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Garden of Eldritch Delights
Master short story author Lucy A. Snyder is back with a dozen chilling, thought-provoking tales of Lovecraftian horror, dark science fiction, and weird fantasy. Her previous two collections received Bram Stoker Awards and this one offers the same high-caliber, trope-twisting prose. Snyder effortlessly creates memorable monsters, richly imagined worlds and diverse, unforgettable characters.
Open this book and you'll find a garden of stories as dark and heady as black roses that will delight fans of complex, intelligent speculative fiction.
Open this book and you'll find a garden of stories as dark and heady as black roses that will delight fans of complex, intelligent speculative fiction.
184 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 2018
12 people are currently reading
451 people want to read
About the author
Lucy A. Snyder
143 books622 followersLucy A. Snyder is a five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning writer and the author of the forthcoming Tor Nightfire novel Sister, Maiden, Monster. She also wrote the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, and Switchblade Goddess, the nonfiction book Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer's Survival Guide, the poetry collections Exposed Nerves and Chimeric Machines and the story collections Halloween Season, Garden of Eldritch Delights, While the Black Stars Burn, Soft Apocalypses, Orchid Carousals, Sparks and Shadows, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger.
Her writing has been translated into French, Italian, Russian, Czech and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, Steampunk World, In the Court of the Yellow King, Shadows Over Main Street, Qualia Nous, Seize The Night, Scary Out There, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5.
She writes a column for Horror World and has written materials for the D6xD6 role-playing game system. In her day job, she edits online college courses for universities worldwide and occasionally helps write educational games.
Lucy lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a mentor in Seton Hill University's MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. You can learn more about her at www.lucysnyder.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @LucyASnyder.
Her writing has been translated into French, Italian, Russian, Czech and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, Steampunk World, In the Court of the Yellow King, Shadows Over Main Street, Qualia Nous, Seize The Night, Scary Out There, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5.
She writes a column for Horror World and has written materials for the D6xD6 role-playing game system. In her day job, she edits online college courses for universities worldwide and occasionally helps write educational games.
Lucy lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a mentor in Seton Hill University's MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. You can learn more about her at www.lucysnyder.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @LucyASnyder.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 7, 2018
Three underrated things I love in horror: subversive Lovecraftian themes, tough ladies, and diversity.
Luckily, Garden of Eldritch Delights offers each of those themes in spades. Throughout the collection, there are endless themes that feel inspired by Lovecraft without seeming too familiar, and most of the protagonists are angry, feisty women who have a bone to pick with something or something. There’s a delightful amount of diversity woven into the stories, and each story is just as feminist as the last.
The collection kicks off with my favorite, That Which Does Not Kill You: a story about a woman waking up to find that her girlfriend has ripped her heart clean out of her chest. It starts off gory and morbid, but quickly reveals itself to carry a much more real-world experience of abuse and gaslighting that was so well written and authentic.
A few other notable favorite mentions go to The Yellow Death, a fascinating new take on vampires (major trigger warnings for rape here, though!), and Executive Functions, in which any of my fellow “raging feminist” horror readers can get a fix of watching a heartless, misogynistic rapist undergo a little karmic justice. Though the three I’ve named here were the ones I loved the most, I actually gave almost every story 4 or more stars, which is something I can rarely say about a collection!
The only reason Garden is getting 4 stars instead of 5 from me is because the last few stories, sadly, totally lost me. The collection began to go downhill with A Noble Endeavor, a story with a black slave as a narrator, which had an ending that made me feel vaguely uncomfortable in a way I don’t quite know how to explain. Things picked back up with the next story, but the final two felt very lacking and didn’t fit the collection as a whole to me—I honestly think I would have rated the whole book higher if they’d been left out.
Still, this is a very positive 4-star rating from me, and I absolutely recommend checking out Garden of Eldritch Delights if you are at all interested in feminist or Lovecraftian horror! I think Snyder did an amazing job with the majority of these stories and I’ll absolutely be checking out more of her work in the future.
Content warnings for misogyny, rape, ableism, abuse, extreme racism (all challenged in text), body horror, gratuitous violence/murder/torture/etc.
All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Raw Dog Screaming Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
There’s a trail of blood on the carpet leading out of the bedroom, and your only thought is that if you can just find your heart, maybe everything will be okay. Maybe the pain will stop.
Luckily, Garden of Eldritch Delights offers each of those themes in spades. Throughout the collection, there are endless themes that feel inspired by Lovecraft without seeming too familiar, and most of the protagonists are angry, feisty women who have a bone to pick with something or something. There’s a delightful amount of diversity woven into the stories, and each story is just as feminist as the last.
The collection kicks off with my favorite, That Which Does Not Kill You: a story about a woman waking up to find that her girlfriend has ripped her heart clean out of her chest. It starts off gory and morbid, but quickly reveals itself to carry a much more real-world experience of abuse and gaslighting that was so well written and authentic.
Collateral damage. Your lover was not exercising a surgeon’s precision last night.
A few other notable favorite mentions go to The Yellow Death, a fascinating new take on vampires (major trigger warnings for rape here, though!), and Executive Functions, in which any of my fellow “raging feminist” horror readers can get a fix of watching a heartless, misogynistic rapist undergo a little karmic justice. Though the three I’ve named here were the ones I loved the most, I actually gave almost every story 4 or more stars, which is something I can rarely say about a collection!
The only reason Garden is getting 4 stars instead of 5 from me is because the last few stories, sadly, totally lost me. The collection began to go downhill with A Noble Endeavor, a story with a black slave as a narrator, which had an ending that made me feel vaguely uncomfortable in a way I don’t quite know how to explain. Things picked back up with the next story, but the final two felt very lacking and didn’t fit the collection as a whole to me—I honestly think I would have rated the whole book higher if they’d been left out.
Still, this is a very positive 4-star rating from me, and I absolutely recommend checking out Garden of Eldritch Delights if you are at all interested in feminist or Lovecraftian horror! I think Snyder did an amazing job with the majority of these stories and I’ll absolutely be checking out more of her work in the future.
Content warnings for misogyny, rape, ableism, abuse, extreme racism (all challenged in text), body horror, gratuitous violence/murder/torture/etc.
All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Raw Dog Screaming Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
May 29, 2019
Lucy A. Snyder is a name I've come to rely on for good short fiction (Ellen Klages being the only other I can recall offhand, which is pretty good company to be in). Having followed her instructions for Installing Linux on a Dead Badger, and survived with her through various Soft Apocalypses, a stroll through her garden promised to be just the kind of weird I love.
And it lived up to what I've come to expect from her! From the all-too-authentic heartbreak of What Doesn't Kill You, to the much more grounded Gentleman Caller, the thoroughly satisfying karmic justice of Executive Functions, to the uplifting and fierce Warlady's Daughter, these stories are all very different - but uniform in their quality. Another outstanding collection, and another reason to count Lucy A. Snyder as one of the best short-form authors around.
