I heard about Theodora Goss' short story collection, In the Forest of Forgetting in a review over at the Endicott Studio and it sounded right up my alley:

In the gorgeous tale "The Wings of Meister Wilhelm" (nominated for a World Fantasy Award), a lonely girl helps her violin teacher to construct artificial wings which will enable him to escape persecution and sail upward to a floating city of music and art. And Miss Emily Gray, a witch who appears in three of the tales, employs her arts to help children to realize their hearts' desires -- though not always in the manner they anticipated. Like the best fairy tales, many of these stories have dark threads amid the bright strands, but the endings, whether leaning toward happily-ever-after or sorrowful and troubled, are immensely satisfying.

The Emily Gray stories were the ones I liked best especially "Lessons with Miss Gray" which brought a group of girls full circle and then followed up with them years later as adults so the reader could see exactly what their relationship with Gray had wrought with adulthood. This was not a tragedy but it did show how little we often understand about life - a wish to please make one's life easier can cause the untimely death of another. I saw this played out in a repeat of Cold Case last night where an exhausted mother prayed for relief from her burdens and was horrified when one of her children died that same night - through no fault of her own. "How can you worship a god who relieves your burden by killing a child?" she asked. Theodora Goss explores that confusing reality in detail and gives the reader so much to think about that your mind fairly spins. I'd love to see a full collection of Emily Gray stories, or even a novel that followed her through time.

She's sort of Mary Poppins with a serious "proceed with caution" sign hanging over her head.

Beyond her engaging and inventive plots, Goss has a remarkable way with language. In "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow" which reads as a tale of revolution she includes the following:

"SORROW: A FEELING of grief or melacholy. A mythical city generally located north of Siberia, said to have been visited by Marco Polo. From Sorrow he took back to Italy the secret of making ice."

Or this:

"Peter," she said, in a voice like snow falling. "We have done what is necessary."

I confess that I loved this story first and foremost for the images of ice and cold, but it is also how she writes as if looking at a map that I find appealing - as if her words slyly describe a real place that we have not heard of yet but will; and should pay attention to. (Interestingly, I found echoes of "Sorrow" in a Catherynne Valente story at Clarkesworld: "A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica". This is not to suggest that either is borrowing from the other, but they do echo similar reimagined map making sentiments.)

In some other reviews of In the Forest of Forgetting I seem to find hints of frustrations - as if Goss is so different, that she doesn't fit into a category of reading and thus resists the broad sweeping descriptions we seem to rely on when it comes to writing about stories of the fantastic. Her subtlety makes her seem like she could be writing about fact rather than fiction - not fantasy but a reality the rest of us have ignored. (In that respect she totally strikes me as a European version of Bradbury.)

This is certainly a good selection for high school readers - perfect for classes on the short story and a must read for writers of mythic fiction. I thought the collection was wonderful and even those stories that I did not enjoy as much as others still impressed me; Goss is 100% a writer to watch and learn from.

EDITED TO ADD: "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow" is available online. Also "The Rose in Twelve Petals" which tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from twelve perspectives, including spindle. And the author's online journal is delightful!