The Alchemy of Sorrow

A Fantasy & Sci-Fi Anthology of Grief & Hope

By: M.L. Wang, Intisar Khanani, K.S. Villoso, Quenby Olson, Krystle Matar, Virginia McClain, Angela Boord, Levi Jacobs, Clayton Snyder, Rachel Emma Shaw, Sonya M. Black, Carol A. Park, Madolyn Rogers

Narrated by: Nekia Renee Martin, Isnain Khan, Laura Horowitz, Jake McAskill, Josh Putnam

Here be dragons and sorcery, time travel and sorrow.

Vicious garden gnomes. A grounded phoenix rider. A new mother consumed with vengeance. A dying god. Soul magic.

These stories wrestle with the experience of loss—of loved ones, of relationships, of a sense of self, of health—and forge a path to hope as characters fight their way forward.

From bestsellers and SPFBO finalists to rising voices, 13 exceptionally talented authors explore the many facets of grief and healing through the lens of fantasy and sci-fi.

Featuring stories from M.L. Wang, K.S. Villoso, Intisar Khanani, Sonya M. Black, Angela Boord, Levi Jacobs, Krystle Matar, Virginia McClain, Quenby Olson, Carol A. Park, Madolyn Rogers, Rachel Emma Shaw & Clayton Snyder

©2022 M.L. Wang, K.S. Villoso, Intisar Khanani, Sonya M. Black, Angela Boord, Levi Jacobs, Krystle Matar, Virginia McClain, Quenby Olson, Carol A. Park, Madolyn Rogers, Rachel Emma Shaw & Clayton Snyder (P)2022 M.L. Wang, K.S. Villoso, Intisar Khanani, Sonya M. Black, Angela Boord, Levi Jacobs, Krystle Matar, Virginia McClain, Quenby Olson, Carol A. Park, Madolyn Rogers, Rachel Emma Shaw & Clayton Snyder

Disappointing Collection

Most of the stories are around 45 minutes. Routinely I was making it 30 minutes in and thinking about skipping to the next story. I would tough it out hoping the end would bring it all together, but very rarely was it worth it.

The narrators were not horrible, but most were at the skill level it subtracted from the story.

I really wanted to like this and maybe it was just the length the author had to work with, but most of the stories felt more like a writing assignment rather than the heartfelt story I would have hoped for.

The prologues were probably the best part of the book.