And it lived up to what I've come to expect from her! From the all-too-authentic heartbreak of What Doesn't Kill You, to the much more grounded Gentleman Caller, the thoroughly satisfying karmic justice of Executive Functions, to the uplifting and fierce Warlady's Daughter, these stories are all very different - but uniform in their quality. Another outstanding collection, and another reason to count Lucy A. Snyder as one of the best short-form authors around.
December 25, 2019
Rating: 5 stars
Now and again, you come across an anthology where every story is a gem. Surely, some stories were platinum, others were silver; a few were black diamonds or rubies, and some were garnets and pearls. The greatest treasure was the writing and originality. I will be seeking out more works by this amazing and creative author. I advise you to take a chance and dive into this work as an intro to her work. You won't be disappointed. I was delighted and surprised.
Now and again, you come across an anthology where every story is a gem. Surely, some stories were platinum, others were silver; a few were black diamonds or rubies, and some were garnets and pearls. The greatest treasure was the writing and originality. I will be seeking out more works by this amazing and creative author. I advise you to take a chance and dive into this work as an intro to her work. You won't be disappointed. I was delighted and surprised.
July 20, 2020
read in order to diversify my cosmic horror reading for a Lit Reactor article. Coming soon!
Review, soon!
Review, soon!
December 10, 2018
An excellent and diverse collection of a dozen stories. Glancing at some of the other reviews, I'm intrigued that when readers pick out their favorites and dismiss their least favorites their opinions hardly ever overlap with each other. One of the things I like best about this book is the inclusion of stories that have been influenced by some of the early classic works of the genre, notably Lovecraft ("Eldritch" in the title should have clued you in!) and Robert W. Chambers. Sunset on Mott Island, The Gentleman Caller (a good Monkey's Paw variation, too), and Executive Functions (a tale of just desserts) are all able Lovecraftian tales, and The Yellow Death, my favorite story in the book, serves a heavy nod to Chambers. My least favorite was the first one, That Which Does Not Kill You, a monster tale told in the weird second-person tense that rarely works for me. Santa Muerte is a nice tale that revisits some characters from the Jessie Shimmer novels (the Shimmerverse? Nah...), Dark of the Moon is a very entertaining caper story, and Fraternal is a good straight sf story with a nice twist. A Noble Endeavor is a nice chiller with Lovecraftian overtones, and Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars (best title!) is another good sf story. The last two are straight high-fantasies; The Warlady's Daughter is an excellent and memorable character study story, whereas A Hero of Grunjord is more a straight D & D adventure. It's another strong collection that showcases Snyder's mastery of many genres, adding something unique to each viewpoint.
March 12, 2019
Lucy Snyder is an author I will definitely seek out more from. This collection houses a wide array of horror/dark fantasy sub genres and I’m confident that a wide array of people will be able to find something to enjoy within these 12 tales.
My three absolute favorites are: That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island (my top pick if I have to choose), and The Yellow Death. Executive Functions was also a fun one for me - take THAT corporate America.
There were a few misses for me - keep in mind (as always) that reading is subjective. I’m looking forward to reading through the reviews of other bookish friends to see what everyone else thought.
My three absolute favorites are: That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island (my top pick if I have to choose), and The Yellow Death. Executive Functions was also a fun one for me - take THAT corporate America.
There were a few misses for me - keep in mind (as always) that reading is subjective. I’m looking forward to reading through the reviews of other bookish friends to see what everyone else thought.
October 26, 2018
From horror to sci-fi and fantasy, this collection has a bit of everything. The stories Executive Functions and the Gentleman Caller were really something. My review is posted here ---> https://wp.me/p5t5Tf-1IF
May 10, 2022
I loved this SO MUCH! I expected horror, but got sci-fi, dark fantasy, dragons, space, Lovecraftian water gods, and more! Full review soon, but pick it up and read it - you won't regret it!
June 30, 2019
I love that feeling of excitement and impatience you get when discovering a terrific new author. You want to read everything they have released immediately, but also want to pace yourself so you don’t blast through it too soon. I adored this collection that effortlessly blends horror, sci-fi and fantasy into a heady stew. I’m very picky about sword and sorcery tales, but Snyder’s final two lengthier stories in here had me dying to read more.
March 13, 2019
"Madness and misery always affect the flesh."
Garden of Eldritch Delights is a collection of 12 stories by Lucy A. Snyder, and this was my introduction to her work. I was a little bit concerned about this one going in because I'm not a huge Lovecraft person, but it's still easy to grasp what's going on. I was happy about that.
This was a bit of an uneven collection. It starts off really well, and I was so excited to dig into the rest. I feel like it got a little shaky after the first third of the book, and then never really recovered.
Garden of Eldritch Delights has a strange attitude toward disabled people, and it really threw me off. This book had attempts at diversity, but they didn't seem to be fleshed out very well. There was also a story about slavery that took some weird turns.
My top three stories in this collection were That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island, and Executive Functions. I had so much fun reading all of these, and I wish that the rest of the collection would have reflected the style of these ones a bit more.
Thank you to Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi & Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy to review!
Garden of Eldritch Delights is a collection of 12 stories by Lucy A. Snyder, and this was my introduction to her work. I was a little bit concerned about this one going in because I'm not a huge Lovecraft person, but it's still easy to grasp what's going on. I was happy about that.
This was a bit of an uneven collection. It starts off really well, and I was so excited to dig into the rest. I feel like it got a little shaky after the first third of the book, and then never really recovered.
Garden of Eldritch Delights has a strange attitude toward disabled people, and it really threw me off. This book had attempts at diversity, but they didn't seem to be fleshed out very well. There was also a story about slavery that took some weird turns.
My top three stories in this collection were That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island, and Executive Functions. I had so much fun reading all of these, and I wish that the rest of the collection would have reflected the style of these ones a bit more.
Thank you to Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi & Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy to review!
February 13, 2019
Two stories into “The Garden of Eldritch Delights” and im in love.
The very first story, “That Which Does Not Kill You” opens with such a beautifully graphic scene of a woman with her heart physically ripped out of her chest. What follows is a visceral look at the physical pain the words of a loved one can cause. it takes a special talent to write about gaslighting in such a visual way. It truly feels like you are repeatedly being ripped apart.
“Sunset on Mott Island” is a wretchedly painful story of the absolute end. It is a Lovecraftian tale of loss and hopelessness set during the beginning of the apocalypse. The setting is a beautiful allegory to the absolute devastation one feels when losing a parent.
Then we get to “The Gentleman Caller.” That story was just 14 pages of someone who does not know what abelsim is. This one story stopped me from wanting to read anything else. If you don’t know how to represent the handicapped community then there really is not a single thing else i want to hear from you. It upsets me that we went from 100 to 0 so fucking fast. How on earth so many people were okay with the phrase “ret*rded cripple” is unfathomable. There were so many things you could have done with this story: Janie could have had a “hero role”. Janie could have not given a shit how her perfect sisters life wasnt what it seemed, cause that whole subplot was just gross. This entire story is just how much of a burden, useless mess Janie was until her alter ego as a sex worker came out. BUT WAIT!! THERE'S MORE!! She received that magic phone call that allowed her to LEAVE HER BODY, cause being in a wheelchair was just that much of a nightmare to her that this would be the best thing ever! Just so much ugh.
