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Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & other Horrors
Death and pleasure. Freud’s Todestrieb, his statement that “libido has the task of making the destroying instinct innocuous, and it fulfills the task by diverting that instinct to a great extent outwards....The instinct is then called the destructive instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power.” Few authors have spun stories of Thanatos and Eros as skillfully and powerfully as Livia Llewellyn. In his introduction to this volume, Laird Barron writes “Scant difference exists between exquisite pleasure and pain.” An orphan girl with a mind for anthracite falls into the hands of a cult worshiping an entombed god. In the Pacific Northwest, evergreens lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs. A suburban housewife troubled by her present encounters the sixteen-year-old girl she ached to touch in her dreams. These ten stories promise to indulge the reader’s sensibilities, their fears and desires.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2011
50 people are currently reading
778 people want to read
About the author
Livia Llewellyn
59 books233 followersI was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent my childhood in Tacoma, Washington. And now I live on the East Coast. I’m not quite sure how that happened….
By day I’m a secretary. I file papers, create spreadsheets, update calendars, sort papers — the usual secretarial things.
At night, I write about lonely young girls who can speak to engines, Nikola Tesla’s secret journals, long-horned demons lost in Northwest suburbia, giant biomechanical insects, mothers who are good monsters, monsters who are good mothers, lots of consensual human-&-creature sex, and even more broken hearts.
You can also find me on my website, where I talk a lot about ants (too many), coffee (too little), and cheese (never enough!).
By day I’m a secretary. I file papers, create spreadsheets, update calendars, sort papers — the usual secretarial things.
At night, I write about lonely young girls who can speak to engines, Nikola Tesla’s secret journals, long-horned demons lost in Northwest suburbia, giant biomechanical insects, mothers who are good monsters, monsters who are good mothers, lots of consensual human-&-creature sex, and even more broken hearts.
You can also find me on my website, where I talk a lot about ants (too many), coffee (too little), and cheese (never enough!).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
March 15, 2020
Take Your Daughter to Work ★★★★★
Sex as something pleasurable, soft and warm, is a mammalian concept. In the cold salty dark of fathoms, it’s not even survivable. This short story built in scales and slithers to a chilling reimagining of Lovecraftian horror.
At the Edge of Ellensberg ★★★★½
“The fire came from me, from my mouth and from all the desire I’d ever had for him, all the unrequited love. It rippled over his flesh, dug into the crevices of skin and burned away the lies, curling back his skin and exposing his true self—black as the midnight sun… He died as I wanted him to—on his knees before me."
A long and brutal story about obsession, darkness, and deviance. Maybe it’s because I just finished watching Netflix’s multicultural Criminal, but I fully got this. Not being able to stop from going back to a bad person, the drinking, the loss of control, the shock of understanding what it means to fulfill your desires, to fulfill someone else’s... these rivers ran deep.
The Four Hundred Thousand ★★★★½
“There probably was a war, a long time ago. But it’s over, and we’re forced to keep pretending, simply so that a corrupt military government can remain in power.”
Gasp, what a strange fierce story set in an impoverished future city, in a world endlessly at war. Jet has been selected for the dubious honor of providing all her eggs to create lab grown soldiers. While this will enrich her family it will also continue the war... if there even is a war.
The Teslated Salishan Evergreen ★★★★☆
The trees are alive, alive, alive! That was fun, spooky fun.
The Engine of Desire ★★★★☆
”This is the engine,” Kelly whispers, “This is us.”
There is a hallucinatory beat to this story that drags you down, unsteadily, into the past of mad woman, a killer, a beast to her desires. You don’t know what’s real but you can feel the pounding of blood, desire, and need. So much need! It’s shades of Clive Barker but done better.
Brimstone Orange ★★★★☆
It was like an original Grimm folktale; with deranged magic, no happy ending, and a high body count.
Horses ★★★½☆
“There is someone she must look for here in this wasteland, someone she must find. But the horse does not slow, and the night does not end…”
This story would have been at home in Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. Kingston is a survivor; a sad, lonely women of tenacious strength who lives long enough to see the end of the world.
Omphalos ★★★½☆
A tale of Targaryen madness and mythology. It was desperate, deep, and dark... if only the ending had been stronger.
Her Deepness ★★★☆☆
Set in the same world as Take Your Daughter To Work it is not as good and does not add to the original story. This is about an ex-slave stone artisan kidnapped by a cult to bring a god to life. It was too long and too mysterious.
Jetsam ★★½☆☆
“...hundreds of cloud-like creatures blossom and spill forth like sea anemones expanding to catch the currents... Ropey spirals of wet flesh unfurl and catch the rotting ruins, suckling them up.”
This one lost me. There was too much left unexplained in this ruined world. Was she a sacrifice? Was she cylon? Was she just crazy?
Average Rating of 3.45 but I will happily round up to four because this was quality work.
March 14, 2020
10 Stories, really enjoyed it over-all. Most being between 3.5-4 stars. Average 3.68
October 24, 2014
Livia Llewellyn's Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors is a superb first collection. It's a dark delight to read, and introduces a major voice in horror fiction.
Engines offers a very diverse set of tales and voice. Llewellyn offers stories of post-apocalypse survival, futuristic space war, sexual longing, alien gods, hybrid machine/flesh monster machines, parallel worlds, mass murderers, mining, and trees that devour girls. No story is formally alike, either. "Engine of Desire", for example, is told in reverse chronological order. “Her Deepness” uses long, lush paragraphs to immerse us in a weird, alternate world, while "Horses" is almost telegraphic in its supremely hard-bitten despair. "Teslated Salihan Evergreen" purports to be a botanical reference book entry.
Two themes unite these otherwise disparate tales. First, all of these stories concern female desire. Protagonists are usually girls or women, and what they need determines each narrative, especially in the face of overwhelming opposition. Often these needs are sexual. For a significant number of stories motherhood is a key theme in various forms: conception, childbirth, mother-daughter relations, filicide. Llewellyn zeroes in on women and what they want and never lets go.
Second, Engines of Desire is deeply... sad, melancholic, somewhere between resigned and despairing. All of the stories end with intense (and often extensive) human suffering. Some end in defeat for the protagonists, while others enjoy success at terrible cost. Several stories are about heroism, but even those require non-heroic destruction. The tones of these tales matches this theme of devastation: elegaic, frustrated, resigned, satisfied, dystopian. "Dark" just begins to describe things.
Spoilery summaries ahead for each story:
If you are interested at all in horror fiction, or if you aren't, but appreciate well-crafted short fiction, go read this collection at once. Llewellyn is someone to watch, as she could well become one of the major dark fiction authors of our time.
