Customer Reviews

Tales from the Woeful Platypus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The stories in this volume are stamped with the unmistakable voice of their author. Everything here is an exotically, erotically transformed hothouse flower. Tales from the Woeful Platypus deserves a place in erotic history beside Anais Nin, Pierre Louys, and all the rest. Caitlin R. Kiernan fascinates with her style, with the elusive and sensual nature of these tales. I'd gladly swap this book for a shelf full of so-called "erotic horror" anthologies and count myself lucky. Vince Locke's illustrations set the tone for each piece, and could not be more perfectly matched. Aubrey Beardsley could not have done a better job himself. If you like good erotica, if you like engaging, sensuous fantasy, buy this book.

This is Caitlin R. Kiernan's second volume of weird erotica, and it is just as... well, weird and erotic as its predecessor, Frog Toes & Tentacles. The pieces found herein are short, creepy, sexy, and as always, very well written. A definite must for any fan of Kiernan or erotica in general. For more weird erotica from Caitlin R. Kiernan, check out the monthly Sirenia Digest at www.caitlinrkiernan.com/sirenia.html.

I'm beginning to think that Caitlin R. Kiernan cannot produce a single piece of literature that I don't like. This wonderful slim collection of what is not necessarily erotica is absolutely delicious. Each of the stories combines threads of eroticism with big chunks of Kiernan's own personal style...whether it is horror, sci fi, fantasy, or whatever else she chooses. The illustrations are exceptional.
Also, for those of you who have been following the ladies from "In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers", there's an extra special treat in here. That story was so good that it brought tears to my eyes. But you'll just have to read it to find out why. :)

THE GOOD :

Firstly, I want to start off by saying how gorgeous this book is just to the senses. The book its self is wonderfully printed and and bound with slim precision. Locke's illustrations are breathtaking on their bad days and here he's thankfully at his best.

After Frog Toes wild popularity it seemed inevitable that Kiernan would take another opportunity to release a similar collection and having missed out on my chance at FT&T the first time around I made up my mind that I was going to have this at all costs and I'm glad that this finally made it's way into my hands.

For anyone looking for extremely well written erotica that is blessedly free of the cliches one so often finds in horror/fantasy fiction now a days you will look no further than this tiny green volume. Although it isn't long it plays host to a breathtaking array of fetishes and scenarios. And although the subject matter of the book is undeniably rooted in the erotic I found myself delightfully surprised at how well these stories stand on their own when viewed from a strictly non sexual perspective. While I'm sure that many would argue that the main focus here is and always will be the erotic there are enough deeply startling characterizations, implied meanings, and devilishly good stories here to make even the most prudish of readers want to take a look out of pure curiosity.

THE BAD :

One of the things that really got me about this though was in the preface Kiernan gives something of a back handed slap to readers by warning that if you're vanilla enough to think that spanking is kinky you may become "bored" or "uncomfortable" with the book which just reeked of "no one understands my art and if you get bored you're just not edgy enough"-ness that so many writers are doing now a days. The truth is I was ho hum about most of the stories in the book when I viewed it from an erotic perspective but I don't really think it was because of any fault of my own for being, as I suppose one must assume the author would like us to believe, too 'vanilla'. While definitely sex filled it lacked a certain titillation to it which is disappointing to say the least. However those already familiar with her erotica know that this is simply part of the territory and I know that even as I type this I can not, will not, speak for every reader of these shorts out there. Part of what I've always loved about her erotic writings is that by exploring such a depth and range of sexual deviations every time you sit down to read one of these you roll the dice. It's always fun and neat to see wither or not this time will be the time you find your heart racing just a little bit faster as you peek over your shoulder to make sure no one caught your reaction. Half the joy in owning a Sirenia subscription is knowing there's always the chance you might find yourself turned on by something you normally consider to be abhorrent. And so to see her play it so safe with her selections here is frustrating. It would be interesting to see if the selections are made on the basis of what is to be considered most shocking or what is to have the most mass appeal? That's not to say that these are bad stories, and the author certainly seems fond enough of them, but shorts like Untiled 17 fall completely flat once one takes into considerations what Kiernan is truly capable of such as in the face of 2008's "Concerning Attrition and Severance".


My over all impression of the work is that here Kiernan's kind of out of her element on some of these but the premise for most, indeed if not for all, of the stories were interesting enough to make it worth the purchase.

Enter a world of beautiful monsters looking for another kind of bliss ! Male, female or a little of both, they are all looking for pleasures unheard of. In this realm of beautiful and erotic faeries lie the hope of renewed encounters and forgotten relationships. Beauty is everywhere in this little book, one might be taking to the park to simply enjoy uncanny sights of desire surrounded by singing birds and the rustle of the wind in the trees.