I was provided an ARC of this anthology for review by Saga press.
First, lovely cover art. Not that it matters to the reader per se, but in terms of shelf appeal its nice.
As the title implies, this anthology of short fiction consists of stories about fairies and robots of various kinds, sometimes both being incorporated into single stories. While at times it seems the editors possibly intended to alternate between perspectives (deemed, 'team robot' and 'team fairie') this breaks down at some point.
Like any anthology, this collection had its high points and low points. Honestly, and unfortunately, the introduction was one of those low points. Especially in an anthology of disparate authors, the introduction can be a place for the editor to share their overall vision for the collection, thoughts on the process and final product, or even explain why particular authors or pieces may have been chosen. It needs to be either informative or entertaining, and I don't think that was adequately achieved here. That being said, the editor did a good job of selecting pieces for the collection. In terms of thematic consistency, beyond the obvious from the title, I can't say there's a definite through line though. The closest we come is a the pretty consistent, and expected given the genre, of warnings of the potential dangers as well as benefits of technology and artificial intelligence/robots. The fairy stories are a lot more all over the map in terms of theme, and a few of the authors of both do seem to be trying to make a connection between the two as an expression of inhumanity (both man-made and organic), though I don't know that its consistent enough to shine through.
If I am honest, a big point of attraction for me to this collection was the inclusion of John Scalzi, as I am a big fan of the Old Man's War series. I was pretty unfamiliar with the rest of the authors prior to reading this. Scalzi's contribution, while a highly entertaining welcome breath of lighthearted silliness between much heavier fair, was disappointingly brief for me as a fan.
A few of the stories did struggle a bit to hold my attention, and unfortunately after the introduction the first story was one of those. However, other than a few speedbumps the collection as a whole holds up well, and there are definitely a few standout stories that have energized to seek out their authors other works.
Quality Time by Ken Lieu was really helped pull me back into the collection after the intro and first story, thankfully. If you're a Star Trek fan, you're going to love all the Darmok and Gilad deliciousness here, and Ken does a great job of playing with that metaphorical communication style in the real world.
The Blue Fairies Manifesto by Annalee Newitz gives an interesting re-interpretation of Pinnochio to apply to robots, and contains a lot of topical themes dealing with current political and social thought, as well as internet culture and how it disseminates and manipulates ideas.
Bread and Milk and Salt by Sarah Gailey could easily have been included in a horror anthology, and as such is pretty memorable here. Its use of point of view while leaving us no sympathetic characters but still a 'happy ending' of sorts is great.
Ironheart by Johnathan Mayberry again deals with some modern day issues in the form of health care, the economy, and the treatment of veterans. Certainly meant to pull at our heartstrings, I think it may have benefited if the author had a little more length play with in telling his story.
Sound and Fury by Mary Kowal incorporating themes of being an implicit collaborator by working for an imperialistic regime, and the suppression/destruction of indigenous cultures and ways of life as part and parcel of that.
Workshadow/Shadow work by Madeline Ashby is a heartwarming tale straddling the fairy and robot worlds.
Ostentation of Peacocks by Delilah Dawson/Lila Bowen. I'm a sucker for good genre fiction/movies set in historic time periods. The author took a world and character from an ongoing series they're already working on and dropped in the fae. It'd come across as a bit of a cop-out, save that its a really fun inclusion of western iconography and tropes into a collection that is overwhelmingly high tech.
All the Time We've Left To Spend is a great, heart-wrenching, lgbtqia, psuedo-cyberpunk piece incorporating a lot of Korean pop/cultural elements.
Adriftica by Mariah Dahvana Headley was one of one of my favourites here, and one of two that are spins on Shakespearean plays. Shakespeare is a cornerstone of modern literature, and I love to see his ideas played with in new ways. Even better, this is an interpretation of my favourite of his plays (much to my undergraduate advisor's chagrin back in the day), Midsummer Night's Dream. Beyond Shakespeare fans, I think fans of music and music journalism will find a lot of interest here. The story is told through the eyes of a slightly past his prime music journalist, and I think Mariah does a great job of emulating that style of writing to really give him unique voice here. If I had to pick only one story from the collection to read, this would be it.
To a Cloven Pine by Max Gladstone is the other story here playing with Shakespearean themes, this time The Tempest which also ranks in my top five. I can only assume the editor placed these back to back on purpose. Thematically, its almost the Tempest meets Inception (though obviously a number of Shakespeare's pieces play with that same idea of layered reality and what is real vs. what is a dream). Let yourself get carried along in this really interesting robot/a.i. framed spin on a classic tale. Definitely my number two pick here.
A Fall Counts Anywhere by Catherine Valente (any relation to zach valente of some podcast fame?) is, like Scalzi's contribution, a no holds barred (it is WWE themed, after all) fun romp through the ideas they've been given to play with. A great, funny way to end the collection.
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I have only read All the Time We've Left to Spend by Alyssa Wong from this anthology. I want to read more of these stories, but haven't yet.

Brief reviews as I read the stories:

All the Time We've Left to Spend by Alyssa Wong:
Interesting short story about how we deal with grief and loss and memory. ( )

This anthology is a collection of robot and fey stories and the last story in the collection took the title of the anthology to heart and ran with it. I really enjoyed most of the short stories. As with most collections there were always a few that I didn’t like as much but I’m sure that the ones I liked the most will not be other readers favorites. The stories were balanced pretty well between both teams and I don’t think one really came out as a better collection than the other. Several writers I read stuff from for the first time and now I want to give them a read in a larger format.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher Edelweiss
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It’s actually not so much about the conflict between future and fantasy as it is alternating robot and fairy stories (except for the one at the back which combines them). Which makes me wonder why this collection exists. It’s not a matter of taste–I like robot stories and I like fairy stories–but what’s the point of combining them? Seem like two things that would be better on their own if they’re not gonna play together.

Most of the stories are pretty good. This is one of the better short story collections I’ve read, and I don’t like ’em all that much. I even found one or two new authors to investigate (which is what a good short fiction collection should do–act like a sampler for other authors). To my surprise I was not impressed with Scalzi’s contribution. But I was with Jim C. Hines’s. I expected those two to be reversed. I think I need to amend my earlier stance on Hines for a corollary about his short fiction. ( )

This was a fun collection, I don’t tend to review individual stories in collections such as this one unless something really stands out as great or horrible and overall I found most of them solid and enjoyable with only one or two slight duds. The strongest standouts for me were, Build Me a Wonderland by Seannan McGuire and Murder Under the Moon by Tim Pratt. The weakest was Ironheart by Jonathan Maberry, I just couldn’t get into that one at all, the rest kind of fell in between with mostly positive or at least interesting and worth my time.
I liked the concept of fairies vs. robots and wish more of the stories actually HAD fairies vs. robots, but I can see how that could have gotten old very fast, I enjoyed having a nice mix of both fantasy and science fiction, and I really enjoyed the brief explanation each author gave for which side they chose.
A favorite minor detail I loved was how the corners of each story had a decorative boarder that matched which faction the story belonged to, with vines for the fairies and circuitry for robots. Sometimes it’s the little things.
An overall solid and fun collection that I really enjoyed and would recommend without hesitation, I would like to see more collections like this. ( )