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A review by scottishben
The Ape's Wife and Other Stories by Caitlín R. Kiernan
5.0
Caitlin Kiernan is one of my favorite writers and this collection features many excellent stories. In her second best of collection due out later in 2015 over half of these stories feature which gives an idea as to the quality of these stories compared with her overall work.
All the stories are either dark or weird or both with a mix of myth retellings, SF, fantasy and contemporary weird/dark tales.
So far I have read the following
The Maltese Unicorn - Kiernan sometimes embeds short fiction in her novels and I read this as part of the second Quinn book she wrote under a different name and then used the McGuffin in the story as the McGuffin for that Quinn book - had mixed feelings about the Quinn book and this coloured my experience of the story. Will need to reread to judge it on its merits but I am sure if approached in the right mood there is fun to be had here
Ape's Wife - didnt leave much of an impression on first read but given how many people love and talk about the story I probably need to give it a second try
Random thoughts before a Fatal Crash - The artist featured in the story plays a big part (though not directly) in her novel The Drowning Girl so I was really reading this with that perspective...Then part of the novel visits Inverness and the surrounding area where I grew up so I got a bit distracted reading this - Still a very well written and satisfying tale
Hydraguros - I am not massively into the Neo Noir SF of this story. In SF I like to get a sense of wonder, extrapolation, different world etc - with Kiernan SF is more a setting for the mood and atmosphere of the story. It was genuinely creepy and strange. Best approached I think like a Lynch movie and not trying to understand or make sense of but very satisfying.
Slouching Towards.... - Kiernan does interesting things with SF linguistics but I wasnt in the mood to take that journey with her and it distracted me - still an interesting story.
Tall Bodies - really enjoyed this short, strange story - Inexplicable, weird and raises more questions than it answers
The Steam Dancer - read and dont really remember, need to reread
One Tree Hill - Kiernan at her best - this was a wonderfully creepy story that I felt covered similar ground to her novel The Red Tree in some respects. Like many of her stories there was an unreliable narrator and elements of autobiography buried in and enriching the fiction
Tidal Forces - A story that would appeal to both horror and fantasy readers and I found the writing here particularly effocative and strong. Although I didnt react to this as personally as I have to a couple of her stories I think this is one of her best and one of my favorites
The Sea-Troll's daughter - utterly brilliant! Quite different from the other stories and many readers of fantasy will love this even if they do not normally like Kiernan. This is set in either long ago in our world or in a similar secondary fantasy world. It is a great example of editors asking for something a little bit different from a writer and getting something wonderful that wouldnt have otherwise happened. Some of kiernans work can be a bit jarring and confusing to read where as this was much more straightforward. A sort of feminist retelling of beowulf.
All the stories are either dark or weird or both with a mix of myth retellings, SF, fantasy and contemporary weird/dark tales.
So far I have read the following
The Maltese Unicorn - Kiernan sometimes embeds short fiction in her novels and I read this as part of the second Quinn book she wrote under a different name and then used the McGuffin in the story as the McGuffin for that Quinn book - had mixed feelings about the Quinn book and this coloured my experience of the story. Will need to reread to judge it on its merits but I am sure if approached in the right mood there is fun to be had here
Ape's Wife - didnt leave much of an impression on first read but given how many people love and talk about the story I probably need to give it a second try
Random thoughts before a Fatal Crash - The artist featured in the story plays a big part (though not directly) in her novel The Drowning Girl so I was really reading this with that perspective...Then part of the novel visits Inverness and the surrounding area where I grew up so I got a bit distracted reading this - Still a very well written and satisfying tale
Hydraguros - I am not massively into the Neo Noir SF of this story. In SF I like to get a sense of wonder, extrapolation, different world etc - with Kiernan SF is more a setting for the mood and atmosphere of the story. It was genuinely creepy and strange. Best approached I think like a Lynch movie and not trying to understand or make sense of but very satisfying.
Slouching Towards.... - Kiernan does interesting things with SF linguistics but I wasnt in the mood to take that journey with her and it distracted me - still an interesting story.
Tall Bodies - really enjoyed this short, strange story - Inexplicable, weird and raises more questions than it answers
The Steam Dancer - read and dont really remember, need to reread
One Tree Hill - Kiernan at her best - this was a wonderfully creepy story that I felt covered similar ground to her novel The Red Tree in some respects. Like many of her stories there was an unreliable narrator and elements of autobiography buried in and enriching the fiction
Tidal Forces - A story that would appeal to both horror and fantasy readers and I found the writing here particularly effocative and strong. Although I didnt react to this as personally as I have to a couple of her stories I think this is one of her best and one of my favorites
The Sea-Troll's daughter - utterly brilliant! Quite different from the other stories and many readers of fantasy will love this even if they do not normally like Kiernan. This is set in either long ago in our world or in a similar secondary fantasy world. It is a great example of editors asking for something a little bit different from a writer and getting something wonderful that wouldnt have otherwise happened. Some of kiernans work can be a bit jarring and confusing to read where as this was much more straightforward. A sort of feminist retelling of beowulf.