There's a small chance that after my rage simmers down that i'll pick this collection up again. Very small though.
The very first story, “That Which Does Not Kill You” opens with such a beautifully graphic scene of a woman with her heart physically ripped out of her chest. What follows is a visceral look at the physical pain the words of a loved one can cause. it takes a special talent to write about gaslighting in such a visual way. It truly feels like you are repeatedly being ripped apart.
“Sunset on Mott Island” is a wretchedly painful story of the absolute end. It is a Lovecraftian tale of loss and hopelessness set during the beginning of the apocalypse. The setting is a beautiful allegory to the absolute devastation one feels when losing a parent.
Then we get to “The Gentleman Caller.” That story was just 14 pages of someone who does not know what abelsim is. This one story stopped me from wanting to read anything else. If you don’t know how to represent the handicapped community then there really is not a single thing else i want to hear from you. It upsets me that we went from 100 to 0 so fucking fast. How on earth so many people were okay with the phrase “ret*rded cripple” is unfathomable. There were so many things you could have done with this story: Janie could have had a “hero role”. Janie could have not given a shit how her perfect sisters life wasnt what it seemed, cause that whole subplot was just gross. This entire story is just how much of a burden, useless mess Janie was until her alter ego as a sex worker came out. BUT WAIT!! THERE'S MORE!! She received that magic phone call that allowed her to LEAVE HER BODY, cause being in a wheelchair was just that much of a nightmare to her that this would be the best thing ever! Just so much ugh.
There's a small chance that after my rage simmers down that i'll pick this collection up again. Very small though.
January 11, 2019
The Garden of Eldritch Delights - the name conjures up images of grotesque Alice in Wonderland flowers; a weird yet oddly beautiful selection of stories. This collection of 12 short stories were definitely weird. These imaginative tales ran the gamut from a tongue in cheek love story with a macabre twist, to Lovecraftian horror, science fiction, to dark fantasy. That being said, it felt as if the author tried to cram too much into each petite story. If the stories had been 500+ pages, perhaps the swirling array of ideas would have had sufficient time to be fleshed out. As they stood at 13 pages (give or take) there was just not enough time to fully develop each of the crazy twists some of these stories took. Due to the fact that novel length ideas were being packed into short stories, there was too much telling and not enough showing as there just wasn't time for the descriptive, eldritch, language I craved.
Admittedly, I do not read fantasy, it is just not a genre that speaks to me, so I had a hard time with a few of the stories. The last two in the collection were straight fantasy so ending with two stories that didn't capture me felt lackluster. Obviously if fantasy is your jam, that fact won't bother you! My favorite story was Blossoms Blackened like Dead Stars. It was a surprise to find this gem in the middle of the book. I felt there was some very powerful imagery and was the closest to living up to the collection's title.
I do find Snyder's ability to write across so many genres admirable and I will be checking out her other works in the future. Maybe I'll start to enjoy fantasy more, who knows?!
Admittedly, I do not read fantasy, it is just not a genre that speaks to me, so I had a hard time with a few of the stories. The last two in the collection were straight fantasy so ending with two stories that didn't capture me felt lackluster. Obviously if fantasy is your jam, that fact won't bother you! My favorite story was Blossoms Blackened like Dead Stars. It was a surprise to find this gem in the middle of the book. I felt there was some very powerful imagery and was the closest to living up to the collection's title.
I do find Snyder's ability to write across so many genres admirable and I will be checking out her other works in the future. Maybe I'll start to enjoy fantasy more, who knows?!
October 25, 2018
Actual stars: 5
Original review from Nightmarish Conjurings: http://www.nightmarishconjurings.com/...
The please don’t make me click your link version:
A wonderful, varied collection of horror and genre written in a unique and impactful voice that begs for revisits. The worst part about any of the stories is that they end after 20 pages instead of going on to novella or novel length. Perfect Halloween reading.
Original review from Nightmarish Conjurings: http://www.nightmarishconjurings.com/...
The please don’t make me click your link version:
A wonderful, varied collection of horror and genre written in a unique and impactful voice that begs for revisits. The worst part about any of the stories is that they end after 20 pages instead of going on to novella or novel length. Perfect Halloween reading.
October 26, 2018
I would have easily given this book 5🌟 if all the stories were like the first 5. The stories past those 5 didn't even feel like it was the same author. Good, fast read regardless.
October 17, 2018
I mentally screeched. Literally. I've read some fantastically far out Reader's Hooks, but this one is out beyond Pluto someplace. What makes it even more astonishing and fantastic is the subtlety. Ms. Snyder relates stories as if the outre is simply commonplace (which I guess, for her characters, is true). I easily understand why this author is a full-time Bram Stoker Award winner. This collection will surely win too (and maybe the World Fantasy Award too?) But, don't rely only on my take; go get the book, watch the top of your head fly off too.
December 9, 2018
This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com. I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
‘Garden of Eldritch Delights’ is packed with stories that are nearly great. It contains more of a mix than I was expecting. Horror is definitely at the forefront, but science fiction and fantasy are also represented here, with mixed results.
I think that in many ways short stories are more difficult for a writer to pull off than novels. The requirement to establish characters, convey ideas and weave a compelling story around it all in a limited number of pages presents challenges and constraints that writers of longer form fiction don’t have to worry about. Balancing those three elements is the key to a great short story, and in too many of these tales Snyder only manages one or two out of three. That’s a real shame, as there are flashes of brilliance here.
My favourites of the collection were the first two stories. ‘That Which Does Not Kill You’ is a weird, effective, horrific musing on love. It’s packed with great imagery and has a couple of moments that had my skin crawling. The second story, ‘Sunset on Mott Island’ is Lovecraftian and wonderfully creepy. What makes it brilliant is the weaving of emotion and modern sensibilities into the tale. It really does feel like eldritch horror for the 21st century.
It was with the third story that things started to slip. ‘Gentleman Caller’ has a great heroine in Janie, a disabled woman who works on a phone sex line. The story’s central concept is interesting too, but the execution in the last third of the story didn’t work for me at all. As with many of the other stories I ended up with a “so what” feeling at the end.
That’s not to say all of the other stories don’t work, they just don’t work as well. ‘Executive Functions’ is a creepy and often effective dissection of workplace misogyny with a nightmarishly fantastic twist. ‘Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars’ is a bite sized sci fi/horror epic about humanity’s last effort to defeat a terrible alien foe. It swept me along right up until the ending, which was interesting but felt rushed. ‘Dark of the Moon’ was similar, a cyberpunk heist romp that’s great fun until it falls apart at the end.
The other seven stories are various shades of “not as good as the above”. Most of them have either a good concept, or great characters, or a rousing story, but none of them achieve that elusive perfect blend of all three elements. So as a collection ‘Garden of Eldritch Delights’ is very much a mixed bag. It’s often enjoyable, is creepy and exciting at times and has a humanity woven into many of its stories that is really engaging. Too often though, the stories end up being unsatisfying. This is made even more of a shame by the fact that when Snyder is good, she’s very good indeed.
