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Title: Tales of Pain and Wonder by Caitlin Kiernan, Richard A. Kirk, Caitlin R. Kiernan ISBN: 1-892065-38-X Publisher: Meisha Merlin Publishing Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "...they've killed poetry..."
Comment: 'Tales of Pain & Wonder' is a collection of Caitlin Kiernan's earlier work (if one is allowed to speak of the late 1990's as 'late'). As such, it presents many of Kiernan's important themes as they appear for the first time. Characters surface for the first time as well, in particular Deacon Silvey who will show up again in two novels, 'Threshold' and 'Low Red Moon.' This makes the collection 'important' if you are a Kiernan aficionado, but all that aside, what really makes this collection important is that it is very, very good.
I have lately come to refer to Kiernan as the 'last of the great horror writers.' Partially as a lament for a genre that currently spends far too much time specializing in hot, romantic vampire novels, but also because she really is good enough that writers of her caliber are far and few between. Hers is a horror that leaks out of the spaces between things and pervades the atmosphere surrounding her characters, clinging to them like a faint scent of doubt and rot. Yet when its time finally comes, it is sure and brutal, sparing no unkindness.
Kiernan's characters exist on the fine edge of self-destructiveness, whether they come from wealth like the sisters Salammbo and Salmagundi, hypnotized by the beauty of death like Lark and Crispin, or, like Jimmy de Sade, have both feet firmly planted in terror so real it is an aesthetic experience. The confront things they cannot understand, or know far too well, living the kind of homeless or disconnected lives that make them lightning rods for real horror, not the candy-coated-sip-your-blood kind.
Kiernan admits in her forward that the book has two narratives, one is the accident of the order of writing, and the other is a natural order where the interconnections among the tales is more obvious. I chose to read in the latter order, which reveals the most about how the story arcs develop, rather than the former, which says more about Kiernan than her tales. Both, though, are legitimate approaches, and produce equally valid if different experiences.
The writer has a knack for creating symbols and only half filling them in. Eerie twins, cold presences, wounds that never heal, and barren landscapes come and go, but the reader is expected to do part of the work - to construct a narrative at least partially his own. Part of the horror is that it is my terror that lurks about, as well as Caitlin Kiernan's. Each of these stories is a opportunity to look in a place you desperately don't want to go, and to succumb to a nightmarish glamour. And above everything stands Jimmy de Sade, judge and jury in a gothic world.
This is top grade stuff. Kiernan's writing style is excellent - each word is carefully selected for its purpose, nothing is extra. Characters quickly step out of the shadows and assume an unexpected reality. This is what contemporary horror should be.
Rating: 5
Summary: =^oo^=
Comment: Truly, Caitlin Kiernan's hypnotic writing is at it's best in this collection of short stories. I have to say, I have enjoyed everything she's written, but this particular book is perhaps the best of the bunch. Her unusual take on plots works best in the short story format, at least in my opinion. And her prose is so tasty you'll practically want to eat it. She creates stunning, stark imagery, and Richard Kirk's illustrations are a wonderful complement. (More books should be illustrated!) The paperback sadly fell apart though, the cover peeled apart almost immediately.
Rating: 5
Summary: Caitlin R. Kiernan is the Lovecraft of our Time
Comment: If you've read this book, there's not much i can tell you that you don't already know. If you haven't then you damn well better be ordering everyone of her books. Caitlin Kiernan is an amazing author, with a large body of work that includes many editions of 'The Dreaming', three novels, two published, and a growing number of short stories. In this book, you'll be introduced to a Lovecraftian beast that also takes part in her second novel. As does Deacon, the troubled alchoholic psychic. You will also see Salmagundi and Salammbo, sisters born of a strange estate. Jimmy DeSade, who peddals dark wares to Kiernan's motley collection of amazing characters. You will witness Voodoo magic. You will be beaten bloody, and raised to the absolute heights of ecstasy. You will feel grief, reexperience childhood, and break free of all that's been binding you. Yes, it's that good. And after you read this one you can read Threshhold, and Silk, and In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers, and so much more. Then, of course you'll want to reread all of them. So you'd better get busy. Artistry of this caliber is rarely seen and needs to be coveted as a precious thing.
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Title: Low Red Moon by Caitlin R. Kiernan ISBN: 0451459482 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Threshold: A Novel of Deep Time by Caitlin R. Kiernan ISBN: 0451458583 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 07 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Candles for Elizabeth by Caitlin R. Kiernan ISBN: 0965834581 Publisher: Meisha Merlin Pub Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.00 |
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Title: In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers by Caitlin R. Kiernan ISBN: 1931081484 Publisher: Subterranean Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Liquor : A Novel by Poppy Z. Brite ISBN: 1400050073 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 16 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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