What do you think?
Rate this book
A Thread of Truth
In this book, the first collection from London writer Nina Allan, the full range of her styles is evident. Often using only the tiniest hints of the unusual or otherworldly to colour her narratives, these stories are rooted squarely in both the meticulously observed modern world and the traditions of British macabre and slipstream writing. They are subtle and elegantly crafted, leading us to question our own identities and take a second look at places we thought we knew. From the quiet and melancholy mystery of Terminus to the fractured modern reality of The Vicar with Seven Rigs to the fragile and almost classical beauty and eeriness of the title novella, A Thread of Truth - many of these stories have never been seen in print before.
- GenresShort Stories
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2007
1 person is currently reading
47 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 19, 2018
A Thread of Truth was Nina Allan's first published book, in 2007, and like several of her others it is a collection of short stories. There is no connecting theme, though the blurb says they all '[lead] us to question our own identities and take a second look at places we thought we knew'. The author has described A Thread of Truth as a snapshot of her work at the time, when she 'was just beginning to discover my identity as a writer, and more specifically as a writer of speculative fiction'.
A few of the stories here are arguably not speculative at all, but rather have something disturbing lurking beneath the surface. The spectre of child abuse lingers in more than one of them, and numerous characters have at least one missing parent. The stories are frequently inconclusive, which is not something I particularly mind, but having read some of Allan's more recent fiction, it's clear she has become more adept at wrapping up loose ends – that confidence was lacking at this point and it shows. Her later work also seems to me more successful in taking science fiction or horror themes and integrating them with the everyday.
A Thread of Truth is interesting because it shows how Allan's style has developed, but it's not just a curio for fans of the author; there are some genuinely good pieces here. My favourites were, in order, 'A Thread of Truth', 'The Vicar with Seven Rigs', 'Amethyst' and 'Heroes'.
---
The collection opens with the brilliant 'Amethyst'. The narrator is a teenage girl whose best friend, Angela, has two obsessions: the band Amethyst, and aliens. Amethyst's singer/songwriter Lorna Samways is from the same town as the girls, and Angela gets it into her head that there's some hidden meaning in the band's biggest hit, 'Moon Landing on Silas Street'. She wants to go to Silas Street by night and 'find out how it feels'. If the incidental details are the strongest part of 'Amethyst' (the descriptions of Amethyst/Lorna and the setting, a past-its-best seaside resort, will stick with me), the plot is a little weaker; I felt there wasn't quite enough room for it all to be resolved.
In 'Ryman's Suitcase', a doctor moves to sleepy Horsfall to take up a locum position; the man he's replacing has 'run away to the Congo' because his wife (also MIA) was having an affair. Being from London, the narrator finds the transition to village life difficult. When he helps Ryman's daughter Billy, he is unwittingly drawn further into village society, while simultaneously deepening his connection to the mysterious Rymans. Despite containing one of the tropes I find most ridiculous (a character 'falling in love' with someone based purely on a photograph), 'Ryman's Suitcase' works well as a character portrait; it also contains one of the most horribly chilling moments in the book, when the narrator finds the 'three slight depressions' in Billy's skull.
'Bird Songs at Eventide' is one of the more explicitly fantastical stories in A Thread of Truth. A group of researchers have travelled to a vast planet named Menhir Magna; the narrator observes dragon-like creatures and records their behaviour. Aside from the setting, this is a wistful tale of the kind of ordinary longings that can be devastating.
'Queen South' was probably my least favourite. It is, however, one of the most effectively unsettling, though not because of anything supernatural. A young teacher becomes fascinated by a girl he sees around town. Ultimately, he cheats on his fiancée with her. Later, a colleague tells him some troubling information about her. It's disturbingly unclear whether the 'girl' is a teenager or a child – many of the details, including a very uncomfortable sex scene, and another in which the girl shows Tim a rocket she's made from paper and sweet wrappers, make it sound like the latter. I should probably read it again to check I'm not completely off base about all this, but I can't stomach the thought of it.
