I would not be averse to reading more Elizabeth Bear stories. Just not this one.
And what am I if not obliging!
Happy to proselytize, too, I love Bear's fiction.
Here's some to try:
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Ice" a sort of steampunk meets norse mythology story with lots of gore and worldbuilding and good writing.
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The Devil You Don't" another one in the same world of steampunky norse myth only this time it's mixed with old west.
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Two Dreams on Trains" a story about growing up in drowned New Orleans. This was one I re-read when it came out in a Year's Best and got even more out of the second time around. Love stories that give you more when you read them again.
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This Tragic Glass" a very subtly and intricately done story, which I liked a lot. Though, if you don't love Marlowe, like I don't, fair warning that he crops up ALL THE TIME in Bear's fiction and is one of my major hurdles in her faerie stories. But I leap it, because, you know, other interesting stuff going on in that world. But I get sidetracked, this is SF not fantasy, and it's good and worth reading and it's a particularly nice trick of how it all comes together at the end. Follow link today!
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Lucifugous" a mystery with zeppelins and vampires in an alternate history. I love the New Amsterdam stories. They may even be my favorites.
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Abjure the Realm" alternate history in less of the high adventure vein than the New Amsterdam stories, very understated and 'day in the life' but still good. I credit Bear with showing me I don't hate alternate history after all, I just hate how it's usually done.
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Orm the Beautiful" this isn't one of my favorites because it goes a little over into sentimental land for me, and I don't care for stories with dragons in them, but some of the descriptions in this piece are so lovingly crafted and so stunning that it's worth reading. The glitter of the writing reproduces Orm's beauty, which is a level of word by word mastery that I don't often see.
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Follow Me Light" I don't remember much about this one, but I liked it when I read it. I think it's about sea critters. I remember it being layered and kind of hard to understand.
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Long Cold Day" Another of my favorites, this one features a pair of awesome villianesses and the best use of a baby blanket ever.
One of my very favorite Bear stories appears to have vanished off the intarwebs. It was a fairy tale called "Old Leatherwings" and it was totally the bomb. Hmmm, maybe I should go over to the Podcastle area and ask Rachel track it down. It would be awesome on Podcastle.
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Black is the Color" featuring everyone's favorite carnivorous pony. Not sure I would have liked this one as much if I hadn't already had the backstory, so it might not work for you.
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Sounding" The sea again, and this is one of those in which I missed what was supposed to be speculative about it. Still, nicely written, especially on the setting details.
This is not an exhaustive list, I'm sure there's a couple of other Bear stories out there I haven't read. There's also the
Shadow Unit stuff, which I hear good things about but haven't read because I'm still not over the frame in which the universe is presented (as a fake TV show with episodes, trailers and seasons). TV bores me, even pretend TV. I expect I'll get over this enough to give it a go at some point, but that point has not yet arrived.