Quintessence of Dust by Craig Wallwork

Quintessence of Dust Reviews

• 
  Janie

  The author of this collection takes inconceivable situations and breaks them down into affecting vignettes. Hazel, a character in the final story, takes extreme measures to physically transform herself while finding companionship with a gay Bactrian camel. A young man finds love on a bus while delivering a baby and fighting demons. “CLEAR THE MUTHA-FUCKING AISLE, PEOPLE! MEDICAL STUDENT COMING THROUGH!” A father tries desperately to keep his young daughter from falling prey to the deadly threat of sleep. Memories emerge from a man's digestive system as he determines how much he is willing to forget. Gutterball's Labyrinth is not only a catchy title, but a wistful tale of a man who collects friends in the strangest way. This is a unique and satisfying book that will toy with your emotions and your imagination.
• 
  Peter Tieryas

  I am pretty much going to gush about this book. This is an incredibly visceral, intense, and provocative collection. Every story has a creative spin and take on traditional themes like identity, love, and transformation. Myths are contemporized, minotaurs are best friends, and someone is trying to build a hole to hell. What got me the most was how human every character felt and you really empathize with them, despite the odd circumstances they find themselves in. There are many disturbing moments and it's not for the faint of heart. But if you want to be challenged as a reader and taken places you never thought you'd go, I definitely recommend this book. If it hadn't been for my flu, I would have read this in one sitting. I just couldn't wait to read more. As the book is free on smashbooks, you have no excuse not to at least check out a few of the stories. =)
  
  Warning: A few spoilers to come from here on out.
  
  "180 Degrees Shy of Heaven" was one of the funniest and yet deep stories about relationships I've ever read. Frank loves his wife Audrey. He just wishes she would have sex with him more often. To make a short story even shorter, he enters a bar, depressed, and then is given a miraculous chance to fulfill any wish he wants. He wishes that Audrey would get hornier often. What follows is a hilarious romp that leads to one of the best endings I've read. It reminded me in a way of O'Henry's Gift of the Magi except with a completely different twist that had me really wondering about relationships and what makes them what they are. In other words, I loved it.
  
  Speaking of O'Henry, I love the way Wallwork mixes myth, Biblical references, and literary allusions. I've always been a big fan of works with deeper texture and layers, and there are plenty here for those looking.
  
  "Night Holds a Scythe" was a haunting story between a father and daughter escaping a terrible plague. Their interactions are touching and honestly, I really wanted to know more about what would happen to them.
  
  "Anal Twine" had me cringing and I was both repulsed and drawn into the story. It is not pleasant reading, but necessary, and it has an intriguing commentary on memory, identity, and what happens when a cell strand from your hippocampus gets stuck in your asshole.
  
  "Skin." Wow. I could summarize it, but it's one you just got to read.
  
  In fact, I'd say that about the whole collection and I'll end my review saying you should check it out. Oh, and on my kindle, the collection was only 49 pages so that's my only complaint- I really wished it was longer!
• 
  Rodney

  I have read Wallwork once before with the horror collection Gory Hole. While I enjoyed that one, I am honestly pretty blown away by Quintessence of Dust. The stories will be with me for a long time, to be sure. Some were romantic, some were weird and disturbing (often with body parts being utilized for several things beside their intended functions), and others made me laugh while also stressing some important life lessons. This is no doubt one of the best collections I have had the pleasure of reading.
  
  Night Holds a Scythe: An urgent and touching post apocalyptic story involving a father and his four year old daughter, with a unique catalyst for the end times. I thought that this was a great opener for the book.
  
  Railway Architecture: A husband who puts his desire into someone other than his wife will soon have the scales tipped. The railway as a metaphor for our choices in life and where they take us applied so well to what was going on.
  
  Skin: The origins and exploits of Freakshow performers Sam-Hung and Delabia. Their unique talents give them an interesting way of earning a living. The end of this one will be one I do not forget.
  
  Morning Birdsong and the Hell Demons: A medical student falls in love while delivering a baby amidst a demon attack. The descriptions of the female character were so vivid and the author nails the full experience of love at first sight.
  