‘Garden of Eldritch Delights’ is packed with stories that are nearly great. It contains more of a mix than I was expecting. Horror is definitely at the forefront, but science fiction and fantasy are also represented here, with mixed results.
I think that in many ways short stories are more difficult for a writer to pull off than novels. The requirement to establish characters, convey ideas and weave a compelling story around it all in a limited number of pages presents challenges and constraints that writers of longer form fiction don’t have to worry about. Balancing those three elements is the key to a great short story, and in too many of these tales Snyder only manages one or two out of three. That’s a real shame, as there are flashes of brilliance here.
My favourites of the collection were the first two stories. ‘That Which Does Not Kill You’ is a weird, effective, horrific musing on love. It’s packed with great imagery and has a couple of moments that had my skin crawling. The second story, ‘Sunset on Mott Island’ is Lovecraftian and wonderfully creepy. What makes it brilliant is the weaving of emotion and modern sensibilities into the tale. It really does feel like eldritch horror for the 21st century.
It was with the third story that things started to slip. ‘Gentleman Caller’ has a great heroine in Janie, a disabled woman who works on a phone sex line. The story’s central concept is interesting too, but the execution in the last third of the story didn’t work for me at all. As with many of the other stories I ended up with a “so what” feeling at the end.
That’s not to say all of the other stories don’t work, they just don’t work as well. ‘Executive Functions’ is a creepy and often effective dissection of workplace misogyny with a nightmarishly fantastic twist. ‘Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars’ is a bite sized sci fi/horror epic about humanity’s last effort to defeat a terrible alien foe. It swept me along right up until the ending, which was interesting but felt rushed. ‘Dark of the Moon’ was similar, a cyberpunk heist romp that’s great fun until it falls apart at the end.
The other seven stories are various shades of “not as good as the above”. Most of them have either a good concept, or great characters, or a rousing story, but none of them achieve that elusive perfect blend of all three elements. So as a collection ‘Garden of Eldritch Delights’ is very much a mixed bag. It’s often enjoyable, is creepy and exciting at times and has a humanity woven into many of its stories that is really engaging. Too often though, the stories end up being unsatisfying. This is made even more of a shame by the fact that when Snyder is good, she’s very good indeed.
January 2, 2019
A mix of cosmic horror, sci-fi, feminist themes, and diversity in the character pool, Snyder offers a wonderful collection of horror tales that would please any aficionado.
The first four stories were my favorites. The second person narration of the first story, "That Which Does Not Kill You," is perfect in a world where second person generally makes me roll my eyes. It felt wholly original in Snyder's hands, and that quick little tale of a woman snubbed by her girlfriend is just perfect horror.
"Sunset on Mott Island" was a very human tale, a woman trying to survive at the end of the world and give her dying mother the care she needs. It turns in a direction I was not expecting, but it worked so perfectly, and the juxtaposition of the strange apocalyptic times with the character's personal struggles was really compelling.
"The Gentleman Caller" was an interesting one, following a disabled woman who works as a phone-sex operator. I thought the path the story took offered a unique perspective on her condition and how it must be to live a life where people are constantly judging you poorly just for the way you look and not what is inside.
"Executive Functions" offers a unique tale that would be at home on the show Black Mirror. I loved the unexpected (and fairly gross) twist in this piece following a not-so-nice guy in an office.
Because of my love for these first few stories, I thought the collection was fairly frontloaded. The last three stories especially did not have the same polish that much of rest of the collection had, and they started to lose me. The last two are straight fantasy stories, which is the genre that speaks to me the least, so you might have a different opinion if you love fantasy!
I will say that it is so impressive that she manages to fit so many genres, themes, and types of characters into one collection. There is a very unique vampire story, some sci-fi, the Lovecraft-inspired tales, a more action/adventure-type tale, the fantasy ones, and some just plain weird horror. Snyder is definitely very versatile and feels comfortable bending genres to her will.
This is one that I definitely recommend to horror readers everywhere. Lucy A. Snyder is one to watch!
My thanks to Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy of this one to read and review.
The first four stories were my favorites. The second person narration of the first story, "That Which Does Not Kill You," is perfect in a world where second person generally makes me roll my eyes. It felt wholly original in Snyder's hands, and that quick little tale of a woman snubbed by her girlfriend is just perfect horror.
"Sunset on Mott Island" was a very human tale, a woman trying to survive at the end of the world and give her dying mother the care she needs. It turns in a direction I was not expecting, but it worked so perfectly, and the juxtaposition of the strange apocalyptic times with the character's personal struggles was really compelling.
"The Gentleman Caller" was an interesting one, following a disabled woman who works as a phone-sex operator. I thought the path the story took offered a unique perspective on her condition and how it must be to live a life where people are constantly judging you poorly just for the way you look and not what is inside.
"Executive Functions" offers a unique tale that would be at home on the show Black Mirror. I loved the unexpected (and fairly gross) twist in this piece following a not-so-nice guy in an office.
Because of my love for these first few stories, I thought the collection was fairly frontloaded. The last three stories especially did not have the same polish that much of rest of the collection had, and they started to lose me. The last two are straight fantasy stories, which is the genre that speaks to me the least, so you might have a different opinion if you love fantasy!
I will say that it is so impressive that she manages to fit so many genres, themes, and types of characters into one collection. There is a very unique vampire story, some sci-fi, the Lovecraft-inspired tales, a more action/adventure-type tale, the fantasy ones, and some just plain weird horror. Snyder is definitely very versatile and feels comfortable bending genres to her will.
This is one that I definitely recommend to horror readers everywhere. Lucy A. Snyder is one to watch!
My thanks to Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy of this one to read and review.
February 12, 2019
The Garden of Eldrich Delights is my first exposure to Lucy A. Snyder’s writing. This collection showcases Lucy’s ability to write splendidly across a variety of genres. Many of the stories have a dark or heart-wrenching feel to them, and I love that. Some of the stories are action-packed adventures where characters are fighting to survive in a violent or a dystopian world. Others are quieter stories but left me thinking about human nature in the intricacies of lives and worlds mixed together.
As is becoming my habit with collections of stories, I’ll summarize them all. All twelve stories are well-written stories spun with intellect and exploration of worlds or situations beyond our own. The ones that resonated most with me were That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island and The Warlady’s Daughter.
The first story, “That Which Does Not Kill You,” is a dark story about pain and loss felt at the end of a relationship where the other person ends it for you. But instead of detailing how the loss feels like one’s heart has been figuratively ripped from the chest, the character is experiencing heartache as though the heart has literally been ripped from the chest and the character must repair herself - and do so emotionally and physically. A great story to open up the collection.
So I finish the first story and dive into the next one, a Lovecraftian one called “Sunset on Mott Island,” and was so very moved by it. In this story the main character’s mother is dying of cancer. In addition to the grief of watching a parent die, she is faced with another challenge - she’s been having nightmares of a massive tsunami that will wipe out mankind as we know it now and it may be a real prophecy. Without giving much away, the ending gave me chills and made me sad, and I like that in an ending.