Engines offers a very diverse set of tales and voice. Llewellyn offers stories of post-apocalypse survival, futuristic space war, sexual longing, alien gods, hybrid machine/flesh monster machines, parallel worlds, mass murderers, mining, and trees that devour girls. No story is formally alike, either. "Engine of Desire", for example, is told in reverse chronological order. “Her Deepness” uses long, lush paragraphs to immerse us in a weird, alternate world, while "Horses" is almost telegraphic in its supremely hard-bitten despair. "Teslated Salihan Evergreen" purports to be a botanical reference book entry.
Two themes unite these otherwise disparate tales. First, all of these stories concern female desire. Protagonists are usually girls or women, and what they need determines each narrative, especially in the face of overwhelming opposition. Often these needs are sexual. For a significant number of stories motherhood is a key theme in various forms: conception, childbirth, mother-daughter relations, filicide. Llewellyn zeroes in on women and what they want and never lets go.
Second, Engines of Desire is deeply... sad, melancholic, somewhere between resigned and despairing. All of the stories end with intense (and often extensive) human suffering. Some end in defeat for the protagonists, while others enjoy success at terrible cost. Several stories are about heroism, but even those require non-heroic destruction. The tones of these tales matches this theme of devastation: elegaic, frustrated, resigned, satisfied, dystopian. "Dark" just begins to describe things.
Spoilery summaries ahead for each story:
If you are interested at all in horror fiction, or if you aren't, but appreciate well-crafted short fiction, go read this collection at once. Llewellyn is someone to watch, as she could well become one of the major dark fiction authors of our time.
January 7, 2019
4 stars--I really liked it.
I didn't love all the stories in this collection, but there were five that really stood out. Llewellyn writes dark stories. She also writes erotica, which is present in this collection--though combined with horror and violence.
The five stories I most enjoyed:
Horses: A post-apocalyptic horror that spooked me a bit.
At the Edge of Ellensburg: Violence and sex combine into a horrible nightmare.
Take Your Daughters to Work: Lovecraftian horror.
Omphalos: I've read this in two other collections, but I reread it again because it's so good. (Depressing, but good.)
Her Deepness: Another Lovecraftian tale.
I didn't love all the stories in this collection, but there were five that really stood out. Llewellyn writes dark stories. She also writes erotica, which is present in this collection--though combined with horror and violence.
The five stories I most enjoyed:
Horses: A post-apocalyptic horror that spooked me a bit.
At the Edge of Ellensburg: Violence and sex combine into a horrible nightmare.
Take Your Daughters to Work: Lovecraftian horror.
Omphalos: I've read this in two other collections, but I reread it again because it's so good. (Depressing, but good.)
Her Deepness: Another Lovecraftian tale.
December 14, 2018
Traumatic and dramatic trials from the past run deep. Overcoming them often means facing something even more difficult. Livia Llewellyn’s sophisticated and adept writing hits like a whirlwind. This dark and provocative collection is my second from the author and to put it simply, I am hooked. 4.5 stars.
February 5, 2018
I have been writing since...well, since I could hold a pen. I always that I was a decent writer. That is until I discovered Livia Llewellyn and realized I have a long fucking way to go!
May 20, 2011
This is one of those places where, for me, numerical rating scales for subjective experiences really break down. How do you rate a really great book that just wasn't for you? I dunno.
Here's the thing, Engines of Desire is pretty great, as you can tell by all the great reviews its getting, including this one over at Innsmouth Free Press, from Jesse Bullington. But it's also harsh and brutal and unremittingly bleak, which isn't exactly my thing, generally. My friend J.T. Glover described the opening story as "what might happen if you took The Road and removed all the rainbows, unicorns, and sentimentality." So, while I enjoyed the book, a lot, it also wasn't really my particular cup of tea.
Llewellyn proves herself an accomplished author right out of the gate. The stories are usually either really short or really long, and several of my favorites include the title story, "At the Edge of Ellensburg," and the concluding novella "Her Deepness," which was probably my single favorite of the bunch. Just as the stories jump around in length, they also effortlessly slide from genre to genre, though they carry a lot of the same themes and obsessions along with them. The intro is by Laird Barron, which makes good sense, as there's definitely a similarity here to Barron's hallucinatory prose. You can also find hints of Barker and (of course) Lovecraft and whoever all else, but at the end of the day it all synthesizes into something very distinct.
So, basically, how do I rank a great book that wasn't for me? I give it three stars, I guess, at least for the time being, but if you like your weird stories bleak, brutal, and erotic, you'll probably give it more.
Here's the thing, Engines of Desire is pretty great, as you can tell by all the great reviews its getting, including this one over at Innsmouth Free Press, from Jesse Bullington. But it's also harsh and brutal and unremittingly bleak, which isn't exactly my thing, generally. My friend J.T. Glover described the opening story as "what might happen if you took The Road and removed all the rainbows, unicorns, and sentimentality." So, while I enjoyed the book, a lot, it also wasn't really my particular cup of tea.
Llewellyn proves herself an accomplished author right out of the gate. The stories are usually either really short or really long, and several of my favorites include the title story, "At the Edge of Ellensburg," and the concluding novella "Her Deepness," which was probably my single favorite of the bunch. Just as the stories jump around in length, they also effortlessly slide from genre to genre, though they carry a lot of the same themes and obsessions along with them. The intro is by Laird Barron, which makes good sense, as there's definitely a similarity here to Barron's hallucinatory prose. You can also find hints of Barker and (of course) Lovecraft and whoever all else, but at the end of the day it all synthesizes into something very distinct.
So, basically, how do I rank a great book that wasn't for me? I give it three stars, I guess, at least for the time being, but if you like your weird stories bleak, brutal, and erotic, you'll probably give it more.
February 28, 2013
These ten dark phantasmagorias, ranging from short-shorts to epic novellas, form a stunning debut by an author every reader of horror and dark fantasy should become familiar with. Llewellyn seasons her stories with hidden gods, strange creatures, an indifferent universe, and dangerously obsessed characters, making her work akin to that of Lovecraft, only with much deeper characterization and emotion. Many of the stories feature a dark sexuality to them as well. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart.
June 2, 2015
A fantastic collection. Boundary-pushing in both content and prose.
June 16, 2012
Livia Llewellyn's Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors is a unique and unforgettable collection of dark fantasy and horror stories, which will linger in the reader's mind long after reading them. The stories in this collection are both disturbing and thought-provoking and they demand quite a lot of attention from the reader for they aren't easy and light stories.
As a big fan of quality horror and dark fantasy, I must confess that I fell in love with this collection. I read these stories twice, because I wanted to enjoy Livia Llewellyn's fine prose and the strange atmosphere of the stories as much as I could. I think it was good to read these stories twice, because now I can fully appreciate the beauty and cruelty of them (I usually read good stories twice).
