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thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
5.0
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
Bluegrass Symphony is a collection of shorts by Lisa Hannett, an eclectic mix of horror, fantasy, magic realism and twists on known fairy tales. There are a dozen short stories on offer and shall be available from August 2011 onwards, printed by Ticonderoga Publications.
As you can guess from the name, the tales are set in the American South, but there’s a twist on most of them that makes them different – special. Magic is shown in ways we may not expect in such a realistic backdrop, often with a twist at the end. We see shape shifters, chickens who can see the future, spirit soothers and truth telling tattoos.
Read the rest of the review: http://sentientonline.net/?p=2740
michelle_e_goldsmith's review
5.0
Lately I've become a bit addicted to short fiction and have been on the lookout for anthologies and collections containing the kind of offbeat, lyrically written speculative fiction that I tend to enjoy. As I really enjoyed the Lisa L. Hannett stories I read in The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror and have heard great things about her other stories I thought I might give her debut collection a try.
I think I'll try something different this time and rate and comment on each story as I go.
(Apologies for any dodgy grammar. I've been a bit sick and worn out lately and am writing this in spare time after work so it probably isn't too polished. I'll probably rewrite it when I'm finished the whole thing).
Carousel - A wonderfully written and bizarre story involving a girl, her father and a shed full of moths. The powerful imagery, equal parts beautiful and disturbing, gives the story a strange mesmeric quality, drawing you right in until you can almost smell the blood and sawdust. 5/5
Down the Hollow - Eerie and sad, Down the Hollow tells a story of love, sacrifice, loss and a desperate, all-consuming yearning for approval. Told from the perspective of a young man suffering from a taboo love, Hannett creates something both essentially morbid and beautiful. 5/5
Them Little Shinin’ Things - A strange and brutal changeling story telling a story of jealousy, desire and the lengths people will go to claim what they believe is theirs. The story is given a unique spin in being told in the first person by a human accomplice to the baby-snatching faerie folk. The protagonist's voice is both memorable and distinctive, elevating what might otherwise have been a good story, into a great one. 5/5
Fur and Feathers - I loved this one. Has all the elements of a great story-fox men, magic eggs and human-headed oracle chickens. Great fun, but not without its share of pathos. 5/5
From the Teeth of Strange Children - A truly disturbing vampire tale that actually manages to do some new and interesting things with the genre. 5/5
The Wager and the Hourglass - A short but effective story with a strong feminist message. A young woman must win a wager against a cruel and literally soulless Mayor to save both herself and the life of the man she loves. A bit more straightforward than some of the other stories but still very good. 4/5
The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds - Told in a style reminiscent of the oral tradition, this story chronicles the possible future/s of a young couple in a town with some err...interesting customs involving minotaurs, and examines the far reaching consequences of their choices. 4.5/5
To Snuff a Flame - 4/5
Depot to Depot - 4.5/5
Commonplace Sacrifices - 5/5
Wires Uncrossed - 4.5/5
Forever, Miss Tapekwa County - 4.5/5
I think I'll try something different this time and rate and comment on each story as I go.
(Apologies for any dodgy grammar. I've been a bit sick and worn out lately and am writing this in spare time after work so it probably isn't too polished. I'll probably rewrite it when I'm finished the whole thing).
