Glass Stories

by Ivy Grimes, Jon Padgett (editor), Jesse Peper (artist)

Glass Stories by Ivy Grimes is a collection of seventeen darkly weird and humorous tales that reflect the essence of Angela Carter, Shirley Jackson, Kelly Link, and Haruki Murakami’s storytelling. Grimes explores the spectral nature of glass in everyday objects, taking readers from purgatory to the Bible Belt, through narratives that shimmer with the uncanny and the absurd. An old woman invites two strangers into her glass tower, a woman gives birth under the glow of a glass gift from her late mother, a bookstore clerk’s mundane existence is shattered by a glass book, and a man untangles his mother’s fears through a glass oddity. From the menacing presence of a glass angel to a glass pet protector who eats light, each story is a pane that illuminates the characters’ deepest trials and whims. We witness a teen reinventing herself amidst glass coffins, two elderly brothers opening old wounds in a glass museum, a bride bedazzled by a glass apple given to her as a wedding present, an aggrieved daughter trapped atop a glass mountain by her father, and a captive woman who glimpses salvation through a mirror. The singular tales in Glass Stories entrance and delight.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies, Weird Fiction

142 pages, Paperback

Published August 21, 2024

About the author

Recent author of The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion (Cemetery Gates) and Glass Stories (Grimscribe Press).

Published in The Baffler, ergot., Maudlin House, hex, and by other nice people.

Reviews

[Carson Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glass Stories refracts its thematic premise into seventeen dark and enthralling esoteric fables. For those in the know, Ivy Grimes has long been one of the most exciting new voices in weird fiction—crafting tales of absurdity and everyday unsettlement with a voice and style all her own. Glass Stories is a meditation on glass and everything that comes with it—from its beauty, to its jagged edges, to its bent light, and violent shatters.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glass—made of sand; born of fire; hard; transparent, translucent, or opaque; glossy; uniform or with captured “impurities;” susceptible to shattering when thin; seemingly solid, yet imperceptibly liquid—these are the components of Ivy Grimes’ seventeen brief and highly imaginative tales. Tales of sadness, tales of magic, tales of families, tales of desperate attempts to escape the otherwise cloying characters/realities that actively endeavor to ensnare her protagonists. Inspired, well told, and polished to a luster with a suitably stunning cover by Jesse Peper.

[Emma E. Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I haven't stopped thinking about this collection since I finished it. It's hard to choose favorites out of a collection that is so devastatingly beautiful and thought-provoking, but I have to highlight "Glass Tower," "Glass Mother," "Glass Book," "Glass Piano," and "Glass Mountain." But those these were the ones that stuck with me the most, their imagery and broken characters visiting me often as I lay in the dark trying to fall asleep, there wasn't a single story in the book that didn't seize my heart and steal my breath. The way Grimes evokes fairytales but spins them them into unsettling, dark, less-familiar examinations of growing up, grief, family, and other topics that will leave you a different person than you were when you began reading. I am not exaggerating when I say this is the best short fiction collection I've read in years and I will definitely be picking up whatever works Grimes puts out in the future.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a treat! This collection of short stories from Grimes is a lovely tableau of whimsical, sometimes dark, fairy tales.

If you are a fan of Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" or Neil Gaiman's fairy tale retellings, you'll love Glass Stories. Some of the stories are almost like poetry, with lots of vivid and surreal imagery.

I'd read some of them when they were in print, and it's cool how well they fit into the Glass theme. Can't wait to see more from Grimes!

[C.F. Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivy Grimes's Glass Stories is a collection of postmodern ghost stories, which are occasionally laced with mind-bending philosophical ideas (perhaps challenges). But more abstractly speaking, it's like a folk musician on a log somewhere, perhaps a glass beach or a glass forest, maybe in front of a fire that casts her shadow ominously across the landscape, with just one humble, unpretentious instrument, whose lost and wandering listeners sit in shadow and listen quietly to her stripped-down, haunted melodies . . . no noise but her voice, an occasional strum, the wind through the leaves . . . no intricate plots, gratuitousness, flashy prose, high concepts. Instead she focuses on the feeling of her stories, not so different from observing an abstract painting; you might not understand it literally, not an intellectual level, but you feel it on an emotional level.

Glass Stories is original, measured, thought-provoking, and unapologetically ambiguous, whose pages are haunted with

(glass)

lost souls; and Grimes herself reads like a [post]modern Shirley Jackson. One of the best collections of the year.