This collection contains an introduction by Laird Barron and ten stories:
- Horses
- At the Edge of Ellensburg
- Teslated Salihan Evergreen
- The Engine of Desire
- Jetsam
- The Four Hundred Thousand
- Brimstone Orange
- Take Your Daughter to Work
- Omphalos (original to this collection)
- Her Deepness
After reading this collection I can say that horror literature has reached a new golden age. It's amazing how many good new authors (Laird Barron, Barbara Roden etc.) have emerged during the recent years. Now it's time for Livia Llewellyn to step into the spotlight and gain praise from critics and readers, because she deserves to be praised.
I think it's good to say a few words about modern horror and how it differs from classic horror before I write anything else. What separates modern horror from classic horror is the way things are handled and described: modern horror is often much more brutal and realistic than classic horror, but there's also plenty of psychological depth, which makes the stories complex (I think it's also necessary to mention that some modern horror stories are sexually explicit and contain hardcore sex). Some authors can't write this kind of stories, but Livia Llewellyn excels in creating complex and brutal stories with psychological depth. Some of her stories are very brutal and realistic, but they never fail to impress the reader with their complex structure (I think it's great that there are new authors like Livia Llewellyn who are capable of writing this kind of thought-provoking speculative fiction). What's really great is that Livia Llewellyn infuses horror with dark fantasy and science fiction elements, because these elements make her stories different.
As we all know, love, sex and desire are beautiful and wonderful things, but in this collection they get a whole new meaning. Livia Llewellyn shows us how destructive a force love can be and how it can lead to ruin and self-degradation. Her stories aren't pretty, but sharp and fearsome with lots of raw emotions. She writes skillfully about new kind of evergreen trees, sexual desires, postapocalyptic happenings and several other things in a shocking, but beautiful way (the images she creates with her words are brutal, explicit and disturbing, but they're also strangely beautiful, compelling and seductive). She doesn't flinch when she writes about death, sex and desire, but goes full speed ahead and reveals what horrors lie in wait in our subconscious mind. When dark fantasy, modern horror, sexual desire and psychological horror meet this way, the result is magical and electrifying.
Livia Llewellyn creates interesting characters which feel alive. Her characters are realistic and they have emotions, desires and sexual yearnings which make them behave in certain ways that may be self-destructive and/or liberating. The explicit nature of the stories allows the reader to see what happens to the characters and how things develop and blossom into full bloom.
Here's a few words about the introduction and the stories (I'll try not to reveal too much of the stories):
- "Love, Sex, and the Heat Death of the Universe" by Laird Barron is a wonderful and insightful introduction to this collection.
- "At the Edge of Ellensburg" is the most sexually explicit and shocking story in this collection. It's a story about a woman who has sex with a stranger. After their first meeting she almost desperately wants to get more sex from him. This story contains several hardcore sex scenes, which will probably shock most readers, but they're an important part of the story and allow the reader to see how the woman is blinded by her misplaced love/desire and how she degrades herself.
- "Jetsam" is a story about a woman who can't remember what has happened. The ending of this story is simply fantastic, because everything is gradually revealed to the reader.
- "Teslated Salihan Evergreen" is a fascinating story about a new kind of trees that lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs for new trees. Although this story is only a 2-page story, it's a brilliant story.
- "Brimstone Orange" is another fine example of a mini story. It's a fascinating story about a girl and a fruit tree.
- "Horses" and "The Four Hundred Thousand" are different kind of stories, because they're actually science fiction stories, which contain elements of horror and dark fantasy. Livia Llewellyn has written both stories extremely well, because she has managed to create the right kind of unpleasant and thrilling atmosphere.
- "The Engine of Desire" is a powerful and unforgettable story about a housewife and her feelings.
- "Take Your Daughters to Work" is a captivating short story for all readers who like H. P. Lovecraft's stories. This story impressed me by its strange atmosphere and beautiful prose.
- "Omphalos" is a fantastic and different kind of a story about a vacation and a camping trip. I was very impressed by this story (it's definitely one of the best new stories I've read during the last couple of years).
- "Her Deepness" is a marvellous and well written dark fantasy novella. (This novella can be read online at Subterranean Press' website. It's a good novella and it gives the reader a taste of Livia Llewellyn's fine prose and marvellous imagination, so do yourself a favour and read it.)
Laird Barron has already praised this collection by saying that it "will be one of the finest horror/dark fantasy collection debuts in a long, long time". I totally agree with him, because in my opinion Livia Llewellyn is a gifted new author, who can write disturbing and fascinating stories, which are difficult to forget. She isn't afraid to shock her readers with imaginative, but brutally realistic visions about death, sex and love – in her stories these three ingredients go hand in hand and wondrous and horrifying things happen. I think it's fair to say that this collection is pure ecstasy for all lovers of dark, disturbing and challenging speculative fiction.
If you like challenging dark fantasy and horror fiction, you must read Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors, because you'll be sorry if you don't. If you're familiar with dark fiction and know what kind of stories are out there, you'll be impressed by this collection, because Livia Llewellyn has her own writing style and she writes fluently about all kinds of things. If you're looking for "something different" and "something new", look no further because you've just found what you've been looking for. This collection is a stunning accomplishment, so make sure that you'll read it.
Highly recommended!
As a big fan of quality horror and dark fantasy, I must confess that I fell in love with this collection. I read these stories twice, because I wanted to enjoy Livia Llewellyn's fine prose and the strange atmosphere of the stories as much as I could. I think it was good to read these stories twice, because now I can fully appreciate the beauty and cruelty of them (I usually read good stories twice).
This collection contains an introduction by Laird Barron and ten stories:
- Horses
- At the Edge of Ellensburg
- Teslated Salihan Evergreen
- The Engine of Desire
- Jetsam
- The Four Hundred Thousand
- Brimstone Orange
- Take Your Daughter to Work
- Omphalos (original to this collection)
- Her Deepness
After reading this collection I can say that horror literature has reached a new golden age. It's amazing how many good new authors (Laird Barron, Barbara Roden etc.) have emerged during the recent years. Now it's time for Livia Llewellyn to step into the spotlight and gain praise from critics and readers, because she deserves to be praised.
I think it's good to say a few words about modern horror and how it differs from classic horror before I write anything else. What separates modern horror from classic horror is the way things are handled and described: modern horror is often much more brutal and realistic than classic horror, but there's also plenty of psychological depth, which makes the stories complex (I think it's also necessary to mention that some modern horror stories are sexually explicit and contain hardcore sex). Some authors can't write this kind of stories, but Livia Llewellyn excels in creating complex and brutal stories with psychological depth. Some of her stories are very brutal and realistic, but they never fail to impress the reader with their complex structure (I think it's great that there are new authors like Livia Llewellyn who are capable of writing this kind of thought-provoking speculative fiction). What's really great is that Livia Llewellyn infuses horror with dark fantasy and science fiction elements, because these elements make her stories different.
