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A review by qalminator
Come Join Us by the Fire by Theresa DeLucci
4.0
Enjoyable collection, overall, with rather good narrators. There were a few clunkers, and a few meh ones, but I enjoyed most of the stories. I particularly recommend "These Deathless Bones" and "A Life That is not Mine".
I started listening last fall, then the GoogleBooks app randomly declared that I'd finished it, and I lost my place. Annoyingly, the chapters are only labeled by number, not title, and I didn't feel like hunting through to figure out where I'd actually stopped until this fall, mostly because they released a second volume which includes a story by T. Kingfisher, and I really want to get to that. I'm enough of a completist that I wanted to finish the first volume before starting the second.
No Matter Which Way We Turned – Brian Evenson - (2 stars, 3 tentacles) Almost a tone poem, more about the mood than about any sort of plot. Interesting, but unsatisfying.
Daddy – Victor LaValle (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Very well-written. Also very disturbing. Fatherhood can bring out the best, or the worst, in some people.
This Guy – Chuck Wendig (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Darkly disturbing, in ways that are almost funny (enough that I chuckled several times, then winced to find myself doing so). I would have liked more of a wrap-up, but the implication, at least, is there:.
Flayed Ed – Richard Kadrey (1.5 stars, 2 tentacles) *YAWN* Psycho killer is the only one keeping an old god happy, old god wreaks havoc after psycho killer is stopped, psycho killer laughs. Bored now. To make matters worse, the psycho killer is a carbon copy of the guy in Silence of the Lambs.
The Pond – Paul Tremblay (3 stars, 2 tentacles) While a bit trite, story-wise, the prose here is quite evocative, almost lyrical (and, sadly, Ramón de Ocampo, doesn't quite do it justice).
Her Body, Herself – Carmen Maria Machado (2.5 stars, 3 tentacles) - Good writing, but it feels like an idea in search of a story. Too little filled in for me to really enjoy it. But if you like open-ended stories better than I do... * shrugs *
The Girls from the Horror Movie – Gwendolyn Kiste (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Could have been much better than it was, but I enjoyed the idea (even if it is a bit trite, nowadays).
These Deathless Bones – Cassandra Khaw (5 stars, 4 tentacles) - Beautiful twist on the "evil" stepmother trope, with a seriously creepy vibe. Loved it. This is my favorite story so far in the collection. Also, the narrator's tone and voice were absolutely perfect.
It Washed Up – Joe R. Lansdale (3.5 stars, 3 tentacles) - Sort of an alternate version of the Pied Piper, only with no clear motivation for any of it. I suppose that's supposed to make it creepier, but I just wanted to know why.
Stemming the Tide – Simon Strantzas (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Zombies as tourist attraction, watched by a very cynical person who would be annoyed to be called a tourist. Feels like the sort of thing an angsty teenager would consider clever.
Midnight Caller – Stephen Graham Jones (1.5 stars, 1 tentacle) - Attempt to make a serial killer at a camp more interesting. At first, it felt like a deconstruction (which I might have enjoyed), then turned into something much more boring.
Black Bark – Brian Evenson (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Weirdly creepy, though annoyingly vague about the threat. This is one I'd like to see extended, with more background on the characters and a less ephemeral ending.
The Anatomist’s Mnemonic – Priya Sharma (3 stars, 2 tentacles) - Well-crafted, but a bit predictable. I had a pretty good idea where it was going even before he saw. I would have preferred a subversion, but this works well for what it is.
Rabbit Heart – Alyssa Wong (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Understated creeper, about replacing lost loved ones. Sort of.
The Beasts of the Earth, The Madness of Men – Brooke Bolander (2 stars, 2 tentacles) - Sort of a Moby Dick subversion. Lyrically written, but didn't do much for me.
Cold, Silent, and Dark – Kary English (2 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Siren and Sailor, the age-old tale, with a very minor twist.
When the Zombies Win – Karina Sumner-Smith (2 stars, 1 tentacle) - Tone-poem about the gradual surcease of available brains as zombies conquer the world, unaware. Overlong, and trying for cleverness, but mostly just tedious.
Harold the Spider Man – Paul Tremblay (4 stars, 3 tentacles) - Eerily suggestive tale, open to many interpretations. One hopes the Japanese spiders get fed soon (and wonders).
Ponies – Kij Johnson (2 stars, 1 tentacle) - YA. Feels very out of place in this anthology. Might seems creepy to a 10 year old.
