The Dead Hours of Night

Monster She Wrote

by Lisa Tuttle, Lisa Kröger (Introduction)

In a career spanning almost 50 years, Lisa Tuttle has proven herself a master of the weird tale, and now this new collection of twelve unsettling stories – some never previously collected – offers readers a chance to discover some of her finest work.

In ‘Replacements’, a woman adopts a monstrous pet, with unforeseen consequences. In ‘Born Dead’, a stillborn child mysteriously continues to grow just like a living one. ‘My Pathology’ (whose ending Thomas Tessier has cited as one of the best in the history of horror) explores the sinister results of a couple’s alchemical experiments. And a book lover in ‘The Book That Finds You’ has her life changed in strange ways by the discovery of a rare horror book at a second-hand bookshop. In these weird and chilling tales, Tuttle is at her diabolical best.

This edition features an introduction by Lisa Kröger, and each story is specially introduced by the author.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Anthologies, Collections, Horror Thriller

236 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2021

About the author

(Wife of Colin Murray) aka Maria Palmer (house pseudonym).

Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions.

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually tend to go for original collections as opposed to “best of”-type career retrospectives like this, especially when it comes to authors I’m obsessed with, but this contains several stories that were only ever published in magazines and multi-author anthos. And the entries that have been collected are from a very pricy and hard to find limited edition hardcover (2012’s Objects in Dreams) and an out of print ebook-only collection (My Pathology and Other Stories), so this is well worth getting for both longtime fans and newcomers.

I’d already read most of these before, but having them all together really made it clear just how adept Lisa Tuttle is at slowly getting under your skin, unsettling you without you even being aware of just what it is you’re supposed to be afraid of at times. By far the most effective at this (for me anyway) is her 2007 story “Closet Dreams”, which is now among my all-time favorite horror tales after this second go round. I loved it when I first read it years ago, but this time I connected with it on a deeper emotional level for whatever reason. It’s a woman’s firsthand account of her harrowing experience as a prisoner of some lunatic while a young girl, and who still has constant realistic dreams of her months-long captivity, trapped in a closet. But is the nightmare truly over? It’s both horrifying and mind-bending, and I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting it again in the near future, even if it was pretty disturbing (though not graphic in any way).

My other favorites are the oft-reprinted “Replacements” (1992), about a man’s sudden, inexplicable revulsion when coming across an odd alien-looking critter while walking down the street, and his overwhelming anxiety and insecurity when he arrives home from work only to find that his wife has brought one of these creatures into their house; “The Dream Detective” (2013), concerning a man who meets a woman at a social gathering who claims to solve crimes committed in dreams, which the man thinks is ridiculous until she actually starts showing up in his (while he’s up to no good no less); and the 1998 novelette “My Pathology,” about a woman whose eccentric, newly-met boyfriend appears to be very serious about his alchemical practices, despite the fact that alchemy is an obsolete science in this day and age, and she soon finds herself in the middle of his deranged, obsessive quest for the philosopher’s stone.

The only story I didn’t jibe with this time around was “Mr. Elphinstone’s Hands” (1990), which takes place during the whole spiritualism/seance craze of the 19th century, but my lukewarm feelings for it may just be due to the fact that I find Ms. Tuttle’s descriptions of ectoplasm exuding from people’s pores like snot to be utterly repulsive. Otherwise this is up there with the best collections I’ve read, beautifully-written as per usual for Tuttle. The mostly first-person narratives (usually by women) made the horrors these characters experienced even more distressing, and tragic.

No one combines real-world anxieties and traumas with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) chills and surreal weirdness quite like Lisa Tuttle, and I’m now making it my mission to read everything she’s written. She should be considered one of horror and weird fiction’s all-time greats.

Well she is, by those who have read her.


ETA: And cheers to Valancourt for bringing some of her older horror work back into print (and by the way this was published in 2021 not 2012).

