Silk [Mass Market Paperback]

Caitlin R. Kiernan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 1, 1998

To the residents of her small southern city, second-hand store owner Spyder Baxter is crazy. But her friends and followers know better. Something lives within Spder's brain. Something powerful. Something wonderful. Something dangerous. Pray it never escapes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its title, there's nothing smooth or sexy about this skin-crawling debut from Kiernan, an author with one helluvan imagination and a startling lack of inhibition. At the center of this modern gothic horror story is Spyder Baxter, a deeply troubled young woman haunted by terrifying memories of childhood and her insane, abusive father. But his transgressions were so heinous that the demons aren't just in her head anymore; they've taken on a life of their own and are taking over Spyder's house, crawling out of the basement and into everything and everyone she cares about. Caught in Spyder's web of bad karma are a motley crew of disenfranchised Gen Xers all living on the edge and trying to heal various psychic wounds of their own. They've each got plenty of reasons to be hallucinating, and the author does a good job of blurring the lines between their bad acid trips and spectral sightings. But reading Kiernan is rather like deciphering entrails, filled with the violence of raw, edgy words: "The angry screech of denied retribution, raging shadows and nightshade teeth." Her rambling metaphors ("Dull smack of her shoulder against the wall, again and again, meat-thud tattoo") hint at inexperience, but her naked energy will appeal to grungers weaned on The Hunger.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A serious mastery of visual imagery. You absolutely must read it. -- Carpe Noctem Magazine #14, Summer 1998, reviewed by Mehitobel Wilson

An engrossing and exquisitely lyrical novel. Caitlin Kiernan has established herself as a writer of considerable power and artistry. -- Hellnotes, 1998, reviewed by Brian Hodge

An incremental triumph of texture and layering. Kiernan's is a dark and mellifluous voice to which we should all listen. -- Locus, Vol. 41 No. 3, September 1998, reviewed by Edward Bryant

Personally, I just loved this book and can't wait to see what she writes next. -- The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 96 No. 6, December 1998, reviewed by Charles de Lint

Style, mood, and characterization blend for an addictive and thought-provoking story, every bit a page-turner. -- Zealot.com, April 2000, reviewed by Shane Ivey

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Roc (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451456688
• ISBN-13: 978-0451456687
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not disappointed! February 12, 2001

By Todd

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This is such an amazing book. Caitlin R. Kiernan may be the H. P. Lovecraft for the 21st century! Silk is that good. Kiernan's superb imagination is balanced by the perfectly-realized reality of her landscape. Though filled with shudders and suspense, the book is not filled with the sort of absurd gore and splatter that ruins so many scary books these days. Kiernan knows there are scarier things than blood and guts. This is an absolute must read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No end of spooky and cool! January 31, 2001

By Judy

Format:Mass Market Paperback

From the first page to the last, Silk is a beautiful, black pearl of a book. Caitlin Kiernan's character's will break your heart and her way with words will leave breathless - this book is that good. Smart, sexy, and scary, this is the best dark fantasy novel I've read in years.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiders and angels and phantoms, oh my! December 29, 2000

By The Green Fairy

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Silk is a triumph of incremental suspense. Kiernan begins her novel of Southern Gothicisms with solid characters and a finely-tuned knack for describing her setting, coupled with a powerful, almost poetic flare for the English language, and slowly lures the reader into a frightening world where nothing is certain and every shadow is reason for fear. Her ability to undermine our sense of reality is awesome and she uses it to set up a novel where the things that go bump in the night might only exist in the mentally-ill or drug-altered minds of her characters as nothing more than an elaborate array of shared hallucinations....or may be very, very real indeed!

Kiernan's beautiful writing and terrifying story definitely work for me! I loved this book.