Silk [Paperback]

Caitlin R. Kiernan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2002

They are the young misfits...society's castoffs...urban strays looking for a thrill. Something cheap, anything to get them through the night. Sleepwalking on caffeine, nicotine, and drugs, they wait out the dawn in death-rock clubs and shadowy back alleys...

Then into their midst comes the enigmatic Spyder. A patron saint of the alienated and lost, she invites them into her mesmerizing world-but has she been sent to redeem them or destroy them?

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. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

"A remarkable novel; a powerful and disturbing story. Deeply, wonderfully, magnificently nasty."
-- Neil Gaiman --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade (November 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459008
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459008
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,064 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).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

Todd (Jackson, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk (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.

10 of 10 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 (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk (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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

Judy (Yonkers, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk (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.