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

After loving Lisa Tuttle’s novella My Death last year, I knew I would have to read more of her work. I chose this Valancourt collection mainly because it’s recent (and, okay, yes, because the cover is nice), although the stories within are drawn from throughout Tuttle’s career.

What I started to notice by the halfway point is that Tuttle writes very female horror. I don’t know if that’s quite the right term; I wouldn’t say 'feminist’ fits – there’s nothing political about many of these stories, the women in them are often subservient – but women’s experiences are very much at the book’s heart. A number focus on motherhood, birth or some proxy for it, and this is frequently combined with a strong theme of body horror: a dead-but-still-growing baby in ‘Born Dead’, inexplicable bleeding in ‘A Birthday’, cancerous pregnancies in ‘My Pathology’. In ‘Replacements’, women begin keeping vampiric animals as pets, while the men in their lives are repulsed to the point of being driven to kill the creatures. Sometimes there’s also a disquieting merging of these themes with sex, most memorably in ‘Food Man’, where a girl storing a mountain of rotting food under her bed is only the start of the weirdness. As with a number of the above, I didn’t quite enjoy this story but I couldn’t stop thinking about its dark, gnarled depths.

So many of these reminded me of Robert Aickman’s stories in that I squirmed my way through them, skimming the most disgusting bits, but am sure I will remember them for much longer than I do the type of stories I merely ‘like’. This is apt, as The Dead Hours of Night contains at least one explicitly Aickman-inspired work: ‘The Book That Finds You’, which I first read in the anthology Aickman’s Heirs. I loved revisiting it: an obscure horror writer, a literary treasure hunt, a cursed manuscript; perfect. ‘Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear’ exists in a similar vein, simple but extremely effective in its depiction of a couple drawn to a peculiarly elusive house.

My favourite in the book was the earliest story, the dread-filled folk horror ‘Where the Stones Grow’. It’s interesting reading reviews and seeing that others seem to have found this one formulaic – whatever this says about me, I adored it! I felt it had a fantastic atmosphere, with some of the dark magic of Elizabeth Hand’s ‘Near Zennor’. I also loved ‘The Dream Detective’, about a man who meets a boring girl at a party, then can’t stop seeing her in his dreams (great ending in this one). ‘Closet Dreams’, in which a kidnapped girl recalls her impossible escape, is a brilliantly executed concept and truly disturbing.

I really liked the beginning of ‘Vegetable Love’, but felt frustrated by the disappearance of the best element (the woman Hannah meets at the church halfway through. Bottom of my list was ‘Mr Elphinstone’s Hands’, a historical story about a young woman who starts producing ectoplasm; again, it’s pretty disgusting, but in this case the story is dull and much longer than it needs to be. Yet for some other reviewers it seems to have been the highlight of the collection – which just goes to show how personal short stories are. Although a couple here didn’t work for me, I find Tuttle’s short fiction powerful, and her best work unforgettable.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this and a Gemma Files collection (In That Endlessness, Our End) as an emergency read for an upcoming (at the time) Pseudopod podcast project. Then, once the project had passed, I dragged my feet on finishing them, not because there was a flaw in either, but simply due to the sheer amount of reading I needed to do for the Podcast.

But now, finally they are done. This Tuttle collection spans 1980-2017 and is quite a solid read - with only one weak story, and a small handful of undeveloped ones. Anyone looking for an enjoyable read in the horror/weird/supernatural genre could do a lot worse. So, as usual, here we go - weakest to strongest.

The one weak story here is "Vegetable Love," where a bored (or unfulfilled?) mother/housewife attends a community meeting and discovers that there is a much-hated invasive plant (Japanese Knotweed) in her town. but the individual who seems to know the most about it also seems ambivalent about it, and the main character finds her life taking a strange trajectory as, identifying with the tenacious plant, she finds herself transforming come the spring. Eh, familiar.

