Alabaster (Hardcover)

by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Author), Ted Naifeh (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Dancy Flammarion, an albino adolescent who speaks to angels and slays monsters in human guise in the backwoods of contemporary Georgia, is the heroine of the five interlocking stories that make up this eerie dark fantasy collection. Kiernan introduced Dancy as an enigmatic waif in her horror opus Threshold (2001) and has since conceived an elaborate cosmology in which the fey girl is one of many human avatars fighting small skirmishes on Earth that have cataclysmic repercussions across planes of reality. In "Les Fleurs Empoisonnées," Dancy is taken captive by a matriarchy of necrophiles whose decaying mansion is a nexus point for perverse and grotesque phenomena. "Bainbridge" interweaves multiple story lines that cut across time and space to show the far-reaching ramifications of Dancy's efforts to exorcise an ancient evil infesting an abandoned church. Kiernan imbues the tales with disquieting gothic imagery and envelops them in rich, evocative prose that conveys cohesiveness beyond their fragmentary plots. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
In her fourth short-story collection, Kiernan revisits a quirky character from her acclaimed horror novel Threshold (2001). Dancy Flammarian is a haunted albino teenager receiving guidance from an invisible guardian angel to track down and eliminate primordial, hellish monsters. Five previously uncollected stories follow Dancy's macabre questing from her childhood in the swamplands of Northern Florida to her hitchhiking travels across the red dirt backroads of Georgia, everywhere confronting evil face-to-face. In "The Well of Stars and Shadow," Dancy encounters her first demon, living in a bayou ghost town, and absorbs the uneasy revelation that every creature seems to know her name. In "Waycross," Dancy is abducted by a growling beast known as the Gynander, which disguises itself in the crinkled skins of its victims. "Les Fleurs Empoisonnees" introduces Dancy to perhaps her most ghoulish adversaries yet, the group of Savannah vivisectionist matriarchs called the Stephens Ward Tea League. Kiernan's richly evocative prose vividly portrays her twisted characters as well as it illustrates their eerie, kudzu-infested, Deep South surroundings. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean Press (August 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596060603
• ISBN-13: 978-1596060609
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,009,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for fans, great as an introduction!, July 9, 2007

By	Stephen Jarjoura "runester" (Boylston, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First, a confession ... I am a huge Caitlin R. Kiernan fan. Having said that, and adding that I own as many of her books and short-story collections as I could get my hands on, I can tell you that this is easily my favorite book by this author!

For long time fans, it's a fantastic addition. It adds to the growing mythos and explores one of the most fascinating characters that Kiernan has ever created. For those that have never read Kiernan before, this book is a very easy introduction to her work and presents it in easy-to-digest chunks - a series of short-stories with one primary protagonist.

Another really nice feature is two (2) tables of contents, one in the order the stories were first produced and another in the order the stories actually take place. I chose to follow that second index, others may prefer to keep with the way the author originally presented these stories.

In summary, I can highly recommend this book for fans and fans-to-be alike. If you like dark fantasy, Lovecraftian horror through a uniquely American-gothic filter, a gorgeous use of language, intensely deep and deeply fascinating characters, and stories that stick with you long after you read them - then this is the book for you. Buy it. Read it. Love it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Dark Fantasy, June 21, 2009

By	G. David Hanks "BG DAVE" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Alabaster (Paperback)

Short stories of Dark Fantasy / Horror in the Rural South. Alabaster is a great little collection of stories about Dancy Flammarion, one of the more interesting characters in the emerging Keirnan mythos. Keirnan writes excellent mind bending dark fantasy and this is no exception.

The loving blend of rural southern poverty and mind bending dark fantasy is sometimes perfect. This is not a bad place to start with Keirnan who is really worth your time. Enjoy

4.0 out of 5 stars Kiernan delivers again., August 20, 2008

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Caitlin R. Kiernan, Alabaster (Subterranean Press, 2006)

What I have always loved about Caitlin R. Kiernan's work is the sense of being lost; there's never quite enough explicitly stated to let the reader gain firm ground, leaving one to make the associations in one's head. And as we all know, the imagination produces scarier things than we'll ever actually see. It's the same thing that works so well in John Carpenter's best movies or Kathe Koja's early novels, but Kiernan wields it more masterfully than either when she's bringing her A game. And Alabaster is, most certainly, her A game.

Dancy Flammarion has never been a central character in Kiernan's work, but she's often on the sidelines, looking out at the events therein. In Alabaster, Kiernan switches up and makes Dancy the lead, exploring some of the avenues Dancy has hinted at in previous books. And the little albino girl with the big blade, as it turns out, is just as absorbing, if not more so, than the characters we already know so well. Guided by an angel (who might not be), she finds herself in situations that get stranger and stranger as life goes on. And considering how outright weird her first brush with the supernatural is, that's saying something. As always, what seals the deal here is Kiernan's almost delicate touch with prose, working words the way a baker kneads bread, banging them around and slapping them down on the table, with the final product achieving a paradoxical softness, with a hint of sweet to counter the sour. While Kiernan's fame has been growing over the past decade, she's still nowhere near the A-list writer she certainly deserves to be. If you're a fan of the supernatural and have not yet discovered Caitlin R. Kiernan, I suggest you do so at the earliest opportunity; for my money, she's right up there with Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell as a purveyor of the strange and rare. ****