https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2021/01/2021010-in-company-of-thieves-kage.html ( )

"The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park" is one of the saddest stories ever published. Contrariwise, "Hollywood Ikons" is pure screwball comedy. It's a strong collection, although I can't say if it would be as powerful if it didn't fit into The Company series.

Library copy ( )

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley! Thanks to NetGalley and to Tachyon Publications!

This is a collection of short pieces by Baker, related to her 'Company' series of novels. At this point, I've read the first seven novels in the series, as well as the first short-story collection 'Black Projects, White Knights.' And the only reason I haven't read the others yet is that Baker has passed away, and I'm going to be really sad when there aren't any more to read. So yes, I'm a fan. I'd say that these stories would be enjoyable to any reader - but your enjoyment will be greatly enhanced if you've read at least some of the other 'Company' books, as you'll have more of an idea of the background, ongoing 'in-jokes,' and who certain recurring characters are.

Some of the pieces here have previously been published, but are middling-hard-to-get, so this volume is quite welcome.

**** "The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park"
The Company's immortality process has gone wrong, and the subject has been rendered something very like what, in the 21st century, we call 'autistic.' The Company puts their failed agent to work as a kind of camera, recording images of a San Francisco park for interested parties in other times and places. However, although he's not socially functional, he forms a kind of connection with a woman he sees day after day, who's obsessed with the small but hopeless cause of restoring the historical flower beds of the park... Set on a much smaller scale that most of Baker's Company tales, this is a delicate, sensitive and touching story.

**** "The Unfortunate Gytt"
A 19th-century metallurgist joins a secret Masonic-type brotherhood - but soon, unexpectedly, finds himself bundled off willy-nilly; shanghaied into a most unusual mission to locate and identify a previously-unknown substance with bizarre properties.

**** "The Women of Nell Gwynne's"
The prostitutes at Nell Gwynne’s house are carefully selected women of many talents. Few know that their clients include not just the upper crust of London society, but The Gentlemen’s Speculative Society, who pay mainly, not for pleasures of the flesh, but for secrets and spycraft. Their payments to the madam seem to include technology which really seems to have no place in 19th-century Britain. When the Society arranges a job where the women are hired as entertainers at a very private auction, a (literal) bedroom farce ensues.

*****"Mother Aegypt"
One of my favorite Kage Baker stories - like the best of her work, it mixes humor and pathos to great effect. Here, a buffoonish con man meets a traveling fortuneteller, whom, the reader quickly realizes, is one of The Company's immortal agents. His attempts to make sense of her actions based on the world he knows are sadly misled.

**** "Rude Mechanicals"
Company men Joseph and Lewis are on assignment in 1940s Hollywood, tasked with finding a legendary lost jewel, the Tavernier Violet. (No, it wasn't really cut into the Hope Diamond.) Against a backdrop of a German director attempting to put on a production of 'A Midsummer's Night's Dream,' the two men chase the diamond through an increasingly-absurd set of rapidly-changing circumstances, in a madcap caper.

*** "Hollywood Ikons"
This story was written out by Kage's sister, Kathleen Bartholomew, after Kage's death. This was in accordance with Kage's wishes and done using her notes... but I have to admit, it's not quite the same. The voice is different. The ideas are very good... a Company secret involves using mathematical principles to create artwork that has a very real and very dangerous effect on the mind of the viewer. The Company assigns Joseph and Lewis to find and deal with some lost Russian ikons created using this process.
I feel like the choice of placement in the book (directly following another story featuring the same two protagonists) unfortunately accentuates the difference in style. ( )

This is all my fault, ladies and gents.

Somehow, when I read the description on Netgalley, all I could see was that this was the book about time travel. Woohoo! I love time travel books. Well, what I failed to notice was that it was a collection of short stories from Kage Baker.

I hate short stories with a passion, that's why I avoid anthologies and rarely review novellas. There is just never enough time to immerse yourself into the story and fall in love with the characters.

In this case all the stories were connected to The Company which dabbled into time travel among other wonderful inventions. However there was very little actual time travel involved, and really the stories were pretty dry and reminded me of Gordon Dahlquist's style (although the latter is a much better writer).



The only story I enjoyed and appreciated was The Women of Nell Gwynne's. All the heroines were prostitutes employed by The Company, who were stuck in the castle trying to prevent a major invention being sold abroad. One of them - Lady Beatrice, was the most striking heroine, and I instantly fell in love with her spirit and her brazen red dresses.

Otherwise, this is not the most entertaining book, and I'm hesitant to recommend it to anyone who isn't a loyal fan of Kage Baker's works.

( )

This is a collection of previous published novellas and short stories with one brand new story written by her sister using extensive notes on the story idea. Any fan of the Company stories that hadn't wanted to pay for the small press editions of these stories will be very happy to dip back into this story universe. The new story has that same magic as her solo stories and includes Joseph and Lewis in California. It was good and bittersweet at the same time knowing that we were robbed of so many more stories.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley ( )