'The Vicar with Seven Rigs' starts badly, but blossoms. Initially it's just about a gang of teenagers deciding to break into a dilapidated hotel, with some dialogue I found rather implausible. But when the narrator and one of her friends enter the place, their disorientating experience puts a whole new spin on what is happening here. The ending is fantastic. An example of a story that leaves a lot of loose ends but does so successfully, producing a sense of wonderment rather than frustration.
I really liked 'Heroes'. This is mostly the story of a young man named Finlay and his friendship with an elderly neighbour who dotes on his racing pigeons. In the background are glimpses of Finlay's parents and their odd relationship, in which so much seems to remain unspoken. I could sum the ending up in exactly the same way as 'The Vicar with Seven Rigs': it's inconclusive, but in a manner that feels deliberate and pleasantly intriguing.
'Terminus' is the earliest story included here, originally published in a Tartarus Press anthology in 2004. I wonder, if I didn't know that, whether I'd still feel it's the most amateurish thing in the book. While there are a few really good flourishes – I shivered when the child took Victor's hand – overall this is a decent story that doesn't amount to much.
The story that gives the collection its title is also by far the longest (it is sometimes referred to as a novella). I was excited to read 'A Thread of Truth' because Allan has said that her 2017 story 'Four Abstracts' – the story that made me fall in love with her writing – is a kind of sequel to it. In the event, I'm glad I knew this in advance; otherwise I might not have worked it out, since some details don't match up. Evidently certain aspects of the characters have been reworked in later years.
'A Thread of Truth' features Jennie, who also makes an appearance in 'Four Abstracts'. She's not the protagonist, though; that's Adam, a rather buttoned-up surveyor who rashly books a place on a 'Spider Identification Weekend' (shudder) in a bid to conquer his crippling arachnophobia. Unsurprisingly, this is a very spider-centric story. There are a LOT of descriptions of the things, and unlike Adam I didn't experience a turnaround in my feelings about them. Perhaps it's the sheer queasy pervasiveness of the arachnid theme that made me feel a kind of revulsion towards both Jennie and Alice; I was desperate for Adam and Jon, respectively, to get away from them.
While 'A Thread of Truth' doesn't quite match up to the brilliance of 'Four Abstracts', it is a strong and involving story in its own right, easily the most memorable of this collection. The story-within-a-story – a tale told by Jennie when the spider-hunting group decide to share ghost stories – is fantastic in itself.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
A few of the stories here are arguably not speculative at all, but rather have something disturbing lurking beneath the surface. The spectre of child abuse lingers in more than one of them, and numerous characters have at least one missing parent. The stories are frequently inconclusive, which is not something I particularly mind, but having read some of Allan's more recent fiction, it's clear she has become more adept at wrapping up loose ends – that confidence was lacking at this point and it shows. Her later work also seems to me more successful in taking science fiction or horror themes and integrating them with the everyday.
A Thread of Truth is interesting because it shows how Allan's style has developed, but it's not just a curio for fans of the author; there are some genuinely good pieces here. My favourites were, in order, 'A Thread of Truth', 'The Vicar with Seven Rigs', 'Amethyst' and 'Heroes'.
---
The collection opens with the brilliant 'Amethyst'. The narrator is a teenage girl whose best friend, Angela, has two obsessions: the band Amethyst, and aliens. Amethyst's singer/songwriter Lorna Samways is from the same town as the girls, and Angela gets it into her head that there's some hidden meaning in the band's biggest hit, 'Moon Landing on Silas Street'. She wants to go to Silas Street by night and 'find out how it feels'. If the incidental details are the strongest part of 'Amethyst' (the descriptions of Amethyst/Lorna and the setting, a past-its-best seaside resort, will stick with me), the plot is a little weaker; I felt there wasn't quite enough room for it all to be resolved.
In 'Ryman's Suitcase', a doctor moves to sleepy Horsfall to take up a locum position; the man he's replacing has 'run away to the Congo' because his wife (also MIA) was having an affair. Being from London, the narrator finds the transition to village life difficult. When he helps Ryman's daughter Billy, he is unwittingly drawn further into village society, while simultaneously deepening his connection to the mysterious Rymans. Despite containing one of the tropes I find most ridiculous (a character 'falling in love' with someone based purely on a photograph), 'Ryman's Suitcase' works well as a character portrait; it also contains one of the most horribly chilling moments in the book, when the narrator finds the 'three slight depressions' in Billy's skull.