As we all know, love, sex and desire are beautiful and wonderful things, but in this collection they get a whole new meaning. Livia Llewellyn shows us how destructive a force love can be and how it can lead to ruin and self-degradation. Her stories aren't pretty, but sharp and fearsome with lots of raw emotions. She writes skillfully about new kind of evergreen trees, sexual desires, postapocalyptic happenings and several other things in a shocking, but beautiful way (the images she creates with her words are brutal, explicit and disturbing, but they're also strangely beautiful, compelling and seductive). She doesn't flinch when she writes about death, sex and desire, but goes full speed ahead and reveals what horrors lie in wait in our subconscious mind. When dark fantasy, modern horror, sexual desire and psychological horror meet this way, the result is magical and electrifying.
Livia Llewellyn creates interesting characters which feel alive. Her characters are realistic and they have emotions, desires and sexual yearnings which make them behave in certain ways that may be self-destructive and/or liberating. The explicit nature of the stories allows the reader to see what happens to the characters and how things develop and blossom into full bloom.
Here's a few words about the introduction and the stories (I'll try not to reveal too much of the stories):
- "Love, Sex, and the Heat Death of the Universe" by Laird Barron is a wonderful and insightful introduction to this collection.
- "At the Edge of Ellensburg" is the most sexually explicit and shocking story in this collection. It's a story about a woman who has sex with a stranger. After their first meeting she almost desperately wants to get more sex from him. This story contains several hardcore sex scenes, which will probably shock most readers, but they're an important part of the story and allow the reader to see how the woman is blinded by her misplaced love/desire and how she degrades herself.
- "Jetsam" is a story about a woman who can't remember what has happened. The ending of this story is simply fantastic, because everything is gradually revealed to the reader.
- "Teslated Salihan Evergreen" is a fascinating story about a new kind of trees that lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs for new trees. Although this story is only a 2-page story, it's a brilliant story.
- "Brimstone Orange" is another fine example of a mini story. It's a fascinating story about a girl and a fruit tree.
- "Horses" and "The Four Hundred Thousand" are different kind of stories, because they're actually science fiction stories, which contain elements of horror and dark fantasy. Livia Llewellyn has written both stories extremely well, because she has managed to create the right kind of unpleasant and thrilling atmosphere.
- "The Engine of Desire" is a powerful and unforgettable story about a housewife and her feelings.
- "Take Your Daughters to Work" is a captivating short story for all readers who like H. P. Lovecraft's stories. This story impressed me by its strange atmosphere and beautiful prose.
- "Omphalos" is a fantastic and different kind of a story about a vacation and a camping trip. I was very impressed by this story (it's definitely one of the best new stories I've read during the last couple of years).
- "Her Deepness" is a marvellous and well written dark fantasy novella. (This novella can be read online at Subterranean Press' website. It's a good novella and it gives the reader a taste of Livia Llewellyn's fine prose and marvellous imagination, so do yourself a favour and read it.)
Laird Barron has already praised this collection by saying that it "will be one of the finest horror/dark fantasy collection debuts in a long, long time". I totally agree with him, because in my opinion Livia Llewellyn is a gifted new author, who can write disturbing and fascinating stories, which are difficult to forget. She isn't afraid to shock her readers with imaginative, but brutally realistic visions about death, sex and love – in her stories these three ingredients go hand in hand and wondrous and horrifying things happen. I think it's fair to say that this collection is pure ecstasy for all lovers of dark, disturbing and challenging speculative fiction.
If you like challenging dark fantasy and horror fiction, you must read Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors, because you'll be sorry if you don't. If you're familiar with dark fiction and know what kind of stories are out there, you'll be impressed by this collection, because Livia Llewellyn has her own writing style and she writes fluently about all kinds of things. If you're looking for "something different" and "something new", look no further because you've just found what you've been looking for. This collection is a stunning accomplishment, so make sure that you'll read it.
Highly recommended!
October 23, 2017
These stories are best read slowly and savored. Often they are surreal to a level worthy of Lautréamont and Cisco. There's a lot of grim dystopian stories; tales of totalitarian or dysfunctional futures and toxic wastelands. Many of these stories are about girls who have been knocked around by the world and have special powers and connections with the natural world.
The sexual element is stronger in this collection than in "Furnace." Both collections are excellent, but I think I slightly prefer this one. This one also has much longer stories, and I think the finale, "Her Deepness" is the best story out of both collections. There's three stories that only come in around 1,000 words. They display a lot of imagination, but I think they would have been better if expanded a bit.
Llewellyn's writing at it's best is truly awe-inspiring. Stories like "At the Edge of Ellensburg," "The Engine of Desire" and "Her Deepness" really make you feel like the stardust you are. Not since reading Ligotti have I felt such a philosophical connection, you can feel the interconnecting web between yourself and the oldness of the universe. To be read slow and savored indeed.
Horses - WOW, it's hard to express how great this is. This is a grim, potent story written in a fevered style, with plenty of memorable moments and images. I'm not usually too big on post-apocalyptic stories, but this is unbelievably good and haunting. After the missiles are launched and the end of the world has arrived, a reluctantly-pregnant missile technician manages to find shelter with a very strange group.
At the Edge of Ellensburg - Another amazing story, this one exploring the weird and outre through a very twisted, desperate sexual lens, often with masochism, violence and a disturbing suspicion of something worse below the surface. It's one of the most erotic weird tales I've ever read, but there's a strong cosmic philosophy at it's base too which uses sex and lust as a way of expressing human insignificance and universal monism. A young woman starts an affair with a drug dealer on campus, the sex is the best she's ever had, but she becomes increasingly obsessed with him after he ignores her. And she gets hints that he isn't at all what he seems.
The Teslated Salishan Evergreen - Rarely have I seen such imagination in so short a story. This is a bizarro vignette about a very dangerous sort of tree.
The Engine of Desire - Another weird masterpiece, what else can I say? I was really blown away by this story, it's one of my favorites, maybe my favorite in the book. This one has some unforgettable imagery, and a cosmic, almost Ligottian underlying theme. It's infused with a sexuality that burns so hot it threatens to consume any who get too close, or give in to their measly little human desires the universe has implanted there. A woman thinks back to the summer her older sister disappeared, along with many other girls in the neighborhood. And she starts to feel an urge that will lead her down the same route.
Jetsam - This is a wilder, more experimental post-apocalyptic story. There's a lot of flashbacks, hallucinogenic images and PTSD-blocked memories. For much of it's length I was just trying to understand what was going on, and the ending reveals the perfect amount to leave us with a haunting wonder. Llewellyn gave an interesting interview with Nightmare Magazine some years ago which sheds some light on the impetus for this story. Without giving too much away, let's just say it's an apocalyptic tale with Lovecraftian touches.
The Four Hundred Thousand - Another wild story, slightly less surreal than the previous one but still told in a visceral language equal to Michael Cisco's work. There's a bit of "1984" in here, and more than a whiff of our own times too. I enjoyed the story, but it's not my favorite type of weird fiction. This is a futuristic dystopian tale, wherein a young girl is forced to sell her eggs to the military who will use them to create super soldiers in a never-ending war.
Brimstone Orange - Another very short story, fairly effective despite it's length. A girl tries to find a way to make a stunted tree bear fruit.
Take Your Daughters to Work - The last very-short story in the book, this one a Lovecraftian tale. Lots of effective steam-punk imagery here and an ending I didn't see coming.
Omphalos - This is the most transgressive, unsettling story in the book, a wild, dark story with a hell of an ending. I think this is easily one of the most memorable stories in the collection, yet I wanted a bit more clarity and think that could have been delivered and still not ruined the overall effect. A girl dealing with a sexually abusive and twisted family travels into the deep wilderness, into her inner chaos.
Her Deepness - Having also read Llewellyn's collection "Furnace" I have to say this is the best thing out of both collections. It's about the same length as "At the Edge of Ellensburg," but there's a lot more packed into this one. It's got some steampunk and Lovecraftian touches, more dystopian societies and some really wild action. A young woman is forced by a group of cultists to travel with them to an abandoned and decaying mining town to resurrect a god out of stone.
The sexual element is stronger in this collection than in "Furnace." Both collections are excellent, but I think I slightly prefer this one. This one also has much longer stories, and I think the finale, "Her Deepness" is the best story out of both collections. There's three stories that only come in around 1,000 words. They display a lot of imagination, but I think they would have been better if expanded a bit.
Llewellyn's writing at it's best is truly awe-inspiring. Stories like "At the Edge of Ellensburg," "The Engine of Desire" and "Her Deepness" really make you feel like the stardust you are. Not since reading Ligotti have I felt such a philosophical connection, you can feel the interconnecting web between yourself and the oldness of the universe. To be read slow and savored indeed.
Horses - WOW, it's hard to express how great this is. This is a grim, potent story written in a fevered style, with plenty of memorable moments and images. I'm not usually too big on post-apocalyptic stories, but this is unbelievably good and haunting. After the missiles are launched and the end of the world has arrived, a reluctantly-pregnant missile technician manages to find shelter with a very strange group.
At the Edge of Ellensburg - Another amazing story, this one exploring the weird and outre through a very twisted, desperate sexual lens, often with masochism, violence and a disturbing suspicion of something worse below the surface. It's one of the most erotic weird tales I've ever read, but there's a strong cosmic philosophy at it's base too which uses sex and lust as a way of expressing human insignificance and universal monism. A young woman starts an affair with a drug dealer on campus, the sex is the best she's ever had, but she becomes increasingly obsessed with him after he ignores her. And she gets hints that he isn't at all what he seems.
The Teslated Salishan Evergreen - Rarely have I seen such imagination in so short a story. This is a bizarro vignette about a very dangerous sort of tree.
The Engine of Desire - Another weird masterpiece, what else can I say? I was really blown away by this story, it's one of my favorites, maybe my favorite in the book. This one has some unforgettable imagery, and a cosmic, almost Ligottian underlying theme. It's infused with a sexuality that burns so hot it threatens to consume any who get too close, or give in to their measly little human desires the universe has implanted there. A woman thinks back to the summer her older sister disappeared, along with many other girls in the neighborhood. And she starts to feel an urge that will lead her down the same route.
Jetsam - This is a wilder, more experimental post-apocalyptic story. There's a lot of flashbacks, hallucinogenic images and PTSD-blocked memories. For much of it's length I was just trying to understand what was going on, and the ending reveals the perfect amount to leave us with a haunting wonder. Llewellyn gave an interesting interview with Nightmare Magazine some years ago which sheds some light on the impetus for this story. Without giving too much away, let's just say it's an apocalyptic tale with Lovecraftian touches.
The Four Hundred Thousand - Another wild story, slightly less surreal than the previous one but still told in a visceral language equal to Michael Cisco's work. There's a bit of "1984" in here, and more than a whiff of our own times too. I enjoyed the story, but it's not my favorite type of weird fiction. This is a futuristic dystopian tale, wherein a young girl is forced to sell her eggs to the military who will use them to create super soldiers in a never-ending war.
Brimstone Orange - Another very short story, fairly effective despite it's length. A girl tries to find a way to make a stunted tree bear fruit.
Take Your Daughters to Work - The last very-short story in the book, this one a Lovecraftian tale. Lots of effective steam-punk imagery here and an ending I didn't see coming.
Omphalos - This is the most transgressive, unsettling story in the book, a wild, dark story with a hell of an ending. I think this is easily one of the most memorable stories in the collection, yet I wanted a bit more clarity and think that could have been delivered and still not ruined the overall effect. A girl dealing with a sexually abusive and twisted family travels into the deep wilderness, into her inner chaos.
Her Deepness - Having also read Llewellyn's collection "Furnace" I have to say this is the best thing out of both collections. It's about the same length as "At the Edge of Ellensburg," but there's a lot more packed into this one. It's got some steampunk and Lovecraftian touches, more dystopian societies and some really wild action. A young woman is forced by a group of cultists to travel with them to an abandoned and decaying mining town to resurrect a god out of stone.
May 14, 2023
Pokud byste chtěli okusit "nadpřirozenou hrůzu" tak trochu z ženského pohledu, tohle je přesně pro vás. Je tu deset povídek s ženskými hrdinkami, hrůzami, strachy a touhami, každá z nich je jiná a jedna je lepší než druhá. A jelikož Livia není žádná Darcy Coates, nepřijdete ani o mrazivé dystopie, ani o lovecrafovské bohy s žábrami a ploutvemi a navíc k tomu ještě dostanete takovou porci dost otevřeného sexu, že by to ocenil i Henry Miller.
Pokud bych měl některé vybrat, asi by to byly tyhle:
Horses - jedna z nejlepších jaderných apokalyps, které jsem kdy četl, mrazilo z toho v zádech
At the Edge of Ellensburg - sex, násilí a posedlost tím vším, bylo toho na mě místy až moc
Take Your Daughters to Work - když pracujete pro podmořská monstra, braní dcer do práce vypadá trochu jinak
Pak ještě třeba The Four Hundred Thousand a určitě závěrečnou lovercraftovskou Her Deepness. No a všechny ostatní :)
Vlastně to nemá chybu, až snad na to, že to zatím není přeložené do češtiny. Není to úplně snadná angličtina a místy mě to trošku potrápilo, přiznávám.
Pokud bych měl některé vybrat, asi by to byly tyhle:
Horses - jedna z nejlepších jaderných apokalyps, které jsem kdy četl, mrazilo z toho v zádech
At the Edge of Ellensburg - sex, násilí a posedlost tím vším, bylo toho na mě místy až moc
Take Your Daughters to Work - když pracujete pro podmořská monstra, braní dcer do práce vypadá trochu jinak
Pak ještě třeba The Four Hundred Thousand a určitě závěrečnou lovercraftovskou Her Deepness. No a všechny ostatní :)
Vlastně to nemá chybu, až snad na to, že to zatím není přeložené do češtiny. Není to úplně snadná angličtina a místy mě to trošku potrápilo, přiznávám.
November 9, 2017
A potent blend of sophisticated dark erotica, weird fiction, SF/F, and horror in equal doses. Excellent.
February 22, 2012
Engines of Desire is comprised of ten stories, including two novellas and two novelettes. It’s stunning enough even without the knowledge that it is Livia Llewellyn’s debut book. Llewellyn, whose catalog of published work stretches back to 2005, has clearly demonstrated more dedication and patience than many of her peers, this reviewer included, and it shows through in every page of Engines.
Several pieces stand out from the pack. The collection leads off with ‘Horses,’ one of the novelettes, which begins as an end-of-the-world tale and finishes as something else entirely. ‘At the Edge of Ellensburg,’ a novella, tells the story of a college girl wrapped up in her addiction to a mysterious, drug-dealing stranger. ‘The Engine of Desire,’ from which the book gets its title, is about a woman’s decades-spanning association with a girl named Kelly who is definitely more than a girl. ‘Take Your Daughters to Work’ can’t really be described in-depth without ruining it, but further demonstrates Llewellyn’s flair for the apocalyptic and otherworldly. ‘The Four-Hundred Thousand’ is a dystopian piece centered around sacrifice and the supposed greater good, as manipulated by the powers that be. ‘Omphalos,’ the other novelette, is an incestuous round-robin affair that’s main character is at least slightly reminiscent of Jack Sawyer from Stephen King’s Talisman.
As a whole, Engines of Desire can be characterized by two overarching themes. The first is the strong erotic overtones (and the occasional subtle undertone) woven through many of the stories. Llewellyn writes hotter and more graphic scenes than the average horror reader is likely to encounter, almost always to the benefit of whichever story such scenes occur in. The second is the sense of otherworldliness present in several pieces; some of it is outright (the chimera in ‘Her Deepness,’ the book’s other novella, for instance), while much of it is more subtle (elements of both ‘The Engine of Desire’ and ‘Omphalos,’ and Kelly in ‘Engines of Desire,’ for instance, will certainly raise some questions).
Engines of Desire is an excellent introduction to a fine, relatively new, author who is sure to develop a rabid following in years to come.
Several pieces stand out from the pack. The collection leads off with ‘Horses,’ one of the novelettes, which begins as an end-of-the-world tale and finishes as something else entirely. ‘At the Edge of Ellensburg,’ a novella, tells the story of a college girl wrapped up in her addiction to a mysterious, drug-dealing stranger. ‘The Engine of Desire,’ from which the book gets its title, is about a woman’s decades-spanning association with a girl named Kelly who is definitely more than a girl. ‘Take Your Daughters to Work’ can’t really be described in-depth without ruining it, but further demonstrates Llewellyn’s flair for the apocalyptic and otherworldly. ‘The Four-Hundred Thousand’ is a dystopian piece centered around sacrifice and the supposed greater good, as manipulated by the powers that be. ‘Omphalos,’ the other novelette, is an incestuous round-robin affair that’s main character is at least slightly reminiscent of Jack Sawyer from Stephen King’s Talisman.
As a whole, Engines of Desire can be characterized by two overarching themes. The first is the strong erotic overtones (and the occasional subtle undertone) woven through many of the stories. Llewellyn writes hotter and more graphic scenes than the average horror reader is likely to encounter, almost always to the benefit of whichever story such scenes occur in. The second is the sense of otherworldliness present in several pieces; some of it is outright (the chimera in ‘Her Deepness,’ the book’s other novella, for instance), while much of it is more subtle (elements of both ‘The Engine of Desire’ and ‘Omphalos,’ and Kelly in ‘Engines of Desire,’ for instance, will certainly raise some questions).
Engines of Desire is an excellent introduction to a fine, relatively new, author who is sure to develop a rabid following in years to come.
August 31, 2012
Beautiful and brutal and wrenching and poetic and... I could go on. These are the kind of stories that leave you simultaneously hollowed out, and filled with ghosts. They linger and haunt, both for their incredible use of language, and their painful subject matter. This isn't a collection that will appeal to everyone, but for those who can stomach the dark, this is well worth the read.
July 2, 2019
A brilliant short story collection that’s full of sex, violence and Lovecraftian nightmares. Most stories have an emotional impact that’ll imprint it in your memory and leave you with something to dwell on. I’d recommend this to those who like their fiction very dark and intense.
October 3, 2012
Dark, disturbing, and brilliant. If you like your short fiction to hurt, to take your breath away, to leave you hollow and shaking, read this collection. You won't be disappointed.
August 25, 2024
An eclectic collection of short stories. A few were ok, one was really good and the rest, crap. There are 2 kinds of crap: the erotica, a boring, misogynistic and repetitive junk and the Vandermeer exploitation (be vague, don't give away enough so the reader will, God forbid, understand what the story is about and hope this will come out as poetic).
December 5, 2011
This was a set of dark, horrific tales that traverse the entire length from insensitive cruelty to hard-edged lust. I couldn't stop reading it because it was a train accident, the type you slow down with morbid fascination in hopes of seeing a body twisted and managed. In this case, the accidents are the crippled emotions, callous evil, and unthinking cruelty. And I loved it.
This is not a story for Fluffy. It has rape in it. It has blood. And beatings and anguish. And they tie beautifully together into stories that aren't really tied together, but have the common theme of love turned dark, lust turned evil, and passion that lost its way.
There were a few stories that I found confusing and ended up glossing over them. For others, I could see myself coming back to them, time and time again. It is an easy read, it took me about two hours to finish it to cover to cover (the faster usually is better for me) and the writing is light, not dense.
This is not a story for Fluffy. It has rape in it. It has blood. And beatings and anguish. And they tie beautifully together into stories that aren't really tied together, but have the common theme of love turned dark, lust turned evil, and passion that lost its way.
There were a few stories that I found confusing and ended up glossing over them. For others, I could see myself coming back to them, time and time again. It is an easy read, it took me about two hours to finish it to cover to cover (the faster usually is better for me) and the writing is light, not dense.
