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The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan #1
Two Worlds and in Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Volume One
Caitlin R. Kiernan's short fiction was first published in 1995. Over the intervening decade and a half, she has proven not only one of dark fantasy and science fiction's most prolific and versatile authors, but, to quote Ramsey Campbell, "One of the most accomplished writers in the field, and very possibly the most lyrical." S. T. Joshi has written, "Kiernan's witchery of words creates a mesmerizing effect that we haven't seen since the days of Lovecraft and Bradbury."
Two Worlds and In The Best of Caitl'n R. Kiernan (Volume One) presents a stunning retrospective of the first ten years of her work, a compilation of more than two hundred thousand words of short fiction, including many of her most acclaimed stories, as well as some of the author's personal favorites, several previously uncollected, hard-to-find pieces, and her sf novella, The Dry Salvages, and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite. Destined to become the definitive look at the early development of Kiernan's work, Two Worlds and In Between is a must for fans and collectors alike, as well as an unprecedented introduction to an author who, over the course of her career, has earned the praise of such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Charles De Lint, and Clive Barker.
Two Worlds and In The Best of Caitl'n R. Kiernan (Volume One) presents a stunning retrospective of the first ten years of her work, a compilation of more than two hundred thousand words of short fiction, including many of her most acclaimed stories, as well as some of the author's personal favorites, several previously uncollected, hard-to-find pieces, and her sf novella, The Dry Salvages, and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite. Destined to become the definitive look at the early development of Kiernan's work, Two Worlds and In Between is a must for fans and collectors alike, as well as an unprecedented introduction to an author who, over the course of her career, has earned the praise of such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Charles De Lint, and Clive Barker.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2011
44 people are currently reading
1425 people want to read
About the author
Caitlín R. Kiernan
407 books1,645 followersCaitlín Rebekah Kiernan is an Irish-born American published paleontologist and author of science fiction and dark fantasy works, including ten novels, series of comic books, and more than two hundred and fifty published short stories, novellas, and vignettes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 26, 2011
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan is a collection of Caitlín R. Kiernan’s works which span the years 1993-2004. In this collection there are 24 short stories, one poem, one novella, an introduction by the author, and a short afterword for each work. The stories are arranged in chronological order, letting the reader watch the progression of Kiernan’s style and the noticeable changes in her stories’ subject matter as she matures. Some of these stories are award winners and all have been published previously (though some have undergone extensive revisions since their original publication). A few have subtle connections to each other. A second volume of Kiernan’s stories will be published by Subterranean Press in 2014.
I’m certain that I was not the best choice of reviewer for Two Worlds and In Between. Sub Press sent me a copy and I probably should have passed it along, but I’ve been meaning to read Kiernan for years, and this seemed like a good opportunity. I’m glad I’m now familiar with Kiernan’s work, though I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy the book.
The problem is me, not Kiernan. Her prose is beautiful, her imagery is stunning, and her characters feel incredibly real. However, her stories are full of things I generally don’t like to spend my time thinking about. There are far too many cockroaches, chapped lips, suicides (botched and successful), drownings, scabs, bruises, rotting corpses, junkies, rapists, therapists, and men in ladies’ panties. The pages are full of pus, blood, sweat, viscera, cigarette smoke, mildew, piss, shit, and cum. Most of the people we meet are depressed, in pain, empty and, usually, suicidal.
In addition, I found the plots to be too episodic and indistinct for my taste. Kiernan admits in her afterward to “From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6” that “Most times, a story comes to me as an image, a jumble of images, a character, a name, fragments, or a confetti of words. I don’t think in plots. I don’t have clever ideas.” You can definitely become completely submerged in these images and characters, but if you do, you’ll probably feel like killing yourself.
It wasn’t all complete misery, however. There were a few moments of... well, I wouldn’t call it brightness... let’s say moments of awe and maybe even an occasional small pang of pleasure:
* “Rats Live On No Evil Star” — I almost enjoyed this little look at genius and madness.
* “Riding the White Bull” — I believe this is CRK’s first science fiction story. The world-building is excellent and it is refreshing to get so far away from her frequently used clove-drenched Gothic Industrial setting.
* “The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles” — This is the style of “dark” that I prefer — it’s weird and unsettling, but mentions of bodily fluids are scant.
* “The Dry Salvages” — This science fiction novella was hard to put down. It, and a few other stories in the collection, make excellent use of Kiernan’s background in paleontology.
Those were the only four stories I enjoyed in this collection, and even they feel hopelessly miserable. But I am glad to have finally acquainted myself thoroughly with Caitlín R. Kiernan’s work. I have the utmost admiration for her talents but, truthfully, I just don’t want to visit her worlds. They are beyond bleak and when I was there, I suffered along with her characters and I couldn’t wait to get out. Even in small doses, Caitlín R. Kiernan is just too dark for me. Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan is, however, a must-read for fans of Kiernan, or for anyone who prefers their fantasy uncomfortably dark.
Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan is a collection of Caitlín R. Kiernan’s works which span the years 1993-2004. In this collection there are 24 short stories, one poem, one novella, an introduction by the author, and a short afterword for each work. The stories are arranged in chronological order, letting the reader watch the progression of Kiernan’s style and the noticeable changes in her stories’ subject matter as she matures. Some of these stories are award winners and all have been published previously (though some have undergone extensive revisions since their original publication). A few have subtle connections to each other. A second volume of Kiernan’s stories will be published by Subterranean Press in 2014.
I’m certain that I was not the best choice of reviewer for Two Worlds and In Between. Sub Press sent me a copy and I probably should have passed it along, but I’ve been meaning to read Kiernan for years, and this seemed like a good opportunity. I’m glad I’m now familiar with Kiernan’s work, though I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy the book.
The problem is me, not Kiernan. Her prose is beautiful, her imagery is stunning, and her characters feel incredibly real. However, her stories are full of things I generally don’t like to spend my time thinking about. There are far too many cockroaches, chapped lips, suicides (botched and successful), drownings, scabs, bruises, rotting corpses, junkies, rapists, therapists, and men in ladies’ panties. The pages are full of pus, blood, sweat, viscera, cigarette smoke, mildew, piss, shit, and cum. Most of the people we meet are depressed, in pain, empty and, usually, suicidal.
In addition, I found the plots to be too episodic and indistinct for my taste. Kiernan admits in her afterward to “From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6” that “Most times, a story comes to me as an image, a jumble of images, a character, a name, fragments, or a confetti of words. I don’t think in plots. I don’t have clever ideas.” You can definitely become completely submerged in these images and characters, but if you do, you’ll probably feel like killing yourself.
It wasn’t all complete misery, however. There were a few moments of... well, I wouldn’t call it brightness... let’s say moments of awe and maybe even an occasional small pang of pleasure:
* “Rats Live On No Evil Star” — I almost enjoyed this little look at genius and madness.
* “Riding the White Bull” — I believe this is CRK’s first science fiction story. The world-building is excellent and it is refreshing to get so far away from her frequently used clove-drenched Gothic Industrial setting.
* “The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles” — This is the style of “dark” that I prefer — it’s weird and unsettling, but mentions of bodily fluids are scant.
* “The Dry Salvages” — This science fiction novella was hard to put down. It, and a few other stories in the collection, make excellent use of Kiernan’s background in paleontology.
Those were the only four stories I enjoyed in this collection, and even they feel hopelessly miserable. But I am glad to have finally acquainted myself thoroughly with Caitlín R. Kiernan’s work. I have the utmost admiration for her talents but, truthfully, I just don’t want to visit her worlds. They are beyond bleak and when I was there, I suffered along with her characters and I couldn’t wait to get out. Even in small doses, Caitlín R. Kiernan is just too dark for me. Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan is, however, a must-read for fans of Kiernan, or for anyone who prefers their fantasy uncomfortably dark.
October 8, 2016
Kiernan is a writer who puts me in a difficult position. I really really love her and really really don't like her.
She is, without a doubt, one of the best writers I have ever read when it comes to description or establishing a mood. Her stories are CREEPY. I am not easily freaked out by books and I find everything she writes to be incredibly spine-tingling.
At the same time, I find her plotting to be simply terrible. Characters appear and then disappear with seemingly no relevance to the story at hand. Even worse, she just doesn't know how to write a good ending. One or two stories like this can be ok; nearly 600 pages of open ended stories (one of which is a novella, so there's really no excuse) makes for almost unbearable reading.
Kiernan touches on this aspect of her writing in her afterward to the story, "Onion". She describes attempting to adapt this into a script, only to be told by the producer that she'd only written "half the story." It's a fair criticism.
So I don't quite know how to review her. To me, she is simultaneously the best and the worst of the new weird fiction writers. I'll keep reading her--i'm just not sure exactly why.
She is, without a doubt, one of the best writers I have ever read when it comes to description or establishing a mood. Her stories are CREEPY. I am not easily freaked out by books and I find everything she writes to be incredibly spine-tingling.
At the same time, I find her plotting to be simply terrible. Characters appear and then disappear with seemingly no relevance to the story at hand. Even worse, she just doesn't know how to write a good ending. One or two stories like this can be ok; nearly 600 pages of open ended stories (one of which is a novella, so there's really no excuse) makes for almost unbearable reading.
Kiernan touches on this aspect of her writing in her afterward to the story, "Onion". She describes attempting to adapt this into a script, only to be told by the producer that she'd only written "half the story." It's a fair criticism.
So I don't quite know how to review her. To me, she is simultaneously the best and the worst of the new weird fiction writers. I'll keep reading her--i'm just not sure exactly why.
March 2, 2014
*** Emptiness Spoke Eloquent [1993]
Here's the drawback of a chronological organizational scheme: it doesn't always start with the strongest work. Kiernan admits in the notes that she feels it was overambitious. I'm also not personally partial to this sort of 'what happened after?' tale. This follows Dracula's Mina through the years.
**** Two Worlds; and In Between [1994]
Two words: Gothic Zombies.
And in between: I loved the contrast here between the specificity of the details of what was happening inside the apartment, and the vagueness of the larger horrors happening outside the house. Without any direct evidence, I felt like this story was also about how junkies will drag you down with them. Like a tale from a nastier, darker, unromantic Poppy Z. Brite.
**** To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889) [1994]
Inspired by a real disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstow...), a tale of an immigrant girl, gang-raped, who, in the form of a vengeful rusalka, takes down both those who assaulted her and the witness who did nothing to stop it. Powerful.
***** Tears Seven Times Salt [1994]
A truly disturbing contemporary take on 'The Little Mermaid,' and a compelling depiction of what it feels like to be convinced that you do not belong in your own body. The story authentically captures the feel of NYC's underbelly, and grasps the slippery line between fantasy, self-expression and mental decline.
**** Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun (Murder Ballad No. 1) [1995]
Showdown at the old saloon - set in a modern New Orleans gay brothel. It's got the crude grittiness found in shows like 'Deadwood' - and a sense of epic tragedy. Very 'Stagger Lee.'
**** Estate [1996]
This story gets an extra star just for featuring Bannerman's Castle. Of course, it's given a totally fictional history, and is referred to as 'Silas' Castle,' but Pollepel island and the Hudson is still wonderfully recognizable. Themes here include the obsession of 'collecting' and the concept of being trapped by and among riches...
**** Rats Live on No Evil Star [1997]
An academic treats kindly the mentally ill man who lives down the hall from her, in her apartment building. But are the things he perceives actually real? The story creates the unusual perspective that the author may identify equally with both the rational academic and the obsessive visionary.
*** Salmagundi (New York City, 1981) [1998]
A journalist conducts a strange interview with a performance artist who appears to be the (daughter? former enigmatic captive?) of the industrialist referred to in 'Estate'- Silas Desvernine.
*** Postcards from the King of Tides [1997]
Some goth kids on a road trip break down, and discover a bizarre trailer-trash sideshow which may feature Lovecraftian monsters on display.
*** Giants in the Earth [1995]
An homage to Michael Moorcock's 'Dancers at the End of Time.' It's done well - I got that it was in Moorcock's style right away - but I'd probably have appreciated it more if I'd read any of the books in that series more recently. This is a direct prequel to 'An Alien Heat.'
*** Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire [1995-1999]
A poem.
*** Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) [2000]
Reese, suffering from writer's block, has rented a house in New Orleans as a retreat. However, her girlfriend is more interested and jazz and nightlife. At a house party, idle playing with a Ouija board gets the guests more than they expected. Nice set-up, but a bit of an unfinished feel.
**** The Road of Pins [2001]
Almost the same format as 'Spindleshanks.' The narrator suffers from writer's block; the girlfriend socializes at art galleries. At an opening, she's introduced to the disturbing work of the artist Albert Perrault and an art critic who's a fan. Real life seems to echo the dark fairy-tale topics of his paintings, and a lost film that may also be by the artist, or connected to his work in some way.
I find the inconclusiveness frustrating, but adding a star for the author's remarkable ability to conjure up works of art that, although unseen and indeed, uncreated, stay with the reader...
***** Onion [2001]
What if sometimes, people glimpse another world...? It may be terrifying, alien... but that one glimpse changes you, in some deeply addictive way. This story takes the myths of Fairyland, and emphasizes all their darkness. It's also a clear metaphor for drug addiction, but it's done with such a deft and delicate touch that it works perfectly. It also captures my East Village, to the life.
*** In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers [2001]
Much more in the paranormal-action vein than most of these tales. A mysterious albino hitchhiker, Dancy Flammarion, who claims to speak to an angel, is picked up by a sinister trio (who may be vampires) and taken to an old house tenanted by what may be a coven of cannibal witches. It feels like the opening of a novel - and, indeed, is a prequel to Kiernan's novel 'Threshold' (and, I suppose, 'Low Red Moon,' which I haven't yet read.)
*** Night Story 1973 (with Poppy Z. Brite) [2001]
A prequel to Poppy Z. Brite's 'Lost Souls,' introducing the reader to the character of Ghost, as a child.
*** From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6 [2002]
An entry into the Lovecraft mythos. A researcher discovers an overlooked fossil in a drawer - a fossil which may change our understanding of evolution completely - which happens to have come from Innsmouth. She takes a train to Massachusetts to investigate the locale, but her plans are obstructed by an assortment of weird characters.
*** Andromeda Among the Stones [2002]
Another Lovecraft-influenced tale, of a family whose stolen knowledge has left them guarding a portal into unknown realms... a task which will tear them apart (perhaps literally.)
** La Peau Verte [2003]
This one didn't really do it for me. A very fractured, non-linear narrative infused with far too much silly absinthe mythos. (It's just a liqueur, folks...) A costumed woman, hired as a party entertainer, waits in the green room, and thinks about visits to her therapist, at which she talks about her childhood, when she may or may not have murdered her sister, and may or may not have seen fairies.
**** Riding the White Bull [2003]
Sc-fi noir. (And very good). Dietrich is the (of course) alcoholic investigator. The things he's seen have brought him to the edge. His ex-girlfriend has opted to become a cyborg. And what he's assigned to is some kind of top-secret alien plague (with definite hints of Lovecraftian horrors) that may destroy humanity... Nice and angsty.
*** Waycross [2003]
Another Dancy Flammarion story. Here, the albino monster hunter seems to have been led into trouble by her angel. Although she slew an ancient, inhuman sorceress upon arriving at a dilapidated trailer, that witch wasn't what she came for. And now, the being that she had intended to kill has captured her.
The ending here seemed a little too easy.
**** The Dead and the Moonstruck [2004]
Although quite literally ghoulish, this is a surprisingly sweet story. Ghouls kidnap human children, leaving changelings in their place, and teach them magic, alongside their own children. However, if a human child fails a test, the child is eaten. The Ghoul children face no such danger. Starling Jane's best friend is a ghoul, but she's terrified to face her next test...
***** The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles [2004]
For over seventy-five years, the young girl called Pearl by her father, has been locked in an attic by supernatural beings, hostage to her father's forbidden alchemy. Time only runs for her when she has a visitor, an exceedingly rare occurrence. As the tale progresses, we see that her cruel fate reflects that which her father did to untold others. Lovely and truly eerie.
**** The Dry Salvages [2004]
The Worm in My Mind’s Eye [2004]
A re-read. I think I appreciated this more, the second time around. A small ground of scientists is sent to join a research team already at a remote moon. When they arrive, they discover that something has gone horribly wrong: the humans are missing or insane, and the humanoid robots are the only ones keeping the mission afloat. Told by a surviving member of the mission, looking back on the events from a distance of many years, the story explores some interesting and complex aspects of what it means to be human, with synthetic, 'normal' and genetically-modified characters, and no easy answers provided. It also serves up some good old-fashioned Lovecraftian horror.
'The Worm in my Mind's Eye' is a coda to the story, exploring an incident which is mentioned in passing in the main story.
**** Houses Under the Sea [2004]
A journalist, after the fact, tries to make sense of how his girlfriend, a cult leader, pulled a Jim Jones and led her followers to a watery death - without giving him a clue as to her plans. But as he tries to piece hints together, he has to admit that the evidence is all in favor of something truly weird and strange...
3.52 average rounds up to 4 stars...
Here's the drawback of a chronological organizational scheme: it doesn't always start with the strongest work. Kiernan admits in the notes that she feels it was overambitious. I'm also not personally partial to this sort of 'what happened after?' tale. This follows Dracula's Mina through the years.
**** Two Worlds; and In Between [1994]
Two words: Gothic Zombies.
And in between: I loved the contrast here between the specificity of the details of what was happening inside the apartment, and the vagueness of the larger horrors happening outside the house. Without any direct evidence, I felt like this story was also about how junkies will drag you down with them. Like a tale from a nastier, darker, unromantic Poppy Z. Brite.
**** To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889) [1994]
Inspired by a real disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstow...), a tale of an immigrant girl, gang-raped, who, in the form of a vengeful rusalka, takes down both those who assaulted her and the witness who did nothing to stop it. Powerful.
***** Tears Seven Times Salt [1994]
A truly disturbing contemporary take on 'The Little Mermaid,' and a compelling depiction of what it feels like to be convinced that you do not belong in your own body. The story authentically captures the feel of NYC's underbelly, and grasps the slippery line between fantasy, self-expression and mental decline.
**** Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun (Murder Ballad No. 1) [1995]
Showdown at the old saloon - set in a modern New Orleans gay brothel. It's got the crude grittiness found in shows like 'Deadwood' - and a sense of epic tragedy. Very 'Stagger Lee.'
**** Estate [1996]
This story gets an extra star just for featuring Bannerman's Castle. Of course, it's given a totally fictional history, and is referred to as 'Silas' Castle,' but Pollepel island and the Hudson is still wonderfully recognizable. Themes here include the obsession of 'collecting' and the concept of being trapped by and among riches...
**** Rats Live on No Evil Star [1997]
An academic treats kindly the mentally ill man who lives down the hall from her, in her apartment building. But are the things he perceives actually real? The story creates the unusual perspective that the author may identify equally with both the rational academic and the obsessive visionary.
*** Salmagundi (New York City, 1981) [1998]
A journalist conducts a strange interview with a performance artist who appears to be the (daughter? former enigmatic captive?) of the industrialist referred to in 'Estate'- Silas Desvernine.
*** Postcards from the King of Tides [1997]
Some goth kids on a road trip break down, and discover a bizarre trailer-trash sideshow which may feature Lovecraftian monsters on display.
*** Giants in the Earth [1995]
An homage to Michael Moorcock's 'Dancers at the End of Time.' It's done well - I got that it was in Moorcock's style right away - but I'd probably have appreciated it more if I'd read any of the books in that series more recently. This is a direct prequel to 'An Alien Heat.'
*** Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire [1995-1999]
A poem.
*** Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) [2000]
Reese, suffering from writer's block, has rented a house in New Orleans as a retreat. However, her girlfriend is more interested and jazz and nightlife. At a house party, idle playing with a Ouija board gets the guests more than they expected. Nice set-up, but a bit of an unfinished feel.
**** The Road of Pins [2001]
Almost the same format as 'Spindleshanks.' The narrator suffers from writer's block; the girlfriend socializes at art galleries. At an opening, she's introduced to the disturbing work of the artist Albert Perrault and an art critic who's a fan. Real life seems to echo the dark fairy-tale topics of his paintings, and a lost film that may also be by the artist, or connected to his work in some way.
I find the inconclusiveness frustrating, but adding a star for the author's remarkable ability to conjure up works of art that, although unseen and indeed, uncreated, stay with the reader...
***** Onion [2001]
What if sometimes, people glimpse another world...? It may be terrifying, alien... but that one glimpse changes you, in some deeply addictive way. This story takes the myths of Fairyland, and emphasizes all their darkness. It's also a clear metaphor for drug addiction, but it's done with such a deft and delicate touch that it works perfectly. It also captures my East Village, to the life.
*** In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers [2001]
Much more in the paranormal-action vein than most of these tales. A mysterious albino hitchhiker, Dancy Flammarion, who claims to speak to an angel, is picked up by a sinister trio (who may be vampires) and taken to an old house tenanted by what may be a coven of cannibal witches. It feels like the opening of a novel - and, indeed, is a prequel to Kiernan's novel 'Threshold' (and, I suppose, 'Low Red Moon,' which I haven't yet read.)
*** Night Story 1973 (with Poppy Z. Brite) [2001]
A prequel to Poppy Z. Brite's 'Lost Souls,' introducing the reader to the character of Ghost, as a child.
*** From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6 [2002]
An entry into the Lovecraft mythos. A researcher discovers an overlooked fossil in a drawer - a fossil which may change our understanding of evolution completely - which happens to have come from Innsmouth. She takes a train to Massachusetts to investigate the locale, but her plans are obstructed by an assortment of weird characters.
*** Andromeda Among the Stones [2002]
Another Lovecraft-influenced tale, of a family whose stolen knowledge has left them guarding a portal into unknown realms... a task which will tear them apart (perhaps literally.)
** La Peau Verte [2003]
This one didn't really do it for me. A very fractured, non-linear narrative infused with far too much silly absinthe mythos. (It's just a liqueur, folks...) A costumed woman, hired as a party entertainer, waits in the green room, and thinks about visits to her therapist, at which she talks about her childhood, when she may or may not have murdered her sister, and may or may not have seen fairies.
**** Riding the White Bull [2003]
Sc-fi noir. (And very good). Dietrich is the (of course) alcoholic investigator. The things he's seen have brought him to the edge. His ex-girlfriend has opted to become a cyborg. And what he's assigned to is some kind of top-secret alien plague (with definite hints of Lovecraftian horrors) that may destroy humanity... Nice and angsty.
*** Waycross [2003]
Another Dancy Flammarion story. Here, the albino monster hunter seems to have been led into trouble by her angel. Although she slew an ancient, inhuman sorceress upon arriving at a dilapidated trailer, that witch wasn't what she came for. And now, the being that she had intended to kill has captured her.
The ending here seemed a little too easy.
**** The Dead and the Moonstruck [2004]
Although quite literally ghoulish, this is a surprisingly sweet story. Ghouls kidnap human children, leaving changelings in their place, and teach them magic, alongside their own children. However, if a human child fails a test, the child is eaten. The Ghoul children face no such danger. Starling Jane's best friend is a ghoul, but she's terrified to face her next test...
***** The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles [2004]
For over seventy-five years, the young girl called Pearl by her father, has been locked in an attic by supernatural beings, hostage to her father's forbidden alchemy. Time only runs for her when she has a visitor, an exceedingly rare occurrence. As the tale progresses, we see that her cruel fate reflects that which her father did to untold others. Lovely and truly eerie.
**** The Dry Salvages [2004]
The Worm in My Mind’s Eye [2004]
A re-read. I think I appreciated this more, the second time around. A small ground of scientists is sent to join a research team already at a remote moon. When they arrive, they discover that something has gone horribly wrong: the humans are missing or insane, and the humanoid robots are the only ones keeping the mission afloat. Told by a surviving member of the mission, looking back on the events from a distance of many years, the story explores some interesting and complex aspects of what it means to be human, with synthetic, 'normal' and genetically-modified characters, and no easy answers provided. It also serves up some good old-fashioned Lovecraftian horror.
'The Worm in my Mind's Eye' is a coda to the story, exploring an incident which is mentioned in passing in the main story.
**** Houses Under the Sea [2004]
A journalist, after the fact, tries to make sense of how his girlfriend, a cult leader, pulled a Jim Jones and led her followers to a watery death - without giving him a clue as to her plans. But as he tries to piece hints together, he has to admit that the evidence is all in favor of something truly weird and strange...
3.52 average rounds up to 4 stars...
December 29, 2024
“It is not the task of a writer to 'tell all,' or even to decide what to leave in, but to decide what to leave out. Whatever remains, that meager sum of this profane division, that's the bastard chimera we call a 'story.' I am not building, but cutting away. And all stories, whether advertised as truth or admitted falsehoods, are fictions, cleft from the objective facts by the aforementioned action of cutting away. A pound of flesh. A pile of sawdust. Discarded chips of Carrara marble. And what's left over.” - from ‘Houses Under the Sea’ (my personal fave in this collection along with ‘Onion’)
3.5 stars, rounded up. As is every short story collection, a bit uneven, coupled with being organized chronologically/biographically so the earlier work is understandably rougher and less confident. But even the later works rarely have a conclusion - and eeeevery story is full of quotes and bookended with epitaphs, as I would guess much of my writing would be. Later on, the author is more comfortable with their own intelligence, and that
of their readers.
Lots of very interesting ideas, rich worlds and multi faceted characters - but plot? Not so much. I think these open ended stories will come back to me often though, and I am glad for this introduction to a new author.
CW: all and every bodily fluid, viscera, all the various and sundry horrible things humans beings can do to one another and themselves
3.5 stars, rounded up. As is every short story collection, a bit uneven, coupled with being organized chronologically/biographically so the earlier work is understandably rougher and less confident. But even the later works rarely have a conclusion - and eeeevery story is full of quotes and bookended with epitaphs, as I would guess much of my writing would be. Later on, the author is more comfortable with their own intelligence, and that
of their readers.
Lots of very interesting ideas, rich worlds and multi faceted characters - but plot? Not so much. I think these open ended stories will come back to me often though, and I am glad for this introduction to a new author.
CW: all and every bodily fluid, viscera, all the various and sundry horrible things humans beings can do to one another and themselves
August 19, 2021
Short story collection spanning Kiernan's career...
VOL.1
PT. 1 • 1993-1999
Emptiness Spoke Eloquent [1993] ⭐⭐⭐
Two Worlds and In Between [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889) [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
Tears Seven Times Salt [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun [1995] ⭐⭐⭐
Estate [1996] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rats Live on No Evil Star [1997] ⭐⭐⭐
Salmagundi (New York City, 1981) ⭐⭐
Postcards from the King of Tides [1997] ⭐⭐⭐
Giants in the Earth
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire [1995-1999] ⭐
PT. 2 • 2000-2004
Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) [2000] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Road of Pins [2001] ⭐⭐⭐
Onion [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Night Story 1973 (w/Poppy Z. Brite) [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6 [2002] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Andromeda Among the Stones [2002] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
La Peau Verte [2003] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Riding the White Bull [2003] ⭐⭐⭐
Waycross [2003] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Dead and the Moonstruck [2004] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Daughter of the Four of Pentacles [2004] ⭐⭐⭐
The Dry Salvages [2004]
Houses Under the Sea [2004] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
VOL.1
PT. 1 • 1993-1999
Emptiness Spoke Eloquent [1993] ⭐⭐⭐
Two Worlds and In Between [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889) [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
Tears Seven Times Salt [1994] ⭐⭐⭐
Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun [1995] ⭐⭐⭐
Estate [1996] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rats Live on No Evil Star [1997] ⭐⭐⭐
Salmagundi (New York City, 1981) ⭐⭐
Postcards from the King of Tides [1997] ⭐⭐⭐
Giants in the Earth
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire [1995-1999] ⭐
PT. 2 • 2000-2004
Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) [2000] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Road of Pins [2001] ⭐⭐⭐
Onion [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Night Story 1973 (w/Poppy Z. Brite) [2001] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6 [2002] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Andromeda Among the Stones [2002] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
La Peau Verte [2003] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Riding the White Bull [2003] ⭐⭐⭐
Waycross [2003] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Dead and the Moonstruck [2004] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Daughter of the Four of Pentacles [2004] ⭐⭐⭐
The Dry Salvages [2004]
Houses Under the Sea [2004] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
January 19, 2016
A very entertaining (and at times exhausting: 26 stories is a lot of stories) read. The big surprise this book had for me was that I found the science fiction-orientated stories in the second half to be more enjoyable than most of the dark fantasy/Weird Lovecraftian fiction style that many (though not all) of the other stories fall into. It almost makes me wonder why Kiernan has yet to write a sci-fi novel...
If I had to pick a few stories that I thought were the book's highlights, I would say "Estate," "Spindleshanks," "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6," "Andromeda Among the Stars," "Riding the White Bull," "The Dead and the Moonstruck," "The Dry Salvages," and "Houses Under the Sea."
If I had to pick a few stories that I thought were the book's highlights, I would say "Estate," "Spindleshanks," "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6," "Andromeda Among the Stars," "Riding the White Bull," "The Dead and the Moonstruck," "The Dry Salvages," and "Houses Under the Sea."
January 6, 2012
I’ve read Two Worlds and In Between twice now and I’m somewhat surprised at how underwhelmed I am by it. CRK is stone-cold brilliant, she really is. But I’ve discovered that I am less enamoured of her earlier work than I was when I was a teenager. Which is not to say that there aren’t stories that still have the capacity to sucker punch me in the best possible way. Oh Dancy.
The other thing that depresses the hell out of me about this one is the amount of typos and errors there are. I’ve spent a pretty penny on Subterranean Press books over the years, and I’ve never noticed this problem before. For something that is meant to be a definitive “best of” volume, it was incredibly disappointing.
The other thing that depresses the hell out of me about this one is the amount of typos and errors there are. I’ve spent a pretty penny on Subterranean Press books over the years, and I’ve never noticed this problem before. For something that is meant to be a definitive “best of” volume, it was incredibly disappointing.
November 21, 2016
I enjoyed this book alot and I'm pleased to have a copy in my collection. As is the way with most fiction collections some stories I enjoyed more than others. Whilst that is the case there is one thing consistent throughout all of these tales in this book, Kiernan’s prose style. There is no doubt in my mind that she can write beautifully. I do think that it is a book to dip in and out of and I'm glad that is the way I chose to read this collection. I have a copy of volume 2 and I'll read it in the same way. I'll sum this up by saying that if you enjoy weird genre fiction then this book is essential in my opinion.
December 17, 2015
This is a great anthology for fans of horror - full of Caitlin Kiernan's lush, disturbing work. She has a real way with words - glorious description so overgrown that at times it can be hard to figure out what's actually going on - but so immersive that you just sink into the stories. My one quibble is that her short works seem incomplete - she's great at setting up an atmosphere of dread, but her stories often shy away from delivering the final blow. Based on one of her post-story comments, I think that's intentional on her part.
My Favorites:
Rats Live On No Evil Star - A woman's slightly cuckoo neighbor sees aliens. Or does he?
Onion - A young couple is united by a strange secret. When they were children, each witnessed a portal into another world.
Andromeda Among the Stones - A girl makes a terrible sacrifice to protect the world.
The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles - An alchemist's daughter, stuck in time, in an attic with a bunch of time bubbles - hard to explain, very cool.
The Dry Salvages - A novella in which an interstellar exploration goes horribly awry.
Recommended for fans of:
HP Lovecraft
The Monstrumologist Series
Welcome to Night Vale
Poe
My Favorites:
Rats Live On No Evil Star - A woman's slightly cuckoo neighbor sees aliens. Or does he?
Onion - A young couple is united by a strange secret. When they were children, each witnessed a portal into another world.
Andromeda Among the Stones - A girl makes a terrible sacrifice to protect the world.
The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles - An alchemist's daughter, stuck in time, in an attic with a bunch of time bubbles - hard to explain, very cool.
The Dry Salvages - A novella in which an interstellar exploration goes horribly awry.
Recommended for fans of:
HP Lovecraft
The Monstrumologist Series
Welcome to Night Vale
Poe
October 14, 2015
3.5
He leído varias historias de Caitlín R. Kiernan en antologías temáticas, y es tan popular entre el mundillo de la fantasía oscura que tenía muchas ganas de leer algo sólo de ella.
No sé si fué una buena idea mía empezar con esta colección. El libro es bueno, en el sentido de que muestra cronológicamente varios cuentos con breves comentarios acerca del proceso que llevó escribirlos y en general da una interesante perspectiva de la evolución que ha tenido como autora. Sin embargo, creo que eso es algo que se apreciaría más si ya se tuviera una idea más clara de su estilo actual.
Los cuentos son buenos en su mayoría, aunque un pelín repetitivos y frecuentemente se sienten incompletos. En uno solo, un final abrupto o ambiguo funcionaría bien pero cuando se vuelve un patrón como que pierde el encanto. Pero hay mucho, mucho material y en general es bastante disfrutable.
He leído varias historias de Caitlín R. Kiernan en antologías temáticas, y es tan popular entre el mundillo de la fantasía oscura que tenía muchas ganas de leer algo sólo de ella.
No sé si fué una buena idea mía empezar con esta colección. El libro es bueno, en el sentido de que muestra cronológicamente varios cuentos con breves comentarios acerca del proceso que llevó escribirlos y en general da una interesante perspectiva de la evolución que ha tenido como autora. Sin embargo, creo que eso es algo que se apreciaría más si ya se tuviera una idea más clara de su estilo actual.
Los cuentos son buenos en su mayoría, aunque un pelín repetitivos y frecuentemente se sienten incompletos. En uno solo, un final abrupto o ambiguo funcionaría bien pero cuando se vuelve un patrón como que pierde el encanto. Pero hay mucho, mucho material y en general es bastante disfrutable.
August 15, 2021
Kind of a mixed bag but I guess that's to be expected with so many different stories that span such a large period of time. Ended up skipping a few towards the beginning because I wasn't in the mood to listen to some of her more explicitly sexual stuff and also skipped a few towards the end once they turned more sci-fi but there were still several that I enjoyed. Would definitely recommend listening to her stories rather than reading them since they are kind of rambling and unstructured and it's easier for me personally to just sit back and kind of let them wash over me rather than actively reading them.
August 8, 2012
I love Caitlin Kiernan. I especially loved "Houses Under the Sea" in this very large, very delicious book.
May 13, 2021
I hadn’t heard of Caitlyn Kiernan prior to reading this collection, which caught my eye because of its striking cover (the Audible one with the skull and pistachio green background)
The main complaint from other readers online is that the works here are a little too open-ended, plotless, or unfinished. Kiernan is the kind of writer whose pieces are less in the way of tightly-plotted stories and more in the way of brief, artistic jumps into sensuously-colored, unsettling nightmare spaces. There are slightly out-of-focus, half-understood horrors, well-crafted settings and characters, and a sense that these people, places, and things could fill a whole novel, if the author was so inclined. But Kiernan is content to dwell with their visions for a while, reach some place of artistic satisfaction, then move on, leaving many questions still unanswered.
I can see where the complaints come from, but they’re such a damn good writer (the singular “they” being the author’s preferred pronoun, rather than “she”) that I was happy to spend time with the characters and dark, vividly-imagined worlds, just letting them soak in. Plot usually matters to me less than writing and these pieces play with gothic, urban punk, sci-fi, noir, and Lovecraftian in a well-stylized way that I enjoyed a lot. A social media friend pointed out that Kiernan’s a paleontologist and that definitely tracks; the rest of their biography is pretty interesting.
I thought that the pieces, presented in chronological order of writing, got better as the collection went along. Highlights:
“Two Worlds and In Between”: What does it feel like to be in the place between human and zombie, as the infection sets in? This piece explores that.
“Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun”: I’m not even sure if there was a supernatural element in this piece (maybe?), whose POV jumps between denizens of a worse-than-seedy Louisiana brothel. But it’s so, so good in its hard, stylistic brutality, Quentin Tarantino minus the irony.
“Onion”: this one ends at a point where many other writers would have gone on with the story, but the writing and the sense of creepiness reeled me in completely. I wanted more, but what was there was delicious. A significant character does show up in other pieces, though.
“Riding the White Bull”: In this gritty cyber-noir piece, a man still haunted by a mission to the moon Europa now works as an agent on a special police force, one that deals with fallout in NYC from what humanity found out on Jupiter’s satellite.
“Waycross”: Dancy, the albino monster-slaying girl whose shadowy guiding angel sends her on dangerous missions with almost no intel and only her faith in her not-very-forthcoming supernatural handler as armor, is a great character. So is the monster she’s sent after. So is the talking blackbird that exclaims things like “Lord and butter!” The author is definitely from the South.
“The Daughter of the Four Pentacles”: Call me old-fashioned, but I enjoy a story in which someone fights with her best friend about whether he will eat her if she dies in a supernatural rite of passage. It’s set in Providence, RI.
“The Dry Salvages”: This SF short novel, about an expedition to an extrasolar planet (one detected in early 2000s), is the gem of the collection, IMO. Such excellent writing. Not many stories imagine androids so well.
An author I’m glad I found and would like to read more of — and I’m honestly surprised I’d never heard of them before. While the de-emphasis on plot might not be to everyone’s taste, Kiernan is a weird fiction master. The audiobook is performed by a varied cast and I thought they were well-chosen.
The main complaint from other readers online is that the works here are a little too open-ended, plotless, or unfinished. Kiernan is the kind of writer whose pieces are less in the way of tightly-plotted stories and more in the way of brief, artistic jumps into sensuously-colored, unsettling nightmare spaces. There are slightly out-of-focus, half-understood horrors, well-crafted settings and characters, and a sense that these people, places, and things could fill a whole novel, if the author was so inclined. But Kiernan is content to dwell with their visions for a while, reach some place of artistic satisfaction, then move on, leaving many questions still unanswered.
I can see where the complaints come from, but they’re such a damn good writer (the singular “they” being the author’s preferred pronoun, rather than “she”) that I was happy to spend time with the characters and dark, vividly-imagined worlds, just letting them soak in. Plot usually matters to me less than writing and these pieces play with gothic, urban punk, sci-fi, noir, and Lovecraftian in a well-stylized way that I enjoyed a lot. A social media friend pointed out that Kiernan’s a paleontologist and that definitely tracks; the rest of their biography is pretty interesting.
I thought that the pieces, presented in chronological order of writing, got better as the collection went along. Highlights:
“Two Worlds and In Between”: What does it feel like to be in the place between human and zombie, as the infection sets in? This piece explores that.
“Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun”: I’m not even sure if there was a supernatural element in this piece (maybe?), whose POV jumps between denizens of a worse-than-seedy Louisiana brothel. But it’s so, so good in its hard, stylistic brutality, Quentin Tarantino minus the irony.
“Onion”: this one ends at a point where many other writers would have gone on with the story, but the writing and the sense of creepiness reeled me in completely. I wanted more, but what was there was delicious. A significant character does show up in other pieces, though.
“Riding the White Bull”: In this gritty cyber-noir piece, a man still haunted by a mission to the moon Europa now works as an agent on a special police force, one that deals with fallout in NYC from what humanity found out on Jupiter’s satellite.
“Waycross”: Dancy, the albino monster-slaying girl whose shadowy guiding angel sends her on dangerous missions with almost no intel and only her faith in her not-very-forthcoming supernatural handler as armor, is a great character. So is the monster she’s sent after. So is the talking blackbird that exclaims things like “Lord and butter!” The author is definitely from the South.
“The Daughter of the Four Pentacles”: Call me old-fashioned, but I enjoy a story in which someone fights with her best friend about whether he will eat her if she dies in a supernatural rite of passage. It’s set in Providence, RI.
“The Dry Salvages”: This SF short novel, about an expedition to an extrasolar planet (one detected in early 2000s), is the gem of the collection, IMO. Such excellent writing. Not many stories imagine androids so well.
An author I’m glad I found and would like to read more of — and I’m honestly surprised I’d never heard of them before. While the de-emphasis on plot might not be to everyone’s taste, Kiernan is a weird fiction master. The audiobook is performed by a varied cast and I thought they were well-chosen.
April 17, 2020
The Invisible World Among Us is a collection of short stories by author Caitlin R. Kiernan, which were published between 1993 and 2004. We have these stories divided into two parts, the first, from 1993 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2004. Through from this, we can see the great evolution in Kiernan's poetic prose, seeing how the author's voice develops throughout her narratives.
Caitlin uses many fantastic elements in his stories, from Lovecraftian mythology to vampires, cannibal witches, cults to gods, shamanism and the appearance of demons and monsters in various forms, but also addressing urban fantasy at many times. This duality in writing is one of the most engaging things in the book, because with that we always notice a sudden change of scenery, at the same time that we feel that we are in the same fantastic universe that Kiernan builds. In addition, we also have characters that appear in multiple tales, growing the impression of a possible interconnected universe, making their narrative not so traditional and always instigating the reader to want to discover more and more.
The point that can touch the reader the most is how Caitlin manages to transform elements of our reality into deep themes through a fantastic and fantasy perspective, such as, for example, a metaphor for transsexualism in Lágrimas Sete Vezes Sal, where the protagonist has the feeling of not belonging to the body itself, and in the story A Essa Água, which is based on a sad story of sexual violence and the murder of a girl.
There is no specific genre that determines the narrative of Kiernan's stories, thanks to its writing throughout all the dark stories, the feeling that a certain scenario is in itself frightening is growing more and more, without having to leave it written explicitly, and this is one of the biggest positive points in history. The perception of the bizarre, the shocking and the discomfort occurs line by line, paragraph by paragraph, and when you realize it, the story is over.
It was a bit of a heavy reading but it surprised me, and it can be very pleasing to fans of horror and science fiction! It is worth checking.
Caitlin uses many fantastic elements in his stories, from Lovecraftian mythology to vampires, cannibal witches, cults to gods, shamanism and the appearance of demons and monsters in various forms, but also addressing urban fantasy at many times. This duality in writing is one of the most engaging things in the book, because with that we always notice a sudden change of scenery, at the same time that we feel that we are in the same fantastic universe that Kiernan builds. In addition, we also have characters that appear in multiple tales, growing the impression of a possible interconnected universe, making their narrative not so traditional and always instigating the reader to want to discover more and more.
The point that can touch the reader the most is how Caitlin manages to transform elements of our reality into deep themes through a fantastic and fantasy perspective, such as, for example, a metaphor for transsexualism in Lágrimas Sete Vezes Sal, where the protagonist has the feeling of not belonging to the body itself, and in the story A Essa Água, which is based on a sad story of sexual violence and the murder of a girl.
There is no specific genre that determines the narrative of Kiernan's stories, thanks to its writing throughout all the dark stories, the feeling that a certain scenario is in itself frightening is growing more and more, without having to leave it written explicitly, and this is one of the biggest positive points in history. The perception of the bizarre, the shocking and the discomfort occurs line by line, paragraph by paragraph, and when you realize it, the story is over.
