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Bread and Circuses
The debut collection by award-winning Australian dark fantasist Felicity Dowker.
"She is one of those rare and talented writers of horror who can creep you out while still making you admire the graceful construction of her prose." - World Fantasy Award nominee Angela Slatter
"Felicity Dowker is one of the all-too-rare writers who really understands both horror and its appeal. She can show the terrifying aspect of things as outre as enchanted dragons or the zombie apocalypse, or as commonplace as dysfunctional families and the Santa Claus army. To borrow her own words, 'It hurts, and it's horrible, and it's beautiful . . . and we might as well enjoy it'." - Award-winning Stephen Dedman
The collection includes the stories:
Bread And Circuses
Jesse’s Gift
From Little Things . . .
Us, After The House Came Back
The Bearded Ones
Berries And Incense
To Wish On A Clockwork Heart
Phantasy Moste Grotesk
The Blind Man
Red Delicious
After The Jump
Rota Fortunae
Nepenthe
The Female Of The Species Is More Deadly Than The Male
The Emancipated Dance
"She is one of those rare and talented writers of horror who can creep you out while still making you admire the graceful construction of her prose." - World Fantasy Award nominee Angela Slatter
"Felicity Dowker is one of the all-too-rare writers who really understands both horror and its appeal. She can show the terrifying aspect of things as outre as enchanted dragons or the zombie apocalypse, or as commonplace as dysfunctional families and the Santa Claus army. To borrow her own words, 'It hurts, and it's horrible, and it's beautiful . . . and we might as well enjoy it'." - Award-winning Stephen Dedman
The collection includes the stories:
Bread And Circuses
Jesse’s Gift
From Little Things . . .
Us, After The House Came Back
The Bearded Ones
Berries And Incense
To Wish On A Clockwork Heart
Phantasy Moste Grotesk
The Blind Man
Red Delicious
After The Jump
Rota Fortunae
Nepenthe
The Female Of The Species Is More Deadly Than The Male
The Emancipated Dance
266 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2012
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33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 3, 2020
It is my own god damn fault not being able to give this five stars. Holy Heck, Felicity Dowker is a new favorite writer of mine. She is amazing at weaving stories and mixing fantasy with horror. But that was also my issue. I did not go into this book expecting such extremely good fantasy worlds that I left most stories so sad that they were not longer. I expected to be more scared than awed and I just wasn’t. Not because she’s not scary, but because the fantasy just intrigued me more most of the time. Will read again and will certainly read more of this author because again, Holy Heck. Ramble review over.
May 1, 2013
Felicity Dowker is the writer who made me see the potential of the zombie story. Previously, zombies had just been hulking, mindless brain-eaters, good as a metaphor for mindless mass threat (an analogy for overconsumption or the way humanity self-anaesthetises, or even the fear of Alzheimer’s) but not much more.
Then I read her short zombie love story, Bread and Circuses, and the whole genre changed for me.
I’ve read a lot of excellent zombie fiction since then, and tried my hand at a zombie story myself, but Bread and Circuses remains one of my favourites.
How good was it, then, that Ticonderoga Press scooped up this fabulous writer of horror (and winner of awards) to produce a collection – Bread and Circuses: stories by Felicity Dowker?
SO GOOD is the answer you are looking for.
This collection is replete, from start to finish, with tales full of rage, creeping horror and, almost surprisingly, the notion of love both as a destructive and a redemptive force. The eponymous Bread and Circuses and Jesse’s Gift most readily exemplify that particular theme, but elements of it arise in Red Delicious, To Wish on a Clockwork Heart and Us, After the House Came Back.
The settings for Dowker’s horror are often urban, revolving very much around the home, around children and relationships. Domestic violence features strongly as a theme, as does love and revenge. The whole is imbued with a sense of female power, as well as the consequences not only of abusing others but of willingly surrendering your autonomy (and therefore safety) to another.
Each story has its own voice too. While some names or notions may recur, there is great variety in the types of story being told. Some are drawn from fairy tales, others from mythology; yet others are very contemporary in their conception. Zombies and vampires are represented, as is the horror circus trope, but there are touches of steampunk, of traditional fantasy (dragons and wizards!) as well as urban myth and the great tradition of revenge tragedies.
Felicity Dowker is one of Australia’s best new voices in horror fiction, her powerful feminist approach giving the genre a good deal of…well, fresh blood. Be creeped out, disturbed, challenged and thoroughly (if sometimes unwillingly) captivated!
Then I read her short zombie love story, Bread and Circuses, and the whole genre changed for me.
I’ve read a lot of excellent zombie fiction since then, and tried my hand at a zombie story myself, but Bread and Circuses remains one of my favourites.
How good was it, then, that Ticonderoga Press scooped up this fabulous writer of horror (and winner of awards) to produce a collection – Bread and Circuses: stories by Felicity Dowker?
SO GOOD is the answer you are looking for.
This collection is replete, from start to finish, with tales full of rage, creeping horror and, almost surprisingly, the notion of love both as a destructive and a redemptive force. The eponymous Bread and Circuses and Jesse’s Gift most readily exemplify that particular theme, but elements of it arise in Red Delicious, To Wish on a Clockwork Heart and Us, After the House Came Back.
The settings for Dowker’s horror are often urban, revolving very much around the home, around children and relationships. Domestic violence features strongly as a theme, as does love and revenge. The whole is imbued with a sense of female power, as well as the consequences not only of abusing others but of willingly surrendering your autonomy (and therefore safety) to another.
Each story has its own voice too. While some names or notions may recur, there is great variety in the types of story being told. Some are drawn from fairy tales, others from mythology; yet others are very contemporary in their conception. Zombies and vampires are represented, as is the horror circus trope, but there are touches of steampunk, of traditional fantasy (dragons and wizards!) as well as urban myth and the great tradition of revenge tragedies.
Felicity Dowker is one of Australia’s best new voices in horror fiction, her powerful feminist approach giving the genre a good deal of…well, fresh blood. Be creeped out, disturbed, challenged and thoroughly (if sometimes unwillingly) captivated!
November 1, 2012
I utterly devoured this book, took me about three days to read it, and I'm a slow reader. But Felicity Dowker is such a fine writer, so a collection with her best work was always going to be an awesome read, and it really was.
It's fascinating reading these stories in such close proximity, rather than in the context of their original publications (I'd already read all but four of the stories, but re-read them in this collection, because hey, how could I not???), because you really do start to see Felicity's common themes. She says it's about revenge a lot, and maybe it is, but revenge by itself doesn't mean very much, and I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of her characters are either children or child-like, in a state where their life decisions are being made for them, rather than by them, often against their will. A very common theme in these stories isn't revenge per se, but the empowerment of the powerless, which is much more interesting!
My favourite story from the collection is still one of my favourite stories by anyone, full stop... the title story "Bread and Circuses". I think Felicity just captured something perfect there, almost effortlessly, created utterly convincing and compelling characters and situations and played them out perfectly. A close second would be "The Bearded Ones", which is about as nasty a Christmas tale as you could ever imagine. But all the stories were excellent!
Bread and Circuses is a brilliant collection, and one that should be purchased immediately. Go on!
It's fascinating reading these stories in such close proximity, rather than in the context of their original publications (I'd already read all but four of the stories, but re-read them in this collection, because hey, how could I not???), because you really do start to see Felicity's common themes. She says it's about revenge a lot, and maybe it is, but revenge by itself doesn't mean very much, and I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of her characters are either children or child-like, in a state where their life decisions are being made for them, rather than by them, often against their will. A very common theme in these stories isn't revenge per se, but the empowerment of the powerless, which is much more interesting!
My favourite story from the collection is still one of my favourite stories by anyone, full stop... the title story "Bread and Circuses". I think Felicity just captured something perfect there, almost effortlessly, created utterly convincing and compelling characters and situations and played them out perfectly. A close second would be "The Bearded Ones", which is about as nasty a Christmas tale as you could ever imagine. But all the stories were excellent!
Bread and Circuses is a brilliant collection, and one that should be purchased immediately. Go on!
August 8, 2013
What a kickass story collection by Felicity Dowker!
I stumbled upon this collection in the dealer's room at Conflux 2013 and was immediately drawn to the fantastic cover and the catchy name. So glad I picked it up because it was worth every penny I spent on it.
This collection contains something for every dark fantasy or horror reader... zombies, dragons, fairies as well as more "human story" horror tales pertaining to abuse/violence/etc. Her tales and overall style are particularly good at making you empathise with the characters she's created and there is not a stale moment in the collection.
Its not suprising that this author has been featured in magazines such as Midnght Echo and nominated for various awards. I look forward to reading more short stories by Felicity and picking up the novel she's working on once it get published.
I stumbled upon this collection in the dealer's room at Conflux 2013 and was immediately drawn to the fantastic cover and the catchy name. So glad I picked it up because it was worth every penny I spent on it.
This collection contains something for every dark fantasy or horror reader... zombies, dragons, fairies as well as more "human story" horror tales pertaining to abuse/violence/etc. Her tales and overall style are particularly good at making you empathise with the characters she's created and there is not a stale moment in the collection.
Its not suprising that this author has been featured in magazines such as Midnght Echo and nominated for various awards. I look forward to reading more short stories by Felicity and picking up the novel she's working on once it get published.
February 25, 2013
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
July 26, 2017
A fantastic collection from a very talented writer. There's not a bad story in this book.
September 17, 2013
Loved it! See my review: http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/bre...
February 10, 2013
Disturbing and fascinating, this is an excellent collection. Dowker is a master wordsmith, gluing the reader's eyes to the page even as they flinch away in discomfort.
May 14, 2013
Standard Ticonderoga Disclaimer: We published this book because we loved it!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews