Morbid Tales

by Quentin S. Crisp

In these eight immaculately realised strange stories, Quentin S. Crisp delves deep into the decadence of contemporary life. The fresh originality of the tales and their settings: an English country garden in ‘Cousin X’; contemporary Japan in ‘A Lake’: is matched by the elegance of the writing. They are unified, perhaps, by a yearning for the achingly perfect, ecstatic moment. As Mark Samuels points out in his Foreword, Crisp’s fiction is ‘. . . too multi-layered, too individual, to be labelled. One can spot influences here and there, a dash of this and a sprinkling of that, but the end result is much greater than the sum of its parts.’

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Weird Fiction, Fiction, Literature

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 27, 2004

Reviews

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly good. QSC is not only a master storyteller, but his elegance and imagination are exquisite, refined, compelling, and unique. These are the types of speculative fiction short stories with subtle speculative elements, which could hold their own as literary fiction but expand their purview beyond the average range of infantile mainstream topics. They are not what I would normally term 'morbid,' at least compared to contemporary extrapolations of that term. They contain brutality, violence, sex, and surreal horror, but more than all that, they are immaculately written wellsprings of imagery, containing deep psychological insight and breathless, dream-like allure. Even if you do not like the stories he tells, you have to admit that he tells them well. Crisp is an apt name. The sentences crunch like Pringles. The residue they leave in the mind is haunting. Simultaneously old fashioned and cutting edge.

'The Mermaid' - a novella length story about the legendary sea creature, with a surprising ending. An exploration of sexuality, with a warm, nostalgic tone. Extremely uncanny, due to the intense and photographic detail, the immerse quality of the prose.
'Far-Off Things'
'Cousin X'
'A Lake' - A Japanese tale. Familiar themes, but Crisp conveys the Eastern setting with knowledgeable skill. He was collected in a Haikasoru anthology and has written other books taking place in Japan. He is obviously well-traveled and well-versed in Eastern philosophy. This one has a Lovecraftian twist, but above all, a chilling atmosphere.
'The Two-Timer' - Crisp writes convincing adolescent protagonists. A recurrent theme in his work is unrequited or misinterpreted love.
'The Tattooist' - A tour de force. One of those classic tales which is disturbing, beautiful, weird, creepy, ecstatic, morose and much more at the same time. In the vein of Tanizaki, but thoroughly modern.
'Ageless' - A retelling of a concept already exploited by Nicholson Baker. A quirky and hypnotic tale nonetheless.
'Autumn Colours'.

I will have to read all of Crisp. You never know where his intellect and artistry will take you. Everything he writes is infused with brilliance, wit, and irreverent charm.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 4 out of 5]

True to its title, this collection dwells thematically in a kind of morbid miasma. These are stories preoccupied with death, decay, and longing, though rarely in an overtly sentimental or trope-laden way. While Crisp takes a ruminative, philosophical approach to the weird tale, he is able to simultaneously maintain compelling narratives, thus avoiding the unpleasantness of theory bloat. His thematic concerns still come across, but not at the cost of story. He crafts satisfying fictive milieux in which to scrutinize the ambiguous, and often ineffable, motifs that take prominence in his work. Many of the characters in these tales are awkward outsiders—fringe-dwellers too delicate for the harshness of this world. They are either children or adults still possessed of a childlike naivete. A sense of grief over childhood’s innocence lost pervades the collection. Crisp’s style leans toward the ornate, though I did not find it burdensome, for often the thickets revealed clever turns of phrase that curled up the corners of my lips. A unique collection, to be sure, and not quite what I was expecting, though what exactly that was I remain uncertain.

[Nicolai Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scathing review warning! :)

I read this short story collection as part of a group read in Weird Fiction. I might be wrong, but to me, only three of the eight stories here strictly qualify as such. Because of the lack of supernatural elements, I think the rest is simply realism or magical realism (it’s ambiguous and open to interpretation). As you can already tell by my rating, I wasn’t impressed.

I’m going to call Crisp here a purple prose writer, but not the good kind. I tend to appreciate writing that can be described as purple prose: flowery, maximalistic, elaborate, dense, ornate, lyrical, but on this rare occasion, I’ve read something I think deserves to be called purple prose in a purely derogatory way. It was so bogged down by metaphors, similes, pretentious philosophical musings and half-assed attempts at poetry and childlike nihilism it almost made me a little bit sick of reading, which, when I realized this, made me queasy and angry.

