 | Dispatches from Anarres: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin contains thirty-one stories from writers linked to Le Guin’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite authors and set a high bar in her writing; the offerings here do not reach her rare heights of literary achievement, but neither do they disappoint. Each story has a paragraph by the author describing how they were inspired by Le Guin’s writing, which enhances the stories’ resonance. There are also author bios in the back, some of whom had books I could request from the library, and others for whom this anthology seemed to be their first and only foray into speculative fiction. |
The editor, Susan DeFreitas, taught writing classes (some of which I was privileged to attend) and mentored many writers before her untimely death in early 2025.
 | “The Lay of Light and Anger” by Stewart C. Baker tells the story of a youngster named Ahrei who loses a parent to war and vows to murder the one who killed them. Ahrei clashes with their surviving parent before going on their quest; subsequent events force them to question everything they believe to be true. The author does a fabulous job creating a whole culture with song-spells and flying griffins grounded in specific details that make it seem real. |
In the final confrontation, Ahrei must come to terms with the ugly consequences of their desire for revenge—and their fractured relationship with their surviving parent.
Rachael K. Jones’s “The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles” follows the misadventures of Hester, who splits her time between two lovers: Marrick, her “sunside” lover, a policeman “who sells indigo cactus flowers and mango slices on a wooden tray,” and “Shayna the butcher, her moonside lover, whose honey-gold verses roll from her tongue, smooth and rounded as sand-polished pebbles.”
 | Hester sells reptile eggs at the night bazaar, an illegal market that meets in secret around the city. Women buy her eggs and transform into reptiles then escape the city, but eating the eggs doesn't work for Hester—no matter how many she consumes, she can't transform. |
The tension ratchets up when Hester’s egg stash disappears and she realizes Marrick the policeman has deciphered the coded directions to the next night bazaar.
 | “Black as Thread” by Jesse Kwak offers a resistance tale where death spells are woven into clothing and sold to unsuspecting oppressors. The story explores the cost and addictive attraction of performing such dark magic on the story's protagonist, a young weaver: “Who knew she could do this? That simple Jilli’s art could be so powerful?” |
Fonda Lee’s story, “Old Souls,” explores predestiny: “Everyone has a pattern. A template.”
 | The main character, Claire, always dies young and violently, and she remembers every death, including burning at the stake, an experience that has left her terrified of fire: “Did you know when you burn to death, you actually bleed? You bleed a lot. . . .It drips and hisses in the flames.” Claire can also “see” the past lives of others through a type of clairvoyance. She meets a mysterious Ageless woman who lives outside the pattern. The woman is looking for a man she promised to find and Claire agrees to help her in exchange for help breaking the pattern. She's hoping to escape her fate—so she can be with her boyfriend Ethan past her twentieth birthday. The various threads of the story smash together in the climax and Claire is forced to push through her fears in a truly harrowing and heroic endeavor. |
 | Rene Denfeld’s “The Ones Who Don’t Walk Away” deepens and expands Le Guin’s famous story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” In the original tale, citizens of light-hearted Omelas hide a painful secret. Denfield’s story looks at Omelas through the lens of a migrant child detained outside the city. “When the winds blow south of Omelas, you can hear the wailing.” The narrator says, “I don’t remember much from before, because the hurt since has wiped it out, like a hand wipes away the morning blood on your face." This story is painful, powerful, and ultimately redemptive. |
“Finding Joan” by David D. Levine is a post-apocalyptic story with a surprising outcome.
 | Joan and three others survive a gamma-ray burst while meditating in a deep cave. When they return to the surface, they discover most people, plants, and animals in North America are dead, including Joan’s husband. Because the ozone layer is mostly destroyed, they can only forage at night. |
I’m not usually a fan of post-apocalypse fiction, but I loved this story’s quiet sensibility and Joan’s resourcefulness and resilience.
