Scan barcode
fantasmariana's review against another edition
5.0
Un librazo, de las mejores antologías de relatos que he leído. Tuttle captura los horrores femeninos con una sutileza como pocos otros autores. En este libro van a encontrar el miedo a maternar, pero tambièn el sìndrome del impostor, el duelo, la violencia y un gran etc.
Por favor lean "Recorriendo el laberinto", "El dios caballo", "La otra madre" y "La memoria de la madera", puros relatos que se van a quedar conmigo. Gracias Valancourt books por reeditar a Lisa Tuttle después de que esta antología sólo se conseguía en UK.
Mi nueva misión en la vida es leer todo lo que escriba esta señora.
Por favor lean "Recorriendo el laberinto", "El dios caballo", "La otra madre" y "La memoria de la madera", puros relatos que se van a quedar conmigo. Gracias Valancourt books por reeditar a Lisa Tuttle después de que esta antología sólo se conseguía en UK.
Mi nueva misión en la vida es leer todo lo que escriba esta señora.
smalefowles's review against another edition
5.0
While I don't think I can recommend this book willy-nilly since it requires some Content Warnings , it's a unique, imaginative, and really creepy collection.
Horror stories exist on a continuum between Explaining Every Grisly Detail of the Horror and Fuzzy Ambiguity About the What, Why, and Even How. I always thought I preferred more ambiguity in my horror: unreliable narration as the legacy of Poe's (very dreadfully nervous) protagonists, or a bit of uncertainty as to the causes of the tragedy (like the end of Jackson's Hill House). But I find that the "best" horror of recent years creates ambiguity by just not explaining anything. There's a lot of evocative atmosphere, and some creepy connections, but then that's all just dropped in your lap. Perhaps it all makes sense in the mind of God (the author), but if I read too many of those in a row, I just get frustrated. Are we postmodern because we don't know how to plot?
That rant was just to say that Tuttle does not have that problem. Her short stories are neatly plotted, but still atmospheric. The prose is pared down but still detailed--honestly a model of economy in horror writing. Some stories are stronger than others, but there's enough variation that it didn't fall into the rut that single-author collections often do.
Probably the best horror I'll read this month.
Spoiler
CW: sexual violence, and a very racist narrator in one story (though that narrator is "punished")Horror stories exist on a continuum between Explaining Every Grisly Detail of the Horror and Fuzzy Ambiguity About the What, Why, and Even How. I always thought I preferred more ambiguity in my horror: unreliable narration as the legacy of Poe's (very dreadfully nervous) protagonists, or a bit of uncertainty as to the causes of the tragedy (like the end of Jackson's Hill House). But I find that the "best" horror of recent years creates ambiguity by just not explaining anything. There's a lot of evocative atmosphere, and some creepy connections, but then that's all just dropped in your lap. Perhaps it all makes sense in the mind of God (the author), but if I read too many of those in a row, I just get frustrated. Are we postmodern because we don't know how to plot?
That rant was just to say that Tuttle does not have that problem. Her short stories are neatly plotted, but still atmospheric. The prose is pared down but still detailed--honestly a model of economy in horror writing. Some stories are stronger than others, but there's enough variation that it didn't fall into the rut that single-author collections often do.
Probably the best horror I'll read this month.
shawcrit's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicide
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know what is going on in the head of Lisa Tuttle, but I'm glad she found an outlet in fiction writing.
mxreader1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
ag11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
stutee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
etwasinspired's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
sisteray's review against another edition
5.0
CW: Sexual Assault
This horror collection came out in 1986. At the time, it felt that bookshelves were filling up with mass market horror novels. I can totally see how this might have been buried beneath the white noise, and never got traction. This book really should have a bigger audience. But as someone that lived through the 80s, I can't help but feel that the fact that almost of these stories have female protagonists internalizing their social anxieties might have something to do with it.
These stories are all horrors spun out of the pressures and expectations that are put upon women, the specific dangers that women face and the emotional burdens that become personified or used against them. These masterfully written pieces require an audience that wants to give a crap about what women think/want/desire/fear. I'm not sure that the dudes in the 80s that were picking up random horror paperbacks were going to be the right audience for these stories.
Thankfully now by way of expanded speculative fiction and YA, more women are given the chance to tell their stories, and thus more women are being marketed to.
So I'm hoping that this collection finally has the chance to fall into the right hands.
Reading these stories 25 year after they were released really gives me a lot of perspective. There were a lot of revolutionary approaches to contemporary horror fiction. I feel that a big direction of present day horror is to tell personal stories with the horror as the frosting on the top of the character's internal struggle.
Frequently, while reading these I couldn't help thinking that Laird Barron or John Langan read these and figured they could write these kinds of stories.
This book still feels fresh. I loved almost all of it and what I didn't love, I still really liked, there isn't a dud story here.
So I guess I should talk about the content warning. There is a rape of a character in one of the stories and an observation of a rape in another story. I felt that she included them for specific purposes of storytelling, and they made sense in context. They didn't feel gratuitous or sexually exploitive to me. But if you had been curious to read this, you should be forewarned.
The big standout stories for me were: Flying to Byzantium (an author struggles with her past), Treading the Maze (British folk eeriness), The Horse Lord (Seriously Laird Barron must have read this), The Other Mother (The struggle of a single mother), A Friend in Need (adolescent loneliness), The Nest (sisters trying to patch things up). But really all the stories were quality material.
I can't recommend this enough.
This horror collection came out in 1986. At the time, it felt that bookshelves were filling up with mass market horror novels. I can totally see how this might have been buried beneath the white noise, and never got traction. This book really should have a bigger audience. But as someone that lived through the 80s, I can't help but feel that the fact that almost of these stories have female protagonists internalizing their social anxieties might have something to do with it.
These stories are all horrors spun out of the pressures and expectations that are put upon women, the specific dangers that women face and the emotional burdens that become personified or used against them. These masterfully written pieces require an audience that wants to give a crap about what women think/want/desire/fear. I'm not sure that the dudes in the 80s that were picking up random horror paperbacks were going to be the right audience for these stories.
Thankfully now by way of expanded speculative fiction and YA, more women are given the chance to tell their stories, and thus more women are being marketed to.
So I'm hoping that this collection finally has the chance to fall into the right hands.
Reading these stories 25 year after they were released really gives me a lot of perspective. There were a lot of revolutionary approaches to contemporary horror fiction. I feel that a big direction of present day horror is to tell personal stories with the horror as the frosting on the top of the character's internal struggle.
Frequently, while reading these I couldn't help thinking that Laird Barron or John Langan read these and figured they could write these kinds of stories.
This book still feels fresh. I loved almost all of it and what I didn't love, I still really liked, there isn't a dud story here.
So I guess I should talk about the content warning. There is a rape of a character in one of the stories and an observation of a rape in another story. I felt that she included them for specific purposes of storytelling, and they made sense in context. They didn't feel gratuitous or sexually exploitive to me. But if you had been curious to read this, you should be forewarned.
The big standout stories for me were: Flying to Byzantium (an author struggles with her past), Treading the Maze (British folk eeriness), The Horse Lord (Seriously Laird Barron must have read this), The Other Mother (The struggle of a single mother), A Friend in Need (adolescent loneliness), The Nest (sisters trying to patch things up). But really all the stories were quality material.
I can't recommend this enough.