Joelene Reviews: "Kaleidoscope" - ed. A. Krasnostein and J. Rios

Welcome to a world where ordinary people can be selected to undergo a transformation to superhero. Where curious teens test out an urban legend on multiple dimensions and find themselves lost in a world not their own. A world where a pill and a kiss can show you a future that may or may not come to pass.

This is just some of what you’ll encounter in Kaleidoscope. Including stories written by some of Australia’s most-loved fantasy authors, this compilation of speculative short stories will push your imagination to the limit. There are stories from Aurealis award winning author, Garth Nix, George Turner Prize winning author, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and NYT best-selling author, Sean Williams, to name just a few.

These twenty original stories explore fantastical and sci-fi worlds through a diverse YA framework. With stories featuring people with disabilities, people of colour, QUILTBAG characters, and neuro-diverse characters; Kaleidoscope is YA at its sensational best. The perspectives – while not new – are ones all too often confined to the sidelines. Here they shine. And they do so without becoming ‘issues’ tales. For the characters, their diversity is a fact of life; it isn’t brought out, dissected and analysed. The stories are way too fun to be having any of that boring stuff!

There were a few stories that were just amazing and made me want a whole novel, and not a measly short story. Tansy Rayner Roberts’ ‘Cookie Cutter Superhero’ is one of them. Funny, quirky and breath-takingly clever in its execution, it follows Joey, a girl who has been chosen as the next in line to Australia’s super-hero team. In a short space, Roberts deftly weaves a massive chunk of superhero social history into this tale, as well as commentating on world politics with regards to discrimination and finishing with a hope and a wish for the future.

‘Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell’ by E. C. Myers is another one that I really enjoyed. The slightly futuristic world of drugs that can give people glimpses of the future but change when combined with medications is different; but it’s the characters that make the story real. Rene and Sam are so well realised in the present and in their many possible futures that you really hope that they’ll manage to find a future together.

These twenty stories are a fantastic selection from some amazing authors. Most of them are fun, sweet and hopeful – though a few have darker tendencies. The only real problem here is that so many of the stories leave you wanting more.

Kaleidoscope – Alisa Krasnostein (ed.) and Julia Ross (ed.)

Twelfth Planet Press (August 5, 2014)

ISBN: 9781922101112