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A review by zumiey
A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle
4.0
I've been wanting to read Lisa Tuttle for a while without paying exorbitant international prices and thankfully her stuff is now being released in the US!! I was happy to snag this lil paperback (which has one of the best/worst covers ever) unexpectedly, and now await her second collection of short stories.
This is often cited as a feminist horror collection which upon reading it I was like "um because it's about women and not solely as victims?" yknow times it was published and all. But it's really because of the undercurrent in almost every story of fear of hysteria. Women being disbelieved, women being trapped in circumstances that can see no way out, women afraid to be seen as impolite or dismissed. I only picked up on it halfway through.
The collection was also WELL-CURATED??? Like the stories flowed so perfectly to each other in the right order and thematically gelled and I'm not used to this in short story collections at all.
Horse Lord was one of the creepiest most wonderful horror stories I've read in a while. Other Mother and the Memory of Wood were also strong standouts. Flying to Byzantium I hated initially, but because it was so effective at conveying pervasive self doubt, gaslighting, and helplessness.
This collection does contain rape, child death, and racist characters/language (I think done in a way that condemns it? But ymmv).
This is often cited as a feminist horror collection which upon reading it I was like "um because it's about women and not solely as victims?" yknow times it was published and all. But it's really because of the undercurrent in almost every story of fear of hysteria. Women being disbelieved, women being trapped in circumstances that can see no way out, women afraid to be seen as impolite or dismissed. I only picked up on it halfway through.
The collection was also WELL-CURATED??? Like the stories flowed so perfectly to each other in the right order and thematically gelled and I'm not used to this in short story collections at all.
Horse Lord was one of the creepiest most wonderful horror stories I've read in a while. Other Mother and the Memory of Wood were also strong standouts. Flying to Byzantium I hated initially, but because it was so effective at conveying pervasive self doubt, gaslighting, and helplessness.
This collection does contain rape, child death, and racist characters/language (I think done in a way that condemns it? But ymmv).