In "Born Dead" an up-and-coming businesswoman realizes she must now strike out on her own business ventures, even as she also realizes the door to marriage and motherhood may be closing soon as well, so her tough-as-nails, self-made female boss decides to share her secret with her... It's a good read, although nothing really remarkable - more of a weird idea satisfyingly told than a full-blown story, but not bad. Meanwhile, an adult man visits his mother for her birthday, but discovers her bleeding profusely (with no evident wounds) in "A Birthday (Revised)," even as she seeks to reassure him it is only a particularly sanguinary "change of life." This is an odd piece - prosaically presented but surreal and dream-like in its detail and resolution. "The Dream Detective" has a man meet a woman at a get together with friends who claims to solve problems and crimes in dreams - which triggers off noirish dream scenarios in which he imagines he has a body in the trunk of his car, and is being stalked by her. But the unexpected happens when he takes drastic dream action... I give Tuttle extra points for working the phrase "Drive, she said" into this noir-tinged story, and this is a fairly intriguing little piece of dark fantasy which would have made a good TWILIGHT ZONE episode. Finally, in "Where The Stones Grow," After a boy's father, on a family trip to England, is killed under mysterious circumstances - the now adult son finds himself reflecting back on the supposed cursed British standing stones that caused his death, as he settles into a new home in rural Texas and finds ominous portents that the stones are not done with him. This is a pretty good story that succeeds more on atmosphere than inventiveness, with some good, slow (if familiar) creepitude.

Of the solidly "Good" stories, "Objects In Dreams Are Closer Than They Appear" is an odd story in which a woman recounts her marriage to her ex-husband, and how, while searching for a home, they found an idyllic house in a valley which was seemingly impossible to approach or identify. And now, reunited for a party, the ex-husband tells her he has discovered a way to the mysterious house... This is an effective, almost Robert Aickman-esque story in that the feeling of unease builds slowly, accruing out of the congenial narrative until we arrive at a truly weird ending. "My Pathology" features a woman who begins a relationship with a man interested in alchemy, but he is not as surprised at her unplanned pregnancy as she is. A well-thought-through weird story, if this was given a more climactic ending (and some added details) it would make a creepily effective film. A young girl's eating disorder grows out of control, creating a weird homunculus from her discarded and rotting dinners in "Food Man" (which we featured here on Pseudopod) - a disturbing (and disturbingly erotic) yarn that effectively connects the issues of power and control behind eating disorders to deep-seated sexual drives and the sense of self. In "Mr. Elphinstone's Hands" a Victorian era woman, after attending a seance, finds her body regularly leaking ectoplasm, a problem which none of her family seems willing to help her with. I enjoyed reading this one quite a bit, although it would probably qualify as "dark fantasy" more than horror. The parallels between ectoplasmic emanations and menstruation are nicely handled and the whole era of spiritualism and mediums is solidly evoked (with a dark little sting in the tail at the end). Finally, a writer talks of her fascination with a little-known and little-published weird fiction author in "The Book That Finds You", and how her strange connection to his work leads to a romantic relationship with a fellow fan, and how chance puts in her hands a privately published, near-pornographic, disturbing and surrealistic chapbook by the writer, seemingly written to win back a lover. And how the work seems oddly cursed. A rather effective tribute to Robert Aickman, it may not exactly hit HIS specific notes of oddity and ambiguity, but I liked the melancholic and unresolved ending.

There are two really outstanding stories here: In "Replacements", a man kills a small, strange animal in the street, only to find that his wife and then his secretary have adopted representatives of the repulsive creatures, with its presence in the home straining his marriage. This spins out of a simple set-up to move into a strangely resonant and symbolic territory. Meanwhile, in the exceedingly nasty "Closet Dreams", a woman recounts her childhood abduction and abuse at the hands of a stranger, from which she subsequently escaped. But part of the narrative of her escape she repeatedly told the police makes no sense and was technically impossible - and then one day, lost on a drive, she accidentally sees her un-apprehended abductor in the street... This disturbing story has an almost Thomas Ligotti-esque quality, as it plays with perceptions and expectations of escape and justice. We presented it on PSEUDOPOD here.

And that's all.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Tuttle is a brilliant writer, she really is. Her personal anecdotes preluding each story greatly enhanced the experience of the tales. Some were chilling, some nostalgic, and all were extremely well written. Highly recommended!

[Amy Gentry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really feel like I've met a soulmate in Lisa Tuttle--who, herself, often writes about finding soulmates in books discovered in odd moments in used bookstores (the precise way I discovered Molly Keane's Good Behaviour). The fact that the last story, the Robert Aickman tribute "The Book That Finds You," is set in Austin--the old, small, funky Austin of the '80s, which I experienced the last vestiges of in the mid-'90s, when Les Amis was still on the Drag--and that the main character wanders through a rare books store on South Lamar--is it 12th Street Books?--and then returns to Austin as an older, established writer during what is obviously the mid-2010's Texas Book Festival to find the city changed almost beyond recognition--it's all! very! overwhelming!

I feel contractually obliged to say there are a few stories I only liked, not loved--one reminded me of an early Ligotti story I'm not fond of, or an Evenson story which, same--but honestly, what am I complaining about? Every single one of these stories slays me on some level. Largely body horror, usually about women, they range from gross to terrifying to mildly unsettling, but there's something special in each one. And moreover there's something about her way of writing, deceptively straightforward, giving you all the details just as if someone were telling you a crazy story about her life, that makes you lean closer. You just *have* to read the next paragraph and see where this is going. And then when the overwhelming uncanny moment comes, you're too close to it to look away.

In A Far Cry from Kensington, Muriel Spark's narrator gives this advice to writers:

You are writing a letter to a friend... And this is a dear and close friend, real--or better--invented in your mind like a fixation. Write privately, not publicly, right to the end of the letter, as if it was never going to be published, so that your true friend will read it over and over, and then want more enchanting letters from you.

This is just how Lisa Tuttle's style strikes me--like enchanting letters from a true friend.

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been hearing Tuttle's name for a while, so I was excited to finally dig into one of her books, but unfortunately, this book was so underwhelming that I doubt I'll be giving her another try.

First, the theme of pregnancy/impregnation has to be mentioned--to read the back copy on the book, there's no indication that this theme will be so dominant as it is, but loosely half the stories in the book deal with pregnancy, the desire to be pregnant, or impregnation, to the point that at a certain point in the book, a good number of folks in my book club were complaining about how constantly the theme came up (me right along with them). It got to the point where when it came up even as a side note, my first thought was, 'Oh, of course she's pregant.' or 'Of course, there's a baby. There just has to be a baby...' And while the theme isn't so dominant in the second half of the book, there'd been enough of it to flavor the whole collection.

But beyond that theme, there are other problems here. Many of the longer stories ramble on needlessly, and feel far too long for what they ultimately are. Others feel more like quick explorations of a concept that end as soon as they're begun. And as much as I normally love authors' notes in short story collections, Tuttle or her publisher's decision to put them in front of the stories rather than at the end (or even at the end of the collection, as I've often seen done), did an injustice to many of the stories, communicating to readers that a certain thing/turn should be expected or simply praising the stories themselves in a fashion that felt more self-congratulatory than worthwhile for any reader. And when you add all that to the fact that Tuttle seems determined to include some sort of twist or big turn at the very end of every story, as if a simple ending could never be enough, the truth is that I was done with this collection far before I finished reading.

It isn't one I'd recommend, I'm afraid.

[Miguel Lupián · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soy muy fan de Lisa Tuttle, sobre todo de su colección Nido de pesadillas. Así que no me resistí a ésta de Valancourt, que incluye una muy buena introducción de Lisa Kröger y la propia Tuttle presenta brevemente cada uno de los cuentos (elegidos por ella misma). Me encanta la forma en que Tuttle puede explorar el terror, ya sea de forma sutil y brutal, sin perder nunca de vista a sus personajes (rotos, que lidian con sus traumas), con especial énfasis a las mujeres (sus cuerpos, sus misterios; la forma en que son asfixiadas por el patriarcado).