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories won't probably cut you, the way newly broken glass would, but they can burn, and chill, and glow, and enchant. Seemingly translucent and often sparkling prose, one more proof that Ivy Grimes has the skills and imagination to spare.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

When white light is passed through a glass prism, it refracts into a rainbow of colours. Similarly, the seventeen tales in Ivy Grimes’ Glass Stories are all bound together by the common theme of “glass”, but each one is a unique shade. Glass objects are at the heart of each story and range from a tiny glass pill to a glass mountain. The importance of each glass item shifts from story to story, but there is always some glass present, and I enjoyed guessing what form the glass would take in each story.

Grimes has an unusual style, and her stories do not follow typical conventions or tropes. The tales were often experimental, or as the description promises, “darkly weird” and “absurd”. Experimental does not always work for me, as I tend to enjoy tropes, but I appreciate new styles and books outside the norm, too. Some of the stories worked better for me than others. A few felt as though they ended rather abruptly, but even the ones that agreed with me less, were made enjoyable by Grimes’ easy-going and engaging prose. Finding the endings abrupt mostly meant that I wanted to read one and explore whatever strange little glass world I was in.

A majority of the stories in this collection fall under the umbrella of horror, and readers should be prepared for some dark material. My personal favourites were two that strayed outside of horror: Glass Clue and Glass Mountain.

Glass Clue starts off with a mystery. The glass item is a misshapen ball with an unclear purpose. Joe, following a cryptic statement from his mother, has to investigate its origin. The result is a sweet little story about grief and moving forward.

Glass Mountain is a fairy-tale-esque story about a princess whose father has forced her to live on top of a glass mountain. To win her hand, and by extension, the kingdom, suitors must make the impossible journey to the top to prove their worth. Grimes centres the princess at the heart of the story and instead of a typical fairy tale, Glass Mountain is an empowering journey about a young woman learning how to take control of her own destiny.

Glass Stories is a strong collection full of variety, darkness, and light. The glass theme ties the stories together in a coherent manner, but does not restrict them. Rather, it allows each tale to be its own creation and explore different ideas of life, growth, and what makes a story.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow reads like it was translated from another language, and magics up a deep disquiet.

[Taura Wildes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ

"𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔' 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓."

𝙂𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 is a collection of short stories that echoes the fairy tales we are used to but with a haunting darkness and an ambiguous twist.

Ivy Grimes writes in a simple prose but with such an artistic flare. Despite the stories being absurd, unsettling and other-worldly, the narratives are easy to grasp and completely engrossing.

The pacing of the collection is perfect and the stories effortlessly complement each other. Each tale is centred around a different glass object and Grimes has taken this everyday matter and used it to create a vast variety of concepts that are thrilling to explore.

Grimes’ extensive imagination leads her to create stories that are unique, poignant and with a hint of horror. She has quickly become one of my favourite authors.

This is the perfect book to read during the spooky season

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young woman is reassured by her grandmother: as long as the glass pet remains alive the wolf won't be able to get inside the house and gobble them up. A starving woman finds a large toe suspended in a massive glass cabbage. A glass book tantalizes a bookstore employee. Celebrities, both living and dead, appear to be suspended beneath the floor in glass coffins. A glass apple might be a gift from God, but can it be trusted?

Ivy Grimes explores the nature of glass in the seventeen stories that grace the pages of GLASS STORIES (Grimscribe Press, 2024). The stories range from the horrifying to the humorous, but all possess an irresistible absurdist quality. Grimes's skilled composition forces the reader to take even the most absurdist elements seriously. Her writing captures the liminal quality of glass itself – present and yet not – that caused earlier societies to view the material as an alchemical marvel.

Of particular note is the story “Glass Piano,” dedicated to Princess Alexandra of Bavaria who suffered from the historically prevalent Glass Delusion. The story is beautiful and poetic, a short snapshot of what inherent fragility can compel a person to do. “Glass Cabbage” would also be of interest to anyone with an eye for folklore, although in truth so would “Glass Pet” and many other stories within this collection.

GLASS STORIES is a collection that will be cherished by fans of magical realism storytellers like Kelly Link, Jonathan Carroll, and Haruki Murakami. These seventeen stories, many original to the collection, build off of the reputation for quality weird fiction that Grimes has already sculpted over the past few years within the horror community.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this so much. It's like a bunch of unsettling fairytales that will have you wondering what is happening with glass. And these are not like retellings of fairytales, instead they feel like things you could put along with fairytales and totally be okay with. They are also more unsettling as you think about them more and more, Grimes puts the seed in your head and lets you germinate it until it becomes something more. Tons of awesome concepts and scenes within all of the stories, definitely worth you checking it out.