And putting Clark Ashton Smith, one of my favorite writers, on the cover is the equivalent of sprinkling salt into a gaping wound.

You might call these stories an elegant psychological examination of heartache, grief, trauma and the like, or you might, as I do, describe them as gloomy, nonsensical navel-gazing and cumbersome, pointless pondering. Reading Crisp is like trudging through a muddy swamp or standing in quicksand, inevitably drowning.

Keep in mind that my criticism is flipped on its head for the first story, The Mermaid, in which I think he does everything right in that sense.

But whatever it is that you like to read, whatever floats your boat, I suggest you steer clear of this collection, lest your boat sinks.

Here are my ratings and reviews:

The Mermaid – ★★★★★

A remarkable and exquisite novella about a man and a mermaid who develop an unconventional relationship. There’s a deep level of internal conflict in the man, and an intensity of feeling in him that needs an outlet. The fantasy of the mermaid becomes his single-minded purpose, and by his obsessive and possessive nature, he's a pitiful, but deeply complex figure. While the mermaid is a captivating and seemingly unsolvable mystery.

This is what I had to say in the “Weird Fiction” group read discussion:

“Wow, I was blown away by the first story. If this is Crisp's style and he's consistent with it, I've found myself another favorite author. I think "The Mermaid" was absolutely riveting. I love stories about obsessive and compulsive individuals, eccentrics and nihilistic hermits, tragic love stories and curious kinks thrown in for good measure, so this one hit all the sweet spots for me.

Crisp's prose is so captivating too. Every word and sentence feels so deliberate and acute and erudite and magical. It's (almost) like discovering CAS all over again.

What a wonderful reading experience.”

Yes, it really is that amazing. Even if I can’t recommend any of the other stories, if you decide to buy this collection it’s almost worth the purchase just for this story alone.

“I had reached the conclusion that if I was to tread the world I longed for, the world where mermaids are more real than you and I, then I must act as if I were already there. I must, so to speak, come out of my closet, let people think me eccentric or mad if they must, but never hesitate in speaking about mermaids, never waver in my faith, never show any doubt.” (6)

Far-Off Things - ★★★

The second story was anticlimactic for me. I was so captivated by “The Mermaid” and had high hopes I’d found someone truly special. And then I get something far more basic.

A boy sees a girl from a distance and becomes smitten by her. She evokes all sorts of new and exciting feelings in him, which he’s trying to comprehend. She eventually becomes ill, and then something magical/tragical happens. That’s the gist of it.

The story is written like a fairy tale. It’s very romantic and flowery and full of childhood naiveté. There’s not really anything morbid or weird about it, which is disappointing. Therefore, it’s just uninspired filler. A simple, misplaced little thing.

Edit: I initially gave it two stars, but now that I’ve thought about it some more, I do think it’s lovely, in all fairness, so added an extra star just before posting my review.

Short was the light, and long the dark, so that it is better to talk of the passing nights than of days, though they did not seem to pass. They were the same night swallowing one brief day after another. The night did not pass, and for the boy, it seemed, time no longer flowed. It was a well of darkness. (57)

Cousin X - ★★★

Another childhood story, which might be defined as magical realism, but everything that happens here might just be the result of childhood fantasies.

A stranger comes into Sasha’s life. He is her cousin, and he’s just called Cousin X for some reason. He’s “a kind of prodigy” and most likely on the spectrum, although he doesn’t agree with that assessment. They become friends and maybe more.

I think this story is more complex than it needed to be. The children talk in a very philosophical and cryptic manner, completely at odds with their age, and there’s so much here which I simply don’t understand or don’t see the point of. There are a lot of layers and themes and subjects, but they don’t go well together and seem a bit too unrelated and disconnected. They work better in isolation than in this narrative, if that makes sense. The story is not greater than the sum of its parts, anyway.

I liked the ideas more than the execution. If Crisp is trying to capture that childish whimsy, he’s successful, but only because it’s so silly, digressive and a tad ostentatious.

People are like crystals. They solidify into a particular shape so that we can see them, but really it’s just a sort of code for something that has no shape at all. That’s what I see all the time, not the shapes of people and things, but their … potential. (78)

A Lake - ★★★

A man named Stephen stands near a lake in Japan and observes it and the surrounding area. It’s sick, empty and eerie. It feels morbid in every sense of the word. The lake intrigues him, calls to him, haunts him, and he starts investigating the high number of suicides connected with it and an obscure religious sect, making cosmically horrifying discoveries too great to bear.