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that the non-fiction book Monster She Wrote has inspired a book series much like Paperbacks From Hell. And I love the lineups. Two of the early titles that had me most excited were a re-release of Engstrom’s seminal collection Nightmare Flower and a new collection The Dead Hours of Night by Lisa Tuttle. I love the cover and interior art that ties back to that in Monster She Wrote. And the craftsmanship and care in these is evident.

I loved A Nest of Nightmares and this collection lived up to the high expectations set by that one. Lisa Tuttle is an under-appreciated gem whose work continues to unsettle long after the book is closed.

“Closet Dreams” is a brutal story of PTSD and dissociation. “Food Man” is a harrowing exploration of eating disorders, body dysphoria, and beauty expectations. “Where the Stones Grow” had some excellent tension with the inexorable stalking of childhood trauma.

"Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear" by Lisa Tuttle was a chilling modern take on a hidden place you can't find but the tantalising failure haunts you. This is how you can solidly integrate today's technology with the undocumented supernatural. Layer that with the personal and marital failures of the characters and you've got a great moody piece. The ending is unsurprising, but the well executed mood and themes makes up for it.

“Mr. Elphinstone's Hands” is a fascinating concept. It explores the psychic medium phenomenon in a Victorian setting, but shifts the viewpoint from what we’re used to. It explores the Victorian science of ectoplasm as a frame to look at how women and mental illnesses were treated. It effectively explores the crazy aunt in the attic while avoiding being derivative.

And that last part is something I particularly appreciate about Lisa Tuttle. She can take familiar territory and make it into something wholly her own and unusual. I can’t recommend this collection enough.

[Randy Money · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong story collection, a good follow up read to A Nest of Nightmares. Tuttle's writing is precise and understated, and her characters well-drawn and believable, making the horrors they face all the stronger for the reader. I would recommend this for anyone looking for quiet horror stories, written well and thoughtfully, in which the stakes and the danger are intensely personal rather than cosmic.

[Becky Spratford · Rating 5 out of 5]

STAR review in the December 15, 2020 issue of Booklist Magazine and on the blog [link live 12/14] https://raforall.blogspot.com/2020/12....

Three Words That Describe this book: character driven, intense, direct tone

What I wanted to write in my review, but alas, it is too professional an outlet for it was-- "Tuttle, where have you been all my life?!?!?!"

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb collection of short fiction, disturbing, creepy, and fascinating. Many of the stories are written in first person, which puts the reader into the situation with frightening immediacy. I read Ms. Tuttle's first collection, A Nest of Nightmares, many years ago, and still treasure it. I now have a second collection to treasure.

I might add that the book itself is very nicely done, from the cover art to the binding. Really enjoyed this one.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I like her earlier stories in A Nest of Nightmares more. Some notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are hit and miss here (such is the fate of any collection of short stories I read...), but the ones that hit hit well, and have a pleasantly uneasy feeling about them. Tuttle's imagery is fantastic, and lives in the memory long after other details from her stories will fade.

2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page

[KWinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason I was just NOT in the mood for short fiction right now, but this was fantastic. There is not a bad story in here. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite! Closet Dreams and The Replacements scared the crap out of me. I can't stop thinking about Mr. Elphinstone's Hands, even though it made me sick.
I really appreciated the little intros by Tuttle. I think it deepened my appreciation for each story. I chose not to rush through this but to read a story and then reflect on it. Some of them I want to reread again immediately.
This is a collection worth owning as I think different readings at different time of life might change the meaning of the stories as well. I loved her brave female protagonists and that they often skewed older in age. Totally refreshing to read that.

[James Oxyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't into this as much as A NEST OF NIGHTMARES...I remember those stories being more focused on establishing dread-inducing, nightmarish scenarios and atmosphere, while the stories in this collection feel a little more interested in body horror and metaphoric grotesqueries. Still interesting and impactful in their way, but not as affecting for me. Still love Tuttle's style of taking matter-of-fact, grounded worlds and slowly twisting them into something nightmarish and unpredictable.