[C.H. Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this weird short fiction collection—particularly the Lynchian dream-logic, the focus on the domestic or the workplace, and the quiet, incisive humour. Favourite stories for me were “Glass Book” (first published in ergot.) and “Glass Coffins” (or “The Wrong Mall” first published in the anthology MONSTROUS FUTURES)—gorgeously unsettling.*

"Mother?" she said. She knew somehow.
The flaky substance evaporated, and she heard her mother's voice say, "Sorry to bother you."
—“Glass Book” by Ivy Grimes

*I received a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivy Grimes does a fantastic job in writing this collection of dark tales, I thought each story worked and was just as good as the rest of the stories. I enjoyed the way each story worked in the genre and that it had that supernatural element that I wanted. I hope to read more from Ivy Grimes as this was really well done.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written, somewhat opaque collection of very short stories all tied together by the central theme of: Glass.

I enjoyed them all, with their dream-like, fairy tale qualities although I feel like the meaning conveyed often traveled just over my head, at least after one reading. Hence why I feel it will reward multiple re-reads.

I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of strange, surreal stories with lots of ambiguity. Though I can imagine many readers might find that frustrating. Very easy to read but not so easy to understand.

[Elford Alley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection, tales of terror that manage to embrace both weird fiction and literary horror. These stories stay with you!

[Kyle E. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tales in Glass Stories defamiliarize the vocabulary of fairy tales--mirror, wolf, apple, tower, forest--rearranging these elemental blocks into quietly discomforting shapes. These are stories of self-consciousness, the dawn of self-consciousness, that fractured moment (mediating between childhood and adulthood, perhaps) when we swallow a glass piano and realize we must be more careful now with the world, with things, with ourselves. These are stories of uncertainty, and some of them seem uncertain in their own form, caught between short story, prose poem, fragment, and fairy tale. And in that way, the best stories in the collection might frustrate overly literal readers. These cracked, chipped, fractured fairy tales suggest that the fundamental elements of narrative are sensitive, yet surprisingly durable, like an insulator on a telephone pole: even after years of bad weather, bird shit, and use, they still work, carrying the light (and therefore telling us all we need to know about the dark).

The insouciant, childlike logic of these stories and the sentences that make them belie an uneasy and even sinister undercurrent. "Eagles seem more like people than birds because they're large enough that you can see how terrible and loving they are." But we follow the trail of crumbs wherever they may lead. There's a delightful archness to Grimes's writing, a smirk behind the words, the moon smiling on a wolf's wet tooth, a tenderness and a hardness. These stories are about uncertainty, often uncertainty in the presence of an authority (whether that be a father, a stepmother, a jailor, or God Almighty); and these minor authorities answer to the one behind the writing. Grimes's wry, arch style suggests knowledge beyond the reader's, making the text itself an authority in a world that seems set off at an acute angle to our own, and to the one we discovered in fairy tales as children (or adults). And it's to this conspiratorial voice we listen. From this voice issues both comfort as well as discomfort, and that may very well be the agitated pleasure of mystery itself, which doesn't arise from strange and inexplicable events alone, but only when those events are paired with some one or some Being who understands, who possesses occult knowledge. The one who conspires with, breathes together with, the weird. Someone knows more than we do--that is, there is in fact more for us to learn--we don't know everything: the truly Other exists after all. And this is the tingle of the Weird.

Something must also be said of the strength of the tales all taken together as a collection. Individually, they clink and whisper. Together, they glow.

[Jesse Hilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulist storytelling, all these stories feature some element of glass which as a substance is mysterious and symbolic. It can be crafted into many shapes such as animals, books, trinkets, angels which often tease and beguile characters and of course are very fragile and can be shattered. Such a propensity for breakage carries ominous consequences that fit right into the fairy tales gone awry that Grimes writes here.

Favorite stories include “Glass Angel” about a religious girl who goes away to a secular college and must deal with several crises of conscience while accompanied by a glass angel that isn’t opposed to speaking to her, and my favorite story of all these, “Glass Coffins,” about a girl who after a breakup decides to switch it up and find a new subculture to join at a “new mall.” The wonky off-kilter humor is brilliant and lends so much character and life to this bizarre, surprising, and ultimately terrifying tale. Grimes is good at using the imagination to come up with variations on fairy tale themes but with an original twist which is crucial. The key to this book for me, what led me to read it in an afternoon, was the fact that these weren’t heavy handed discourses on modern life in fictional form, they were just purely stories by a story teller — the most important quality in fiction like this. Speculative, refreshing, deliberate. I want to read some of Grimes’ other books now.

[Kyle Nowak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transparent the substance in which we all use.
To observe our world in fleeting views.
Where tainted reflections all gather and muse.
In truths revealed they cannot refuse.

Glass Stories is yet another great read published by Jon Padgett at Grimscribe Press. Ivy Grimes’ style is highly unique and original. Her prose is direct and pithy, similar to that of Dan Chaon’s, but only if it were viewed through the bizarre lens of a Lynchian nightmare, and maybe sprinkled with a bit of fairy dust.