'Bird Songs at Eventide' is one of the more explicitly fantastical stories in A Thread of Truth. A group of researchers have travelled to a vast planet named Menhir Magna; the narrator observes dragon-like creatures and records their behaviour. Aside from the setting, this is a wistful tale of the kind of ordinary longings that can be devastating.
'Queen South' was probably my least favourite. It is, however, one of the most effectively unsettling, though not because of anything supernatural. A young teacher becomes fascinated by a girl he sees around town. Ultimately, he cheats on his fiancée with her. Later, a colleague tells him some troubling information about her. It's disturbingly unclear whether the 'girl' is a teenager or a child – many of the details, including a very uncomfortable sex scene, and another in which the girl shows Tim a rocket she's made from paper and sweet wrappers, make it sound like the latter. I should probably read it again to check I'm not completely off base about all this, but I can't stomach the thought of it.
'The Vicar with Seven Rigs' starts badly, but blossoms. Initially it's just about a gang of teenagers deciding to break into a dilapidated hotel, with some dialogue I found rather implausible. But when the narrator and one of her friends enter the place, their disorientating experience puts a whole new spin on what is happening here. The ending is fantastic. An example of a story that leaves a lot of loose ends but does so successfully, producing a sense of wonderment rather than frustration.
I really liked 'Heroes'. This is mostly the story of a young man named Finlay and his friendship with an elderly neighbour who dotes on his racing pigeons. In the background are glimpses of Finlay's parents and their odd relationship, in which so much seems to remain unspoken. I could sum the ending up in exactly the same way as 'The Vicar with Seven Rigs': it's inconclusive, but in a manner that feels deliberate and pleasantly intriguing.
'Terminus' is the earliest story included here, originally published in a Tartarus Press anthology in 2004. I wonder, if I didn't know that, whether I'd still feel it's the most amateurish thing in the book. While there are a few really good flourishes – I shivered when the child took Victor's hand – overall this is a decent story that doesn't amount to much.
The story that gives the collection its title is also by far the longest (it is sometimes referred to as a novella). I was excited to read 'A Thread of Truth' because Allan has said that her 2017 story 'Four Abstracts' – the story that made me fall in love with her writing – is a kind of sequel to it. In the event, I'm glad I knew this in advance; otherwise I might not have worked it out, since some details don't match up. Evidently certain aspects of the characters have been reworked in later years.
'A Thread of Truth' features Jennie, who also makes an appearance in 'Four Abstracts'. She's not the protagonist, though; that's Adam, a rather buttoned-up surveyor who rashly books a place on a 'Spider Identification Weekend' (shudder) in a bid to conquer his crippling arachnophobia. Unsurprisingly, this is a very spider-centric story. There are a LOT of descriptions of the things, and unlike Adam I didn't experience a turnaround in my feelings about them. Perhaps it's the sheer queasy pervasiveness of the arachnid theme that made me feel a kind of revulsion towards both Jennie and Alice; I was desperate for Adam and Jon, respectively, to get away from them.
While 'A Thread of Truth' doesn't quite match up to the brilliance of 'Four Abstracts', it is a strong and involving story in its own right, easily the most memorable of this collection. The story-within-a-story – a tale told by Jennie when the spider-hunting group decide to share ghost stories – is fantastic in itself.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
June 4, 2015
Originally published at Risingshadow.
Nina Allan's A Thread of Truth is an excellent debut short story collection (it was published by Eibonvale Press in 2007). This short story serves as a perfect indicator of Nina Allan's writing talents, because it reveals how good and talented an author she is and how well she writes about characters and happenings.
A Thread of Truth beautifully showcases all the different nuances and flavours of Nina Allan's literary writing style. She writes fascinatingly dark and emotional fiction that is speckled with brutality and honesty that is seldom found in modern speculative fiction. Her writing can be described as a harmonious blend of fantasy, realism and truth.
Nina Allan excels at writing about the lives of the protagonists and their feelings and problems. She understands that well-created characters are an important part of the stories and their depth. She easily delves into the lives and pasts of the characters and examines their feelings, hopes and fears.
