Ten years ago, Niki Ky and Daria Parker saw something unspeakable in an old house in Birmingham, Alabama. Daria has denied it, escaping into a frantic music career and various addictions. But Niki has not had so many distractions. Diagnosed schizophrenic, she's lost years in a haze of therapy and anti-psychotics.
But now, Niki's dead lover, Spyder Baxter, is calling to her from another world-an alien, impossible place where Niki is known as a Hierophant, a feared prophesied sorceress who can open a portal between worlds. And Daria will finally have to face what really happened ten years ago, if she's to help Niki save a world...or destroy it.
Caitlín R. Kiernan has published a large variety of short fiction in magazines and anthologies, but is perhaps best known for her work on The Dreaming, a Sandman-related comic book created by Neil Gaiman. A paleontologist as well as a writer, Kiernan currently lives with her cat Sophie and a few thousand fossils.
Caitlin R. Kiernan was born near Dublin, Ireland, but has spent most of her life in the southeastern United States. In college, she studied zoology, geology, and palaeontology, and has been employed as a vertebrate palaeontologist and college-level biology instructor. The results of her scientific research have been published in the JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY, THE JOURNAL OF PALAEONTOLOGY and elsewhere. In 1992, she began writing her first novel, THE FIVE OF CUPS (it remained unpublished until 2003). Her first published novel, SILK (1998), earned her two awards and praise from critics and such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Poppy Z. Brite. Her next novel, THRESHOLD (2001), was also an award-winner, and since then she has written LOW RED MOON (2003), MURDER OF ANGELS (2004), DAUGHTER OF HOUNDS (2007), and, forthcoming, THE RED TREE. She is a prolific short fiction author, and her award-winning short stories have been collected in TALES OF PAIN AND WONDER (2000), WRONG THINGS (with Poppy Z. Brite; 2001), FROM WEIRD AND DISTANT SHORES (2002), and TO CHARLES FORT, WITH LOVE (2005), ALABASTER (2006), FROG TOES AND TENTACLES (2005), TALES FROM THE WOEFUL PLATYPUS (2007), and, most recently, the sf collection, A IS FOR ALIEN (2009). She has also scripted comics for DC/Vertigo, including THE DREAMING ('97-'01), THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE DEATH ('98), and BAST: ETERNITY GAME ('03). Her short sf novel THE DRY SALVAGES was published in 2004, and has published numerous chapbooks since 2000. Caitlin also fronted the goth-rock band Death's Little Sister in 1996-1997, once skinned a lion, and likes sushi. She lives in Providence, RI with her partner, Kathryn, and her two cats, Hubero and Smeagol. Caitlin is represented by Writer's House (NYC) and United Talent Agency (LA).
Ms. Kiernan's prose has grown more beautiful with every novel, and Murder of Angels surpasses even the stunningly high standard she set with Low Red Moon. While Murder can be read alone, I recommend reading its predeccessor Silk for added depth of characterization and back-story. For readers already familiar with Daria, Niki, and Spyder, (and others) Murder finds them older, more broken, and more beautiful than where we left off with Silk.
The characters and settings in Murder are breath-takingly, heart-breakingly drawn, both universes vivid and touchable. The story is deft and intricate, and ends with a punch in the gut (if you'll forgive such an unoriginal simile).
And for fans of H.P. Lovecraft, Ms. Kiernan's work continues to be far and away the best modern interpretation of his ideas, capturing all the horror, madness, and beauty without falling back on a pastiche of gibbering tentacles.
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I learned of Caitlin R. Kiernan by reading Poppy Z. Brite, though I do not agree with some critics about the similarity of their work. I didn't realize that "Murder of Angels" was a sequel to another Kiernan book ("Silk") until I was halfway through it. Since I have not yet read "Silk," I can unequivocally say that "MOA" stands on its own. The writing is moody and atmospheric without being at all overblown. The story drew me right in, and I cared for the characters. I'll be picking up more Kiernan books soon!
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Caitlin R. Kiernan is an author whose voice rings like the crisp tolling of a bell in an otherwise muddled and bland wasteland of predictable and soulless stories. Murder of Angels is her fifth novel. In it Kiernan takes us on the incredible journey of characters first introduced in her novel Silk, some ten years after that first story's ending.
The beautiful and quick prose of this dark tale reminds me of both Neil Gaiman and Clive Barker, and the artistic layout of text in some sections evokes shades of Mark Z. Danielewski's masterpiece House of Leaves.
Fans of dark fantasy and lucid dream worlds take heed; Caitlin R. Kiernan is a shining beacon of hope in the literary world, a writer who communicates raw passion and desperate emotion with exquisite accuracy.
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