Post by Calenture on Nov 24, 2008 13:05:02 GMT
Little Deaths edited by Ellen Datlow, 1994; this BCA edition 1995
24 Tales of Sex and Horror
Introduction - Ellen Datlow
The Lady of Situations - Stephen Dedman
Hungry Skin - Lucy Taylor
Becky Lives - Harry Crews
Lover Doll - Wayne Allen Sallee
The Swing - Nicholas Royle
Sahib - J Calvin Pierce
The Careful Geometry of Love - Kathe Koja and Barry N Malzberg
Yuagara - Nicola Griffith
On Amen's Shore - Clive Barker
Isabel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring - M John Harrison
The Pain Barrier - Joel Lane
Sinfonia Expansiva - Barry N Malzberg
Fever Blisters - Joyce Carol Oates
The Rock - Melanie Tem
An Outside Interest - Ruth Rendell
And Salome Danced - Kelly Ethridge
The Disquieting Muse - Kathe Koja
Holes - Sarah Clemens
That Old School Tie - Jack Womack
Ice Palace - Douglas Clegg
Serial Monogamist - Pat Cadigan
Black Nightgown - K W Jeter
Menage a Trois - Richard Christian Matheson
The Last Time - Lucius Shepard
I thought I'd read this book in its entirety, but I seem to have only written about half of it up. Looks like I'll have to put it on the 'to read' shelf as its a good anthology. I seem to have stopped reading just before the story by Joel Lane - now a Black Book contributor.
The Lady of Situations by Stephen Dedman: A group of people brought together at a hostel listen as a young man relates a story about the time he had accepted a girl's challenge to make her happy. The girl is no ordinary girl, and he does in fact succeed in <:#568,9025>making her happy - as she finally demonstrates to him. Ellen Datlow says that this story comes closest in intent to what she had originally wanted her collection to be about thematically.
Hungry Skin by Lucy Taylor: Mica has not seen her father since childhood; now he is dead, and she has inherited his house and the valuable sculptures for which he was famed. She is shocked to find that the sculptured are pornographic in nature, and is particularly fascinated by a large and grotesque piece named The Family Reunited in the hall, which appears to depict a particularly bestial orgy. Her growing obsession with the piece leads to a grisly exploration and its final reunion.
Becky Lives by Harry Crewes: When Jason Crowder engages the prostitute for an afternoon it's more than a little fun that he has in mind. His wife has deserted both him and his daughter Becky more than ten years before; she has seen neither of them since. No w, with a prostitute dressed to look like his daughter, he will have his revenge for that desertion. This one has a neat trick punch at the end.
Lover Doll by Wayne Allen Sallee: A young boy and girl, she the product of a birth-control drug, he a product of radiation poisoning while in the womb, find each other at a special juvenile rehabilitation centre. This one could be the story of any pair of young lovers; and therein lies its power.
The Swing by Nicholas Royle: A story about the balance of power in relationships, this one is set in an indeterminate future when lovers can claim partners with ruthless ease and cunning, and body piercing takes on sinister significance.
Sahib by J Calvin Pierce: A young doctor is called out to attend a cruel and self-righteous man about a mysterious ailment. The man is gaining pounds in weight every day. He tells the doctor a lurid story concerning the abuse of a young Indian girl, and an affair between his wife and a young Indian boy, who may or may not have been what he seemed.
The Careful Geometry of Love by Kathe Koja and Barry N Malzberg: A photographer is visted regularly by a woman who brings him her beautiful partners to photograph. The partners become progressively more freakish. This one is oddly compelling and beautifull y told, though I suspect some of its subtler intentions were lost on me.
Yaguarra by Nicola Griffith: Jane Holford is a photographer of noble birth, herself constantly on guard against the intrusions of the paparazzi. Working on a book about women who have succeeded against the odds, she seeks to photograph Dr Cleis Fernandez, an epigrapher studying some obscure glyphs at a remote archaeological site in Belize. Deep in the jungle, for the first time in her life free of the prying cameras of the press, Jane learns to let go; while Cleis Fernandez learns, at first hand, the truth b ehind a legend of female shape-changing guardians of the ancient site. Very sensual and heavy with the atmosphere of the rainforest, this is a beautifully written novella.
On Amen's Shore by Clive Barker: An offshoot from The Great And Secret Show, this story concerns Beisho and Ruty who are seeking to make a buck, the easier the better, and find themselves in a small fishing village at the edge of a lake which legend tells c onnects by a subterranean passage with the great sea of Quiddity, the dream-sea which is visited by humans only three times: at birth, at death, and on the night when they sleep beside the love of their lives. Something has come out of the waters of Amen an d taken one of the villagers, and Beisho and Ruty seek to hunt it down. It's fortunate for horror story enthusiasts that Barker has not entirely abandoned the short form.
Isobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring by M John Harrison: Isobel wants to fly and, with China, she can fly in her dreams. But her love of flight becomes an obsession, and though China loves her, her fantasy can only be fulfilled with David Alexander . An elegiac piece which draws the reader inside like entering a dream.