  A Neck That is Not Thick: While this may sound like a small problem, the protagonist is so hung up and affected by his neck that he cannot take it and goes to drastic measures.
  
  Anal Twine: I am tempted to say that the title says enough, but I will say that I was shaking my head after this one, grinning at the execution of such a crazy idea. Well done.
  
  The Hole: A neighbor suspected of foul play in a small town is digginga hole. His intentions for doing so and what the hole actually leads to is pretty surprising.
  
  Men of Blood: A tale of a man and his lifelong friend the minotaur. I was not sure where this was headed, but the ending did not seem to fit with the rest of the story, and it was my least favorite of the bunch for this reason.
  
  180 Degrees Shy of Heaven: A man desires a hornier wife, as many men have at one time or another. This was a clever and entertaining twist on the “be careful what you wish for “ message.
  
  Gutterball’s Labyrinth: An unattractive and rejected man learns of the beauty he holds within.
  
  The Whore That Broke the Camel’s Back: A love story involving a bestiality porn star, a camel and unconventional plastic surgery. This was actually touching as well, if you can believe it.
  
  At times I feel that maybe I use the term “all time favorite” a bit too much, but right now, I don’t care. This book is one of them.​The writing was gorgeous and well done. Even within the most disturbing tales of the collection there was an intimate and touching quality that had me feeling for the characters. I am anxious to get to Craig Wallwork's other books.
  
  
• 
  Christopher Novas

  One of the best short story collections I've ever read. Funny, heartbreaking, tender, and sad. Craig Wallwork is a genius within the short story format. Definitely deserves to be read by anyone who appreciates great short stories.
• 
  Pete Bocompani

  I have recommended this book to several friends, and will continue to. Wallwork is always great, no matter what genre he is writing in. Such a great variety of stories and characters. The perfect starting point for his universe!
• 
  Simon West-Bulford

  Well, what can I say about Quintessence of Dust?
  
  I’ve read a selection of Craig’s short stories before and always enjoyed their fairy-tale quality and the imaginative concepts, so I knew I’d be in for a treat reading this collection. Each of the eleven stories are memorable in their own right, but for me, there are some that stand out as exceptional. Much to my personal shame, I have to admit that my favourite was ‘180 Degrees Shy of Heaven’. I say shame because, out of all the stories, this one was debatably the most overtly sexual and it was something of a guilty pleasure to really enjoy it. Yes - don’t read this collection if you are in any way, prudish, but if that’s not an issue for you, dive right in.
  
  The real charm in all of these tales, and what really demonstrates the unique quality of Craig’s style, is the way in which the most bizarre concepts are treated with a sort of everyday flippancy. For example, the story ‘Men of Blood’ expected me to take it in my stride that you could walk into a pub and find a couple of mates having a drink, one of them just happening to be a minotaur. And I did. It wasn’t an issue for me. It’s a talented writer that can take something unbelievable and get a reader to buy into it. This is something that Craig does with all of these stories, and in doing so, you’re drawn into a world of urban myth in which you never know what’s coming next. How can you fail to be entertained by that?
  
  I’d end my thoughts there, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t pass comment on the other aspect of these stories that makes them so compelling: they’re creepy. I mean that in a good way. Craig has a way of inflicting characters on you which are often broken or disturbing in some way, yet with endearing qualities that enable you to want to forgive them. ‘Morning Bird Song and the Hell demons’ is a great example of this. Aside from the killer title, the protagonist is not the kind of guy you’d want to know, and there’s one sudden line of thought he has (I won’t spoil it by revealing it here) that literally made me close my eyes and say ‘no!’ yet I was still on his side.
  There’s so much more I could say, but I won’t. You’ll just have to go read it.
• 
  Matthew Vaughn