Carousel - A wonderfully written and bizarre story involving a girl, her father and a shed full of moths. The powerful imagery, equal parts beautiful and disturbing, gives the story a strange mesmeric quality, drawing you right in until you can almost smell the blood and sawdust. 5/5
Down the Hollow - Eerie and sad, Down the Hollow tells a story of love, sacrifice, loss and a desperate, all-consuming yearning for approval. Told from the perspective of a young man suffering from a taboo love, Hannett creates something both essentially morbid and beautiful. 5/5
Them Little Shinin’ Things - A strange and brutal changeling story telling a story of jealousy, desire and the lengths people will go to claim what they believe is theirs. The story is given a unique spin in being told in the first person by a human accomplice to the baby-snatching faerie folk. The protagonist's voice is both memorable and distinctive, elevating what might otherwise have been a good story, into a great one. 5/5
Fur and Feathers - I loved this one. Has all the elements of a great story-fox men, magic eggs and human-headed oracle chickens. Great fun, but not without its share of pathos. 5/5
From the Teeth of Strange Children - A truly disturbing vampire tale that actually manages to do some new and interesting things with the genre. 5/5
The Wager and the Hourglass - A short but effective story with a strong feminist message. A young woman must win a wager against a cruel and literally soulless Mayor to save both herself and the life of the man she loves. A bit more straightforward than some of the other stories but still very good. 4/5
The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds - Told in a style reminiscent of the oral tradition, this story chronicles the possible future/s of a young couple in a town with some err...interesting customs involving minotaurs, and examines the far reaching consequences of their choices. 4.5/5
To Snuff a Flame - 4/5
Depot to Depot - 4.5/5
Commonplace Sacrifices - 5/5
Wires Uncrossed - 4.5/5
Forever, Miss Tapekwa County - 4.5/5
kali's review
5.0
Oh gosh the voice. This collection is like nothing I've read before. I loved, and folded into my skin, almost every single one of these stories. I cannot pick a favourite. Hannett writes scenes that evoke such simultaneous beauty and terror. 4.5*
daveversace's review
5.0
Bluegrass Symphony is a collection of twelve short stories by Lisa L. Hannett, published by Ticonderoga Press. Though an Australian writer, Hannett has set her stories in unspecified parts of the US south. They are fantastic, exploring new takes on ghosts, vampires, werewolves and other things in a voice that seems (to my untrained ear) authentically Southern Gothic. These are beautiful stories, even the ugly ones - and a few of them are very dark indeed. In particular the chilling and repulsive vampires of "From the Teeth of Strange Children" touch not only on the horrific amorality of immortal blood drinkers but also the twisted sexuality of the vampire legend in ways I've not seen before.
These are all strong dark fantasy tales. Most are not as out and out horrific as "Teeth", but they all have at least a tantalising undercurrent of darkness. The standouts are probably "Down the Hollow" in which a community's grotesque fertility rite goes wrong, and the astonishing "The Short Go: a future in eight seconds", which wraps together rodeo riding, minotaur hunting, divination and marriage rites together to amazing effect. It deservedly shared the Aurealis Award for Best Short Story this year with Paul Haines' "The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burned", and that was a breathtaking piece.
I've digressed, so let me mention one more story. The collection opens with a short, dreamlike piece called "Carousel", without doubt my favourite in the book. It's one of the shorter stories, a beautiful elegaic piece about a dying girl being comforted in her final moments by moths. It's heartbreaking and funny and somewhat grotesque, and it has a lovely punchline. It sets the tone for the rest of Bluegrass Symphony wonderfully well.
These are all strong dark fantasy tales. Most are not as out and out horrific as "Teeth", but they all have at least a tantalising undercurrent of darkness. The standouts are probably "Down the Hollow" in which a community's grotesque fertility rite goes wrong, and the astonishing "The Short Go: a future in eight seconds", which wraps together rodeo riding, minotaur hunting, divination and marriage rites together to amazing effect. It deservedly shared the Aurealis Award for Best Short Story this year with Paul Haines' "The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burned", and that was a breathtaking piece.
I've digressed, so let me mention one more story. The collection opens with a short, dreamlike piece called "Carousel", without doubt my favourite in the book. It's one of the shorter stories, a beautiful elegaic piece about a dying girl being comforted in her final moments by moths. It's heartbreaking and funny and somewhat grotesque, and it has a lovely punchline. It sets the tone for the rest of Bluegrass Symphony wonderfully well.
alanbaxter's review
5.0
This is the debut collection from Canadian-born Australian writer Lisa L Hannett. It’s an outstanding achievement. A selection of tales of magic, darkness, intrigue, mystery. Hannett’s style is clear throughout, even though the stories cover very different ground. There’s a brilliant vampire story here that’s worth the cover price alone. Seriously, if you thought vampire stories had been done to death, buy this book and read From the Teeth of Strange Children. There isn’t a bad story in this book and it’s a superbly dark and twisted exploration of life in mythical Blue Grass towns and counties. Great characters, great stories. Lisa is a friend of mine, but this isn’t just mate’s favours. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
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