There's quiet power and subtle horror in these stories that will intrigue readers. One of the best things about this collection is that the stories have tiny elements and clues that hint at something peculiar, unsettling or supernatural. Small details and little things mean a lot in these stories, because just a few words or a couple of sentences may reveal that all may not be what it seems to be.
I'm sure that everyone who has ever read classic horror and weird fiction stories by Arthur Machen and other similar authors will find something in this collection that will allure them. Although the contents of the stories vary a lot, some of the stories have a touch of good old-fashioned eeriness them that will fascinate many readers. (I think it's good to mention that the horror elements found in these stories differ quite a lot from what many readers may consider to be horror, because Nina Allan approaches horror in a subtle way.)
This collection contains the following stories:
- Amethyst
- Ryman's Suitcase
- Bird Songs at Eventide
- Queen South
- The Vicar with Seven Rigs
- Heroes
- Terminus
- A Thread of Truth
It's slightly difficult to categorise these stories under one category, but they can be categorised as horror, science fiction and slipstream fiction. They're beautifully crafted and fluently written stories that feature enchantingly realistic, macabre and unsettling elements.
Here's more information about the stories and my thoughts about them:
Amethyst:
- An excellent story about Jane who has a friend called Angela who together explore places. Angela is fascinated by aliens and different kind of objects. A folk group called Amethyst has made a song about the town in whic the girls live and made the town famous.
- The author writes beautifully about the town and the happenings. There's a wonderfully melancholy atmosphere in this story.
Ryman's Suitcase:
- In this story a doctor moves to a small village and takes up a locum position. He finds a suitcase that belonged to the previous holder of the position.
- I think that this story will be of special interest to those readers who are familiar with the works of Arthur Machen, because it was originally written for a competition arranged by the Friends of Arthur Machen.
Bird Songs at Eventide:
- An intersting science fiction story about dragons, an alien planet and a research colony.
- This is one of the most compelling science fiction stories I've read this year.
- This story has been inspired by music ("Bird Songs at Eventide" by Eric Coates).
Queen South:
- An interesting story about a young man who becomes fascinated by a blonde girl who's different from his fiancée.
- In my opinion this story has a wonderful atmosphere.
- This story has also been inspired by music ("Queen South" by The Ashtray Hearts).
The Vicar with Seven Rigs:
- A well written coming of age story about teenagers who break into a hotel called "The Vicar with Seven Rigs".
- This story features perfect characterisation.
Heroes:
- This is one of the most compelling stories I've read in a while, because the author has combined several different elements in a successful way.
- It was intriguing for me to read about pigeon racing, because it is something that is seldom found in speculative fiction stories.
- Because this story is something different, it requires a bit of attention from the reader.
Terminus:
- An excellent story that takes place in a Moscow Metro.
- This beautifully written and atmospheric horror story will fascinate many readers.
A Thread of Truth:
- An amazing and unforgettable story about arachnophobia.
- The author has an excellent way of writing about phobia, because the protagonist tries to cure his arachnophobia in a slightly different way.
- Nina Allan writes well about spiders. (If you enjoy reading this story, I can recommend the author's novella "Spin", because it's a fascinating story about Arachne myth.)
These stories feature beautiful prose, excellent characterisation and stylistic storytelling.
It's amazing how fluently Nina Allan explores what happens to the protagonists and how they feel about the happenings when something unexpected or strange happens to them that changes their perception of life and circumstances. All the protagonist has their own stories that unfold as the stories progress, and their lives, feelings and experiences are explored with interesting details.
Nina Allan explores relationships and friendships between people in an excellent way. In my opinion she's one of the best modern authors when it comes to writing about relationships and friendships, because it comes naturally to her. There's nothing forced about her writing - the joys and pains of the characters feel realistic.
The author evokes beautiful and vivid images of different places in her stories. She writes evocatively about the surroundings in which the protagonist experience different things and emotions. For example, in "Amethyst" and "Ryman's Suitcase" the author writes perfectly about different places.