  I’ve known of Craig Wallwork for quite awhile. We both frequent The Velvet forums, though him more so than me. A lot like the other writers on The Velvet his work was one that I always meant to check out. His name has sat on that ever growing list of people I want to read. With the publication of Warmed and Bound, an anthology from The Velvet, that finally changed. After reading Craig’s story, Bruised Flesh, I wanted to kick myself for waiting so long to check his work out. Coincidentally, right after I finished reading W&B I came across the pre-order for his first book, Quintessence of Dust. I jumped all over that. It was really cool that while waiting for my copy of the book to arrive Kuboa Press made a few of their titles available for free on smashwords. I was able to download QoD and read it before the physical book was in my hands.
  This is a collection of eleven stories, all well written and most are a bit twisted. There is one common factor that binds all these stories together, and that is Mr. Wallwork’s amazing talent. From the emotional impact of a father and his young daughter fighting to survive in Night Holds A Scythe; to one man’s duty to be there for his best friend, who happens to be a Minotaur, in Men of Honor. These stories are original, interesting, and extremely well written. Craig Wallwork seems to have quite the imagination, and he possesses the skills to expertly convey said imagination onto paper.
  It would almost be too difficult to pick a favorite from this collection, but if pressed, I really enjoyed Morning Birdsong quite a bit. The character of Ralph was both humorous yet heroic when the time called for it. There could be a larger story behind this short one, and I would be all for reading it.
  These stories will pull you into their world and you will know these characters like they are your friends, or your neighbors, or someone sitting next to you on the train. There is no doubt in my mind that Craig Wallwork is a name we’ll be seeing more of, and I for one am grateful. He writes the kind of stories that keeps me reading books, and he writes them better than a lot of the big names.
  
• 
  Paul Eckert

  Every once in a while I read a novel or short story, and everything about it seems so perfect that I find myself wishing I had wrote it. Quintessence of Dust falls into this category.
  
  The stories are like modern day fables that examine humanity through its various failures and fragile successes. Classic fairy tales and fables often had a one-note quality about them, either a cautionary tale, a metaphor for the human condition, or a humorous tale meant solely for entertainment. Each of Wallwork's stories manage to be all of these things, but his premises are weirder, and the characters are better. Instead of two-dimensional stereotypes, Wallwork's characters are people we care about, no matter how flawed or misguided they are, because in them we see the reflection of ourselves.
  
  I love stories that take a strange premise and deliver something meaningful, and QoD doesn't disappoint. Whether it's a guy trying to come to terms with the changed relationship of his Minotaur friend, a man taking on hellish demons to impress a woman, a man digging an enormous hole in his backyard, a bestiality porn actress meeting a talking camel, or a man granted one wish by a mysterious barkeep, these stories will draw you in with their oddity, coax laughter at their absurdity, and be moved by the message that lies beneath it all.
  
  Wallwork takes plenty of risks in these stories, and each time he knocks it out of the park. Several of the stories have scenes that could be considered sensationalist by those with a prudish nature, but to me, they just read as honest.
  
  The prose of QoD was quite an inspiration to me as well. Wallwork is able to write with the straight-forwardness of a fable while at the same time creating complex and interesting characters in the reader's mind.
  
  
  Definitely one of the best books I've read this year, and one of my favorite short story collections to date. Highly recommended for fans of Barry Yourgrau, Etgar Keret, and Aimee Bender.
• 
  Caleb Ross

  
  
  
  At times
  William Gay, at times
  Carlton Mellick III, but always, I’d say, he dodges what would traditionally be called Bizarro fiction by way of empathy for his characters. He’s Bizarro with heart…so, magical realist, I suppose. He’d fit in more with
  Amy Bender and
  Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez than with Carlton Mellick III or even
  Bradley Sands, but is strong enough in the world of any to be welcomed by them.
  
  Wallwork isn’t afraid to take a strange, even repulsive concept, and build a touching story around it. A story of a man shitting out his own nerves? Sounds ridiculous, but Wallwork makes it work. A sexual sideshow couple famous of inserting increasingly large objects into the woman’s vagina? Yep, but it gets even weirder, yet Wallwork knows how to approach situations like these with heart.
• 
  Nigel Bird

  
  ‘Quintessence of Dust’is a collection of huge variety which is linked by the author’s style and faint echoes of theme that bring some overlap within the diversity of subject matter.
  
