Two Truths and a Lie

Starred review from January 16, 2023
This remarkable collection of 12 speculative shorts from Pinsker (Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea) places celebrated favorites and hidden gems side by side. The volume is nearly bookended by two of the author’s best known and most lauded works: the deliciously unsettling opener “Two Truths and a Lie” and the formally playful penultimate tale “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,” both of which won both Hugo and Nebula awards. Perhaps even more exciting, however, are the pieces that received less fanfare upon original publication, like “I Frequently Hear Music in the Very Heart of Noise,” a lyrical collage that gathers musicians and writers from different eras in New York City and brings them together for a single ecstatic night, and “Remember This for Me,” a poignant tale of an artist whose muse is faithful even if her memory isn’t. The collection closes with a thrilling original novelette “Science Facts!” about a backpacking trip that grows increasingly disquieting. The result is sure to beguile speculative fiction fans—and anyone who appreciates a well-crafted story. Agent: Kim-Mei Kirtland, Howard Morhaim Literary.