Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales

by Mercedes M. Yardley

A woman builds her lover from carefully scavenged pieces and parts. A young girl is groomed for madness by one who loves her most. A neurodivergent boy organizes his life, and loss, by the ticking of a clock. And love can be the most splendid and destructive force in the entire world.
Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales is a collection of seventeen stories that are both bleak and beautiful, devastating and sweet. Enter the crematorium to experience grief, starlit nights, and gorgeous tragedy that make our souls burn from the inside out.



Mercedes M. Yardley is a whimsical dark fantasist who wears red lipstick and poisonous flowers in her hair. She is the author of numerous works including Darling, the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear A Tale of Atomic Love, Pretty Little Dead Girls, Detritus in Love, and Nameless. She won the Bram Stoker Award for her stories Little Dead Red and “Fracture," and was a nominee for "Loving You Darkly" and the Arterial Bloom anthology. Mercedes lives and works in Las Vegas. You can find her at mercedesmyardley.com.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2024

About the author

Mercedes M. Yardley is a whimsical dark fantasist who wears red lipstick and poisonous flowers in her hair. She is the author of numerous works including Love is a Crematorium and Other Stories, Darling, the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love, Pretty Little Dead Girls, and Nameless. She won the Bram Stoker Award for Little Dead Red and “Fracture.” Mercedes lives and works in Las Vegas. You can find her at mercedesmyardley.com.

Reviews

[Carm · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read “The Rack”, I knew that Mercedes M. Yardley was an author I needed to hear more from. “Love is a Crematorium” is a short story anthology that mixes and marries genres perfectly. It’s gothic horror and tragic romance. It’s high fantasy and post apocalyptic catastrophe. It’s dark fairy tales and urban contemporary nightmares. From demons and undead things to addiction and abuse, each story is as varied as it is beautifully and heartbreakingly scary. It’s genre bending and still cohesive. It’s a journey. My favorites are the titular “Love is a Crematorium”, “Loving You Darkly” & “The Bone-Shaker’s Daughter”.

[♡ retrovvitches ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this!! every story was great, i genuinely felt so absorbed in this book, which is something i struggle with with short story collections. but this was fantastic. it was emotional with the right amount of disturbing. highly recommend

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

A mesmerizing collection. Every story's a gem, but my favorites were "Night's Ivy," "Clocks," "Loving You Darkly," "Love is a Crematorium," and "The Making of Asylum Ophelia." Highly recommended, and absolutely essential for fans of the dark fantastic.

[Bookaholic__Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic collection. It has a great variety of stories and types of horror. It has very unique stories, and I really appreciate that. One of my absolute favorites was CLOCKS. My middle child is autistic and this story broke my heart. Mercedes is truly talented and writes horror that's full of heart and evokes all sorts of emotion.

I'll be back with a full review soon.

[Wayne Fenlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romanticism runs deep throughout this collection, but even more than that is the dark, aching heart thumping behind every story. There's a longing here that is rarely seen in horror these days. That could just be my choice of reading, of course, but anyway, what a great introduction to Mercedes M. Yardley this was for me. It certainly won't be my last. Tons to appreciate. Highly recommended.
Five stars.

[Irene Well Worth A Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and sickening, disturbing and hopeful. Wonderful, warped, haunting and heartbreaking are all words that come to mind when I reflect on what I've just read. These incredible stories put me through the wringer.

A mother's love, a sister's trauma, and an abused beaten-down daughter felt all too real in these tales.

I thought I might be in for something more lighthearted as I began to read about a woman with sentient hair but no. Even the surreal and fantastical managed to rip my heart out.

There are stories with impossible situations and others that could happen and do happen. The title story and "Clock" are especially hard-hitting. If I seem to be cutting this review short it's because I'm sitting here stunned.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

[Danielle (Danni) Vinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect collection of stories for readers who love exceptional writing. Every piece is painfully beautiful. I write notes for everything I read. These are some of the words I wrote...stunning, brilliant, devastating, damn, DAMN!, astonishing, glorious writing, and so many wows. It makes me so happy when I find an author who writes for me. I know that some of you understand that. Mercedes writes for me, and I am overjoyed that I found this brilliant writer.
There are 17 stories in this collection, and of those, 8 got stars. Hell, they're all star-worthy. These are my favourites...

~Love Is A Crematorium
~Heart of Fire, Body of Stone
~Clocks (this one is brilliant)
~Loving You Darkly
~Water Thy Bones
~The Making of Asylum Ophelia
~Unpretty Monster
~A Love Not Meant To Outlast the Butterflies

Very highly recommended.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mercedes M. Yardley's short story collection is quite unique in taking standard dark fantasy tropes and turning them into resonant journeys of great emotional impact. It's worth the investment and the turmoil!

