My favorite story in Nine Lives: Nine Stories of the Dark Fantastic (Five Star, 2003) is “The Island in the Lake,” a story about Eisenstein’s troubadour, Alaric, who has the power to teleport himself…usually into trouble. I also enjoyed “The Amethyst Phial” where Eisenstein explores the nature of revenge.
The stories in Night Lives vary from early stories in Eisenstein’s career to later stories. If you want to read a representative collection of Eisenstein’s short fiction, Night Lives would be a good place to start. GRADE: B
Table of Contents:
- Introduction: Straddling the Spectrum – (2003) – essay by Phyllis Eisenstein — 9
- In the Western Tradition – (1981) – novella — 13
- The Island in the Lake – (1998) – novelette — 77
- Nightlife – (1982) – novelette — 127
- Wallpaper World – (2001) – shortstory with Alex Eisenstein — 176
- Subworld – (1983) – novelette — 211
- Altar Ego – (1977) – novelette with Alex Eisenstein — 240
- The Amethyst Phial – (1984) – short story — 268
- Dark Wings – (1982) – short story — 290
- Sleeping Beauty: The True Story – (1976) – short story and Alex Eisenstein — 299
- About the Author – essay — 308
- Additional copyright information –310
Phyllis Eisenstein, there’s a name I haven’t heard in forever. Many, maaaaaany years ago I read Born to Exile. I’m not sure why I never read further as the reason her name is recognizable to me is that I really remember liking the book very much. It is likely that I’ve read a short story or two in some anthology over the years, but I don’t recall.
Carl, I recently discovered Phyllis Eisenstein while reading THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION series. I have a couple more of her fantasy novels waiting to be read.
I am unfamiliar with the author but I would certainly be willing to try the stories in the book. It would be interesting to see how dark and fantastic they are. I like the varying lengths of the stories.
Tracy, Phyllis Eisenstein is truly an underrated writer. I’m sure you would enjoy her work.
She was one of the S&S and S&S-adjacent writers I would read,, along with Leiber and Vance and Karl Wagner and Janet Fox and Joanna Russ’s Alyx stories and, of course, C. L. Moore rather than reading Conan rehashes (though Wagner’s Conan stories I would at least try). She died not too long ago.
George, suddenly you’re Diane Kelley on all Blogspot blogs?
Todd, I didn’t check my GOOGLE ID…and ended up with my wife’s persona!