In “The Gentleman Caller,” Janie is a young woman who works as Lady Rayne on a sex fantasy phone line. She receives a beautiful jade necklace from one of her callers who is more interested in having actual conversations instead of typical sex talk. She soon learns the jade necklace is able to transport her into another person’s body. At first this seems like a great thing for Janie, as she is wheelchair bound and so I thought maybe she’d be able to experience life in ways she could not before. Unfortunately, the person who gave her the necklace has a specific purpose for her. Great ending that left me thinking about the effects of unintended consequences.
“Executive Functions” had a great premise but didn’t really move me in any way. The story is told from Bradley Pendleton’s point of view. This lewd, psychopathic businessman meets a gorgeous woman who starts working for his company. She is immune to his charms, and has an interesting way to put him in his place.
In “The Yellow Death,” Louise lives in a world where people were either eaten by or recruited as a vampire. These vampires can trick your mind into believing that you are looking at a normal person, but it would be the vampire. They can be detected only by very minute “glitches” in their appearance. Her fiance had been bitten and turned into a vampire, and Lucy’s depiction of his transformation was nice and chilling. Louise later falls in with a gang of other humans trying to survive in a world where you can’t trust anyone. When her sister walks into the Clubhouse to reunite with Louise, Louise’s life takes an unexpected turn. I like vampires and this was pretty neat.
“Santa Muerte” tells the story of a man named Kai who was tasked to be the getaway driver in case a drug deal turned sour. While he waits in the car, a car pulls up near him and dumps a young woman carelessly in the street. He approaches her, and hears a gunshot in the house and his buddies running to the car. He sweeps up the girl, Alice, and learns she is a witch who just may be able to make things right. Decent story, but just wasn’t for me.
“Dark of the Moon” is an action-packed story that follows a woman named Velocity who is paid handsomely to be an anonymous for-hire badass who does things like espionage for tech corps and other covert ops. Her job fixer. Felician, sets her up with a job where she must work with another badass. They’re both tasked to steal a box from the home of the man who owns the huge tech corporation by which all three of them have been affected by the company with malware in their brains that give them hallucinations and lapses of consciousness. This one is an action-packed thriller.
“Fraeternal” kind of confused me a bit, and I don’t want to go into a lot of detail on this one because I want the reader to sort through this one. It’s a pretty trippy story about fraeternal twins Billy and Lindy who are part of an experimental group in a study of shared memories and mental traits between twins. Pretty interesting and thought-provoking story, I just was confused by the story - which may be the intent.
“A Noble Endeavor” is a tale set on a sugar plantation in Barbados with a Master, his family and his slaves. Mariette was forced to serve Dr. Bronson, a demented scientist who lived up the hill from the plantation. Often, when slaves were sent to his laboratory, they either died or went mad. Mariette learns that he is inventing ways to eliminate people in the lower classes of society so that only the “well-bred” will survive, and has a sinister method to accomplish this using African slaves. Can Mariette stop him before it’s too late?
“Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars” is a beautiful story about a special army of people who are training on a warship to fight the spawn of Azathoth who are invading Earth. Beatrice had been studying to a scientist and working a fellowship at the International Lunar Research Station on the moon when she saw a spawn - and once you see once, you nearly always die. If you survive, then chances are you will end up in a coma or in a mental facility. Now she is a soldier and is given a certain “enhancement” that may give her power over the spawn. The spawns gave me the chills. I think this would make a good movie.
If you like the fantasy genre, you may really like “A Hero of Grünjord.” I’ve only read a few books that I would consider “fantasy.” It’s just not a genre that I ever got into. Even so, I enjoyed reading about the heroine named Vinca and her dragon Bhraxio as they battle the Outlander skyship threatening to attack her world. This story winds up being a perfect mix of action and drama as Vinca is later summoned to her old home and must face a family that turned their back on her. I really enjoyed it, even though I was skeptical that I would enjoy a fantasy story.
Another one of my favorites was “The Warlady’s Daughter.” This is another fantasy-based story, and it was inspiring to me. The story follows Elyria, a teenage girl who feels trapped in a future of being married off to a man of her uncle’s choice within the next few years. One day an army of women soldiers and women orcs ride into town, and Elyria learns that her biological mother is the leader of this army and is in a faraway land. The uncle who raised her is actually her father, and never told Elyria that one day her mother would send for her after the war. Now Elyria must train as a soldier and decide whether to come home or not. The story ended and left me wanting to read so much more.
I am very grateful for reading Garden of Eldrich Delight. It is much different from ghosts and serial killers and creepypasta stories that I enjoy so much. It gave me more appreciation for the fantasy genre, which is a genre I’m not at all familiar with. I like how her darker stories made me think about them long after I’d read them. Lucy could captivate a wide audience with this collection because of the variety of stories and the believable heros.
As is becoming my habit with collections of stories, I’ll summarize them all. All twelve stories are well-written stories spun with intellect and exploration of worlds or situations beyond our own. The ones that resonated most with me were That Which Does Not Kill You, Sunset on Mott Island and The Warlady’s Daughter.
The first story, “That Which Does Not Kill You,” is a dark story about pain and loss felt at the end of a relationship where the other person ends it for you. But instead of detailing how the loss feels like one’s heart has been figuratively ripped from the chest, the character is experiencing heartache as though the heart has literally been ripped from the chest and the character must repair herself - and do so emotionally and physically. A great story to open up the collection.
So I finish the first story and dive into the next one, a Lovecraftian one called “Sunset on Mott Island,” and was so very moved by it. In this story the main character’s mother is dying of cancer. In addition to the grief of watching a parent die, she is faced with another challenge - she’s been having nightmares of a massive tsunami that will wipe out mankind as we know it now and it may be a real prophecy. Without giving much away, the ending gave me chills and made me sad, and I like that in an ending.
In “The Gentleman Caller,” Janie is a young woman who works as Lady Rayne on a sex fantasy phone line. She receives a beautiful jade necklace from one of her callers who is more interested in having actual conversations instead of typical sex talk. She soon learns the jade necklace is able to transport her into another person’s body. At first this seems like a great thing for Janie, as she is wheelchair bound and so I thought maybe she’d be able to experience life in ways she could not before. Unfortunately, the person who gave her the necklace has a specific purpose for her. Great ending that left me thinking about the effects of unintended consequences.
“Executive Functions” had a great premise but didn’t really move me in any way. The story is told from Bradley Pendleton’s point of view. This lewd, psychopathic businessman meets a gorgeous woman who starts working for his company. She is immune to his charms, and has an interesting way to put him in his place.
In “The Yellow Death,” Louise lives in a world where people were either eaten by or recruited as a vampire. These vampires can trick your mind into believing that you are looking at a normal person, but it would be the vampire. They can be detected only by very minute “glitches” in their appearance. Her fiance had been bitten and turned into a vampire, and Lucy’s depiction of his transformation was nice and chilling. Louise later falls in with a gang of other humans trying to survive in a world where you can’t trust anyone. When her sister walks into the Clubhouse to reunite with Louise, Louise’s life takes an unexpected turn. I like vampires and this was pretty neat.
