Comes a Pale Rider

Dancy Flammarion #5

by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Possibly Caitlín R. Kiernan's most enduring character, albino monster slayer Dancy Flammarion has been carving a bloody swath across the American South ever since her first appearance in Threshold (2001), “laying the bad folks low.” In 2006, Subterranean Press published a World Fantasy Award-nominated collection of Dancy Flammarion short stories, Alabaster , and beginning in 2012, Dark Horse Comics released a three-volume graphic novel series introducing Dancy to comics in Wolves (winner of the Bram Stoker Award), Grimmer Tales , and The Good, the Bad, and the Bird . And now, with Comes a Pale Rider , Kiernan offers a second collection of Dancy Flammarion short stories. From Selma, Alabama to the back roads of Georgia to a South Carolina ghost town, Dancy continues her holy war with the beings of night and shadow, driven always on by her own insanity or an angel with a fiery sword—or possibly both.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is an Irish-born American published paleontologist and author of science fiction and dark fantasy works, including ten novels, series of comic books, and more than two hundred and fifty published short stories, novellas, and vignettes.

Reviews

[Matt Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for more Dancy, Miss Kiernan

This character has long been a favorite of mine, and this new little collection of tales was a wonderful surprise. Kiernan explores deeper shades of the character, including putting her flaws more sharply under the microscope, and even gets quirky and experimental in some surprising new ways. While most of these stories herein probably stand on their own just fine, others definitely build on themes, supporting players and events from previous outings, so if you're new to Dancy and Kiernan's writing in general, I'd definitely recommend starting with the previous collection, Alabaster: Pale Horse.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I previously DNF'ed Black Helicopters but I saw enough promise to give Kiernan another chance. Conclusion: She's not for me.

The episodes are written well enough, and Dancy is a well-defined character. But it's grim, unrelentingly grim. Dancy's had a nasty life and she is probably insane by now. And maybe we're *supposed" to think that of all the monsters she meets the one in the mirror is the scariest.

The afterword says the stories are more than a little autobiographical, and that's sad. I hope writing about it has helped.

This kind of story is all over regular fiction (sadness piled upon sadness) but these stories are not what I read for. Your mileage may vary.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are fine; overall, this just doesn't feel as cohesive as the first prose collection, Alabaster. Enjoyable, but confusing. I'm not being too hard on myself about being confused, though, because the afterword gives me the impression that by this point, Dancy's timelines and reincarnations have become so twisted up, that even the author is slightly confused by which direction she means to go. All that said, if more stories of Dancy end up being written and published, I'll end up reading them. Hyperfixation sure can be a bitch.

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating: 3.5

This is hard to rate because I gave the first short story collection 5 stars when I read it several years ago and this is mostly just the same stuff but with a few new stories, but I just wasn't as into it this time around. The new stories are okay but as Kiernan says in her author's note at the end the whole continuity is a mess because she keeps thinking she is ending the series and then coming back and writing more things that don't necessarily fit in and I think it's just all getting a little bit too convoluted for me at this point. It's still very atmospheric and Southern Gothic and I would recommend this if you haven't read the first collection or if you're just super into Darcy but otherwise I'm not entirely sure it's worth it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you need a disjointed series of nightmarish journeys in a swampy rural Southern setting smothered with dark angels and a confusion of enigmatic beasties, Kiernan has written a few stories just for you. If you have trouble sleeping after reading them, don't blame me.

This edition includes some black and white illustrations.

[T. Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can never get enough of Caitlin!!!!

[Sheila Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of Dancy stories are more exploratory and less time to slay the monster.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

The signed and numbered edition is accompanied by the hardcover novella Refugees.