I liked the atmosphere and the Lovecraftian intertwining of despondency and awe here, but I think it’s too long and cryptic.

He thought again of the way the lake had lain spread-eagled beneath the mountain in a great sheet, like a mirror forged out of the very landscape. It was a mirror to the firmament, but while the sun hung in the sky, the fathomless eddying of the universe was locked out of vision by deceptive blue. (131)

The Two-Timer - ★★

A man tells the story of his childhood (when he ate dinner at noon for some reason) to an unknown listener. He discovered the ability to freeze time and the implications thereof. Interesting premise, but that’s about it.

The Tattooist - ★

A tattooist tells the story, in a frame narrative, of a customer simply called “the Boy”, an innocent, vulnerable, but oddly mysterious and slightly morbid little thing. After he gives him a tattoo, they develop a relationship that’s hard to put into words, and then someone dies. I’m not really sure what happens, if anything, or what the significance is, if any, of what they say or do. I just struggled sooo hard with this.

Probably one of the most boring short stories I've ever read. Sigh.

For me the act of tattooing is a physical thing, a performance, like stepping into a boxing ring. When I am in the middle of my work, thoughts and words are not necessary. Everything else is preparation, rest, survival. When I am tattooing the waiting and talking are over. I am living. (168)

Ageless - ★

A man and a woman play chess and drinks champagne together on a rooftop. There’s a deep level of intimacy between them.

But again, that’s about it, and the ending is too predictable. The story gave me nothing.

Autumn Colours - ★★

A man is ruminating on a bus, and then he ruminates some more at his sister’s house, and then he broods at his university dorm room. He thinks about identity, friendship, nose rings, about what to say and think, about reality itself.

And then it’s all over. Thankfully.

[Ctgt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes getting what we want is painful.


Despite the title most of these stories were not what I would consider horror, much more on the fantastical or weird side of the spectrum. Four standout stories I want to bring to your attention.

The Mermaid-what happens if you just decide to believe in something no matter what anyone else thinks?

The desire I felt was poison. I knew it was fatal and yet such was its sweetness that I willingly succumbed.

'You seem to think that everyone lives in the same world. But there are many worlds. The world you live in isn't just a place, it's a path that begins with your beginning and ends with your ending,'

Cousin X-a look at a youth who is different

Sasha flinched inwardly to see his flesh raised in a crude map of white scars. The impression that he had been shattered and impossibly glued back together was suddenly heightened. Sasha felt a touch of the unreal.

Life is nothing but a finitude of moments, objects, senses. This finitude is a very delicate thing, very precarious.

It seems to me that human society is bent upon a whole contract of lies. It starts in childhood, when we are brought up on all sorts of happy-ever-afters, which we then reject in early adulthood. But then, in order to enter into a relationship with someone and start the cycle over, those lies once again become necessary.


A Lake-Concerning a lake with some mysterious qualities. This is my favorite story of the collection and is reminiscent of The Aokigahara Forest in Japan. You can see the Ligotti influence in Cousin X but it really comes to the forefront in this tale.

Time, too, seemed to exist in complete isolation from the world outside the lake.

The unmasked void was infinitely greater in extent, both temporal and spatial, than the lost universe. It was not mere darkness, nor mere emptiness, but a chilling bottomlessness so great it was all-powerful, the gaping, grinding maw beneath every action and every frozen instant of existence.

It brought him instead something more terrible than fear. It brought him knowledge. His undoing was already fixed, it was an accomplished fact.


The Tattoist-an artist deals with unexpected consequences after tattooing a young man.

I get customers from all different backgrounds, but still he managed to look painfully out of place. Then it occurred to me that he would look out of place almost anywhere on Earth.

"It really did hurt, but then, facing up to what we want is often painful. The hardest thing we do.'

To be astonished at one's own work is involuntarily to disclaim it. I had no more created this tattoo than a father can be said to create their daughter.


If you enjoy fantastic, weird and (at times)pessimistic stories then definitely check out this collection.

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a difference between morbid and misanthropic, I guess. Here, we balance on the edge of each in turn and discover these edges do not overlap – necessarily. Imagine, the narrator of HP Lovecraft’s ‘The Hound’ preambling not a Hound but a Mermaid, discovered not from a fruit-mulched grave-plot but perhaps another slot closed up as if there’s nothing to penetrate… I am entranced by the prose and its erotic touches as well as by the “mer-monkey” from the Horniman Museum, Penge, to which the writer of the book’s Foreword once introduced me decades ago. The narrator is in a coastguard’s cottage where his obsessions may drift ashore?