Black Neurology – Richard Kadrey (3 stars, 3.5 tentacles) - Promising beginning, but then it was just. A bloody, atypical one, to be sure, but still.
Beware of Owner – Chuck Wendig (2 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Um. Yeah. So there's 7 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Well-crafted, but utterly miserable to listen to, with nothing to redeem it at the end. Honestly, I was hoping. That would have redeemed the story, for me.
The Vault of the Sky, The Face of the Deep – Robert Levy (3 stars, 1 tentacle) - This one just left me confused. My best guess is that it's a take on "What if Jews really were the powerful monsters some people act like they are?" Or maybe they're supposed to be aliens? I really don't get it. It was interesting, and well-written, but I think I lack the right sort of context to really appreciate or understand it.
Don’t Turn on the Lights – Cassandra Khaw - (4 stars, 3.5 tentacles) Nicely wrought meta-story, with multiple version of a "tale everyone knows." The final version is definitely the most interesting.
Wasp & Snake – Livia Llewellyn (25) - (2 stars, 3 tentacles) Well-written, and with some interesting ideas, but they're wasted on a story of petty revenge. It also doesn't make much sense that the characters are called "Wasp" and "Snake" from the get-go. The names eventually make sense in the context of the story, but their use without explanation from the beginning is odd.
Greener Pastures – Michael Wehunt - (3 stars, 3 tentacles) Slow, eye-roll-y beginning, but it ratchets up the tension nicely at the end.
And When She Was Bad – Nadia Bulkin (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Nicely crafted subversion of the "final girl" trope.
El Charro – John Langan (3 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Interesting vampire variant, with a surprising ending. A bit too lurid for my tastes, but well-crafted.
Dream Home – Kat Howard (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Someone joins the Corruption, in Magnus Archive terms. Well-crafted, but not made particularly interesting.
Spawning Season – Nicholas Kaufmann (30) (4 stars, 4i tentacles) While I really enjoyed this one, I found it odd that it would be considered horror. Alternate ecology and life cycle, okay, so...? Why is this in a horror collection?
In Sheep’s Clothing – Molly Tanzer (1 star, 1 tentacle) Corny, ridiculous eco-vegan-screed. I rolled my eyes through most of it. So... let's start with the premise: corn, all over the world, in every form, and in every product, suddenly becomes toxic; so suddenly that no safety watchdogs catch it, and so many people die at once that society collapses. I mean... just... no? That's not how things work? Then it just gets progressively more ridiculous, so ridiculous that the intended climax, while on some level horrific, is mostly just silly. Wearing products made from animals makes you turn into them? Uh-huh. Suuuuure. Maybe it's supposed to be a parody? If so, it's in the wrong anthology. * shrugs *
57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides – Sam J. Miller (2.5 stars, 1 tentacle) Fairly standard bullied kid has power, flips out, kills bullies, with a nonstandard format (and, interestingly, with consequences that the bullied kid cares about). Not bad, just not really my speed.
Was She Wicked, Was She Good? – M. Rickert (1.5 stars, 1 tentacle) Spoiled kid, victim of some unspecified supernatural something, is found repeatedly killing literal fairies (of the handheld size variety). Unclear why mother doesn't think this warrants punishment. Also unclear why the fairies don't take their own revenge before it occurs to the parents to start closing the windows. Even more unclear why the father did what he did near the end. I need enough detail of the world to make sense of things, and it was sorely lacking here. Since the kid is repeatedly described in ways that make her sound sociopathic, I was expecting a much darker ending.
A Life That Is Not Mine – Kristi DeMeester (5 stars, 3 tentacles) Nicely constructed slow-creep, where the banality of everyday life gradually fades into something worse. Clearly written by someone who has taught classes.
That Which Does Not Kill You – Lucy A. Snyder (3 stars, 1.5 tentacles) At the beginning, this reminds me of Kafka's Metamorphosis, because of the absurdity of the situation. "How dare you complain that your heart was cut from your chest?!? It's your fault!" As it went on, though, it became more of a tired metaphor for constant relationship drama. It's not bad; it just would have been more interesting if everyone had continued to yell at her for having her heart cut out, and expect her to not be upset about it, etc.
The Design – China Miéville (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Probably the best offering I've encountered from Miéville (the other times I've encountered his work, I've found it annoyingly incoherent). I was surprised to find out "The Design" was an excerpt from a longer work. The selected portion works well as a standalone, implying a larger world of weirdness beyond, but with enough detail to be satisfying. The creepiness is mostly mild, until the very end, when some disturbing details are revealed.