"Ryman's Suitcase" is one of the best stories in this collection. I consider it to be an excellent horror flavoured story. Because I've always enjoyed reading stories in which the protagonists move to new places and come face to face with mysteries, I loved this story. The author wrote intriguingly about the doctor and how he became fascinated by his predecessor's wife. She also wrote well about trepanning.
"Terminus" is one of the most memorable stories about metro systems I've ever read. Until now I've considered Clive Barker's "Midnight Meat Train" to be the ultimate horror story about metro systems, but "Terminus" became a new favourite of mine. I'll also mention that this story reminded me a bit of some of the stories found in the anthology Rustblind and Silverbright (Eibonvale Press, 2013).
"Terminus" is almost like the total opposite of "Midnight Meat Train", because it contains old-fashioned feelings of terror and the author pays a lot of attention to the atmosphere. The author easily hooks her readers with this story, because she writes well about how the characters (a man and a woman) become trapped at a station that should not exist and subtly hints at something terrifying.
The strongest story in this collection is "A Thread of Truth". It's a beautifully written story about a man, arachnophobia and spiders (it develops into a fascinating story with dark undertones). I enjoyed reading about the protagonist's life, his feelings and his fear of spiders (what happens between the protagonist and Jennie is handled well), because the author wrote well about him and his life.
Nina Allan is one of the best and most talented authors ever to grace the field of speculative fiction. She writes beautiful and excellent literary prose and easily captures the hearts and minds of the readers with her descriptions about the places and the characters. She has plenty of imagination and she easily combines literary fiction and speculative fiction.
A Thread of Truth is an impressive and beautifully written short story collection. Because I've previously read a few books by Nina Allan, I can mention that this collection will impress readers who have read Nina Allan's stories. It will also please newcomers who are yet to experience what kind of an author she is and what kind of literary wonders she has in store for her readers.
Are you ready to be seduced by beautiful prose, excellent characterisation and mesmerising stories? If you are, please read A Thread of Truth as soon as possible, because you'll enjoy reading it. It's an impressive debut short story collection featuring beautifully written stories.
Highly recommended!
Nina Allan's A Thread of Truth is an excellent debut short story collection (it was published by Eibonvale Press in 2007). This short story serves as a perfect indicator of Nina Allan's writing talents, because it reveals how good and talented an author she is and how well she writes about characters and happenings.
A Thread of Truth beautifully showcases all the different nuances and flavours of Nina Allan's literary writing style. She writes fascinatingly dark and emotional fiction that is speckled with brutality and honesty that is seldom found in modern speculative fiction. Her writing can be described as a harmonious blend of fantasy, realism and truth.
Nina Allan excels at writing about the lives of the protagonists and their feelings and problems. She understands that well-created characters are an important part of the stories and their depth. She easily delves into the lives and pasts of the characters and examines their feelings, hopes and fears.
There's quiet power and subtle horror in these stories that will intrigue readers. One of the best things about this collection is that the stories have tiny elements and clues that hint at something peculiar, unsettling or supernatural. Small details and little things mean a lot in these stories, because just a few words or a couple of sentences may reveal that all may not be what it seems to be.
I'm sure that everyone who has ever read classic horror and weird fiction stories by Arthur Machen and other similar authors will find something in this collection that will allure them. Although the contents of the stories vary a lot, some of the stories have a touch of good old-fashioned eeriness them that will fascinate many readers. (I think it's good to mention that the horror elements found in these stories differ quite a lot from what many readers may consider to be horror, because Nina Allan approaches horror in a subtle way.)
This collection contains the following stories:
- Amethyst
- Ryman's Suitcase
- Bird Songs at Eventide
- Queen South
- The Vicar with Seven Rigs
- Heroes
- Terminus
- A Thread of Truth
It's slightly difficult to categorise these stories under one category, but they can be categorised as horror, science fiction and slipstream fiction. They're beautifully crafted and fluently written stories that feature enchantingly realistic, macabre and unsettling elements.
Here's more information about the stories and my thoughts about them:
Amethyst:
- An excellent story about Jane who has a friend called Angela who together explore places. Angela is fascinated by aliens and different kind of objects. A folk group called Amethyst has made a song about the town in whic the girls live and made the town famous.