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its observations.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the November group read for the goodreads group Literary Horror.
The stories are generally well written, though a little bit digressive. Its hard to categorize these stories. Most of it is speculative fiction, and has a horrific aspect. The stories with a tragic plot resonated with me. Those stories are "The Mermaid" which is about a tragic romance between a man and a mermaid; the story "A Lake" takes place in Japan where mysterious suicides have occurred in a lake, and there is a cosmic reason for this; "The Tattooist" where a terrible chain of events happened after a young person received a magical tattoo.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a random collection of British author Quentin S. Crisp's short stories. Marketed as horror or weird fiction I suppose that's not a complete mischaracterization, but honestly I would avoid attempting to classify or pigeonhole these stories into any genre. Yes, most of them have supernatural elements; however, the plot never turns on them. These stories are about the relationships among the characters placed into the unusual plot situations the highly inventive mind of Crispin fashions for each protagonist.

The collection is a 226 text page collection of eight stories: The Mermaid, Far-Off Things, Cousin X, A Lake, The Two-Timer, The Tattooist, Ageless, Autumn Colours. Of these eight tales, three are rather weak in my opinion, the first and the last two. There are also six really interesting stories that were fun to read, and those are the first six. Yes, the first story falls into both categories. That's because it's probably the longest one in the collection and seems to have two halves. The first half for me was awful. It barely had a protagonist or anything resembling a story structure at all. It was just random musings on mermaid lore and God only knows what else that went on page after page and never congealed. Suddenly, a flip was switched when the nominal protagonist to that point found a way to communicate with a mermaid, and a dialogue could then take place. The last half of the story was the strongest material in the book, and all suddenly became clear why Crisp, or his editors, placed it first. Still, it was a close call. I almost DNF'ed the story.

The last two stories were short, comprising only nine percent of the collection. Both read more like fragments than stories. Each dealt in a different way with suicide, a morbid subject to be sure, and clearly a topic of some fixation for this author. I think they were included because the author wrote them and probably figured a devoted fan of his writing style would find value in their inclusion. Why omit them? That's reasonable enough thinking, but the audience for the stories then does not include me. I find Crisp's writing style serviceable, even occasionally crossing over to elegance. I enjoy it, but it's not unique or worth reading for its own sake by any means.

The first six stories are all highly varied in terms of plot, character voice, and theme. All were ultimately fun to read, the second through sixth stories were fun all the way through. There are a lot of surprises in this collection, many of which consist of the subject areas the author chooses for plot points. Most reviewers of this book do not get specific on these and I see why now. A large part of the fun of reading this collection is to see where Crisp will dare go next. They don't want to spoil that for prospective readers. I agree with that call and do not wish to either.

If you decide to give this collection a try, come to it without expecting it to conform to genre demands. Don't try to force it to be weird fiction, or a horror story collection, and become disappointed when it fails to meet those expectations. instead, approach each story with an open mind and let it be what it is, a unique story told in an original, unexpected, slow and meandering way. If you can do this, I think your chances of enjoying the collection as much or even more than me quite promising.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Morbid’ is a lovely word; very ‘woody’ as Python might say. It describes perfectly the nature of the eight, largely lengthy, short stories in this collection.

This is the first time I’ve come across Quentin S Crisp, a 50ish year old British writer whose work usually involves the supernatural. Relatively early in his career, 2004, he was discovered by Tartarus Press who published this book. I’m a devotee of the publisher, and will read (and inevitably enjoy) anything they put out.

As indicated by the title, the stores are of unpleasant and disturbing themes. Their qualities vary, but I’d select as my favourites,

Autumn Colours which doesn’t have any paranormal or supernatural reference in charting the breakdown in the relationship of a couple, Andy and Adrienne. A subdued, insinuating dread steadily increases in intensity so that the final pages are quite devastating.

A Lake is set in Japan, and concerns Stephen, an Englishman, who comes upon very many dead fish on the shoreline of a lake and sets out to investigate, uncovering a suicide cult and a lethal, Lovecraftian Leviathan.

Crisps’s influences vary. Sometimes, as above, one senses Lovecraft, other times Poe, Aickman, Machen and occasional Japanese literature. His trademarks though are that his stories are typically English, with an offbeat and eccentric humour. It’s a type of weird fiction of his own, which makes me keen to read more; a blend of extravagant horror that has morphed into having a sense of deep unease and dislocation bound up with the onset of technological soulless modern living.

