The Coyote Road | Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling

The Coyote Road | Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling | Keeping an eye on Coyote

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The Coyote Road

	The Coyote Road Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling Viking Juvenile, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Coyote. Anansi. Brer Rabbit. Trickster characters have long been a staple of folk literature?and are a natural choice for the overarching subject of acclaimed editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling?s third ?mythic? anthology. The Coyote Road features a remarkable range of authors, each with his or her fictional look at a trickster character. These authors include Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles), Charles de Lint (The Blue Girl), Ellen Klages (The Green Glass Sea), Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners), Patricia A. McKillip (Old Magic), and Jane Yolen. Terri Windling provides a comprehensive introduction to the trickster myths of the world, and the entire book is highlighted by the remarkable decorations of Charles Vess. The Coyote Road is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary fantastic fiction.

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Tricksy

Is it just me, or do short story collections get the short end of the stick these days? With a love of child and YA novels at an all-time high, you'd think that some of that lovin' would slough off onto the other forms of fantasy out there. The shorter forms. Yet ask your average everyday kid to list their favorite collection of short stories and nine times out of then you'll find yourself facing a very blank look. You can't make the argument that there aren't worthy short story collections out there either, since books like "The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales" crop up every so often without much fanfare or media blitz. Such collections are subtle sly little affairs. They do not demand your attention, knowing full well that if you accidentally happened to stumble into reading one of their tales you'd be utterly unable to extract yourself until you'd swallowed each and every story in the collection whole. That's sort of what happened to me when I was given a copy of this book. As someone whose favorite book as a teen was Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, I'm inclined to enjoy tales of thirty pages or less (which probably explains why I like to review so many picture books). Top that off with the subject matter (tricksters of every age, gender, generation, and stripe) and the author roll (everyone from Holly Black and Michael Cadnum to Ellen Klages and Jane Yolen) and you've got yourself one heckuva book. Use the lack of marketing surrounding its release to your advantage. Consider it your own personal secret and discovery.

Twenty-six tales, some prose and some poems, and all of them intriguing and enticing by turns. And just listen to their content. A deal with the devil takes the form of a competitive eating contest. A spirit decides that it will do everything possible to stop a classroom from diagramming sentences. A boy draws inspiration from Brer Rabbit to outsmart his kidnappers. A girl collects ghosts on ribbons, taking them wherever she goes, feeding them her blood. Each story relates to a trickster character of some sort. Sometimes they are wild spirits of the earth and air. Other times, classic characters like the devil, Hermes, and Raven. The mix of good and bad, unpredictability, self-interest, and good humor weaves in and out of these stories and the sheer variety is perhaps the collection's biggest lure. Both original and traditional, this is a fine and fancy mix of the wildness of spirit lying at the heart of some of the world's best stories.

I'm not saying that you have to know the history and background of trickster tales to enjoy a collection of this sort. I'm just saying that it helps, and for this reason I was particularly taken with both the Preface and the Introduction to this book. In the Preface, the editors skillfully tie-in old trickster tales to new by pointing out that contemporary pop culture is full of such characters. Consider Captain Jack Sparrow from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, after all. As for the Introduction, its encapsulation of the history of collecting trickster tales is engrossing. Worth an entire book right there, it is. This is best summed up by folklorist Robert D. Pelton who said that, "I had not realized that many so-called primitive peoples delighted in celebrating this disruptive power instead of squelching it or using it to launch some dull theory about institutional stress, comic absurdity, or the psychological value of playing around. Moreover, while these people were discovering laughter at the heart of the sacred, they, like so many Flannery O'Connor prophets and profiteers, were insisting that this discovery of laughter revealed the true being of daily life."

If I had to choose my favorite stories in this collection, I'd be hard pressed to say. There really wasn't a story here I felt was "bad" (though a couple might have been out-of-place) and plenty that I found exceptional. I did have a great deal of affection for "Black Rock Blues" which is the only story with an African-American trickster. It's the kind of story where a character is forcibly taken somewhere and asked to leave the car. When he refuses the heavies say, "The kindness is for my compatriot. He must clean the car if a guest is reluctant to leave it." I love that kind of stuff. Ellen Klages taps into our nation's love of board games in a truly original fashion in "Friday Night at St. Celia's", which is fun. The most thought-provoking story, however, is also the last tale in the collection. Editing a book of this size and scope can't be an easy job but there must be certain perks. Getting to decide the order in which the stories appear might be one of them. The idea of making the story, "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change," the last must have been a bit of a no-brainer, though. In this tale something happens to all the domesticated animals in the world, giving them the power of speech. Author Kij Johnson talks about what happens when pets unnerve us and make us feel forced to abandon them. Amongst the wild dogs of the North Park, the dogs begin to tell stories about One Dog. These are stories that are based around their culture and not the human's culture. The tale, in essence, captures exactly how and why it is that we create tales for one another, providing the perfect capper to this collection.

