Diamonds in the rough

For the casual reading before falling asleep I'm going through Coyote Road (ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling). The first few stories were fun and exciting, but I have to admit that much of the middle reads like the authors phoned it in (there were enough sparklies to keep me going, like "Honored Guest" by Ellen Kushner). I kept waiting to be surprised by the stories, or for that moment of magic which would just never come. I had a number of "if I had written it, I would have gone this way" or "I would have done this" moments.

So I nearly was at the point of putting the book back on the shelf until I hit Kelly Link's "The Constable of Abal." Have I mentioned lately that I heart Kelly Link. She kept me going to Jeffrey Ford's "The Dreaming Wind" (where I'm at now). And she gave me a story that's like a little mustard seed of the mind. Damn she's good. I've seen the other stories in other places, but not this one. And, IMHO, it's one of the best in the book.