[G.R. Yeates · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very English Poe who unifies elements into his unique prose that many writers, and I'll include myself here, would initially baulk at. There is a magic to Crisp's literary voice that is not magic realism, nor is it strictly fantasy or horror. These tales are reflective and morbid, the theme running through them being that of innocence lost and the terrible ways this can come about. There is a sense of quiet distance and sad observation to the events unfolding in these tales that does remind me of Asian literature in that the point and purpose is to evoke atmosphere and capture mood as an insect might be caught in amber. Extending that metaphor, these tales are like insects, beauty and horror competing and combined in exquisitely singular forms. I recommend this collection to readers who wish to read something that is original, provocative, melancholy, often disturbing and sometimes hilarious.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nunca había leído nada de Quentin S. Crisp anteriormente a parte de un fenomenal ensayo sobre el género de terror pero como todo lo que Tartarus Press suele publicar es bueno, me lanzé a la piscina.
La verdad es que este libro tiene algunos relatos muy buenos pero el exceso de descripción y el tono onírico de algunos relatos me saco de la narración.
No se como describir bien el estilo, es una mezcla entre Aickman, Ligotti y Lovecraft pero se queda en el camino y no alcanza esas cotas.
Los relatos que más me gustaron fueron:

La sirena(****): Un chico se obsesiona con la idea de que las sirenas son reales y comienza a investigar. Finalmente dará con una y aprenderá que las obsesiones son lo peor. Interesante tono lovecraftiano y esa duda entre saber si lo que el protagonista vive es real o está en su cabeza te mantiene enganchado.

Un lago(***): Un chcico se pone a investigar un misterioso lago donde ocurren suicidios. Pronto verá que todo esta relacionado con una extraña secta y los influjos de esta comenzarán a actuar sobre él.

El tatuador(***): Un extraño niño va a tatuarse una imagen de la muerte en el brazo. El tatuador y sus amigos se lo llevan de parranda y el niño acabará cambiando por completo sus vidas.

[John Hepple · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories. Not as morbid as the title implies but they certainly have an air of unease about them. I especially enjoyed 'The Tattooist' though the other tales were similarily well written.
Crisp's prose is magnificent. Dream-like and descriptive it weaves a subtle, yet often disturbing tapestry which holds the readers attention until the tale reaches its often ambiguous conclusion.
If you are a lover of weird or strange fiction I would definately recommend.
I am aware that my reviewing style is terrible...

[P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every story is a jewel but the good ones are excellent! Totally worth the money.

[Romuald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quote: ”I don’t know if you would call it art. It was something between religion, love and madness.” (from ”The Mermaid”)

This is my second Tartarus Press book I read, and reading small press paperbacks is a pleasure in itself. This is a short fiction collection by British author Quentin S. Crisp. While generally it was an OK reading, some stories stand out, most notably ”The Mermaid” and ”A Lake”. There is a strong prose captivatingness in terms of weird kinks, tragic love elements, and strong antagonistic characters in there. (”The Mermaid”, by the way, bears stark resemblance to ”Bone White by Moonlight” by Mark Howard Jones, a story found in ”Eldritch Tales” magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, editor Robert M. Price). I even liked the ”Far-Off Things" story which is a nice fable with a doom ending almost in gothic tradition. Meanwhile, ”Cousin X" has strong development of characters, almost Algernon Blackwood-like focus on the psychological side of protagonists; but the story has an uneasy, almost unpleasant feeling throughout, which gives creeps, and not necessarily such which encourage further reading; and nonetheless intrigues. The shorter stories towards the end of this book are somewhat weaker mostly in terms of plot creativity, and they do not captivate as much, but it is still a good writing, and I can understand why Mark Samuels writes in his foreword that QSC’s prose is a ”literature of the highest quality”.