Some authors had an easier time with the assignment than others. Patricia McKillip's story is good, but I didn't quite see how the main character embodied the trickster aesthetic, aside from just being a person who tricks people. McKillip herself notes in that she found writing about tricksters to be "very difficult". Others slipped into the trickster motif easily. I found the Author's Notes at the end of each tale to be particularly insightful when it came to locating each author's influences. Theodora Goss mentions that her inspiration came, in part, from "that boyfriend you had in high school who was probably in Drama Club and not much else, unless he had a band, and who idolized someone impossible like Jim Morrison or Jack Kerouac, and who tied his hair, dyed black, back in a ponytail, and who was fearfully attractive but, as your mother told you, trouble. Yes, that one."

It's a mix, of course. There are a lot of female tricksters in this collection. Far more than you'll find in folktales and myths, I'd wager. In the Introduction, Terri Windling makes the point that, "Such wily women are rare, however, and seldom do they enjoy the cultural status of their masculine counterparts." Still, it had to have been irresistible. And while some authors know their trickster history and play off of it, others conjure up characters entirely out of their own heads without referencing any one land or person directly. In the end it's a magnificent series of tales, engrossing and engaging by turns. An ideal gift for the person entranced by folklore, the person who loves trickster tales, or just any person who likes a good story once in a while. Recommended for any and for all.

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Keeping an eye on Coyote

It's important for us to remember that the mythic world isn't far away in "Once upon a time" land, but all around us. I like the fact that these stories connect the mythic world to the world we think of as reality. Like all anthologies, some approachesand some stories appealed to me more than others, but generally, I really liked all the different perspectives on Trickster. It's always a good idea to keep him in mind, because if you forget him or ignore his power, you become subject to his tricks!

Excellent story, meandering collection

I picked up The Coyote Road because it's edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling. This one is in the same line as The Green Man and The Faery Reel, so it's aimed at adults and collects some of the bigger names in the Mythic Fiction genre. This volume aims to be a collection of trickster tails, but surprisingly, the majority of the stories don't involve what I would generally consider "tricking". I was somewhat disappointed in this, as I was expecting some modernized variants of the Coyote, Loki and Anansi myths. These stories do not tend to fit that pattern, though they touch on the traditional myths by reference. That said, given that this is an anthology, some of the stories do -- just not the work as a whole.

"The Listeners" by Nina Kirki Hoffman does fit my conception of the trickster theme, focusing on Hermes. As usual, I absolutely enjoyed Nina's writing, and time (for the most part) just dropped away as I read it. Basing the story in ancient Greece provides a backdrop for the story to meander through myth and social commentary, taking the reader along for the ride. Unlike most of Nina's works, I didn't feel like I was pulled into the middle of the story, but that's OK, I can handle stories with a bit of structure too. I will say that the ending is both surprising and wholly appropriate, though I shan't spoil anything.

"The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" by Delia Sherman, however, does give the feeling of starting in the middle. While, in framing, the story matches the common "devil challenge" pattern, the characters are believable enough that it's not too jarring to be pulled along somewhat predictably. Luckily, the end, while not surprising, breaks out of the pattern. Most interesting is that the story is set in an alien (to me) culture, and is not well explained for the outsider. This is a nice contrast to the realm of stories that include an outsider to provide exposition to the reader.

"Friday Night at St. Cecila's" by Ellen Klages uses an interesting game-based theme. There are a few tricks, but it didn't really feel like a trickster tale to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the character to be as believable (though not as fleshed out, but hey, it's a short story instead of a novel) as those in _The Green Glass Sea_. I did find it somewhat contrived, but enjoyable nonetheless. After all, it's hard to write stories that are based on board games. I think that she did a decent job with the idea.

"Crow Roads" by Charles de Lint was somewhat disappointing. I generally like his work a lot, but this one feel somewhat flat. The story fits his pattern, but the character of mystery wound up being somewhat weak. Upon reflection, I suspect that part of the problem was that in most of de Lint's short stories I am already either familiar with the characters or with the world in which the story is placed. In this case, more time should likely have been spent to establish one of the two.

"Cat of the World" by Michael Cadnum was a huge surprise. Finally, a fantasy story about a cat that reads like it's about a cat. I get so tired of people dressing up snooty lords and vain lady stereotypes in cat's clothing. Instead, we get a story about a cat god who honestly believes that the world revolves around him, and simply acts accordingly. It was a wonderful experience.

"The Seniorita and the Cactus Thorn" by Kim Aniteau was nice because it was about the desert. I love the desert, specifically the Sonora Desert, so the stories that are increasingly placed there are a true joy to read. The theme of city girl vs nature woman was fun, though somewhat overly simplified. I have trouble believing that such a scenario would truly arise. Though it failed to meet my idea of a trickster tale, it was fun.

"Black Rock Blues" by Will Shetterly was amazing. It felt like Will was trying to write a Nina Kiriki Hoffman story. The story started in the middle and continued from there, leaving the reader (me) utterly confused. As it moves along, it slowly becomes apparent what is going on, and only at the end do you realize that you're reading a Coyote tale. This one plus "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change" are worth the price of the book in of themselves. The other stories are gravy.

"The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change" (figures I'd pick the longest title to type twice) by Kij Johnson was a complete surprise. It is a "post world change" story, focusing on the aftermath of a non-specific event which grants animals the power of speech. Obviously this causes problems for pet owners. Not so obviously is how Kij explores the concept. Very much worth reading.

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