I heart Edmund

July 12, 2018- Sourheart re-read. This may have been my first NKH story and I still love it. Edmund is an adult. Edmund has been visiting with his sister Abby, in the city and needs to get back to nature and "open himself to the green". Following his "stick" he finds a woman who could use his help.

July 12, 2018- Trees Perpetual of Sleep new read. Loved! A story about Matt and Terry Dane who is a witch. While Terry is doing her summer solstice ritual, Matt can hear the tree talking to her. Trees don't usually talk to Matt. She connects better with human-made items. We meet Lewis, a male witch. He promises to help Matt root herself and she promises to teach him about roaming.

July 12, 2018-Home for Christmas re-read. My second experience with NKH and is when I first met Matt. Love, love this story. Matt finds a wallet on Christmas Eve and instead of spending time in people's heads seeing their memories. The wallet owner invites her home and she spends the time making new memories and reliving some of her own. (invites her home in a non-sexual way)

July 16, 2018-Inner Child Abby and her friend are enjoying the summer when something happens that makes them grow up real fast. Thankfully they meet a "supernatural character" that likes to help. After the events Caleb (the supernatural) asks "Where are you now?" Abby answers bleakly. Caleb says, "That is what I feared. ... That this event has cast you out of the places you've lived all your life, and you can't find a road back. ... I don't know how to get back their either ... Even with the keys to the gate" Interesting.

Here We Come A'wandering I'm going to skip, this was expanded into a full novel.
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INTERVIEW: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/permeable-borders-by-nina-kiriki-...
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2013 - I was on the hunt to organize my knowledge of the Matt Black stories, I read that there were many combined here. But I'm going to skip those for now and read all the stories not in the Matt Black World.

I am very happy I read this book of short stories. I got to meet some fascinating new characters that I would love to spend more time with. I'd say the book ended with a bang..

Key Signatures 1*
The Weight of Wishes 4*
How I Came to Marry a Herpetologist 3*
Strikes of the Heart 5*
Switched 3*
The Wisdom of Disaster 4*
A Fault Against the Dead 5*
The Trouble with the Truth 2*
Gone to Heaven Shouting 5*

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* Seven Matt Black / Edmund / Terry Stories in this collection*
Sourheart (Edmund)
Inner child (Edmund's sister)
Home for Christmas (Matt)
Anger Management (first time published)
Trees Perpetual of Sleep (Matt & Terry)
Hostile Takeover (Terry)
Here We Come A 'Wandering (Matt & Edmund) ( )

Amazing collection of great stories that span a number of recurring characters & series for NKH. Highly recommended if you like stories of human foibles among fantastic set dressing. ( )

Nice! A lot of the stories interconnect - Matt the wanderer features in quite a few of them, culminating in the first chapter or two of A Red Heart of Memories. And a couple of Edmund, before he met Matt in the same. Some are worlds I don't know, but would like to - I don't know if she wrote more in those settings, but I hope so (and that I can find them). And one story of a Binder - I thought it would connect up with the first one about the fiddler, but apparently not. Still fun to see more of that world. Definitely a book worth reading, and rereading. ( )

Nina Kiriki Hoffman deserves a lot more attention than she gets. This collection reveals the breadth of her stories, primarily surrounding some magic or psychic phenomenon in the "real" world. Those familiar with her stories will recognize characters from her novels, notably Matt. Two of the stand-outs are stories which do not fit with this mold. "Strikes of the heart" chronicles an apprentice wizard in a medieval-style world who breaks the mold with a spirit marriage. And "The wisdom of disaster" dips into science fiction and slipstream.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up this book and dive in. ( )