“Santa Muerte” tells the story of a man named Kai who was tasked to be the getaway driver in case a drug deal turned sour. While he waits in the car, a car pulls up near him and dumps a young woman carelessly in the street. He approaches her, and hears a gunshot in the house and his buddies running to the car. He sweeps up the girl, Alice, and learns she is a witch who just may be able to make things right. Decent story, but just wasn’t for me.
“Dark of the Moon” is an action-packed story that follows a woman named Velocity who is paid handsomely to be an anonymous for-hire badass who does things like espionage for tech corps and other covert ops. Her job fixer. Felician, sets her up with a job where she must work with another badass. They’re both tasked to steal a box from the home of the man who owns the huge tech corporation by which all three of them have been affected by the company with malware in their brains that give them hallucinations and lapses of consciousness. This one is an action-packed thriller.
“Fraeternal” kind of confused me a bit, and I don’t want to go into a lot of detail on this one because I want the reader to sort through this one. It’s a pretty trippy story about fraeternal twins Billy and Lindy who are part of an experimental group in a study of shared memories and mental traits between twins. Pretty interesting and thought-provoking story, I just was confused by the story - which may be the intent.
“A Noble Endeavor” is a tale set on a sugar plantation in Barbados with a Master, his family and his slaves. Mariette was forced to serve Dr. Bronson, a demented scientist who lived up the hill from the plantation. Often, when slaves were sent to his laboratory, they either died or went mad. Mariette learns that he is inventing ways to eliminate people in the lower classes of society so that only the “well-bred” will survive, and has a sinister method to accomplish this using African slaves. Can Mariette stop him before it’s too late?
“Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars” is a beautiful story about a special army of people who are training on a warship to fight the spawn of Azathoth who are invading Earth. Beatrice had been studying to a scientist and working a fellowship at the International Lunar Research Station on the moon when she saw a spawn - and once you see once, you nearly always die. If you survive, then chances are you will end up in a coma or in a mental facility. Now she is a soldier and is given a certain “enhancement” that may give her power over the spawn. The spawns gave me the chills. I think this would make a good movie.
If you like the fantasy genre, you may really like “A Hero of Grünjord.” I’ve only read a few books that I would consider “fantasy.” It’s just not a genre that I ever got into. Even so, I enjoyed reading about the heroine named Vinca and her dragon Bhraxio as they battle the Outlander skyship threatening to attack her world. This story winds up being a perfect mix of action and drama as Vinca is later summoned to her old home and must face a family that turned their back on her. I really enjoyed it, even though I was skeptical that I would enjoy a fantasy story.
Another one of my favorites was “The Warlady’s Daughter.” This is another fantasy-based story, and it was inspiring to me. The story follows Elyria, a teenage girl who feels trapped in a future of being married off to a man of her uncle’s choice within the next few years. One day an army of women soldiers and women orcs ride into town, and Elyria learns that her biological mother is the leader of this army and is in a faraway land. The uncle who raised her is actually her father, and never told Elyria that one day her mother would send for her after the war. Now Elyria must train as a soldier and decide whether to come home or not. The story ended and left me wanting to read so much more.
I am very grateful for reading Garden of Eldrich Delight. It is much different from ghosts and serial killers and creepypasta stories that I enjoy so much. It gave me more appreciation for the fantasy genre, which is a genre I’m not at all familiar with. I like how her darker stories made me think about them long after I’d read them. Lucy could captivate a wide audience with this collection because of the variety of stories and the believable heros.
February 23, 2019
*Received a copy from the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.*
Lucy Snyder is back with twelve thrilling, enchanting, and, of course, terrifying short stories that span multiple genres. In this collection, Ms. Snyder hops from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror to Dark Fiction and back seamlessly. Here you will find monsters, monsters passing for humans, and humans acting like monsters. Within Garden Of Eldritch Delights, there is definitely a little something for everyone, as new and edgy life is given to well worn tropes.
Garden of Eldritch Delights contains twelve short stories, each containing strong women, each in their own strange and unique world. In “Executive Function”, the boss of a corporate business, and misogynistic sexual predator, meets a woman who shows him who's really the boss in a not so pleasing way. For him. In “The Yellow Death”, a woman who is a victim of a vampire apocalypse, turns into a bad ass biker who meets her long long sister who reveals unsettling family secrets. “Sunset on Mott Island”, a painful story about how to handle the beginning of the apocalypse. “Fraternal” is an unsettling and intriguing story of how far a woman will go to save the world from her tyrannical twin. “Santa Muerte” tells the tale of a man down on his luck who takes the job as the getaway car driver for a robbery. While waiting in the car he sees a person in need of help, gives it and is well rewarded for it. But the reward comes with a price.
These are just a taste of what the author has in store for the reader, never knowing what you are going to get when you finish one story and start another. One tale you are in a realistic setting, dealing with a rapist for a boss, the next you are fighting vampires after the apocalypse, and then she throws you into space to save the world. No story similar to the last.
I enjoyed my first taste of Lucy Snyder's work. However, I'm going to get the criticism out of the way first, as one story left a very harsh, bitter taste in my mouth. And that one story almost soured the bunch. Towards the beginning of the collection is a story titled “The Gentleman Caller”, about a woman who was born a conjoined twin and due to the separation surgery, she was left disfigured from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair. Now Snyder starts off strong with showing women's strength in very complicated predicaments, but I felt that she did not accomplish that with this story. The protagonist, Janie, sees herself in a very negative light and seems quite whiny, but understandably so. My complaint with this story, I'm trying to avoid spoiler territory, is that Janie's only power comes from a magical necklace. A necklace that she receives as a gift from one of her many clients from the phone sex line where she works. I feel the author could have taken this story in many different directions, giving Janie some sort of real life power, embracing her disability. Showing people that you are not worthless just because you are confined to a wheelchair. But the author took a different path and placed her in a role in the sex industry. Don't get me wrong, women can be very empowered in all facets of the sex industry world. But Janie is not. She could have been written as some sort of heroine, with a sharp mind, fighting against the stereotypes in some way, really anything but how she was written. I didn't feel like Snyder has a firm grip on the disabled community, which left me not wanting to read the rest of the book. The last straw for me was when Janie referenced herself as “a retarded cripple”. I was taken back by this. Even though the character was referring to herself- retarded? Really? Did the author have to go that far? Now, I'm trying to stay objective, so there's that definite possibility that I'm being too sensitive. After taking a break and a step back, I reread the story, still did not like it and disagreed on how the character of Janie was portrayed, but again, made myself stay objective and moved forward. This was my only real complaint, hence the four star rating as I felt there were multiple faults with this story.
Lets get on to some of my favorites in this otherwise magnificent collection! The book starts with a fire cracker of a story about a woman whose girlfriend literally tears out her heart. It shows metaphorically how verbal and emotional abuse can be just as harmful as physical abuse. This was raw and visceral and heartbreaking. And speaking of heartbreaking, brace yourself for “Sunset on Mott Island”. A beautifully written tale of grief, loss, and death, with a pre-apocalyptic backdrop. All the feels!! You'll need the Kleenex box for that one, but then you are hit with my favorite- “ A Hero of Grunjord”. A story of a young female warrior, who takes out a flying saucer with the help of her dragon. She then has to travel to a far away kingdom, all the while contemplating on whether or not she should marry into the royal family. An absolutely incredulous and delightful story that had to have been written for the sole purpose of comic relief.
