- austrianspencer
A quaint and curious volume of gothic tales
I received an ARC of this Anthology, with thanks, from the publishers and Alex Woodroe, in return for an honest review. Like with most anthologies, the range and scope of the shorts on offer was wide, and the quality of the stories high – I was impressed with the editing, the polishing, the packaging. This is an anthology that is, very rightly, going to receive a lot of love.
Let’s break it down. The title “Gothic” didn’t (in my eyes) apply to all of the stories, but the umbrella was there, and I am by no means an expert on all things Gothic, quite the contrary, white and blue are my favorite colors, I am not a person to be obsessed by churches and graveyards, death fascinates me – true – but only in the abstract – the breaking apart of it for want of a story. Taking my confession of Un-gothicness to heart, how did the anthology rate overall for storytelling? Well, pretty well done, in my opinion.
The opening piece, Penance, by Lindsay King Miller, is a strong starter. Excellent writing, a well-constructed plot, and a fantastic premise. Likewise, What the dead whisper to the living by Mary Rajotte, is a wonderful short, something almost reminiscent of Gaiman in its concept. Mercy by Catherine McCarthy followed directly afterward, and was for me, the highlight of the anthology, and over far, far too quickly. Like-minded from Cindy O’Quinn nearer the end of the book, was a great piece on madness. The bonus short The Sweetlings by S.H.Cooper left us with that sour taste you really want to leave a horror anthology on. Good work.
This is one of those anthologies that managed to maintain my interest. I can’t say that there were constant flashes of genius, but the quality of the writing was consistent and engaging. A women’s anthology (authors) that showed a lot of heart and passion in its execution.
This gets a 4 ⭐ ‘s out of 5 from me. Excellent work, Ladies, and the cover is pure eye candy, there’s something almost Egon Schiele – esque about it – and you’ve gotta love Schiele.
You can buy a copy of "A quaint..." from you local Amazon, by clicking on the appropriate link, below:
