Orson Scott Card is well-liked around these here parts. There's been many a evening with the Geek Speak staff sitting around a roaring fire at the local pub discussing, among other things, the relative merits of OSC's myriad works (okay, no, we don't actually do that - but wouldn't it be awesome if we did?!). So when faced with an In The Stacks topic of "Anthologies", the question became, should I review OSC's Enderriffic First Meetings anthology, or his everything-else-but-Ender Keeper of Dreams? Being the indecisive person that I am (really, I'm like Mr. Burns trying to decide between Ketchup and Catsup), I flipped a coin. It landed on the edge. Thus, after much fist-shaking at the Fates for doubling my work (not really), both are reviewed, hence you, dear readers, currently having this review before you.

Keeper of Dreams collects 22 stories by Card in a variety of genres. The book is divided into five sections: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Literary (random non-genre stories), Hatrack River (two stories from his "Alvin Maker" universe, one of which is effectively Chapter 0 from the most recent novel in that series, The Crystal City), and Mormon. For those wondering about that last category, in Card's words "When I call these 'Mormon Stories' I don't mean to imply that they are religious. Quite the contrary, they are most definitely not...No, these stories [that] are 'Mormon' because they are written by a Mormon, about Mormon culture, for Mormon readers. They are culturally Mormon."

It is definitely interesting to read stories of his that aren't genre, but despite appearing the be 2/5 of the book, there are only 6 stories that wouldn't be genre at all (2 "literary, 4 "Mormon"), so if anyone would be worried about picking this book up and not getting the types of stories that one would expect from OSC, don't be - there is plenty of genre work here to read, contemplate, and potentially enjoy.

The stories are, as usually the case with large anthologies, hit or miss. Some I thoroughly enjoyed, others not so much. But with OSC, even if I don't like a story, I am always intrigued by the concept that lead to that story, and this anthology is worth it just to see the range and ideas present. I will say, though, that none of the stories really stuck with me. There are a few stories of OSC's that have been published previously (in his Maps in a Mirror anthology, for instance) that I really liked, and still remember many years after reading (similar to how his novel Treason struck me), and while many of the stories here are good, none quite affected me the same way.

In terms of the ideas and concepts, though, Card provides intriguing notes for every story -- at the end of each, actually (different than many other anthologies, where there might be an introduction to the story at the beginning), so you can read the story and form your own thoughts/opinions on it before reading Card's thoughts on it. And these notes range from a few paragraphs to a few pages in some instances - it's just not a case of "I wrote this originally for this one collection".

But having said that, one odd omission in this anthology is a lack of copyrights for the stories. There are a few dates mentioned, if the stories were published in an magazine, but other than that, mention is made of the original collection that each story was published in, but no dates at all. I personally like to see copyright dates (or at least date when written), just to get an idea as to if stories were early or current career for an author and/or are they before or after significant world or life events. It doesn't take anything away from these stories, by any means, but it is an omission.

Bottom line for the anthology... if you like Orson Scott Card as a writer, you would enjoy this collection. If you're not a fan, or don't know much about his writing, this collection also gives a wide-ranging sample of his work, so in any and all cases, I certainly recommend checking this anthology out. Even if it doesn't include any Ender stories (sigh).

  -- K. Burtt