Snyder's world building is directly on point. She creates lush, deep worlds with ease and makes them believable. She is able to weave through genres naturally by finding fantasy in horror, steampunk in science fiction, science fiction in fantasy and she keeps circling adding in sub genres in each with careful precision. Each world is specifically crafted for each story. The author is almost nothing short of genius in this department.
Though I did find, what to me, was a major fault in Garden of Eldritch Delights, the compilation as a whole is strong and diverse. Lucy Snyder has her fingers in many genre pies, so to speak, but works them as one who is well honed in her craft. She creates worlds that are rich with culture and imagination that can be curious, heartwarming, and horrifying. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Snyder.
Lucy Snyder is back with twelve thrilling, enchanting, and, of course, terrifying short stories that span multiple genres. In this collection, Ms. Snyder hops from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror to Dark Fiction and back seamlessly. Here you will find monsters, monsters passing for humans, and humans acting like monsters. Within Garden Of Eldritch Delights, there is definitely a little something for everyone, as new and edgy life is given to well worn tropes.
Garden of Eldritch Delights contains twelve short stories, each containing strong women, each in their own strange and unique world. In “Executive Function”, the boss of a corporate business, and misogynistic sexual predator, meets a woman who shows him who's really the boss in a not so pleasing way. For him. In “The Yellow Death”, a woman who is a victim of a vampire apocalypse, turns into a bad ass biker who meets her long long sister who reveals unsettling family secrets. “Sunset on Mott Island”, a painful story about how to handle the beginning of the apocalypse. “Fraternal” is an unsettling and intriguing story of how far a woman will go to save the world from her tyrannical twin. “Santa Muerte” tells the tale of a man down on his luck who takes the job as the getaway car driver for a robbery. While waiting in the car he sees a person in need of help, gives it and is well rewarded for it. But the reward comes with a price.
These are just a taste of what the author has in store for the reader, never knowing what you are going to get when you finish one story and start another. One tale you are in a realistic setting, dealing with a rapist for a boss, the next you are fighting vampires after the apocalypse, and then she throws you into space to save the world. No story similar to the last.
I enjoyed my first taste of Lucy Snyder's work. However, I'm going to get the criticism out of the way first, as one story left a very harsh, bitter taste in my mouth. And that one story almost soured the bunch. Towards the beginning of the collection is a story titled “The Gentleman Caller”, about a woman who was born a conjoined twin and due to the separation surgery, she was left disfigured from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair. Now Snyder starts off strong with showing women's strength in very complicated predicaments, but I felt that she did not accomplish that with this story. The protagonist, Janie, sees herself in a very negative light and seems quite whiny, but understandably so. My complaint with this story, I'm trying to avoid spoiler territory, is that Janie's only power comes from a magical necklace. A necklace that she receives as a gift from one of her many clients from the phone sex line where she works. I feel the author could have taken this story in many different directions, giving Janie some sort of real life power, embracing her disability. Showing people that you are not worthless just because you are confined to a wheelchair. But the author took a different path and placed her in a role in the sex industry. Don't get me wrong, women can be very empowered in all facets of the sex industry world. But Janie is not. She could have been written as some sort of heroine, with a sharp mind, fighting against the stereotypes in some way, really anything but how she was written. I didn't feel like Snyder has a firm grip on the disabled community, which left me not wanting to read the rest of the book. The last straw for me was when Janie referenced herself as “a retarded cripple”. I was taken back by this. Even though the character was referring to herself- retarded? Really? Did the author have to go that far? Now, I'm trying to stay objective, so there's that definite possibility that I'm being too sensitive. After taking a break and a step back, I reread the story, still did not like it and disagreed on how the character of Janie was portrayed, but again, made myself stay objective and moved forward. This was my only real complaint, hence the four star rating as I felt there were multiple faults with this story.
Lets get on to some of my favorites in this otherwise magnificent collection! The book starts with a fire cracker of a story about a woman whose girlfriend literally tears out her heart. It shows metaphorically how verbal and emotional abuse can be just as harmful as physical abuse. This was raw and visceral and heartbreaking. And speaking of heartbreaking, brace yourself for “Sunset on Mott Island”. A beautifully written tale of grief, loss, and death, with a pre-apocalyptic backdrop. All the feels!! You'll need the Kleenex box for that one, but then you are hit with my favorite- “ A Hero of Grunjord”. A story of a young female warrior, who takes out a flying saucer with the help of her dragon. She then has to travel to a far away kingdom, all the while contemplating on whether or not she should marry into the royal family. An absolutely incredulous and delightful story that had to have been written for the sole purpose of comic relief.
Snyder's world building is directly on point. She creates lush, deep worlds with ease and makes them believable. She is able to weave through genres naturally by finding fantasy in horror, steampunk in science fiction, science fiction in fantasy and she keeps circling adding in sub genres in each with careful precision. Each world is specifically crafted for each story. The author is almost nothing short of genius in this department.
Though I did find, what to me, was a major fault in Garden of Eldritch Delights, the compilation as a whole is strong and diverse. Lucy Snyder has her fingers in many genre pies, so to speak, but works them as one who is well honed in her craft. She creates worlds that are rich with culture and imagination that can be curious, heartwarming, and horrifying. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Snyder.
October 5, 2019
This was my first read of Lucy A. Snyder and she is most definitely an author who will be making rounds in my ever-growing TBR. With Garden, Snyder weaves a wonderful collection combining cosmic horror, science fiction, vampires, witches, and straight out fantasy. Somehow, it all works very well together. Snyder has a talent for telling tight, complete stories with a small amount of words – a talent not all writers have.
Garden of Eldritch Delights starts out strong with That Which Does Not Kill You – about the real-life pains of a broken heart and Sunset on Mott Island – an end-of-the-world tale about a doctor with revelations and a woman caring for her dying mother in a dying world. It continues with some of my other favorites: The Gentleman Caller – about an unexpected sex worker, her familial gift, and how the grass isn’t always greener; Executive Functions – a story that I will always look back fondly on every time I have to deal with an asshole in the workplace; and A Noble Endeavor; about a young slave girl who changes the world.
While some stories were a little weaker than others, there is not a bad, or even a just okay, story in the whole collection. Every single one is worth a read. I love that Snyder can write strong, empowered female characters without making them feel like a trope. These women all have unique personalities, strengths, weaknesses – they are real, they are every woman. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
Garden of Eldritch Delights starts out strong with That Which Does Not Kill You – about the real-life pains of a broken heart and Sunset on Mott Island – an end-of-the-world tale about a doctor with revelations and a woman caring for her dying mother in a dying world. It continues with some of my other favorites: The Gentleman Caller – about an unexpected sex worker, her familial gift, and how the grass isn’t always greener; Executive Functions – a story that I will always look back fondly on every time I have to deal with an asshole in the workplace; and A Noble Endeavor; about a young slave girl who changes the world.