February 18, 2020
This was fucking disgusting, revolting, unsettling. I say that with the highest reverence for what Livia Llewellyn has achieved here, which is thoroughly gross. An exploration of the darker side of desire, love, sex and the female psyche. If you like un likeable women protags you will have them in droves. Dark, weird fiction that is unflinching and doesn't care about your sensibilities.
September 30, 2011
If not for a recommendation on Laird Barron's blog, I might never have picked up this excellent collection (to which Barron provided a foreword). Prior to the release of this collection, all I'd seen from Livia Llewellyn was "Brimstone Orange," too short a piece to give much of a sense of this writer's capabilities. I'm very glad I didn't miss what turned out to be one of the best single author short story collections I've come across in recent years.
Llewellyn's prose style is strongly visual and evocative. Readers who prefer their prose simple and declarative may find this a too rich, but those enjoy a writer with a vibrant, poetic approach to putting words together will love it. Especially as a debut collection, Engines of Desire is noteworthy for the strength and richness of its language.
That's not to say these stories are for everyone. The mood is uniformly dark, at times bitterly so. These stories cover a wide ground from post-apocalyptic science fiction to erotica, from psychological horror to dark fantasy. At first I thought the book might be too scattered genre-wise, but further along I realized the stories here were held together not by genre conventions, but by thematic commonalities and a consistency to the personal concerns of the characters, apart from place, time or the existence of monsters or magic. Whatever the trappings of one story or another, all clearly arise out of a strong, unified creative impetus. In terms of cumulative effect, these stories hold together quite well, both individually and as a collection.
The collection opens with "Horses," a bleak and psychologically extreme piece of post-apocalyptic SF. It effectively lets the reader know what they're in for. This is followed by a dramatic shift to what is effectively (despite the insertion of a few elements that feel vaguely "fantastic" but which are not really part of the story's core) a realistic story of a sexually obsessed and self-destructive college student. Llewellyn depicts the college girl obsessed with the wrong guy with the same raw desperation with which she draws characters beset by a disintegrating world.
Among the rest of the collection, the best include "The Four-Hundred," the title story "The Engines of Desire," and "Her Deepness." This last, an ambitious novella, is a really impressive example of fantasy world building. Truly dark, deeply weird and at times surreal.
While a few of these stories were less effective on the level of compelling plot or characters than they were in terms of language and mood, I found none of them less than satisfying overall. If we can extrapolate from an author's debut collection to guess what they may be capable of, I really can't wait to see what Livia Llewellyn does next.
Llewellyn's prose style is strongly visual and evocative. Readers who prefer their prose simple and declarative may find this a too rich, but those enjoy a writer with a vibrant, poetic approach to putting words together will love it. Especially as a debut collection, Engines of Desire is noteworthy for the strength and richness of its language.
That's not to say these stories are for everyone. The mood is uniformly dark, at times bitterly so. These stories cover a wide ground from post-apocalyptic science fiction to erotica, from psychological horror to dark fantasy. At first I thought the book might be too scattered genre-wise, but further along I realized the stories here were held together not by genre conventions, but by thematic commonalities and a consistency to the personal concerns of the characters, apart from place, time or the existence of monsters or magic. Whatever the trappings of one story or another, all clearly arise out of a strong, unified creative impetus. In terms of cumulative effect, these stories hold together quite well, both individually and as a collection.
The collection opens with "Horses," a bleak and psychologically extreme piece of post-apocalyptic SF. It effectively lets the reader know what they're in for. This is followed by a dramatic shift to what is effectively (despite the insertion of a few elements that feel vaguely "fantastic" but which are not really part of the story's core) a realistic story of a sexually obsessed and self-destructive college student. Llewellyn depicts the college girl obsessed with the wrong guy with the same raw desperation with which she draws characters beset by a disintegrating world.
Among the rest of the collection, the best include "The Four-Hundred," the title story "The Engines of Desire," and "Her Deepness." This last, an ambitious novella, is a really impressive example of fantasy world building. Truly dark, deeply weird and at times surreal.
While a few of these stories were less effective on the level of compelling plot or characters than they were in terms of language and mood, I found none of them less than satisfying overall. If we can extrapolate from an author's debut collection to guess what they may be capable of, I really can't wait to see what Livia Llewellyn does next.
February 26, 2016
I was very impressed with the reviews of Ms Llewellyn's second collection of short works, "Furnace", and wanted to read it. But as is my wont, I ordered both books and began with this, the first. No doubt, with blurbs from the likes of Laird Barron, this is weird fiction. Ms Llewellyn moves from very short pieces, to what could almost be considered novellas. Her influences are clear, Lovecraft, Barron, Kiernan, Fort, Chambers, Poe and others. She writes beautifully, even when describing the most grotesque of situations. She does not back away from explicit eroticism, nor does she use it for pure titillation. Every word is chosen with purpose, nothing is wasted. Her writing is hypnotic and, yes, very weird in the best sense of that genre. She will be a star in this genre, if she is not already.
Standout stories are, for me,"At the Edge of Ellensberg," "The Engine of Desire," Jetsam," "Take Your Daughters to Work," "Omphalos" and "Her Deepness". Other readers may favor other stories; they are all excellent.
Her style is hypnotic and seductive. One does not want to stop reading. There is a felt disappointment at the end of each tale, this reader/reviewer wanting to linger longer in the world of a given story.
This is a remarkable debut, and Laird Barron's Introduction is an excellent description of LL' work. If you are a fan of the Weird Fiction genre, this book is a must have.
Standout stories are, for me,"At the Edge of Ellensberg," "The Engine of Desire," Jetsam," "Take Your Daughters to Work," "Omphalos" and "Her Deepness". Other readers may favor other stories; they are all excellent.
Her style is hypnotic and seductive. One does not want to stop reading. There is a felt disappointment at the end of each tale, this reader/reviewer wanting to linger longer in the world of a given story.
This is a remarkable debut, and Laird Barron's Introduction is an excellent description of LL' work. If you are a fan of the Weird Fiction genre, this book is a must have.
July 7, 2014
I bought this collection because I had read a story in an anthology that I liked, but I think the stories probably benefit from some time between reading one and the next; the Lovecraftian influence and transgressive sexual elements are effective in small doses, but I have a tendency to say I'm just going to read one story and then devour them all in a great gulping rush, and the cumulative sense was one of oversatiation on vaguely icky sex and tentacled sea monsters. I still find her to be a talented writer - I just think she's better off in mixed anthologies, or for readers who have more self-control.
March 18, 2017
2.5, rounded up.
This book is filled with stories of sex and violence. Sometimes both at once. It's very unflinching in the way it discusses these things. And sometimes, that can be a good thing. Here, it just doesn't work for me.
