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Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan, Volume 1

de Caitlín R. Kiernan

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1414192,522 (4.09)10
Two Worlds and in Between: The Best of Caitli?n R. Kiernan presents a stunning retrospective of the first ten years of the author's work. It is a compilation of more than 200,000 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; her sci-fi novella, The Dry Salvages; and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite.… (mais)
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Exibindo 4 de 4
Not having plot means characters don’t develop in response to events, which is OK for short stories and ameliorated when the story is a description of a character changed/doomed by prior events, but still bragging about not having an interest in plots is no recommendation in my book. I’ll probably live without reading Vol II. ( )
  quondame | Dec 28, 2017 |
*** 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/Johnstown_Flood), 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...

( )
  AltheaAnn | Feb 9, 2016 |
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. ( )
  Kat_Hooper | Apr 6, 2014 |
Ms. Kiernan has started compiling what she regards as her most representative short fiction, reprinted with new short ruminations after each tale describing her current feelings towards it. This first volume covers 1993-2004.

I love her writing because she is the only contemporary supernatural writer today who reminds me of the masters whose works led me to love this genre: James (Henry & M.R.), Blackwood, Machen, Vernon Lee, Wharton, De La Mare, and of course Lovecraft. And I love her because she brings that talent to places, alien planets and skid rows and lesbian hearts, that old timers couldn't or wouldn't visit. She can be vigorous, literate, poetic, subtle, vulgar, obscene all at the same time. I love the part of her style that is literate and poetic; I endure and accept the vulgarity and obscenity. My favorites are pure supernatural stories like, say, "Postcards from the King of Tides" and "Spindleshanks," where she not only doesn't show you whatever is disturbing the peace but makes you grateful for her reserve.

My biggest disappointment was "The Dry Salvages," her attempt to fuse science fiction with supernatural terror. I found her buildup to be her most mouthwatering since I'd read my favorite of her novels, "Threshold." Both novels had rather subdued resolutions but I reacted to them differently. I thought "Threshold" ended appropriately for a horror novel that was trying to recreate the old school frissons readers got from stories like "The Willows." I was let down by such an ending in the Salvages. I think I just wanted something different from what was, despite the atmosphere, still a sci-fi novel.

I liked most of her other science fiction horror stories, both in this collection and in her wonderful Sirenia Digest publication. I think these worked better because the horrors in them were based on hard sci-fi, very physical horrors. As for the fusion she wanted, I think she did better in the story that followed, "The Worm in My Mind's Eye." I could believe that the self-tormenting narrator had seen something like the Salvages shadow and that that sight had made her life unlivable. Her response was a convincing blend of physical horror - self-dissection by droid - and psychological angst - fear of Alone and the fire inside her.

Along with supernatural horror and science fiction, Kiernan has her version of a paranormal action heroine,
Dancy Flammarion, an albino teenage girl who is either a schizophrenic or an angel-guided demon hunter , or maybe both. I like to read this sort of stuff -- I got addicted to Buffy -- and Kiernan's take is a breath of fresh air. I haven't every Dancy story just yet so I am worried about her current and future condition. Kiernan went through a phase of creating a brave and vibrant woman in one novel only to kill her off in the sequel. I have owned Daughter of Hounds for nearly a decade and still haven't got the nerve up to read it. ( )
  Coach_of_Alva | Jul 20, 2012 |
Exibindo 4 de 4
Every story in the book deserves its "best" designation.
adicionado por nsblumenfeld | editarPublishers Weekly (Jun 12, 2011)
 

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Two Worlds and in Between: The Best of Caitli?n R. Kiernan presents a stunning retrospective of the first ten years of the author's work. It is a compilation of more than 200,000 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; her sci-fi novella, The Dry Salvages; and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite.

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