The Beauty - Softcover

Aliya Whiteley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907389237 ISBN 13: 9781907389238

Publisher: Unsung Stories, 2014

Synopsis

Somewhere away from the cities and towns, a group of men and boys gather around the fire each night to listen to their stories in the Valley of the Rocks. For when the women are all gone the rest of your life is all there is for everyone. The men are waiting to pass into the night. The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the darkness. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? And what about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods? Hear the tales, watch a myth be formed. For what can man hope to achieve in a world without women? When the past is only grief how long should you hold on to it? What secrets can the forest offer to change it all? Discover the Beauty. This is a bold and striking novella to shake up the New Weird and does contain strong imagery and events. The beautiful and the terrible exist side by side. Encompassing post-apocalyptic setting, science fiction and horror, this is a story you will never forget.

About this title

About the Author

Aliya Whiteley was born in Devon in 1974, and currently lives in Sussex with her husband, daughter and dog. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction and has been published in places such as The Guardian, Interzone, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Black Static, Strange Horizons, and anthologies such as Fox Spirit's European Monsters and Lonely Planet's Better than Fiction I and II. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice, and won the Drabblecast People's Choice Award in 2007. Her novella, The Beauty, was shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson Award and a Sabotage Award, and appeared on the Honors List for the James Tiptree Jr Award.

Review

This novella should win stuff. Seriously, just read it. Original work is being done. Here's proof. **** -- Nina Allan I was provoked, shocked, disgusted, touched and, ultimately, I emerged feeling wiser. A brilliant, haunting original. **** -- Craig Lines * Den Of Geek * This is a short book with a lot to say, all of it interesting ... Most of all it's about the power of storytelling to preserve our past and shape our future, and so one can see why it would appeal to an imprint called Unsung Stories, on this evidence a name to look out for. The Beauty is intellectual and visceral, frightening and thoughtful, an adventure and a meditation. **** -- Stephen Theaker * Interzone * If I were to push one book on you from 2014, shove one book at you and say "this", it would be The Beauty. **** -- Benjamin Judge Aliya Whiteley's elegant, dreamlike prose masterfully frames the most slippery of issues - the fluidity of gender and sexuality; history and the power of propaganda; the value of life in all its forms, and the complex, grotesque nature of desire and disgust. The deconstruction of gender roles provides a sophisticated comment on the natural passage of identity and selfhood. **** -- Jen Wade * We Love This Book *

About this edition

• Publisher: Unsung Stories
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1907389237
• ISBN 13: 9781907389238
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112