stories to sing in the darK (Lethe press)
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"A dazzling collection of literary fantasy with never a dull moment."
Kirkus - Starred Review Debut Lambda Literary Award Finalist short story collection. A boy with a secret begins work at a strange library housing all the books never written; Dorian Gray's love of beauty struggles in the face of AIDs-era San Francisco and the Castro; the tomb of the Empress is adrift in space and hungry for the concubines aboard her; two men in an old film finally realize that they are trapped but still they seek the means for finally declaring their love for each other. Available in paperback, ebook and audiobook format. Table of Contents: The Library of Lost Things In Search of Stars Golden Hair, Red Lips Croak Toad Nothing To Worry About Director's Cut The Concubine's Heart Antonia & Cleopatra By Chance, In The Dark The Last Drag Show On Earth No Sleep In Bethelehem Reviews:"Bright combines vigorous narratives with prose that is atmospheric, slyly humorous, and saturated with evocative imagery... The result is a wildly entertaining set of yarns that combine thrills with soulful reflection."
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review). (Read the full review.) "Bright’s work will enchant readers of dark speculative fiction who seek brighter futures for characters who have often been marginalized." Publishers Weekly. (Read the full review.) “Matt Bright’s writing can be brave, frivolous and audacious all at once. This book is full of mystery, metafiction, cannibalism, glamour, squalour, strangeness, sexy stuff and magic. It’s a book in which Badger and Toad, Jean Genet and Dorian Gray go jostling along together, pursued by the seductive and murderous Mr Text and Mr Subtext on the back of a robot camel or aboard a glass-bottomed bordello steaming down the Nile. Reading these stories is like being in a wonderful kind of dream.” Paul Magrs, author of the Brenda and Effie Mysteries "Stories to Sing in the Dark is a heady—and welcome—mix of the dark, the twisted, the strange, and most importantly the queer, but the tune it offers works to perfection: it doesn’t overwhelm, doesn’t leave the reader hopeless, and hooks you back for more after each tale. Nothing is safe from Bright’s distortive lens: holiday classics, childhood tales, literary greats, and thank all the gods for that. Between retellings and new tales, Bright’s threads of the other—be they spirit, steam, or futuristic—have crafted tales well worthy of their addition to the speculative fiction canon, and I for one couldn’t wait any longer to cheer their arrival." 'Nathan Burgoine, author and finalist for the Lambda Literary and Aurora Awards "Stories to Sing in the Dark covers so much ground, so much time, and so many different worlds, and yet as a whole it does exactly what it says on the tin: it sings. There’s a chorus here of very different tales, yes, but the theme and the whole has a cadence to it that’s thoroughly satisfying, and a tempo inclusive of just enough hope and humour amongst the grim for those of us who most often shy away from the dark, the disturbing, or the horrifying." Out In Print (Read the full review.) |