Finished The Curiosities by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff. (You can see their group site here.) I received a copy from the publisher at BEA.
This is a short story anthology, along with a few interesting extras (diagrams, for example). The most fun thing about this is that it’s basically an annotated book—the authors leave notes in the margin of many of the stories. Sometimes they discuss the origin of the story (as in the image where the idea came from) or they may talk about what they like about their fellow author’s story. I was worried that it would be a little bit distracting, but it was actually really interesting and enjoyable to read. I don’t know that I’d say that I wish more authors would do it, but it definitely added something to this particular experience.
It helps that you can tell that the three authors are really close so some of the notes were a little like eavesdropping on a conversation.
I don’t read very many short story collections (anthologies or otherwise) and this is one of the few books I’ve read that really makes me want to change that. Generally, it’s something I get through (because if I love an author, I want to read everything they’ve written, even if it’s a genre I don’t typically read) but these stories were all enjoyable. If you don’t have that particular hangup, I think you’ll absolutely love this book. (And even if you do, you’ll probably find yourself liking it a great deal, much as I did.)
Highly recommended.
