Name: Big Cat
ISBN: 9781912950164

Gwyneth Jones

A new collection of short stories from multiple award-winning author Gwyneth Jones; includes her finest work from the past decade and features a brand new story, "Stella and the Adventurous Roots," as well as tales that revisit the world of Bold as Love and also the Aleutian Universe (White Queen etc).

And Other Stories

Big Cat

Bryan Alexander

Big Cat is a rich and varied collection of stories. Each embodies Gwyneth Jones' trademark prose (rich, dense, fast) while tackling a wide range of topics and storytelling modes. Some draw on her other stories, but that's not an obstacle to enjoyment, while the rest stand alone.

Some of the stories that made the greatest impression on me:

"Vicar of Mars" - a lovely mashup of science fiction and ghost story. Takes place in Jones' Aleutian world and features an alien on Mars, getting haunted by another species.

"The Ki-Anna" - science fiction police procedural. Another Aleutian tale, this one is about solving an apparent murder, and turns on issues of interstellar politics and biology. A key feature is a pair of species who share the same planet; one preys on the other. (Reminds me of another story about these species)

"The Old Schoolhouse" - a dip into Lovecraftian horror. "Erich Zann" is the story I saw most clearly here, but also with an echo of Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus with its imaginative linkage of avant garde music and horror.

"Stella and the Adventurous Roots" is much more goofy and playful than the rest. A nice smile of a story.

"Emergence" - a nice look at human evolution in a future solar system.

"Big Cat" - takes place in the world of another Jones series, wherein the British government collapses and hard-bitten rockstars take over. The premise still seems silly to me, but I liked the way this story changed shape.

Final note: my first exposure to Gwyneth Jones was with her novel White Queen. I enjoyed the first half, mostly due to the language and worldbuilding, but lost patience in the second half as the worldbuilding and plotting became less plausible. I haven't read any of her other novels, yet have enjoyed her short stories. Perhaps the latter form is just where I like her work the best.

Big Cat And Other Stories