- The author writes beautifully about the town and the happenings. There's a wonderfully melancholy atmosphere in this story.
Ryman's Suitcase:
- In this story a doctor moves to a small village and takes up a locum position. He finds a suitcase that belonged to the previous holder of the position.
- I think that this story will be of special interest to those readers who are familiar with the works of Arthur Machen, because it was originally written for a competition arranged by the Friends of Arthur Machen.
Bird Songs at Eventide:
- An intersting science fiction story about dragons, an alien planet and a research colony.
- This is one of the most compelling science fiction stories I've read this year.
- This story has been inspired by music ("Bird Songs at Eventide" by Eric Coates).
Queen South:
- An interesting story about a young man who becomes fascinated by a blonde girl who's different from his fiancée.
- In my opinion this story has a wonderful atmosphere.
- This story has also been inspired by music ("Queen South" by The Ashtray Hearts).
The Vicar with Seven Rigs:
- A well written coming of age story about teenagers who break into a hotel called "The Vicar with Seven Rigs".
- This story features perfect characterisation.
Heroes:
- This is one of the most compelling stories I've read in a while, because the author has combined several different elements in a successful way.
- It was intriguing for me to read about pigeon racing, because it is something that is seldom found in speculative fiction stories.
- Because this story is something different, it requires a bit of attention from the reader.
Terminus:
- An excellent story that takes place in a Moscow Metro.
- This beautifully written and atmospheric horror story will fascinate many readers.
A Thread of Truth:
- An amazing and unforgettable story about arachnophobia.
- The author has an excellent way of writing about phobia, because the protagonist tries to cure his arachnophobia in a slightly different way.
- Nina Allan writes well about spiders. (If you enjoy reading this story, I can recommend the author's novella "Spin", because it's a fascinating story about Arachne myth.)
These stories feature beautiful prose, excellent characterisation and stylistic storytelling.
It's amazing how fluently Nina Allan explores what happens to the protagonists and how they feel about the happenings when something unexpected or strange happens to them that changes their perception of life and circumstances. All the protagonist has their own stories that unfold as the stories progress, and their lives, feelings and experiences are explored with interesting details.
Nina Allan explores relationships and friendships between people in an excellent way. In my opinion she's one of the best modern authors when it comes to writing about relationships and friendships, because it comes naturally to her. There's nothing forced about her writing - the joys and pains of the characters feel realistic.
The author evokes beautiful and vivid images of different places in her stories. She writes evocatively about the surroundings in which the protagonist experience different things and emotions. For example, in "Amethyst" and "Ryman's Suitcase" the author writes perfectly about different places.
"Ryman's Suitcase" is one of the best stories in this collection. I consider it to be an excellent horror flavoured story. Because I've always enjoyed reading stories in which the protagonists move to new places and come face to face with mysteries, I loved this story. The author wrote intriguingly about the doctor and how he became fascinated by his predecessor's wife. She also wrote well about trepanning.
"Terminus" is one of the most memorable stories about metro systems I've ever read. Until now I've considered Clive Barker's "Midnight Meat Train" to be the ultimate horror story about metro systems, but "Terminus" became a new favourite of mine. I'll also mention that this story reminded me a bit of some of the stories found in the anthology Rustblind and Silverbright (Eibonvale Press, 2013).
"Terminus" is almost like the total opposite of "Midnight Meat Train", because it contains old-fashioned feelings of terror and the author pays a lot of attention to the atmosphere. The author easily hooks her readers with this story, because she writes well about how the characters (a man and a woman) become trapped at a station that should not exist and subtly hints at something terrifying.
The strongest story in this collection is "A Thread of Truth". It's a beautifully written story about a man, arachnophobia and spiders (it develops into a fascinating story with dark undertones). I enjoyed reading about the protagonist's life, his feelings and his fear of spiders (what happens between the protagonist and Jennie is handled well), because the author wrote well about him and his life.
Nina Allan is one of the best and most talented authors ever to grace the field of speculative fiction. She writes beautiful and excellent literary prose and easily captures the hearts and minds of the readers with her descriptions about the places and the characters. She has plenty of imagination and she easily combines literary fiction and speculative fiction.