I like to read "dark" books, or "weird" books, or whatever you'd like to call books like this. I like them a lot. But this book, much like American Psycho just feels like it tries too hard and has nothing to say. There's a lot of sex (consensual, rape, incest) and violence (murder, torture, Lovecraftian horror-esque) and after a while, I found myself just skimming through the long paragraphs of yet another graphic sex/violent scene, completely bored. There's interesting stories buried underneath the grotesque, but you have to dig down to get to them.
It felt like watching Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. Yeah, there's a story there, and I guess some kind of vague morality tale, but after all of the gory, awful, mind-numbing stuff you've had to sit through, who really cares? I might have cared more, if the gore/sex was used more sparingly, or at least not saturating the textwith its purple prose at every turn.
I just never "got" what Llewellyn was trying to say in a lot of the stories. I never "got" the "point". Maybe there was never one to get in the first place, but it felt like there was supposed to be one. I don't need the meanings of stories spoon-fed to me, but honestly. Most of the stories here just feel so ... vacant.
Maybe YMMV. I didn't "get" the "point" of Skin when I read it either, though apparently people really loved that too. Actually, Skin and this book seem a lot alike, in retrospect.
These reviews also do a pretty good job of summing up my feelings:
1. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This book is filled with stories of sex and violence. Sometimes both at once. It's very unflinching in the way it discusses these things. And sometimes, that can be a good thing. Here, it just doesn't work for me.
I like to read "dark" books, or "weird" books, or whatever you'd like to call books like this. I like them a lot. But this book, much like American Psycho just feels like it tries too hard and has nothing to say. There's a lot of sex (consensual, rape, incest) and violence (murder, torture, Lovecraftian horror-esque) and after a while, I found myself just skimming through the long paragraphs of yet another graphic sex/violent scene, completely bored. There's interesting stories buried underneath the grotesque, but you have to dig down to get to them.
It felt like watching Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. Yeah, there's a story there, and I guess some kind of vague morality tale, but after all of the gory, awful, mind-numbing stuff you've had to sit through, who really cares? I might have cared more, if the gore/sex was used more sparingly, or at least not saturating the text
I just never "got" what Llewellyn was trying to say in a lot of the stories. I never "got" the "point". Maybe there was never one to get in the first place, but it felt like there was supposed to be one. I don't need the meanings of stories spoon-fed to me, but honestly. Most of the stories here just feel so ... vacant.
Maybe YMMV. I didn't "get" the "point" of Skin when I read it either, though apparently people really loved that too. Actually, Skin and this book seem a lot alike, in retrospect.
These reviews also do a pretty good job of summing up my feelings:
1. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
January 2, 2018
Livia Llewellyn's first collection of stories, Engines of Desire, features works originally published from 2005 to 2011. Within the confines of the horror short, they're a diverse bunch. They range in length from novella to flash fiction. Some are erotic and, in one case, outright pornographic. Some are explicitly weird or supernatural though others merely allow for the possibility while functioning without that element.
There's a bit of Lovecraft in it, a fair bit of Barker, some King and a hint of Barron (who, as it happens, wrote the intro). Nonetheless she has her own voice that isn't quite a copy of any of her influences, particularly where the erotic element is concerned.
I'm tempted to use a word like 'uneven' since this is not a cohesive collection of works designed or at least curated to be complementary. At worst one might say that some of her peers have been more prudent and selective with their debut collection.
Even so, the quality is generally good and therefore this a worthwhile collection of early material from an author who has since further established herself as a respected name in the field.
There's a bit of Lovecraft in it, a fair bit of Barker, some King and a hint of Barron (who, as it happens, wrote the intro). Nonetheless she has her own voice that isn't quite a copy of any of her influences, particularly where the erotic element is concerned.
I'm tempted to use a word like 'uneven' since this is not a cohesive collection of works designed or at least curated to be complementary. At worst one might say that some of her peers have been more prudent and selective with their debut collection.
Even so, the quality is generally good and therefore this a worthwhile collection of early material from an author who has since further established herself as a respected name in the field.
August 15, 2017
well then... the introduction by Laird Barron seems like a massively overhyped piece, and then when you get to read the stories you realize he is dead fucking right... these tales are visceral and sensual and dark and tainted and erotic and just off, somehow, but lovely all the same... a couple were a bit long in the telling, but the best of them made up for this minor shortcoming... whew, reading this grabs you, squeezes, slides up and down and in and out, lets go for a second, then comes back stronger and dirtier... yum!
Want to read
March 14, 2021Take Your Daughters to Work
“This is the way of the world, His way, her father has explained.”
A promise to see the ocean Sadie has set her heart upon, with family heirloom a thousand years old laying across her throat she is all set to follow in footsteps of a thousand joyous girls.
Daughters with whole new purpose, “the way of the world,” past the factories near the edge of dry land furious vast oceans await.
One should take fathers to work instead.
A cosmic compelling Lovecraftian short lasting tale.
“This is the way of the world, His way, her father has explained.”
A promise to see the ocean Sadie has set her heart upon, with family heirloom a thousand years old laying across her throat she is all set to follow in footsteps of a thousand joyous girls.
Daughters with whole new purpose, “the way of the world,” past the factories near the edge of dry land furious vast oceans await.
One should take fathers to work instead.
A cosmic compelling Lovecraftian short lasting tale.
January 16, 2020
The storyline and characters are unique, exquisitely crafted, engrossing, and deliciously haunting. Yet, while exceptional, the writing isn't often palatable-this has nothing to do with the dark subject matters (murder, rape, incest, religious zealots, dystopian futures, etc) and everything to do with the delivery. The writing is layered and complex in many areas, the world-building so unique, it becomes distant and unapproachable at times.
July 11, 2023
Grisly, perverse, insidious visions, with occasional glimmers of hope. The psychic space represented in these stories I would characterized as sort of... "mixed," part "negative fantasy" (a clarification of negative elements of our own society), part petty revenge fantasy, part hallucination of a cosmically rebalancing (hence... moral?) universe.
June 8, 2019
Horses ★★★★
At the Edge of Ellensburg ★★★★★
The Teslated Salishan Evergreen ★★★
The Engine of Desire ★★★★★
Jetsam ★★★★★
The Four Hundred Thousand ★★★★
Brimstone Orange ★★★
Take Your Daughters to Work ★★★★
Omphalos ★★★★★
Her Deepness ★★★★★
At the Edge of Ellensburg ★★★★★
The Teslated Salishan Evergreen ★★★
The Engine of Desire ★★★★★
Jetsam ★★★★★
The Four Hundred Thousand ★★★★
Brimstone Orange ★★★
Take Your Daughters to Work ★★★★
Omphalos ★★★★★
Her Deepness ★★★★★
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews