Scan barcode
A review by audreyintheheadphones
Children of Lovecraft by Ellen Datlow
4.0
It's such a cliché to refer to a collection of short stories as a mixed bag. Pulling together works by different authors only ups the chances that some readers like some works, and some readers don't. Here's my take on this collection:
Siobhan Carroll's "Nesters" is a true, terrifying, eco-gothic based in part on The Dust Bowl and I loved it, even though it was hard to enjoy. (4/5)
"Little Ease" by Gemma Files featured an interesting ex-con insect terminator and what lives in the walls of buildings. Nearly worked, and maybe worked towards the end in terms of its claustrophobia and imagery? I'll have to re-read it, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. (3/5)
"The Supplement" by John Langan. No, dude. Just... no. It's an old trope(to quote R Stewart: "You think they call those books 'forbidden' just for fun? Now just look at you. All those tentacles.") , and here not executed in any new or exciting way. (2/5)
"Mortensen's Muse" by Orrin Gray: I see what we were going for here (Hollywood debauchery, Inside Edition-style), but again, way too much. Too many things that wanted to be clever asides but turned confusing. Ending plot twist didn't. (2/5)
"Oblivion Mode" by Laird Barron: Weird, in an interesting way. I really enjoyed the setting and the world-building, in that I'm a sucker for Lovecraft in high fantasy-style. Definitely need to read it again. (4/5)
"Mr. Doornail" by Maria Dahvana Headley: LOVED IT SIDEWAYS. An old-fashioned fairy tale, filled with bad fairies and seawater, sticky with blood and featuring fifty heroes who happen to be goats. Best short story of the year. Can't decide whether to embroider the whole thing on a series of pillows to scatter around the house. (5/5)
Richard Kadrey's "The Secrets of Insects": Niiiiiiiiiice. A weird cop story meets John Carpenter's The Fog. It just kept getting better and better, and didn't start out from a bad place. (5/5)
"Excerpts from An Eschatology Quadrille" by Caitlín R. Kiernan: It's hard to say any author is re-treading familiar ground when so much of their work deals with entangled themes and revisitings. Don't want to say more and spoil it. (4/5)
"Jules and Richard" by David Nickle: Lukewarm lamia-themed mess without explanation. (1/5)
"Glasses" by Brian Evenson: Strongly remniscent of Joan Aiken and Roald Dahl but with less of a punch. Again, a tale of glasses that let you see other worlds has been done before and better. (2/5)
"When the Stitches Come Undone" by A.C. Wise: Spectacular eco-gothic pulling history and weirdness and land together for the protagonist to fall into and through. Bonus for a unique twist on missing children. Loved it. (5/5)
"On These Blackened Shores of Time" by Brian Hodge: Someone got me Lovecraft in a sinkhole! How did you know? THANK YOU. (4/5)
Livia Llewellyn's "Bright Crown of Joy": Chunks of intriguing dystopia -- and things disguised as dystopia -- that the reader has to assemble as they go. A bit like House of Leaves (5/5)
(Did not read "Eternal Troutland" as it mainly involves an old dog and that's a no-swim area for me. Namaste.)
Siobhan Carroll's "Nesters" is a true, terrifying, eco-gothic based in part on The Dust Bowl and I loved it, even though it was hard to enjoy. (4/5)
"Little Ease" by Gemma Files featured an interesting ex-con insect terminator and what lives in the walls of buildings. Nearly worked, and maybe worked towards the end in terms of its claustrophobia and imagery? I'll have to re-read it, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. (3/5)
"The Supplement" by John Langan. No, dude. Just... no. It's an old trope
"Mortensen's Muse" by Orrin Gray: I see what we were going for here (Hollywood debauchery, Inside Edition-style), but again, way too much. Too many things that wanted to be clever asides but turned confusing. Ending plot twist didn't. (2/5)
"Oblivion Mode" by Laird Barron: Weird, in an interesting way. I really enjoyed the setting and the world-building, in that I'm a sucker for Lovecraft in high fantasy-style. Definitely need to read it again. (4/5)
"Mr. Doornail" by Maria Dahvana Headley: LOVED IT SIDEWAYS. An old-fashioned fairy tale, filled with bad fairies and seawater, sticky with blood and featuring fifty heroes who happen to be goats. Best short story of the year. Can't decide whether to embroider the whole thing on a series of pillows to scatter around the house. (5/5)
Richard Kadrey's "The Secrets of Insects": Niiiiiiiiiice. A weird cop story meets John Carpenter's The Fog. It just kept getting better and better, and didn't start out from a bad place. (5/5)
"Excerpts from An Eschatology Quadrille" by Caitlín R. Kiernan: It's hard to say any author is re-treading familiar ground when so much of their work deals with entangled themes and revisitings. Don't want to say more and spoil it. (4/5)
"Jules and Richard" by David Nickle: Lukewarm lamia-themed mess without explanation. (1/5)
"Glasses" by Brian Evenson: Strongly remniscent of Joan Aiken and Roald Dahl but with less of a punch. Again, a tale of glasses that let you see other worlds has been done before and better. (2/5)
"When the Stitches Come Undone" by A.C. Wise: Spectacular eco-gothic pulling history and weirdness and land together for the protagonist to fall into and through. Bonus for a unique twist on missing children. Loved it. (5/5)
"On These Blackened Shores of Time" by Brian Hodge: Someone got me Lovecraft in a sinkhole! How did you know? THANK YOU. (4/5)
Livia Llewellyn's "Bright Crown of Joy": Chunks of intriguing dystopia -- and things disguised as dystopia -- that the reader has to assemble as they go. A bit like House of Leaves (5/5)
(Did not read "Eternal Troutland" as it mainly involves an old dog and that's a no-swim area for me. Namaste.)