Alabaster

An albino girl wanders the sun-scorched backroads of a south Georgia summer, following the bidding of an angel - or perhaps only voices in her head - searching out and slaying ancient monsters who have hidden themselves away in the lonely places of the world. Caitli-n R. Kiernan first introduced Dancy in the pages of her award-winning second novel, Threshold (2001), then went on to write several more short stories and a novella about this unlikely heroine, each a piece, of which, has become an epic dark fantasy narrative. Alabaster finally collects all these tales into one volume, illustrated by Ted Naifeh (Gloomcookie, Courtney Crumrin)

Dancy Flammarion, an albino adolescent who speaks to angels and slays monsters in human guise in the backwoods of contemporary Georgia, is the heroine of the five interlocking stories that make up this eerie dark fantasy collection. Kiernan introduced Dancy as an enigmatic waif in her horror opus Threshold (2001) and has since conceived an elaborate cosmology in which the fey girl is one of many human avatars fighting small skirmishes on Earth that have cataclysmic repercussions across planes of reality. In "Les Fleurs Empoisonnées," Dancy is taken captive by a matriarchy of necrophiles whose decaying mansion is a nexus point for perverse and grotesque phenomena. "Bainbridge" interweaves multiple story lines that cut across time and space to show the far-reaching ramifications of Dancy's efforts to exorcise an ancient evil infesting an abandoned church. Kiernan imbues the tales with disquieting gothic imagery and envelops them in rich, evocative prose that conveys cohesiveness beyond their fragmentary plots. (Sept.)
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In her fourth short-story collection, Kiernan revisits a quirky character from her acclaimed horror novel Threshold (2001). Dancy Flammarian is a haunted albino teenager receiving guidance from an invisible guardian angel to track down and eliminate primordial, hellish monsters. Five previously uncollected stories follow Dancy's macabre questing from her childhood in the swamplands of Northern Florida to her hitchhiking travels across the red dirt backroads of Georgia, everywhere confronting evil face-to-face. In "The Well of Stars and Shadow," Dancy encounters her first demon, living in a bayou ghost town, and absorbs the uneasy revelation that every creature seems to know her name. In "Waycross," Dancy is abducted by a growling beast known as the Gynander, which disguises itself in the crinkled skins of its victims. "Les Fleurs Empoisonnees" introduces Dancy to perhaps her most ghoulish adversaries yet, the group of Savannah vivisectionist matriarchs called the Stephens Ward Tea League. Kiernan's richly evocative prose vividly portrays her twisted characters as well as it illustrates their eerie, kudzu-infested, Deep South surroundings. Carl Hays
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