It was a bit of a heavy reading but it surprised me, and it can be very pleasing to fans of horror and science fiction! It is worth checking.
May 5, 2023
While there are great stories in this collection, it is watching Kiernan develop from a talented writer to a master of her craft that makes this a five-star book. The stories stretch from 1993 to 2004, beginning with her spin on common genre tropes like vampires, zombies, and ghosts, but soon mature into compact and layered evocations of the weird. Her brief comments at the end of each story tell about the writing and reception and hints of her stylistic evolution, such as in 2000 when she was learning “to whisper,” or in the very noticeable “turning point” in her voice, “a shift that was conscious, in part, and unconscious, in part” with “Andromeda Among the Stones” from 2002.
Neil Gaiman called her “the poet and bard of the wasted and lost,” an apt description of Kiernan’s lyrical and sensuous prose as well as the personalities of her protagonists. In many of the best stories here—the aforementioned “Andromeda,” “Onion” and “From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6,” that share a character, the subtle “Houses Under the Sea,” and her SF stories of briefly connecting with alien consciousnesses, the future-noir “Riding the White Bull” and the elegiac novella, “The Dry Salvages”—the characters experience an enigmatic or numinous event and then have to process the fallout of incorporating this new reality into their psyches.
The narrator of "Houses Under the Sea" seems to describe Kiernan’s philosophy of writing stories, “it is not the task of the writer to ‘tell all,’ or even to decide what to leave in, but to decide what to leave out. Whatever remains, that meager sum of this profane division, that’s the bastard chimera we call a ‘story.’” Kiernan is a dark conjurer of haunting and inexplicable chimeras, and this collection delineates how she became sui generis.
Neil Gaiman called her “the poet and bard of the wasted and lost,” an apt description of Kiernan’s lyrical and sensuous prose as well as the personalities of her protagonists. In many of the best stories here—the aforementioned “Andromeda,” “Onion” and “From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6,” that share a character, the subtle “Houses Under the Sea,” and her SF stories of briefly connecting with alien consciousnesses, the future-noir “Riding the White Bull” and the elegiac novella, “The Dry Salvages”—the characters experience an enigmatic or numinous event and then have to process the fallout of incorporating this new reality into their psyches.
The narrator of "Houses Under the Sea" seems to describe Kiernan’s philosophy of writing stories, “it is not the task of the writer to ‘tell all,’ or even to decide what to leave in, but to decide what to leave out. Whatever remains, that meager sum of this profane division, that’s the bastard chimera we call a ‘story.’” Kiernan is a dark conjurer of haunting and inexplicable chimeras, and this collection delineates how she became sui generis.
May 24, 2018
This is an excellent sampling of the author's short fiction work across the breadth of her career. I found this read simultaneously invigorating and aggravating. Kiernan's early stories are incredibly rich landscapes of imagery and her prose is darkly musical, each story a song. However, just as you expect the song to reach its crescendo, it stops abruptly. Not so much an abrupt ending, it's almost as if she simply set the story down and walked away from it. I was deeply dissatisfied. Not all the stories were this way, but enough that I was becoming frustrated the further I read. It's like having an amazing three-course meal, only for the dessert to never show up.
The latter half of the book, however, makes up for that. The stories are more focused, the prose still rich, but not tending towards shades of purple, and the endings are written as endings, even if some are left open-ended, rather than just stopping. The Dry Salvage in particular is a descent into madness that would be the envy of Lovecraft.
The latter half of the book, however, makes up for that. The stories are more focused, the prose still rich, but not tending towards shades of purple, and the endings are written as endings, even if some are left open-ended, rather than just stopping. The Dry Salvage in particular is a descent into madness that would be the envy of Lovecraft.
July 7, 2017
The first half of the book is gold. Second half, save for a few odd choices by the author, is good too. Overall, this definitely shows her best works from early in her career, but she left out a few in those times that shocked me that she didn't add. Anyway, this volume, for me, is better than Volume 2. But get both. They look amazing on a bookshelf side by side.
December 20, 2023
A great grab bag of her short stories with little contextual footnotes after each one which I appreciated. They all seemed to be 'mood' pieces. Little windows into different worlds. I had trouble following a few of them but the writing always wove a spell.
July 1, 2020
I didn't like it at all.
Good ideas but no endings.
Good ideas but no endings.
July 17, 2020
Ms. Kiernan's prose is really evocative, but for some reason, I was unable to finish this book of short stories.
November 3, 2020
If you haven't already read work by this author, do not start here. Some stories were great.
November 15, 2022
mto bom
May 5, 2023
To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889) only.
Read
February 8, 2024Picked this book up because of its cover and ended up liking it. Never heard of Caitlin Kiernan before, but her writing is like what I imagine Stephen King’s dreams are like.
March 25, 2012
Two Worlds and In Between is an absolutely massive collection, as befits the author. Kiernan is, in my opinion, one of the premier talents of modern dark fiction, and a career overview such as this is long overdue. Unfortunately, many of her previous collections are rather hard to find, so this definitely fills a need in the market.
The book is divided into two sections: early work (1993-1999) and later (2000-2004). It may go without saying that the second half of the book is the superior, but Kiernan's early material really only suffers in comparison to her own later work. I'd definitely recommend reading all the pieces in order, as I think it gives a really good idea of how Kiernan has grown as a talent.
Part 1, although it's definitely the work of an author still finding her voice, features some very interesting work. "Rats Live On No Evil Star" (don't you love that title?) and "Postcards From the King of Tides", in particular, are outstanding. Some of the other early tales don't hold up as well. "Emptiness Spoke Eloquent" feels to me (as Kiernan herself mentions in her afterword) like the work of an author who wants to write something more powerful than her ability can currently convey. Many of the other stories in Part 1 suffer from the same difficulties. Again, I'm definitely not saying these are bad stories, they just feel a bit undercooked. [Side note: "Tears Seven Times Salt", which I read in 1998 or so, was my first exposure to Kiernan's fiction. While I was very impressed at the time, and felt that I was witnessing the coming of a major talent, the story doesn't seem as transfixing fourteen years later.]
And now for Part 2, where the real pleasure of this collection resides. This half of the book could easily stand shoulder to shoulder with classics like Klein's Dark Gods or Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer. The stories contained herein are uniformly dark, rich and powerful works, in which Kiernan displays a masterful command of style and language. I could wax rhapsodic about any number of these selections (and frequently do, given half a chance), but in the interest of brevity, I'll confine my most glowing praise to those I feel are the best. "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6" is, along with most of the fiction in Part 2, a modern Lovecraftian tale written with a careful eye for nuance and atmosphere. The Dry Salvages is a short science fiction novel which builds on the themes of the earlier "Riding the White Bull" to deliver a chilling tale of first contact. I was thrilled to be able to finally read this book, as I'd never been able to find a copy when it was published earlier. I was not disappointed at all.
The final story in this collection, "Houses Under the Sea" is also its crowning jewel. It is without a doubt one of the finest works of dark fiction I've ever had the pleasure to experience. The story touches on the themes of lost love, damaged psyches and cosmic horror wrapped in the post-mortem account of a suicidal cult. You owe it to yourself to read this one.