I started listening last fall, then the GoogleBooks app randomly declared that I'd finished it, and I lost my place. Annoyingly, the chapters are only labeled by number, not title, and I didn't feel like hunting through to figure out where I'd actually stopped until this fall, mostly because they released a second volume which includes a story by T. Kingfisher, and I really want to get to that. I'm enough of a completist that I wanted to finish the first volume before starting the second.
No Matter Which Way We Turned – Brian Evenson - (2 stars, 3 tentacles) Almost a tone poem, more about the mood than about any sort of plot. Interesting, but unsatisfying.
Daddy – Victor LaValle (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Very well-written. Also very disturbing. Fatherhood can bring out the best, or the worst, in some people.
This Guy – Chuck Wendig (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Darkly disturbing, in ways that are almost funny (enough that I chuckled several times, then winced to find myself doing so). I would have liked more of a wrap-up, but the implication, at least, is there:
Spoiler
Dear narrator will eventually become "This Guy"Flayed Ed – Richard Kadrey (1.5 stars, 2 tentacles) *YAWN* Psycho killer is the only one keeping an old god happy, old god wreaks havoc after psycho killer is stopped, psycho killer laughs. Bored now. To make matters worse, the psycho killer is a carbon copy of the guy in Silence of the Lambs.
The Pond – Paul Tremblay (3 stars, 2 tentacles) While a bit trite, story-wise, the prose here is quite evocative, almost lyrical (and, sadly, Ramón de Ocampo, doesn't quite do it justice).
Her Body, Herself – Carmen Maria Machado (2.5 stars, 3 tentacles) - Good writing, but it feels like an idea in search of a story. Too little filled in for me to really enjoy it. But if you like open-ended stories better than I do... * shrugs *
The Girls from the Horror Movie – Gwendolyn Kiste (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Could have been much better than it was, but I enjoyed the idea (even if it is a bit trite, nowadays).
These Deathless Bones – Cassandra Khaw (5 stars, 4 tentacles) - Beautiful twist on the "evil" stepmother trope, with a seriously creepy vibe. Loved it. This is my favorite story so far in the collection. Also, the narrator's tone and voice were absolutely perfect.
It Washed Up – Joe R. Lansdale (3.5 stars, 3 tentacles) - Sort of an alternate version of the Pied Piper, only with no clear motivation for any of it. I suppose that's supposed to make it creepier, but I just wanted to know why.
Stemming the Tide – Simon Strantzas (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Zombies as tourist attraction, watched by a very cynical person who would be annoyed to be called a tourist. Feels like the sort of thing an angsty teenager would consider clever.
Midnight Caller – Stephen Graham Jones (1.5 stars, 1 tentacle) - Attempt to make a serial killer at a camp more interesting. At first, it felt like a deconstruction (which I might have enjoyed), then turned into something much more boring.
Black Bark – Brian Evenson (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Weirdly creepy, though annoyingly vague about the threat. This is one I'd like to see extended, with more background on the characters and a less ephemeral ending.
The Anatomist’s Mnemonic – Priya Sharma (3 stars, 2 tentacles) - Well-crafted, but a bit predictable. I had a pretty good idea where it was going even before he saw
Spoiler
the surgical toolsRabbit Heart – Alyssa Wong (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Understated creeper, about replacing lost loved ones. Sort of.
The Beasts of the Earth, The Madness of Men – Brooke Bolander (2 stars, 2 tentacles) - Sort of a Moby Dick subversion. Lyrically written, but didn't do much for me.
Spoiler
Hunter of a whale won't let it rest even after it's dead.Cold, Silent, and Dark – Kary English (2 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Siren and Sailor, the age-old tale, with a very minor twist.
When the Zombies Win – Karina Sumner-Smith (2 stars, 1 tentacle) - Tone-poem about the gradual surcease of available brains as zombies conquer the world, unaware. Overlong, and trying for cleverness, but mostly just tedious.
Harold the Spider Man – Paul Tremblay (4 stars, 3 tentacles) - Eerily suggestive tale, open to many interpretations. One hopes the Japanese spiders get fed soon (and wonders).
Ponies – Kij Johnson (2 stars, 1 tentacle) - YA. Feels very out of place in this anthology. Might seems creepy to a 10 year old.
