Caitlín R. Kiernan is one of dark fantasy and horrors most acclaimed and influential short fiction writers. Her powerful, unexpected stories shatter morality, gender, and sexuality: a reporter is goaded by her toxic girlfriend into visiting sadistic art exhibits; a countess in a decaying movie theatre is sated by her servants; a collector offers his greatest achievement to ensnare a musician who grieves for her missing sister.
In this retrospective collection of her finest work-previously only available in limited editions-Kiernan cuts straight to the heart of the emotional truths we cannot ignore.
***
['IS SHE REALLY and truly dead, father?' the girl asked, and Machen Dandridge, already an old man at fifty-one, looked up at the low buttermilk sky again and closed the black book clutched in his hands - ANDROMEDA AMONG THE STONES]***
(@TachyonPub, 1 March 2019, 432 pages, ebook, copy from @TachyonPub and voluntarily reviewed)
***
***
I don't think I've read the author before so didn't know what to expect. I found this a very mixed bag of stories. I loved some and others really didn't work me. This made a disjointed and disappointing reading experience. I expected this collection to be full of horror stories judging from the blurb but struggled to find one story to fit into this category. The stories that fell short for me included A Season of Broken Dolls, The Maltese Unicorn and Tidal Forces. These stories lacked something. The stories I enjoyed the most included A Child's Guide to Hollow Hills, Interstate Love Song and The Apes Wife. Overall, most of the stories don't really go anywhere, they seem to start and meander and then just end. They came across as unfinished snapshots. This fell a little short for me.
