A collection of short
works can be a rare and wonderful thing. Opening one is like looking into an
author’s closet or diaries, finding brief passages and pieces, poems, scenes,
characters and more. While some dread this scattershot -- for as any author or
scientist can tell you, not every experiment is a success -- when a reader finds
a collection that truly sings, then that reader finds a treasure of the truest
sort. Is this because the short form of fiction is so deucedly difficult to
write? Is it because every word must count? Or is there instead a level of
intimacy found that no novel can match? My vote is for the last.
As we are all interested
in the macabre here at Horror Reader, your list of favorite collections and mine
might share some similar titles, some surprise entries, as well as some title
or another that we might contest until our dying day. Such is the subjective
nature of that beast known as personal taste (confounded by the subjective
nature of this genre called Horror). One reader’s crap is another’s revelation;
what nurtures one person’s fears is food for another’s laughter. In that way,
readers are, despite what John Donne might opine to the contrary, islands until
themselves. However, all readers share one quality in particular: when we
encounter a work or an author we enjoy, we like to share this finding with
others.
Let me turn now to the
subject of this review: Sparks and Shadows, the first collection from
Lucy Snyder. Here we get a hodgepodge of styles and forms, from the short story
to the poem to the personal essay (?!), and in each of these we find an author
with something to say and the voice to say it with. Likewise, we encounter a writer who slips
between genres with ease, while maintaining both a level of darkness and, in
the best pieces of the collection, a sense of humor.
The book itself is divided
into seven sections, each preceded by a poem-clue as to the following section’s
content. Readers should therefore not be surprised to find such a bleak and
emotionally gut wrenching story as “Through They Bounty”-- truly an exercise in
reading endurance in league with, though coming from a different emotional
context than the works of such modern gross out champs as Ketchum, Lee and White;
this one put me off the idea of eating for a while-- following a poem titled
“Dark Matter.” Thank goodness the follow-up section begins with a selection of
humorous essays, ranging from such topics as “
This is not to say the
collection is perfect. It contains a trio of examples from my least favorite form of fiction:
the dreaded Story with a Moral Lesson,
which could benefit from a little more subtlety and less of the hammer.
However, while stories like “Feel the Love” don’t appeal to me on an
intellectual/philosophical level -- despite the fact that they often argue
in favor of positions I agree with -- they are written with an adroit attention to language.
The volume is a sturdy, trade paperback release from HW Press, limited to 300 copies, signed by both the author and Nalo Hopkinson (who provides the Introduction). Snyder's next collection, taking its title from her best known story "Installing Linux on a Dead Badger," has already been released. I, for one, am certainly looking forward to reading it.
At times poignant, witty, erotic,
thoughtful, chilling and maniacally gleeful, Sparks and Shadows is a
delightful collection and book length introduction to an author to watch.
Sparks and Shadows by Lucy A. Snyder
354 pages
HW Press
Released: 2007
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