  You’ll find out about Minotaur and a new labyrinth, a magical wall of photographs, how demons can help win a woman’s heart, the consequences of having a small neck and about the digging of holes amongst other things, holes being one of those recurring themes in the book.
  
  The concept behind each tale suggests to me that Wallwork is a hugely creative thinker. Must have been a day-dreamer in classrooms. Is the kind of person who is able to take any thought to its extreme in order to find out ‘what would happen if?’ Again and again he produces ideas that are highly original and left of left field. You never know what’s coming next.
  
  My favourite pieces in the collection are the openers.
  ‘Night Holds A Scythe’ is the first. I’d recommend the book just to get you to read this one. It’s beautiful and painful at the same time. A father is flying with his daughter trying to find safety. The problem is that, because of a deadly virus, the only way for them to stay alive is to stay awake. I guess it’s a straightforward concept, but it’s what Wallwork does with it that counts. It tapped into many of my own insecurities about being a human and a father. What wouldn’t I do to keep my children safe? How awful would it be to sense their inevitable destruction and to be the only one in a position to take any action at all? It’s tense and difficult, yet it is gentle and soft, the looping theme of alphabet cards that structures the unfolding of a family’s world. ‘E’ is for excellent. ‘O’ for outstanding. ‘L’ is for lump in the throat. ‘X’? ‘X’ is for X-factor, that feeling I sometimes get in the core of my body after a brilliant tale – a cross between awe, defeat, admiration and pain. And ‘B’ is for buy it.
  
  ‘Railway Architecture’ is a little less intense, but is superbly penned. It’s a moral tale about a man who has never been comfortable with others even though he’s a student of human behaviour. He’s found a passion for the making of fine chocolates and sets about using his skills to win over the heart of a beautiful lady colleague.
  
  Problem is, he happens to be married. Wallwork takes the idea and turns the world on its head. I loved it.
  
  These are my picks because they moved something within me.
  
  They struck a chord with me given the experiences I’ve had and the person I’ve become. Pick this up and it’s likely you’ll find you pick different stories – a G where I’ve picked a C minor, or an F sharp instead of my B flat. They turn what for me what would otherwise be an excellent 4 star collection into a 5 star review.
• 
  Michael Gonzalez

  You know writing is singular and fantastic when you have to use the author's name to describe the work. This collection is "Wallworkian". Yeah, I said it. Nobody else could write these stories. Nobody else would dare to. You're stepping unfiltered into a very active imagination.
  
  One of my favorite things in art is the concept of Happy Melancholy - a sweet sadness, the ray of hope while the world is irredeemably falling apart. These stories are forged from Happy Melancholy. Almost every tale ends in a place that's part Dread and part Absolution. Cathartic in the most realistic way, like the best of Beckett's plays. (see? Beckett's another one of those "describe by their name guys")
  
  The stories are visceral, sexual, raw, warm... everything you want when you're curled up in bed. My favorites in the collection are Gutterball's Labyrinth, The Hole, Morning Birdsong and the Hell Demons, and The Whore that Broke the Camel's Back.
  
  And here's a sentence I'm positive that's never been written anywhere in the world before: If you loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you'll love Anal Twine. (Which would make the greatest "Customers who also bought..." phrase on Amazon ever!)
• 
  Benoit Lelièvre

  That was different. A Craig Wallwork is what you obtain when you cross a Chuck Palahniuk and an old school Scandinavian storyteller. Stories are set in reality and not. They are emotional as well as fantastic. My two favorites were Night Holds a Scythe, where a father and daughters is trying to escape the terrible epidemic of sleep-death ravaging America and the story where a man gets his wish for a hornier wife. Honorable mention to Railway Architecture who shines by its form more than by its content.
  
  Sometimes Wallwork slips into deliberate provocation and easy sexual content, which I thought didn't suit him as well as the most inventive stuff, except maybe for the horny wife story. I mean, there is a way to do this and some times Wallwork gets overly sexual, there no goal, but to get a reaction out of you. Whenever he attacks characters, he's terrific and when sexuality is filtered through character first, Quintessense of Dust is amazing.
  