 | “Mr. Uncle’s Favor,” by Kesha Ajose-Fisher tells the story of a very special friendship between seven-year-old Kofo and a blind elderly neighbor, Mr. Uncle. The story featured rhythmic dialogue: “He a nice man,” Mommy said. Here’s Mr. Uncle’s nurse questioning Kofo: “Where your mama? I go tell am wetin you say.” [Kofo] sprang up. “No!” “Oh. You want make I keep secret?” When Mr. Uncle is not at home, the nurse says, “Him dey hospital,” the woman said. “I go bring am come home today.” |
 | Lidia Yuknavitch’s story “Neuron” was a dystopian tale with an unusual structure. I wasn't entirely sure if it was meant to be a dream or an alternate reality, though I did appreciate the author’s use of language: “In biology, they sat so close together Lucinda could feel Chloe’s skin breathing.” “She believed her daughter to be ill. Being ill was safer than being a daughter too close to another girl. Outside the house, murderers killed queer girls and boys like human threshers. Clearing the fields.” “The mother mourns the disappearance of her daughter every time she shreds ginger for a meal, and later at dinner, each daughterless mouthful of violence, something she must swallow.” |
 | “Laddie Come Home” by Curtis C. Chen is a brilliant science fiction story told from the perspective of a Local Administration Device (LAD) who gets separated from the human, Mr. Mundine, they’re designed to protect. LAD’s ingenuity in navigating the situation and finding a way to locate their missing patron was fascinating and exceptionally clever. Even more delightful, LAD (in the form of a sparkly necklace) must rely on a brilliant teenage girl, Febby, for help. The tension ratchets up when Mr. Mundine’s life is endangered and LAD must find a way to mount a rescue—without alerting his kidnappers. |
 | In Sonia Orin Lyris’s story, “When Strangers Meet,” strangers signal from outer space: “The voices from the sky have called again, Great One” . . . The One considered. “Tell them to ask again, after the festival.” As the story unfolds, we learn more about the new year festival and the furred “silks” who will dance for the Great One’s pleasure. The tale is told in ritualistic, lyrical prose—yet the events are harrowing. The implication is that the “voices from the sky” are humans hoping to interact with this brutal alien culture, and likely will get a much different reception than they anticipate. |
“Wenonha’s Gift” by Molly Gloss is an immersive, post-Civilization coming-of-age story.
 | Dulce selects a site for her house near running water and hangs glass chimes in the nearby trees: “The sound the waters made, sliding, turning, and rubbing against stones, and the wind stroking the glass bells and shaking the high boughs of the cedar, seemed to her to weave a complex song, a finely textured chorus, which was her reason for choosing this place where her house would stand.” On the eve of Dulce's rite of adulthood, Wenonah gives her a bow and set of arrows and tells her, “You must wait. . . . Find a place and then wait. The others will be anxious, will run to the hunt, and will come to where you are.” |
The outcome of the hunt is horrifying, yet deeply poignant.
Some of these authors encountered Le Guin entirely through her many exceptional stories and books; others share stories of meeting and working with her:
“Le Guin once stated she enjoyed writing protagonists who were misfits in their own society, a theme especially rich in the context of an ambiguous utopia.”
Dispatches from Anarres is a fitting tribute to one of speculative fiction’s icons.
“Le Guin once stated she enjoyed writing protagonists who were misfits in their own society, a theme especially rich in the context of an ambiguous utopia.”
Dispatches from Anarres is a fitting tribute to one of speculative fiction’s icons.
Other speculative fiction short story collections:
Shit Cassandra Saw; Even Great Mistakes; The Best of World SFF;
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories; Pump Six; The Mammoth Book of SF by Women;
Mythic Journeys; Best New Romantic Fantasy; The Starlit Wood;
Kissing the Witch; The Way of the Wizard
Shit Cassandra Saw; Even Great Mistakes; The Best of World SFF;
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories; Pump Six; The Mammoth Book of SF by Women;
Mythic Journeys; Best New Romantic Fantasy; The Starlit Wood;
Kissing the Witch; The Way of the Wizard
