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A review by smalefowles
A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle
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.