While some stories were a little weaker than others, there is not a bad, or even a just okay, story in the whole collection. Every single one is worth a read. I love that Snyder can write strong, empowered female characters without making them feel like a trope. These women all have unique personalities, strengths, weaknesses – they are real, they are every woman. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
August 14, 2025
This short story collection by Lucy Snyder generally riffs on different aspects of the Mythos, sometimes going for straight horror, often for macabre humor, almost always successfully. Stories are well paced and no longer than they need to be, and as much as I'd recommend Installing Linux on a Dead Badger this benefits from the fact that there's there's no temptation here for her to squeeze all the juice out of a single joke concept.
October 7, 2019
Absolutely Amazing
I haven't read any books since my school days. Having too much time on my hands, I picked up this book to get myself back into reading. I'm glad I did - every story in it is well-written and enticing.
I haven't read any books since my school days. Having too much time on my hands, I picked up this book to get myself back into reading. I'm glad I did - every story in it is well-written and enticing.
Read
August 9, 2020This was an above average collection - there were no real duds and the good ones were very good. They also range across horror (including a Lovecraftian influence), fantasy and SF, often starting with everyday settings then something other-worldly happens.
September 17, 2021
3 and 1/2 stars. Enjoyed these short stories a lot at first, I love human-/emotion-focused fiction but the super long (space) adventure, very sci-fi and traditional good vs evil stories towards the end
April 14, 2023
2.5
Like Soft Apocalypses, Snyder offers up more interesting ideas but this time around the majority felt unfinished. The Yellow Death, Fraeternal, and A Noble Endeavor were the only ones I found myself really enjoying.
Like Soft Apocalypses, Snyder offers up more interesting ideas but this time around the majority felt unfinished. The Yellow Death, Fraeternal, and A Noble Endeavor were the only ones I found myself really enjoying.
November 16, 2023
The stories have intriguing and cool premises but the story themselves usually end up being rather predictable and tropey.
Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars and The Warlady’s Daughter are two stand-out excellent short stories in this collection.
Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars and The Warlady’s Daughter are two stand-out excellent short stories in this collection.
January 1, 2019
4.5 rounded up to 5 for goodreads! Only 1 story was disappointing (3/5 stars for me), the rest were fantastic!
December 7, 2023
A book of short stories by the author of Sister, Maiden, Monster. Not all of the stories had terrors in them. Not all of the terrors were eldritch in nature. I enjoyed most of the stories regardless. I doubt this will be the last book I read by Lucy A. Snyder. My favorite stories in here were "Executive Functions" and "Fraeternal".
December 27, 2019
“That Which Does Not Kill You” reveals a protagonist who wakes up with her chest carved out. It would be difficult to describe the rest of this story except to say that this isn’t the first time the protagonist has faced such a plight, and although I was not quite sure what to expect from the ending, it ended a lot differently and on a more uplifting note than I would have predicted. This story was an excellent way to start off this collection.
Next, we move on to “Sunset on Mott Island,” which I remembered reading in another anthology, and remembered that it left me reeling from the impact the first time. It is a great story.
“The Gentleman Caller” is a fantastic story as well, telling the tale of a character with a disability who is wheelchair-bound. Without giving away the shock of her profession, let’s just say it’s pretty much the last thing you’d expect from someone like her. The story only gets more interesting as it goes on, and it takes so many unexpected and inventive directions that you’ll be breathless by the end. The protagonist has some very interesting pathways to face, and the story’s message seems a testament to that old saying about how just because the grass seems greener on the other side, does not always mean that is true. Meanwhile, “Executive Functions” is a wonderful Lovecraftian revenge fantasy for anyone who has ever had a horrid, testosterone-fueled boss.
My favourite short story of this collection is, without a doubt, “The Yellow Death.” While it’s true that we’ve very much more than been there and done that with apocalyptic horror short stories, and even more so with vampires, Snyder manages to make both seem fresh in this story that originally appeared in the phenomenally good vampire anthology, Seize the Night, edited by horror legend Christopher Golden. A sinister twist starts off this alternating timeline story, flashing forward between past and present, and basically, if you miss Theo from The Haunting of Hill House, you’ll love this compelling tale.
The next stories, including “Santa Muerte,” “Dark of the Moon,” “Fraeternal,” and “Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars” take on a decidedly more science fiction bent to their horror for those who enjoy that in their short stories, while “A Noble Endeavour” marked another standout in the collection for me, chronicling the story of a female slave with an artificial leg whose owner demands that she assist Doctor Bronson, only he’s not the kind of doctor you might think. Things get creepier and more unsettling as the story goes on until we veer into an innovative Lovecraftian direction.
Overall, this marks another strong offering from Lucy Snyder on the short fiction spectrum with a horror collection that more than delivers on a quality of unparalleled excellence. There’s something in here for readers with diverging tastes, and even a high fantasy tale that demonstrates the breadth of the author’s talents. Do yourself a favour and pick up Garden of Eldritch Delights.
Next, we move on to “Sunset on Mott Island,” which I remembered reading in another anthology, and remembered that it left me reeling from the impact the first time. It is a great story.
“The Gentleman Caller” is a fantastic story as well, telling the tale of a character with a disability who is wheelchair-bound. Without giving away the shock of her profession, let’s just say it’s pretty much the last thing you’d expect from someone like her. The story only gets more interesting as it goes on, and it takes so many unexpected and inventive directions that you’ll be breathless by the end. The protagonist has some very interesting pathways to face, and the story’s message seems a testament to that old saying about how just because the grass seems greener on the other side, does not always mean that is true. Meanwhile, “Executive Functions” is a wonderful Lovecraftian revenge fantasy for anyone who has ever had a horrid, testosterone-fueled boss.
My favourite short story of this collection is, without a doubt, “The Yellow Death.” While it’s true that we’ve very much more than been there and done that with apocalyptic horror short stories, and even more so with vampires, Snyder manages to make both seem fresh in this story that originally appeared in the phenomenally good vampire anthology, Seize the Night, edited by horror legend Christopher Golden. A sinister twist starts off this alternating timeline story, flashing forward between past and present, and basically, if you miss Theo from The Haunting of Hill House, you’ll love this compelling tale.
The next stories, including “Santa Muerte,” “Dark of the Moon,” “Fraeternal,” and “Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars” take on a decidedly more science fiction bent to their horror for those who enjoy that in their short stories, while “A Noble Endeavour” marked another standout in the collection for me, chronicling the story of a female slave with an artificial leg whose owner demands that she assist Doctor Bronson, only he’s not the kind of doctor you might think. Things get creepier and more unsettling as the story goes on until we veer into an innovative Lovecraftian direction.
Overall, this marks another strong offering from Lucy Snyder on the short fiction spectrum with a horror collection that more than delivers on a quality of unparalleled excellence. There’s something in here for readers with diverging tastes, and even a high fantasy tale that demonstrates the breadth of the author’s talents. Do yourself a favour and pick up Garden of Eldritch Delights.
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