Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean: Stories of Imagination and Daring

Gr 8 Up—Writers and artists from Australia and India worked together to create this thoughtful and nuanced collection of speculative short fiction in a variety of formats. YA readers will find both new and familiar names among the contributors, including Margo Lanagan and Justine Larbalestier. The anthology was conceived as a response to horrific crimes against women that occurred in both nations in 2012. Each contributor was assigned a partner from the other country—some pairs were writing partners who encouraged each other in the process, others were artist/writer collaborators who created short graphic fiction, and one piece, written in the form of a play, was the result of a literary version of the game Exquisite Corpse. Among the standouts are "Swallow the Moon," a comic book depiction of a coming-of-age ritual in a future setting; "Weft," in which a girl pays a great price to have amazing hair; "What a Stone Can't Feel," about a girl with an unusual superpower that is useless as she tries to save her best friend's life; and "Memory Lace," which centers on a slave who is taught a liberating skill. Included at the end of the volume are the writers' and artists' accounts of their collaboration. This additional exploration of the creative process greatly enhances the impact of the entries; with this, the stories transcend the written page and become a greater reflection of the beauty and power of feminine camaraderie.