Status Updates From Valerie and Other Stories

So I am rereading this one, although I don't usually do rereads, except for Gene Wolfe and Mark Valentine, because I was thinking it a lot lately and it was definitely one of the best books that I read last year. The first story in here ,The Hill Cinders, is simply amazing!

In the middle of "The Abdication of the Serpent," I admit, I asked where this story was headed, doubtful of its outcome. But by the end, the meandering labyrinth finally made sense. It's a mystery undergirded by myth-building, and a coming-of-age, but not the age typically associated with such stories. It is, in summation, a fine, fine story. One that deserves a reread and will stick in my head for some time. 5*

It is in the lengthy denouement of "Valerie" that some aspects of the tale come into clear focus, while others are blurred. The effect is like looking through binoculars at a hazy distant la landscape. The broad strokes may be beautiful, but on closer examination, there is rot beneath. But the rot holds it's own beauty. 5*

"Valerie" continues to impress me. What a darkly-beautiful, beautifully-dark story. I am reminded of Rikki Ducornet's The Jade Cabinet and The Fountains of Neptune, tonally speaking.

"Valerie," so far, shows a world of mystique, beautiful and terrifying, in the lanes and hedges, the interstices; magical portals. I am curious where this goes. So far, it is an exceptional story.

My favorite, so far, "Dreams from the Apple Orchard" is a story of beautiful decay, of fissures in social unity, the beautiful, frightful interstices between the sanguine constructs of friendship and fruitfulness. Set in Eastern Europe right before WW II, this is a solemn foreshadowing of things to come. Brilliant and brutal. Five stars. I loved this story.

"Salammbô and the Zaïmph of Tanit" is a masterful tale in the decadent strain of Huysmans. Beauty is a fair mistress, but jealousy is more adamant. Like all good decadent tales, sumptuousness ends in nightmarish squalor. Five stars

The title "A Blue Dish of Figs" evokes the image of a carefully-crafted still-life painting that contains far more symbolic meaning than its banal subject matter. One can say the same of the protagonist and her life. It is crude and shapeless, awaiting the touch of an artist's hand to add color and give life. That artist is a child who teaches hidden wisdom to her Teacher. 5*

"Dance for a Winter Moon" is heartbreaking, even when you know exactly what's coming. Note to self: quote first full para of 102. It is amazing.

"The Slaves of Paradise" is a lush story of anguish told by an artist who accidentally, clumsily betrays his lover and the French resistance. The imagery in this story shall haunt me for some time. It is beautiful and tragic, in equal measure. Five stars.

I am rarely stunned by fables, and "The Binding" is no exception, though the writing is exceptionally good. I like the witchiness of it, but I am so over the tone of "fabulism" that I can't get too excited about it any more. I'm waiting for a fable that will prove the exception. Perhaps I was jaded by so many stories as a child. Nevertheless, I am not so jaded as to give this story less than four stars. So it is.

A mystical experience leads to self-deceit and a multi-layered betrayal in the excellent story "The Hill of Cinders," which took several unexpected turns. Five red stars falling from the sky.

Midway through "Valerie" out of nowhere the penny dropped. I love when that happens. And I love this book.

oh. I am in love here. Another authorial master of the darker side of fiction. Ye gods, this is genius.