Black Neurology – Richard Kadrey (3 stars, 3.5 tentacles) - Promising beginning, but then it was just
Spoiler
a love story, of all things.Beware of Owner – Chuck Wendig (2 stars, 2.5 tentacles) - Um. Yeah. So there's 7 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Well-crafted, but utterly miserable to listen to, with nothing to redeem it at the end. Honestly, I was hoping
Spoiler
that the titular owner was the grandmother, and that the cat was her Jenkins-like familiar, and there'd be hell to pay for its injuryThe Vault of the Sky, The Face of the Deep – Robert Levy (3 stars, 1 tentacle) - This one just left me confused. My best guess is that it's a take on "What if Jews really were the powerful monsters some people act like they are?" Or maybe they're supposed to be aliens? I really don't get it. It was interesting, and well-written, but I think I lack the right sort of context to really appreciate or understand it.
Don’t Turn on the Lights – Cassandra Khaw - (4 stars, 3.5 tentacles) Nicely wrought meta-story, with multiple version of a "tale everyone knows." The final version is definitely the most interesting.
Wasp & Snake – Livia Llewellyn (25) - (2 stars, 3 tentacles) Well-written, and with some interesting ideas, but they're wasted on a story of petty revenge. It also doesn't make much sense that the characters are called "Wasp" and "Snake" from the get-go. The names eventually make sense in the context of the story, but their use without explanation from the beginning is odd.
Greener Pastures – Michael Wehunt - (3 stars, 3 tentacles) Slow, eye-roll-y beginning, but it ratchets up the tension nicely at the end.
And When She Was Bad – Nadia Bulkin (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Nicely crafted subversion of the "final girl" trope.
El Charro – John Langan (3 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Interesting vampire variant, with a surprising ending. A bit too lurid for my tastes, but well-crafted.
Dream Home – Kat Howard (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Someone joins the Corruption, in Magnus Archive terms. Well-crafted, but not made particularly interesting.
Spawning Season – Nicholas Kaufmann (30) (4 stars, 4i tentacles) While I really enjoyed this one, I found it odd that it would be considered horror. Alternate ecology and life cycle, okay, so...? Why is this in a horror collection?
In Sheep’s Clothing – Molly Tanzer (1 star, 1 tentacle) Corny, ridiculous eco-vegan-screed. I rolled my eyes through most of it. So... let's start with the premise: corn, all over the world, in every form, and in every product, suddenly becomes toxic; so suddenly that no safety watchdogs catch it, and so many people die at once that society collapses. I mean... just... no? That's not how things work? Then it just gets progressively more ridiculous, so ridiculous that the intended climax, while on some level horrific, is mostly just silly. Wearing products made from animals makes you turn into them? Uh-huh. Suuuuure. Maybe it's supposed to be a parody? If so, it's in the wrong anthology. * shrugs *
57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides – Sam J. Miller (2.5 stars, 1 tentacle) Fairly standard bullied kid has power, flips out, kills bullies, with a nonstandard format (and, interestingly, with consequences that the bullied kid cares about). Not bad, just not really my speed.
Was She Wicked, Was She Good? – M. Rickert (1.5 stars, 1 tentacle) Spoiled kid, victim of some unspecified supernatural something, is found repeatedly killing literal fairies (of the handheld size variety). Unclear why mother doesn't think this warrants punishment. Also unclear why the fairies don't take their own revenge before it occurs to the parents to start closing the windows. Even more unclear why the father did what he did near the end. I need enough detail of the world to make sense of things, and it was sorely lacking here. Since the kid is repeatedly described in ways that make her sound sociopathic, I was expecting a much darker ending.
A Life That Is Not Mine – Kristi DeMeester (5 stars, 3 tentacles) Nicely constructed slow-creep, where the banality of everyday life gradually fades into something worse. Clearly written by someone who has taught classes.
That Which Does Not Kill You – Lucy A. Snyder (3 stars, 1.5 tentacles) At the beginning, this reminds me of Kafka's Metamorphosis, because of the absurdity of the situation. "How dare you complain that your heart was cut from your chest?!? It's your fault!" As it went on, though, it became more of a tired metaphor for constant relationship drama. It's not bad; it just would have been more interesting if everyone had continued to yell at her for having her heart cut out, and expect her to not be upset about it, etc.
The Design – China Miéville (4 stars, 2.5 tentacles) Probably the best offering I've encountered from Miéville (the other times I've encountered his work, I've found it annoyingly incoherent). I was surprised to find out "The Design" was an excerpt from a longer work. The selected portion works well as a standalone, implying a larger world of weirdness beyond, but with enough detail to be satisfying. The creepiness is mostly mild, until the very end, when some disturbing details are revealed.