Faves:

A Birthday
Replacements
Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear
The Dream Detective
Where the Stones Grow

[Beth Heltebridle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never stop thinking about the Food Man, for better or worse

[Cleo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less spooky to me than her other work but like you know it’s still great

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Sheena Forsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is only my 2nd round with Tuttle’s writing, the first time being my recent read of the anthology Night Visions 3. I loved both her stories in NV3 and this short story collection. Where Tuttle is truly victorious, is in the fact that she has the uncanny ability to make the most mundane events into something that creeps under your skin (e.g. invasive plants, the lack of basic understanding of menstruation & the love of books).
The stories (‘*’ marks the ones that stuck with me):

-Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear:*
A friendly, long divorced couple, are visiting mutual friends in the town they used to live in when Michael (the ex husband) decides it’s a good idea to go looking for a house they were interested in when they were a couple.The house in question is almost ghostly in nature as it is impossible to find it after you’ve spotted it and an older local dealing in real-estate warns them about it. Of course, that was never going to stop Michael (who now has an idea how to get there due to satellite images of the area), and they’ll come to see why they were warned against looking for the house in the first place.

-Closet Dreams:
A little girl has is abducted, abused and kept in a closet. Dreams and reality leak into each other in this story the saddest plot twist I’ve read in a long time.

-Born Dead:*
A baby is born dead but somehow keeps growing into adulthood. Ultimately more a story about the aging mother and the woman whom she wants to continue his care when she is unable to. Genuinely disturbing.

-Replacements:*
A man encounters a misshapen creature and is so overcome with disgust that he stomps it dead. Thinking that’s it (and feeling somewhat guilty), he is shocked to find that several of the women in his life have adopted the creatures and struggles to deal with this new normal in which he has to co-exist with them. Disconcerting, it is not entirely certain who got the shortest straw in the story between the husband himself increasingly ignored, the obsessed blood-donor wife or the kept creatures.

-A Birthday:*
A tragicomic story aimed at men’s sometime ignorance about ‘lady problems’. A man is visiting his mom for birthday drinks and is shocked to see that she’s bleeding from every pore except for those of the face. Somehow he’s persuaded into believing this is a normal rite of passage/ menopause (which is only possible due to his general ignorance). I loved this story! I was also reminded of a couple I know; they married in the 1980s and the only woman the husband had lived with up until that point was his mom. Fast forward to the wife’s period being a bit early one month and some ending up on the sheets. The husband freaked out, was terrified of the bleeding and was close to calling the doctor. Turns out he was completely in the dark about periods. Didn’t know there was such a thing in spite of having grown up with several sisters.

-My Pathology:
A woman falls in love with a man who dabbles in alchemy and has the hopes of making the Philosopher’s Stone at any cost, including at her expense (hint: her womb). It’s an interesting story shining a light at women’s rights over their own body and reminds me of certain sad developments in real life with regards to a woman’s right to choice.

-Food Man:*
Probably the strangest story I’ve ever read about eating disorders, and I liked it. In this story a girl with ED hides the dinners under her bed which then turns into a man she then starts a relationship with.

-Mr.Elphinstone’s Hands:
A young woman goes to a seance with her sister who wishes to see her late infant. She notices that the medium, Mr.Elphinstone, has cold and damp hands and then witnesses ectoplasm in the shape of her late nephew.
Later on it seems she’s somehow been infected by touching Elphinstone’s hands and is producing ectoplasm herself.

-The Dream Detective:
A guy meets a woman named Grace at a dinner hosted by some mutual friends. He learns that she is a ‘Dream Detective’ and solves crimes committed in dreams. He initially treats it as a bit of a joke but finds that he might need her help after all.

-Where the Stones Grow:*
A story partly told in flashback: American Paul and his parents were in England due to his father’s job when they are told a legend about The Sisters, 3 large stones forming a triangle. Namely, that the stones sometimes move and that anyone who sees it will die as a result (which happens to Paul’s father). What’s worse is that Paul thinks he saw one of them move. Paul is therefore resistant to ever return to the UK, but work commitments forces him to do so and brings his trauma back in full force.