The stories in this collection are deeply personal, dreamy, and whimsically haunting, oftentimes filled with uncanny tension. Each sentence really stands out, being carried by Grimes’ rhythmic pacing which thumps along like an uncertain heartbeat. The concept of ‘glass’ from story to story was fantastic. Highly recommended!

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stellar collection of highly-symbolic, weird, and fairytale-esque short stories. Largely, the stories and their meaning remain amorphous and unclear, they feel more like parables or aphorisms than anything else. There is a danger when writing in this style to be too mysterious or cryptic. Though, that doesn't happen here, most tales feel very solid. There are some common symbols that are used in multiple different stories: high-places, towers, wolves. Furthermore, the stories are very good at approaching challenging topics like loss and death. No didacticism is present.

On the whole a very competent and enjoyable and extremely well-written work. I am a fan of Ivy Grimes and cannot wait to dig more into her oeuvre.

[Christi Nogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning collection of seventeen delicate and defiant contemporary tales recalling myth, fable, and scripture, Glass Stories is reminiscent of Kelly Link and Angela Carter while staying true to Ivy Grimes’ uniquely Southern sensibility. A phenomenal talent and a highly recommended collection!

Not everything here is strictly horror. More on the weird and unsettling side. Some favorites were "Glass Turtle,” “Glass Coffins,” "Glass Mountain,” "Glass Angel," Glass Book," "Looking Glass," and "Glass Pet.”

I really appreciate how unique Grimes’s voice is, while also being in conversation with some of my favorite writers.

[Liza_lo · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are weird tales all titled "Glass Something" though the titular glass varies in importance. I like Grimes style a lot, she reminds me of Camilla Grudova, but there is a little something distant in her writing which is why, while I liked it, I didn't quite love it.

I enjoyed the stories that were closer to fairy tales the best:
Glass Coffin: in an unexplained future teens get entangled in weird subcultures like "golf grandpa"
Glass Pet: a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood
Glass Mountain: a princess whose father has set a challenge to win her hand lives on a glass mountain

[Rick Claypool · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect fairytale-nightmares in Ivy Grimes's Glass Stories leave me awestruck every time. They lure you in with deceptively straightforward prose and familiar starting points, then unfold in surprising, unsettling ways. There is love and death and heartbreak, and an underlying sense of wonder and curiosity in the face of strange, subtle horrors. Essential for fans of Brian Evenson and Kelly Link. Highly recommend!

[Seán Padraic Birnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in the Weird renaissance of the last decade will welcome the publication of the first full-length collection from Ivy Grimes: her work is deft and whimsical, but dangerous, too. The Glass Stories are full of longing and the fear of loss, of faith and doubt, of mothers and ghosts and familiar fairytales shaped into new and stranger forms. My favourites: Glass Book, Glass Mother, Glass Tower, Glass Coffins.

[Corey Farrenkopf · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love fabulist and dark speculative short stories in the vein of Kelly Link, Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, and the like, you will love these! Some feel like fairy tales, others like invert realities...and all deal with glass in some unique way. My favorites were Glass Mother and Glass Book (being a librarian, it's hard to not be enamored by a weird bookstore story). There's a little something in here for everyone!

[Vivian Givhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the shared motif of glass, these stories sometimes feel like voyeuristically looking through a window, and at other times like seeing through a funhouse mirror. Grimes has a sharp ear for conversation and it comes across in her dialogue. These stories also sometimes remind me of Angela Carter’s fairy tales. An excellent collection.

[Arwyn Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been sitting on making this review for awhile because I don't really have much to say besides incoherent screeching about how much I enjoyed this book.
There's a few I still think about, and each one had me progressively whispering /what the fuck/ (complimentary) after each one.

I was given an ARC of this book but I might have to go out and buy a copy to keep on the shelf and lend out.

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

An outstanding collection. I enjoyed all these stories, but my favorites were "Glass Coffins," "Glass Angel," "Looking Glass," "Glass Pet," and "Glass Piano." Grimes's writing is so lyrical and unique. If you haven't read her fiction, I highly recommend anything she releases!

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, thanks to BookSirens and Ivy Grimes. I really like Ivy's writing style and finished this book quickly. It was different than any book I've read recently, it was humorous and also weird. Look forward to reading more of her books.

[Austin Shirey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of beautifully strange, refractive, dreamy tales. I absolutely loved it! Stand outs include: “Glass Book,” “Glass Turtle,” “Glass Cabbage,” and “Glass Apple. Honestly, though, each story in the collection is perfect, and I can’t wait to revisit them!

[Renée Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes chilling, sometimes bright, these short stories are as versatile as glass! You never know what the next page is going to bring. The modern twist on fairy tales, bringing out the darker elements in them (but always with a pinch of dark humour) is awesome.