I really cannot recommend this collection highly enough. The stories themselves are nearly all fantastic, and the chance to witness Kiernan's growth as an artist and prose stylist is fascinating. If you are at all a fan of modern horror or dark fantasy and haven't been acquainted with Kiernan's work already, you simply must read this book.
The book is divided into two sections: early work (1993-1999) and later (2000-2004). It may go without saying that the second half of the book is the superior, but Kiernan's early material really only suffers in comparison to her own later work. I'd definitely recommend reading all the pieces in order, as I think it gives a really good idea of how Kiernan has grown as a talent.
Part 1, although it's definitely the work of an author still finding her voice, features some very interesting work. "Rats Live On No Evil Star" (don't you love that title?) and "Postcards From the King of Tides", in particular, are outstanding. Some of the other early tales don't hold up as well. "Emptiness Spoke Eloquent" feels to me (as Kiernan herself mentions in her afterword) like the work of an author who wants to write something more powerful than her ability can currently convey. Many of the other stories in Part 1 suffer from the same difficulties. Again, I'm definitely not saying these are bad stories, they just feel a bit undercooked. [Side note: "Tears Seven Times Salt", which I read in 1998 or so, was my first exposure to Kiernan's fiction. While I was very impressed at the time, and felt that I was witnessing the coming of a major talent, the story doesn't seem as transfixing fourteen years later.]
And now for Part 2, where the real pleasure of this collection resides. This half of the book could easily stand shoulder to shoulder with classics like Klein's Dark Gods or Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer. The stories contained herein are uniformly dark, rich and powerful works, in which Kiernan displays a masterful command of style and language. I could wax rhapsodic about any number of these selections (and frequently do, given half a chance), but in the interest of brevity, I'll confine my most glowing praise to those I feel are the best. "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6" is, along with most of the fiction in Part 2, a modern Lovecraftian tale written with a careful eye for nuance and atmosphere. The Dry Salvages is a short science fiction novel which builds on the themes of the earlier "Riding the White Bull" to deliver a chilling tale of first contact. I was thrilled to be able to finally read this book, as I'd never been able to find a copy when it was published earlier. I was not disappointed at all.
The final story in this collection, "Houses Under the Sea" is also its crowning jewel. It is without a doubt one of the finest works of dark fiction I've ever had the pleasure to experience. The story touches on the themes of lost love, damaged psyches and cosmic horror wrapped in the post-mortem account of a suicidal cult. You owe it to yourself to read this one.
I really cannot recommend this collection highly enough. The stories themselves are nearly all fantastic, and the chance to witness Kiernan's growth as an artist and prose stylist is fascinating. If you are at all a fan of modern horror or dark fantasy and haven't been acquainted with Kiernan's work already, you simply must read this book.
August 4, 2012
I saw her at a panel at Readercon (I did the "dip my toe in the water for free on Thursday night" plan), and was just really impressed with how she talked about art-- it's clearly a life or death thing for her. So I found this "Greatest Hits" collection at the library and checked it out. I really enjoyed it. She is insanely talented--so much so that I really liked the early stories, in which nothing really happens. To say that I am not usually a fan of such stories is an understatement. But Kiernan is just so good at creating dread and a sense of the eerie that even the relatively plot-free stories really got in my head. It was also fun to watch her style evolve through the stories, and her brief afterwords after every story are actually pretty illuminating.
Having said all this, it was due at the library and I took it back without finishing because it's a massive volume, and after spending two weeks with Kiernan's excellent work, I just needed a change of pace. Still, highly recommended, and I'll definitely be checking out more of her work.
It's a shame that a book with such a striking cover turned out to be so poorly copy edited. It's not exactly rife with typos, but I had about a dozen pop out at me, which is pretty shocking in a professionally published book and really disappointing in what's supposed to be a major career retrospective. I saw in the back that Subterranean put out a limited edition for 60 bucks. If I'd paid for a collectable like that and gotten something with such sloppy copy editing, I'd be mightily pissed. As it was, I was pulled out of some really excellent stories by glaring errors.
Having said all this, it was due at the library and I took it back without finishing because it's a massive volume, and after spending two weeks with Kiernan's excellent work, I just needed a change of pace. Still, highly recommended, and I'll definitely be checking out more of her work.
It's a shame that a book with such a striking cover turned out to be so poorly copy edited. It's not exactly rife with typos, but I had about a dozen pop out at me, which is pretty shocking in a professionally published book and really disappointing in what's supposed to be a major career retrospective. I saw in the back that Subterranean put out a limited edition for 60 bucks. If I'd paid for a collectable like that and gotten something with such sloppy copy editing, I'd be mightily pissed. As it was, I was pulled out of some really excellent stories by glaring errors.
January 1, 2015
A fantastic "weird fiction" and fantasy author. This is a great compendium. Not one story is bad, and many are brilliant. I tend to think her science fiction is the best, but her other tales that tend more toward gothic horror (an area that usually does not have much interest to me) are also great. A whole lot of weirdness and horror going on here. If you can get past the excess of the “bodily fluids” and the fact that many of the characters are really messed up, you will find stories that are downright unsettling. My favorites:
- Postcards from the King of Tides
- Onion
- In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers
- Riding the White Bull
- Waycross
- The Dry Salvages
- Houses Under the Sea
It is hard to stop - but I will- otherwise I will just be listing all the stories!
- Postcards from the King of Tides
- Onion
- In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers
- Riding the White Bull
- Waycross
- The Dry Salvages
- Houses Under the Sea
It is hard to stop - but I will- otherwise I will just be listing all the stories!
December 31, 2011
This book is one of those that really makes me wish for a 10 star or 1/2 star rating ability, it's a good solid 9/10 book.
A lot of this I'd read before having already been in collected Kiernan works (I have everything she's published through Subterranean) but it was worth purchasing to read those again (I have a habit of very little re-reading) and to read the ones I haven't.
For those familiar with Kiernan's work then know to expect a dark and twisted world, that to many could easily be seen as depressing.
A lot of this I'd read before having already been in collected Kiernan works (I have everything she's published through Subterranean) but it was worth purchasing to read those again (I have a habit of very little re-reading) and to read the ones I haven't.
For those familiar with Kiernan's work then know to expect a dark and twisted world, that to many could easily be seen as depressing.
Currently reading
May 17, 2012Received this today, Nov. 14, 2011. A beautiful hardcover. And since it's the "deluxe limited," signed edition (#440/600) it seems I got the booklet "C is For Crimson Alphabet (Another Primer)" thrown in as well. Coooooool:-D
I so look forward to delve into this one.
MAY 17, 2012:
"The Worm In My Mind's Eye":
Very short, but scintillating, story. Very dark, sci-fi like, without being restricted to sci-fi alone. Don't know if I "got it", though. Cool. I liked it.
I so look forward to delve into this one.
MAY 17, 2012:
"The Worm In My Mind's Eye":
Very short, but scintillating, story. Very dark, sci-fi like, without being restricted to sci-fi alone. Don't know if I "got it", though. Cool. I liked it.
March 24, 2012
Kiernan is my favourite author. She mixes the real with the imaginable (and maybe real) so convincingly. Her characters are always believable, and absolutely solid. She pulls you into the story and doesn't spit you out until she's ready to let you go. As far as this collection goes, it's a great way to get into her work.
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