-Vegetable Love:
A botanical horror story if there ever was one, where Japanese knotweed (a very real and invasive plant) quite literally takes over.

-The Book That Finds You:*
In this, which story most book collectors can relate to, a book lover tracks down works of a highly elusive writer with unforeseen consequences.

[Magdalena Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many collections - either by one or various authors - where every single short story is a 5-star story, but The Dead Hours of Night sure is that rare collection. I absolutely LOVED these stories and can't believe I never read anything by Lisa Tuttle until now. Bless Valancourt Books and their Monster, She Wrote series! Tuttle's stories are bold, bizarre and brilliant. Every story has a great opening sentence and their last lines are punchy as hell. Some stories made me actually hysterically/manically laugh at the end, they were so strange and excellent. They are so bloody good, every single one of them.

[Lyd Graddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was fully disturbed by some of these stories which was awesome, but pretty turned off by the author's blurb at the beginning of every chapter. They felt self gratuitous and diminished my enjoyment of some of the stories. Some of them I didn't enjoy at all and some of the short story endings wrap up so fast it felt cheap.

[Becca Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does everyone not know about Lisa Tuttle, this shining secret gem of a writer? I just adore her.

[Vultural · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuttle, Lisa - The Dead Hours Of Night

A truly capital selection of choice stories here.
“Objects In Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear”, the opener, launches on a high note and things climb from here. A woman, her ex, and a house spied but not found twenty years earlier. Enter modern technology, satellite imaging. Those more wise understand that warnings to the curious cross cultures and centuries. A very Aickmanesque tale.

So how do you react to loathsome creatures on the sidewalk? No, not the vomit splashed drunk. The cockroach twitching on its back, the quivering, obviously sick rat. Do you ignore? Do you squash it underfoot? How about if your partner brings it home, as in “Replacements”? Are you empathetic?

Precious little to explain in “My Pathology”. To paraphrase an old co-worker of mine, “it’s just another typical tale about the Philosopher’s Stone and a teratoma.” Love and obsession, not in that order.

“The Dream Detective” spurred an annoyed reaction, I’m afraid. Friends arrange a blind date at their home, but the forced couple never hit it off. No chemistry. Or they suffer standards. Besides, the female, Grace, confesses to an ability to enter dreams. Intervene, interfere, or so she says. The narrative goes deeper still, becoming absorbing with each page – only to come to an abrupt stop! This was going full steam. Where’s the rest?

To fellow gardeners who have fought the persistent invader, “Vegetable Love” will flick your fury. Tuttle’s character deals with Japanese knotweed. For us in Dixie, the beast is Kudzu.

At one time or another, if we are lucky or unlucky, we receive “The Book That Finds You”. Here, the roots of Aickman are again evident, along with a glimpse of Tuttle’s personal history.

This is really an excellent, well-chosen collection, and since it is a Valencourt Book, reasonably priced.

[J. Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book in a promo pack, 1 of 5. Recent storm, power out, phone out, reading light, it called to me. First story I read (out of order) was "The Dream Detective". Avid and wild dreamer me, this one really got me. And it referenced a Robert Aickman story, so I had to pull that down and read it and that was a wow too! Double win.
The rest of the stories were more to the weird/horror end of things and on the edge of my comfort zone. Well-written, great pacing, no mincing of words.
Tuttle reminds me of Shirley Jackson, if Shirley had gone farther down the horror highway. Quite a few of the stories are about children, birthing, women's bodies, and men who just don't get it. I wonder which is more horrific--reading these as a woman and relating to it with horror, or reading them as a man? Is there double horror?
The women of these stories make jarring choices. The kind of choices that if you see them coming, you want to scream, "No, wait, stop!" And if you don't see them coming, you just have to put the book down and be quiet for a while. What was that? What just happened? How did we go THERE?
Boof! Mind blown.
If you aren't familiar with Tuttle and enjoy weird/horror-- big yes to this.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always loved Lisa Tuttle’s storytelling. Her writing is so easy to read and I’m able to slide right into the stories. I’m immersed in the characters, the plot, and the world.