The writing is deceptively plain, the stories straighforward and seemingly easy to read, the prose obviously of very high quality, but the telling - well, the telling creeps upon you unawares and before you know it, the ideas and the situations and the characters have become personal to you, bringing back memories, aches, private thoughts, regrets and joys you thought were done and forgotten. It's not difficult to point out narrative themes and patterns (mostly about love, memory, hope, and pain), but it's really hard to capture the empathy driving the collection's seventeen tales, the author's care to be honest, accurate and fair to every aspect of what's happening. The stories feature singularly heartbreaking scenes of haunting beauty (a couple, whose complicated love never materialized properly, embracing on the edge of a high citadel surrounded by hordes of the undead - “The Bone-Shaker’s Daughter”), contain arresting images of exquisite brilliance (a skeleton made of different people's bones, explaining to his creator that "There are different levels of okay" - “Loving You Darkly”), and can easily gut you through the mere reiteration of a word ("Clock,” in "Clocks"). Yardley excels especially when the story deals with hopelessness (often due to one's being drawn into a loved one's nightmare - see “Love is a Crematorium,” the volume's closing story).

Gabino Iglesias provides an amazing introduction to the book ("thou shalt be devoured from the inside out," certainly better than any review you're going to find) and Kealan Patrick Burke's cover tickles the mind every time. Yardley's story notes, placed at the end of the book, reveal glimpses of the author's much larger works.

Personally, although I'm not a fan of dark fantasy, I'm pretty sure I'll read the collection again. The stories maintain a sense of innocence and intimacy (probably not the best words) which deeply impressed me.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't enough stars to rate this. Mercedes is one of the most poetic and beautiful writers I've ever read. Her stories are important to me and full of raw, real emotion. She's become one of my favorite authors, and I hope more people find her and read her.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and beautiful and devastating. This is a very unique collection of short stories, unlike anything I’ve read before.

[ScarlettAnomalyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Is A Crematorium and other Tales
By Mercedes Murdock Yardley
4/5 Stars

I am on a short story and anthology kick and this was not a dissapointment.

This was emotional horror, not just that surface jump scare, Clock might have almost ruined me, but it's also my favorite out of all the stories.

Second favorite, had to have been Loving You Darkly 😳✨

I absolutely loved this, but I also happen to enjoy dark fantasy as well, and this is like if dark fantasy and horror had a love child on a full moon during the witching hour.

I enjoyed this immensely and will actually be ordering a physical copy from Cemetery Dance Publications as soon as I have enough power to do so, this hurricane 😭😭😭.

Today is release day for this beauty so I HAD to make a review post, because everyone need to at least check this out lol

Thank you CD for the chance to read this early!!!

[Sloane Kady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m typically not a fan of short stories. I wasn’t sure how many of these I’d read. I assumed I’d thumb through the book, find a few I enjoyed, and call it a day. Not so. I read this book cover to cover, in a linear fashion. There was simply no reason not to.

Mercedes writing is dark, lovely, utterly captivating, and tragically whimsical, all without an air of pretension. Each story is glittered with stunning imagery, anchored by strong story-telling and some of the most eloquent, macabre creativity I’ve seen put to paper. But it isn’t just decadent words. There’s so much heart here, and so many human truths, which sit at the core of Mercedes’ work.

This entire collection is pure alchemy, punctuated by its most heart-wrenching tale, the last in the book: Love is a Crematorium. While this story was steeped in realism, it wasn’t without magic, because that’s what love is, after all. The deepest, most immense magic, even when it does cut you into a million little pieces.

I’m a hard nut to crack, but that last story nearly brought me to tears. It was a departure from whimsy, with an arrow-straight trajectory into the center of every tragic story lining so many city streets, and all the young women whose haphazard attempts at escape have led them into deeper depths of hell.

While this collection will appeal to a specific reader, I can’t imagine there’s not at least one story that will dazzle the senses of anyone who stumbles upon it. I read this on my Kindle, and upon completion I purchased the paperback version, as well. It was just that lovely.

Exquisite work, Mercedes Murdock Yardley. You’ve become an automatic purchase for me. Very much looking forward to your future works.

[Candi Norwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Is a Crematorium starts with a strong introduction from Gabino Iglesias, and his promise of what you will find in Mercedes Yardley's stories is fulfilled in the most perfectly gut-wrenching way. This is first time I've read Yardley, and if her other works are even half as successful in cutting to the core of what it means to be human and to love, I'll be a lifelong fan.
Yardley's language drew me in immediately. Much like Iglesias in his introduction, I was captivated from the very first sentence, "Silva's lover was built of bones she scavenged from the Killing Fields." To spoil it slightly, the second paragraph begins with the newly-constructed skeleton saying, "Thank you," and I was hooked.
At first glance, the variety of stories in this collection seem to have little in common - a war-torn, even post-apocalyptic dark fantasy, a fairy tale of New York, modern settings, references from Shakespeare to Stephen King - but what they have in common is Yardley's language - her turn of phrase and word choice reach from the page (or screen) to bring you into her world so you see what her characters see and feel what they feel.
I read this book too fast. I couldn't stop reading, and I knew I wanted to tell you all about it. The next thing I'm going to do is reread it slowly, savoring the language and taking my time between stories. I encourage you to do the same.

[Jude Walko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the time I see books get a lot of hype, I chalk it up to a good publicity team, and not necessarily the unweighted mean of the general public. I couldn't have been more wrong about this one. It's no wonder this Author's name is Mercedes, because she is clearly the gold standard of burgeoning authors.

