Status Updates From Daughters of Apostasy

Oftentimes, the "previously unpublished" story in a collection is the weakest. This is clearly not the case here. If you desire to sup at the table of "The Music of Exile," you'll need to pay for entry. The price is well worth it, that I can guarantee. But be prepared to discover what is hidden and then to hide what is discovered. This the initiated know.

Full review to follow soon.

"The Book of Alabaster" is a somewhat surprisingly-emotive story that starts by pulling the nostalgia strings (at least for this teen of the '80s) before winding its way into an enfolded reality of simulation. What is reality and, as important, when? Most important of all: who are the Programmers?

"The Salamander Angel" is a journey of several pilgrims into and out of regions beyond the veil of this world. There's a kind of Hegelian dialectic of the divine and the blasphemous, a looping together of heaven and hell through the travels, intentional and accidental, of oneironauts, occultists, and tricksters. The (anti?)heroes charge and stumble their way through "above" and "below" in their epic quests. Powerful.

An ever-changing labyrinth of a hotel, spurred in its metamorphoses by seekers of gnosis, is both setting and character in "Permutations of the Citadel". It's a lavish tale full of mystery and misdirection, a lair for tricksters, initiates, and those seeking the other side of the mirror. Add a little playful devilishness and you have what Wes Anderson might be if he was to ever take his subject matter seriously.

Trespass becomes initiation into an imaginary city hidden in the bones of the physical world in "The Scourge and the Sanctuary". Christopher Wren collides with Huysman's, but Murphy's work is all and none of these. The key is in the story itself: The fictions we partake of, as with the fictions we create, bear consequences for each of us that lie beyond the understanding and control even of their authors.

I'm just one story and a half in, but enjoying this thoroughly already. There's this nocturnal stillness to Murphy's writing that I struggle to find a comparison to but is evident almost instantly. Excited to read more.

Really liked Permutations of the Citadel

Currently at the last story in this book, "The Music of Exile." I'm a bit apprehensive about finishing Daughters of Apostasy, because I know that the minute I do, I'll go looking in my library for something this good and likely won't find it.

I am completely under its spell and don't want it to end. It's that good.

Have I mentioned what a phenomenal writer I find Damian Murphy to be?

I've heard nothing but great things about this book, and now I see why, beginning on the very first page. I'm in the hands of a gifted writer.