The Dead Hours of Night is no exception. Every story was full of building horror and dread. I especially loved the intros by Tuttle at the beginning of every story. She explained the origins of the story and what part of her life she was in when she authored them. I found this fascinating.

The foreword by Lisa Kroger was awesome as well and I’m in the middle of reading Monster She Wrote to get other great ideas for amazing female horror writers.

Thank You to Valancourt for bringing all of these stories by Tuttle together in one book. As always, the cover art was beautiful and just made the reading experience all the more exciting! Pick up this book!

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

The Monster, She Wrote collection has been on my radar for some time thanks to the stunning nonfiction book heralding its arrival, and each entry has been largely positive. Elizabeth Engstrom’s collection of short stories impressed me with a few stunning examples among weaker additions. The Women of Weird Tales introduced me to a fascinating and well-written variety of women’s speculative fiction during the pulp era, showcasing a range of genre that’s just not often highlighted in older women’s writing.

However, I think, so far, Lisa Tuttle’s The Dead Hours of Night is the best title in the Monster, She Wrote collection.

Read the rest of the review here.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last year I read My Death by Tuttle, which is a story I often think about, and I felt like reading more of her work. This is a collection of short stories published by her over a long period of time. There’s a strong focus on women and their experiences in a lot of the stories, but there’s also some more straightforward horror stuff. Many of the stories have a surreal and dreamlike feel to them, something I enjoy very much. The collection is a bit of a mixed bag; some stories I thought were great, others I didn’t care for. My favorite was the first story: Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear. This one makes great use of a dreamlike atmosphere leading to an inevitable conclusion. It reminded me of My Death. I also really liked Closet Dreams, The Dream Detective, Where the Stones Grow, and The Book That Finds You. Another thing I appreciated was how each story has a short introduction by the author, giving some context about the story. I thought this was really interesting.

The stories that didn’t work as well for me (like A Birthday or Vegetable Love) have interesting ideas, but their conclusions left me disappointed, some of them being a bit predictable or anticlimactic. That said, I still enjoyed this collection, where the good stories definitely make up for the more mediocre ones.

Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear ★★★★
Closet Dreams ★★★1/2
Born Dead ★★★
Replacements ★★★
A Birthday ★★
My Pathology ★★★
Food Man ★★★
Mr. Elphinstone’s Hands ★★
The Dream Detective ★★★1/2
Where the Stones Grow ★★★1/2
Vegetable Love ★★★
The Book That Finds You ★★★★

[Cail Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Tuttle. One of the authors on my short list to browse for in dusty second-hand bookshops. I’ve been keen to find a copy of her first paperback, A Nest of Nightmares in the wild. Her story “Where the Stones Grow” blew my hair back when I read Dark Forces last summer.

This collection contains that story many newer ones, spanning her decades-long career. I thoroughly enjoyed it - a few stories left me angry or disturbed in a way that I didn’t fully enjoy. Tuttle writes about weird sex, gender roles and birth in a way that got under my skin. A very solid collection. Not every story will land the same and that’s okay. A great intro into Tuttle’s body of work.

What should I read of her’s next?

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short collection of horror tales, with a modernist tone and an accessible writing style. Most were quite good to excellent. 'Where the Stones Grow' and 'Vegetable Love' were a bit predictable, disappointingly using common tropes in the expected ways. On the other side, "Closet Dreams" made me gasp and it haunted my thoughts for days.

[Jeanette Greaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am, absolutely, a fan of Lisa Tuttle. I found her stories at an impressionable age (early twenties) and have reacted to any and all of her work with a very enthusiastic 'WANT'. This collection did not disappoint, and although they span almost forty years of writing, they are all, clearly, Tuttle stories.