My favorite stories of the collection were "Clock" and “Stanley Tutelage’s Two Year Shiny Life Plan". The former dealing with a child with special needs. Side note, I could tell that the author had personal experience with this before reading the endnotes, by the sheer detail and love with which she wrapped the characters in, like a threadbare shirt. The "Stanley" story was exquisite in that it took something that is a societal taboo and turned it on its head... So much so that you are actually emphatically and sympathetically rooting for the main character's demise. Talk about an immersive experience!

Trust me when I say this book deserves all the hype. Most collections of short stories, in my opinion, are stilted and loosely spitballed together, but this Author's stories are thematic in finding harmony in dissonance, beauty in pain, and growth through suffering. As an Author myself, this type of literal Auteur's consistency is what I someday strive to have in my work. Ms. Yardley consider yourself having a new fan. Looking forward to diving into more of your work.

[Nick Bouchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Is A Crematorium is a beautiful collection of stories. For me, these stories all live at - or very near - the incendiary intersection of horror and hopeless romantic. Indeed, love will burn you in (and perhaps right out of) this life. And each story will do no less for your aching, cracking heart. I loved every single one of these stories. They are alternately and simultaneously horrifying and heartbreaking, with glints and glimmers of the optimism required of all romantics of the hopeless variety. Take special note of ‘Clocks’ which explores the life of a young man whose intellectual impacts make for one of the most compelling perspectives i can recall being immersed in. And when you’re done with ‘Clocks’ and before you read it again, just to feel it once more, ask yourself what does it mean to love.

[Jason Patience · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was incredibly difficult to rate this book. Love is a Crematorium is a wonderful collection of dark, meaningful, poetic stories—many of which were solid five-star reads—though a few fell short for me.
My favorite was Loving You Darkly, with its superb tale of love and sacrifice, while Water Thy Bones came in a close second. Clocks and Salt were also fantastic reads, offering a deeply personal perspective into the minds of those who may not seem intelligent but possess a kind of innocent heart and soul that we all long for.
The title’s final story beautifully illustrates pure, unselfish love, as young Kelly gives up being cared for so he can care for his Joy.
Overall, I highly recommend this collection of great stories. Even the ones I liked less were impeccably written, with rich prose throughout—and I still found myself devouring every word.

[T.O. Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible to categorise or pigeonhole Yardley’s enthralling but varied writing. This collection is like a box of treasures, the kind of memory box of items that a mother might leave for a child. Each piece significant in how it captures a moment in time, yet different in style and form to every other piece.

These stories range from the most uncanny borders of fiction, to the most grounded observations of fact. They vary in length from a handful pages to at least novelette, if not novella. Yardley shifts gear between inhabiting the protagonist’s heads, or observing from an almost divine distance. But each one is a perfect treasure that will draw you in and leave you breathless.

My full review can be seen here on the fantasy-hive.

[Amanda S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how I wanted to rate this one, until I saw another reviewer call it a dark fantasy novel, and it clicked. That's exactly what you're getting here. It does have some elements of horror, but I found the stories to be odd(in the good way) and unique. This anthology has quite a variety of characters and plots. If you enjoy anthologies, this one is worthy of your time.

[Jesse Bollinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The experience of reading these stories reminded me of reading fairytales as a child. The writing style made them feel like dark fairytales. A lot of times I got so wrapped up in the story that when the horrific moments came, it was like they hit me right in the face. I forgot that I was reading horror stories. This was a fantastic collection!

[J.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a short story collection like this one. Some of the stories are not what I would call horror, but all possess a dark and tragic theme. I became a fan of Yardley's writing style after reading Little Red Dead (which I highly recommend), and her unique way with words is on full display in this collection.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book at first. It is different from other books I have read in this genre. I have mostly read Stephen King! As I kept reading though, I really enjoyed it. It’s a collection of 17 different stories that are bleak, beautiful, devastating and sweet. I would definitely read another one of her books.

[Dino Parenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the Love in its title, these stories creep into your system until they take you over and hold you enthralled. Mercedes beautifully balances horror, grief, and dread with hope--and even if the endings aren't always "happy," the journey is so worth it.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mercedes M. Yardley’s signature whimsical yet melancholy style is on full display here. This is a beguiling collection that explores suffering, longing, vengeance, resilience, and love. These stories will delicately carve out your heart!

[Amanda Bazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different but in the best way

Devastatingly tragic yet beautiful. So my favorite stories included the one with the man with the 2-year plan and the main story involving Kelly and Joy. Some parts were dark but relatable. Definitely recommend!

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Devin M. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing book! I laughed out loud, ugly cried more than once, and even got grossed out! highly recommend this book!

[Rob Vespa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts while reading (25%):

Outside of an unwise blanket comment regarding a gender in the forward, I've enjoyed my time with this book. The yarns I've experienced are colorful and creatively woven. I look forward to continuing with this collection. Fingers crossed the remainder of the project remains consistent. If that's the case, then it's a nice day. No matter the medium, it's always welcome to come across a new-to-you artist you appreciate.