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My Goodreads review: Bright Dead Star
I suspect I wasn't the ideal reader for this collection. Although I'm somewhat familiar with Kiernan's work -- I've read one novel, one novella, and a handful of their short stories -- I'm not a devoted fan. This particular collection has a deeply personal feel. Each of its twenty-five stories offers an afterword, explanatory or autobiographical or both. The vast majority first appeared in Sirenia Digest, a subscription-only ezine Kiernan produces.
Kiernan's brand of weird fiction is nearly impossible to describe. It's decidedly literary, atmosphere-forward, and influenced by their work in paleontology. There's a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) vein of Lovecraft running through it, though it never approaches pastiche. This collection included a handful of what I would consider Lovecraftian stories, including one set in his Dreamlands. Quite a few others read more like SF, embracing themes of first contact or the discovery of alien artifacts. One or two were solidly climate fiction.
Although disturbing and well-crafted, however, many of the stories in this collection didn't seem to end in any conventional sense. I counted ten of the twenty-five as having distinct (often horrific) conclusions. The others read more like vignettes, either from the start or fluctuating between structured fiction and vignette throughout the reading experience. As someone accustomed to more conventional genre fiction, I found this frustrating -- even though I kept right on reading, pulled along by the disquieting effect of Kiernan's prose.
A few of Kiernan's themes also became somewhat repetitive. Dreams and dream retellings, visits to psychiatrists, and the miseries of freelance journalism all came in for possibly more than their share of attention. The deep ocean was also a frequent theme, but this is a bit more common in Lovecraft-influenced writing.
In the end, I wound up elevating my three-star rating to four stars solely on the strength of the writing itself, and on its eerily immersive quality. I suspect that Kiernan's more dedicated fans will find this collection a solid five star experience. My thanks to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for providing me with an ARC.
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Kiernan's brand of weird fiction is nearly impossible to describe. It's decidedly literary, atmosphere-forward, and influenced by their work in paleontology. There's a subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) vein of Lovecraft running through it, though it never approaches pastiche. This collection included a handful of what I would consider Lovecraftian stories, including one set in his Dreamlands. Quite a few others read more like SF, embracing themes of first contact or the discovery of alien artifacts. One or two were solidly climate fiction.
Although disturbing and well-crafted, however, many of the stories in this collection didn't seem to end in any conventional sense. I counted ten of the twenty-five as having distinct (often horrific) conclusions. The others read more like vignettes, either from the start or fluctuating between structured fiction and vignette throughout the reading experience. As someone accustomed to more conventional genre fiction, I found this frustrating -- even though I kept right on reading, pulled along by the disquieting effect of Kiernan's prose.
A few of Kiernan's themes also became somewhat repetitive. Dreams and dream retellings, visits to psychiatrists, and the miseries of freelance journalism all came in for possibly more than their share of attention. The deep ocean was also a frequent theme, but this is a bit more common in Lovecraft-influenced writing.
In the end, I wound up elevating my three-star rating to four stars solely on the strength of the writing itself, and on its eerily immersive quality. I suspect that Kiernan's more dedicated fans will find this collection a solid five star experience. My thanks to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for providing me with an ARC.
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