Somewhere Beneath Those Waves
2011 collection of short stories by Sarah Monette
Somewhere Beneath Those Waves is a collection of speculative fiction short stories by American writer Sarah Monette. It was first published in trade paperback by Prime Books in November 2011.
Summary
The book collects twenty-four novelettes and short stories and one poem by the author, five original to the collection, and the author's notes on the stories, together with an introduction by Elizabeth Bear. It includes one of Monette's "Kyle Murchison Booth" stories, "The World Without Sleep."
Contents
"Introduction" (Elizabeth Bear)
"Draco Campestris" (from Strange Horizons, August 7, 2006)
"Queen of Swords" (from AlienSkin #2.4, November 2003)
"Letter from a Teddy Bear on Veterans' Day" (original to collection)
"Under the Beansidhe's Pillow" (from Lone Star Stories #22, August 1, 2007)
"The Watcher in the Corners" (from the author's blog, Notes from the Labyrinth, April 23, 2007)
"The Half-Sister" (from Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #15, January 2005)
"Ashes, Ashes" (original to collection)
"Sidhe Tigers" (from Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #13, November 2003)
"A Light in Troy" (from Clarkesworld Magazine #1, October 2006)
"Amante Dorée" (from Paradox #10, Winter 2006/07)
"Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home" (from Fantasy, July 2007)
"Darkness, as a Bride" (from Cemetery Dance #58, February 2008)
"Katabasis: Seraphic Trains" (from Tales of the Unanticipated #27, July 2006)
"Fiddleback Ferns" (from Flytrap #9, June 2008)
"Three Letters from the Queen of Elflands" (from Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #11, November 2002)
"Night Train: Heading West" (poem) (from The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection, August 2008)
"The Séance at Chisholm End" (from Alchemy #3, January 2006)
"No Man's Land" (original to collection)
"National Geographic On Assignment: Mermaids of the Old West" (from Fictitious Force #2, July 2006)
"A Night in Electric Squidland" (from Lone Star Stories #15, June 2006)
"Imposters" (original to collection)
"Straw" (from Strange Horizons #28, June 2004)
"Absent from Felicity" (original to collection)
"The World Without Sleep" (from Postscripts, Spring 2008)
"After the Dragon" (from Fantasy Magazine, January 2010)
"Story Notes"
"About the Author"
Awards
Somewhere Beneath Those Waves placed fifteenth in the 2012 Locus Poll Award for Best Collection.
Reception
Publishers Weekly calls the book "a powerful collection" whose "lyrical tales vacillate between despair and hope" and "touch on such weighty topics as the substantial consequences of saving the world, or how ghosts eventually out their killers with frightening results for those who hear and see the revelations." The reviewer notes that while "the tales vary in theme and tone, there is not a weak note in the collection, and both fans and new readers will be drawn into Monette’s strange and imaginative worlds." "A Night in Electric Squidland," "Imposters" and Amante Doree" are singled out for particular comment.
Lee Mandelo at Tor.com, noting the book is "Monete's first general short fiction collection," calls it "a strong book, achieving the necessary blance between variety and unity that single-author collections often strive for but fail to manage." They characterize its contents as "ranging from science fiction to classic horror to urban fantasy (with trains!), spanning an emotional gamut from the desolate to the uplifting, often united by their focus on people who have been othered or made outsiders in their society. ... Issues of gender, sexuality, class, and able-ness permeate Monette's short fiction; trauma and recovery, too, are common themes." They call the stories "concise, tightly-woven universes, evocative and complete in their storytelling as well as their emotional resonance. Whether the subject is Lovecraftian urban fantasy, parodic science fiction, or classic horror, Monette's prose is precise and vividly complex, often poetic." "Letter from a Teddy Bear on Veteran's Day," "The Watcher in the Corners," "Three Letters from the Queen of Elfland," "Somewhere Beneath Those Waves was Her Home," and "After the Dragon" are cited as "five stories in particular which stand out from the rest, though all are remarkably good."
The collection was also reviewed by Faren Miller in Locus #613, February 2012.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Somewhere Beneath Those Waves” is 2011 collection of short stories by Sarah Monette. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Somewhere, Beneath and Those, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2011 collection of short stories by Sarah Monette” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q85802035. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2006, 2003 and 2007.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Somewhere Beneath Those Waves”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Somewhere Beneath Those Waves primary sources, Somewhere Beneath Those Waves archive and Somewhere research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Somewhere Beneath Those Waves”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Somewhere Beneath Those Waves” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.