And, actually, to understand the style and the ”morbidity” of the author´s weird fiction I will quote Mark Samuels from foreword once again:
”I am constantly looking for fiction incorporating the view that the strangest of all planets is the Earth itself. We humans are like ghosts, struggling to come to terms with a futurity that has already decayed, and I was immediately struck by the fact that this sensibility also seemed to be present in QSC’s stories. As I have read more of his work other aspects have become apparent to me. There is a profound limpidity in his prose-style, a clear and crystalline quality, combined with a sense of bewildered fascination and revulsion with local colour (both in Japan and England), with trashy culture and human cruelty. In reading QSC’s work I was reinforced in my belief that what the literary critics term ‘realism’ is not true realism at all. Even the characters in Jane Austen’s books are just like mannequins, lifeless things who are trapped in an artificial world of customs and social graces, quite unaware of the mysteries and wonders of the wider cosmos. The puppet celebrities who appear on television soap-operas and in Hello or OK magazines are their descendants.”

To continue understanding this prose in decadent tradition of genre, I will end with following quote (again, from ”The Mermaid”):
”[…] stories take place over time. Nothing is revealed all at once. One scene follows closely upon another leaving no gaps, fitting tightly together, slowly and carefully picking out details so that all sense of fulfilment is perpetually in abeyance. And in each new scene we are no longer the same person who wanted the things that scene brings. It is the story of how we age.”

Individual story ratings:

The Mermaid ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Far-Off Things ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Cousin X ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
A Lake ★★★★☆ (4/5)
The Two-Timer ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
The Tattooist ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Ageless ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Autumn Colours ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

[Andreas Jacobsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the simple title and - sorry Tartarus Press - terrible cover of this book.
Despite the sub-par packaging, this is quality literature.

The collection consists of 8 short stories, not all of them morbid as the title suggests.
Out of the 8, there were three in particular that stood out, which incidentally were the three longest stories:

The Mermaid (A hermit's erotic obsession with the mythical creature - decadent and grotesque)
A Lake (Slow-burn cosmic horror, set in Japan around a strange lake - the best of the bunch)
The Tattooist (Strange incidents occur after a young man gets a tattoo - surprisingly tender)

These stories - in different ways and with varying styles - all showcase Quentin S. Crisp's ability to create an immersive atmosphere in a few dozen pages.
This is something I think many writers struggle with in short stories; how to invest the time it takes to engage the reader in the world of a given story in a few pages, without disrupting the narrative flow.

QSP seems to be a master of this particular skill; these stories don't hook you instantly, but gradually pull you deeper and deeper into them. This effect is perfectly suited for these erotic, weird, horrific, and strangely touching stories.

There is a great degree of subtlety and nuance in QSP's writing style, that is essential to making even the stranger conceits feel very real. This is when weird fiction can be so very enjoyable to read, and with QSP there is yet another great proponent of the style to get into.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered Quentin S. Crisp through his best-of collection I Reign in Hell published by Centipede Press. I read the first three amazing stories (including The Mermaid which is included in this collection as well), before I realized that his work was too emotionally and psychologically draining to commit to a 650 page collection. Discovering that some of his earlier and shorter collections were still in print, I started in on this again. The Mermaid is a deceptively simple but original tale of dark fantasy, a kind of H.C. Andersen through the looking glass, with the final betrayal reversed. The preciseness of Crisp's language in this story is unparalleled, and perhaps sets the rest of the volume up for disappointment because none of the other stories except The Tattooist reach that level of sheer brilliance. And this isn't to suggest the other stories aren't brilliant, it's more that Crisp in good mode eclipses so many other writers of weird fiction, so when he's great, it's just on a whole other level.

[Kulchur Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purring with pleasure in the afterglow of Crisp’s exquisite prose and his sustained moods of weird philosophical enquiry. These seven short stories are some of the best weird fiction I’ve read. Disturbing and perverse, these meditations on obsession really get under the skin. The finest here, ‘A Lake’, ‘The Tatooist’, ‘Cousin X’, ‘The Mermaid’, all traffic in the Decadent themes of Beauty and Death, are written with psychological intensity and all fizzle and crackle with vivid, sensual prose. Crisp writes in finely wrought sentences, his prose like poetry. His are not realist tales to be told, but texts to envelope and immerse the reader. They are dream-like and rarified psychological examinations of obsessional realities. I think I got high on the rarified quality of the writing. My absolute favourite kind of literature.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting collection that’s very varied in subject matter and theme. I’m certain many of these stories will be trapped in my mind swirling around in my thoughts for a while.

My ratings are below.


The Mermaid (5/10)
Far Off Things (5/10)
Cousin X (6/10)
The Lake (8/10)
The Two Timer (7/10)
The Tattooist (7/10)
Ageless (3/10)
Autumn Colours (6/10)

[Maria Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection in which everyday objects and thoughts merge with nightmares and death.