Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire

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Laughter at the Academy is Seanan McGuire’s first short story collection and she set a high bar for her following collections.  My first introduction to McGuire’s work was the Wayward Children series where I instantly fell in love with her work. Her October Daye series is now on it’s 13th book which means I am woefully behind.  

Now, I am horrible about writing about short stories without spoiling them so if you don’t want any spoilers-skip everything and just know that this collection is excellent and yes, you need to read it.  

My favorite story from the collection is The Tolling of Pavlov’s Bells.  It’s equal parts horrifying, terrifying, and fascinating. It introduces us to a scientist who creates an incredibly infectious and deadly disease and then uses her lab assistants to spread it around the world.  The disease causes people to suffer horribly before they die and they way the scientist is so excited about the speed and efficiency of infection is horrifying. Imagine being excited about people dying. It’s crazy.  

This collection has something for every spooky horror reader.  There’s a magical forest, children who disappear after hearing a magical song, and a wonderful Wizard of Oz inspired story.  Emeralds to Emeralds, Dust to Dust is a take on Dorothy that I would never have dreamed up. I’m so grateful for authors.  

If you’d like to get a copy of this amazing collection, you can get one here:

More from Seanan McGuire:

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Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.  All opinions, and mistakes, are my own.