before she had the story but it feels like it just flowed out of her.  She puts herself into the story and we gain our information from an exchange of letters concerning her ‘home’ country of Thule, its ongoing civil war, her relatives and friends; and, most importantly, what she could do to contribute to its revolution.  Goss has such an effortless style, one could easily accept the prose as fact.

And then there’s the last one: “The Secret Diary of Mina Harker”.  Given the author’s continuing fascination with female monsters (or even just monsters), it’s no surprise that she has more than one angle to explore.  In this one, a researcher, Dorothy Nolan, from Boston is handed an opportunity of a lifetime.  A tenured professor at Boston College came into possession of what was purported to be a secret diary of Mina Harker. (Mina Harker was a female lead played by the awesome Winona Ryder in the 1992 film “Dracula.”)  She asked Dorothy to review the diary and include it in a book she’s writing; probably because the eventual publication would benefit from the mention.  Dorothy’s growing interest in the diary takes her to a fellow female researcher in Hungary.  The woman has a surprise for Dorothy; someone for her to meet, a someone who ought to be fictional.  But what Dorothy discovers as she researches what is surely a hoax diary will challenge her beliefs and change her life.

This lovely book had a happy addition after the stories: the author took time to write a brief paragraph about each story.  I really appreciated those insights; after all, we reviewers have to make our own judgements about what we think the author was trying to say.  ~~  Catherine Book