A Thread of Truth is an impressive and beautifully written short story collection. Because I've previously read a few books by Nina Allan, I can mention that this collection will impress readers who have read Nina Allan's stories. It will also please newcomers who are yet to experience what kind of an author she is and what kind of literary wonders she has in store for her readers.
Are you ready to be seduced by beautiful prose, excellent characterisation and mesmerising stories? If you are, please read A Thread of Truth as soon as possible, because you'll enjoy reading it. It's an impressive debut short story collection featuring beautifully written stories.
Highly recommended!
March 3, 2015
This is a collection of eight short stories which can best be summed up from quoting one of the characters in "Queen South": 'I had read somewhere that it wasn't the story that mattered but the art in the tale.'
Nina is a master of understatement. Her stories are chock full of details and descriptions which often have no bearing on the main thrust of the story, but once the piece has finished make you realise that was where the heart of the tale lay. Whilst SF and horror tropes haunt the peripheries of some of these tales, they are so subtle as to almost be invisible. There might simply be one singular misaligned sentence that rocks the world of the protagonist, that makes us realise all is not perhaps as it seems. For some readers this might not be enough, but for those who don't want standard fare then these tales are perfect to indulge within. They are almost ghosts of stories, where what isn't said can be more important than what is said.
My favourites were "Rymans Suitcase" and "Heroes". The collection finishes with the 80 page title story, "A Thread of Truth", where - even for an arachnophobe like myself - the prose transcended the spiders and subtleties veered this story away from an obvious denouement. Recommended.
Nina is a master of understatement. Her stories are chock full of details and descriptions which often have no bearing on the main thrust of the story, but once the piece has finished make you realise that was where the heart of the tale lay. Whilst SF and horror tropes haunt the peripheries of some of these tales, they are so subtle as to almost be invisible. There might simply be one singular misaligned sentence that rocks the world of the protagonist, that makes us realise all is not perhaps as it seems. For some readers this might not be enough, but for those who don't want standard fare then these tales are perfect to indulge within. They are almost ghosts of stories, where what isn't said can be more important than what is said.
My favourites were "Rymans Suitcase" and "Heroes". The collection finishes with the 80 page title story, "A Thread of Truth", where - even for an arachnophobe like myself - the prose transcended the spiders and subtleties veered this story away from an obvious denouement. Recommended.
July 10, 2022
This had been on my radar after reading Ms Allen's tightly stitched The Silver Wind.
Luckily, Eibonvale still carries this earlier work, though it is less time slip than Silver Wind.
In this collection, the opening stories often feel like unresolved memories.
The sundering of adolescent friendships, office rumors, the hotel front of smuggled immigrants.
Our perception is unclear, deliberately so, and the reader is on sandy footing throughout.
The final tales are outstanding.
A misfit adolescent, befriended by a reclusive old man, enigma in the Moscow subway, and an arachnophobe, dealing with his terrors.
The final story also contains a tale within a tale of an unpleasant, perhaps buried, village secret.
One really must pay attention with Allen's stories, as often seemingly throwaway lines return to haunting effect.
Luckily, Eibonvale still carries this earlier work, though it is less time slip than Silver Wind.
In this collection, the opening stories often feel like unresolved memories.
The sundering of adolescent friendships, office rumors, the hotel front of smuggled immigrants.
Our perception is unclear, deliberately so, and the reader is on sandy footing throughout.
The final tales are outstanding.
A misfit adolescent, befriended by a reclusive old man, enigma in the Moscow subway, and an arachnophobe, dealing with his terrors.
The final story also contains a tale within a tale of an unpleasant, perhaps buried, village secret.
One really must pay attention with Allen's stories, as often seemingly throwaway lines return to haunting effect.
January 28, 2021
Honestly, this story is too good to dissect. Just read it as a still hidden thing like it says itself. Hidden, till now? I should not cut its flowers, merely so as to give them to you in a bunch. Read it. Probably the best ending ever.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of my observations at the time of the review.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of my observations at the time of the review.
July 20, 2020
These hold up pretty well considering they're early stories.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews