I’ve been reading Caitlin Kiernan’s short stories for years. This Subterranean Press collection (552 pages!) from 2011 presents Kiernan’s work in chronological order. It’s fascinating to see how a writer develops and learns her craft. I think Kiernan hit her stride in “From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6” which is a harbinger of her later, better work. My favorite story in this collection is “Andromeda Among the Stones.” Kiernan’s best stories blend a sense of wonder with a sense of dread. I have Caitlin Kiernan’s Beneath an Oil-Dark Sea: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Volume Two on order. If you’re interested in reading one of the better contemporary SF and fantasy writers, this is the place to start. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Author’s Introduction
Part One (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 (Murder Ballad No. 1) [1995]
Estate [1996]
Rats Live on No Evil Star [1997]
Salmagundi (New York City, 1981) [1998]
Postcards from the King of Tides [1997]
Giants in the Earth [1995]
Zelda Fitzgerald in Ballet Attire [1995-1999]
Part Two (2000-2004)
Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) [2000]
The Road of Pins [2001]
Onion [2001]
In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers [2001]
Night Story 1973 (with 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]
The Daughter of the Four of Pentacles [2004]
The Dry Salvages [2004]
The Worm in My Mind’s Eye [2004]
Houses Under the Sea [2004]
Publication History