  Short stories are a mean to discover new voices and expand your horizons and Quintessence of Dust does all that. It's worth digging into.
• 
  Edward Rathke

  The stories in Quintessence of Dust create a world where Minotaur exist, drink too much, get in fights, and are afraid of the dark. But, more than that, the story “Men of Blood” is a profound meditation on friendship and the way that people grow together and then grow apart. It’s the kind of story where a man punching a Minotaur in the face can make you cry rather than be an act of heroism or a joke. He creates worlds where you can deliver a baby, kill a demon with an umbrella, and have your first kiss while hundreds of demons fly through the air, eating people just outside the bus you’re trapped in.
  
  
  Full review at The Lit Pub
• 
  Josh Karaczewski

  Strange and affecting, powerful and funny, sweet and dirty, sacred and profane, Wallwork's writing does something that I love, which is take ideas that sound like they were conceived while very drunk ("Dude, wouldn't be awesome if my best mate was a minotaur?" or "What would happen if our train was attacked by demons?"), and explore them with skill and creative intelligence.
  
  Favorite stories include:
  Night Holds a Scythe - an original and moving take on "the end of the world by outbreak" story.
  Skin - the most beautiful story of a man in a woman's lady parts that you will ever read
  Men of Blood - the minotaur best mate story
• 
  Edward

  What a fun and entertaining read. Craig Wallwork is a highly skilled writer with quite the imagination. There are some truly bizarre stories in this collection. Some of my favorites include a story called Anal Twine, which I'll just let you see what that's about on your own. Another story is about a man and his best friend who just happens to be a Minotaur. And yet another that is about a girl who befriends a talking camel, only to make a life changing decision. All of the stories are entertaining though and guarantee a trip to world you've never seen.
• 
  Elyse Walters

  The variety of these 'Out-of-the-box' short stories are unorthodox. (creative authorship writing).
  
  An abrasive edge-
  Rare-
  Adulterous in nature - (abstract lascivious)
  Witty-
  Amusing!
  
  My favorite story? hm??? I think it was the 'twine' story. (but they were all oddly enduring).
  
  Craig Wallwork is one heck of a talented nutcase! lol
• 
  Booked podcast

  Hear our complete review here:
  http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2012/05/...
  
• 
  Jesse Sublett

  Wow, something is definitely going on here, and I don't know what, except for good writing. It's a collection of stories, some of them connected through themes and motifs, some not. First story will remind many of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a little. A father and his four year old daughter have stolen a plane, flying desperately into the sun, apparently trying to outrun an epidemic that's already wiped out a good portion of the human race. Sleep means death, so narcoleptics died first, and all the desperate survivors ransacked their homes and those of anyone who might have go-fast medication. My only complaint was that Wallwork uses God metaphors a little too often, when one per story would be plenty. There's surrealism and professional writing mojo here in spades. Read. Now.
• 
  Susan Rose

  This is a really interesting and diverse short story collection, I really liked the fact that these were short even for short stories and read a few inbetween chapters of other books I've been reading.
  
  I would recommend this book to everyone, but particualrly people who like horror, sci fi or dystopian fiction.
• 
  Chris Rhatigan

  Ridiculously good short stories. Each character has a complex, but never boring, back story. Some stories are magical realism; others are more along the lines of the modern horror of James Everington or Iain Rowan. But every one is a gem told by a writer with an engaging voice.
• 
  Robb

  I reviewed this book on my podcast, listen to the episode here:
  http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2012/05/...
  
• 
  Livius Nedin

  Unique and entertaining, Wallwork is one to keep an eye out for. Check out a full review on my podcast
  http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2012/05/...
• 
  Alice Koo

  Very creative stories!
• 
  Earthman ZeroHeaven

  Some great stories; some good stories--all of them imaginative and twisted with fresh creativity. Skin; Night Holds a Scythe; Anal Twine; Railway Architecture were among the notable stories and are highly recommended.
• 
  E. H.

  I received this book through firstreads here on goodreads. I'm a bit disappointed with this book - I spent a little while on this book and found that it wasn't really my kind of thing. I think the description set my hopes up too high. I'm sure I will come back to it at some point, though...