Exotic Gothic 4: Postscripts 28/29 by Danel Olson

Exotic Gothic 4: Postscripts 28/29 Reviews

• 
  Karl

  Danel Olson Preface: On Dark Gifting
  
  Margo Lanagan Blooding the Bride
  Adam L.G. Nevill Pig Thing
  Kaaron Warren The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club
  Reggie Oliver The Look
  Lucy Taylor Nikishi
  Simon Kurt Unsworth The Fourth Horse
  Stephen Dedman The Fall
  Tunku Halim In the Village of Setang
  David Punter Carving
  Genni Gunn Water Lover
  Robert Hood Escena de un Asesinato
  Steve Rasnic Tem The Old Man Beset by Demons
  David Wellington Atacama
  Isobelle Carmody Metro Winds
  Terry Dowling Mariners’ Round
  Paul Finch Oschaert
  Ekaterina Sedia Helena
  Anna Taborska Rusalka
  Nick Antosca Candy
  Joseph Bruchac Down in the Valley
  Cherie Dimaline Wanishin
  Brian Evenson Grottor
  E. Michael Lewis Such a Man I Would Have Become
  Scott Thomas The Unfinished Book
  Stephen Volk Celebrity Frankenstein
  
  This is copy 88 of 200 signed numbered slip cased copies.
• 
  Book Lovers Never Go to Bed Alone

  In the introduction to Exotic Gothic 4, editor Danel Olson describes Gothic fiction as “that genre of things wrongly hungered for and things wrongly alive.” This is an apt description for the tales enclosed here. The themes here represent the Gothic tradition as it was meant to be, but updated and fresh for modern readers.
  
  The unique element to this collection is its diversity. The stories here are often set in places of the world we either least associate with “gothic” or fail to even consider in the genre. While the windswept heaths of Northern England raise the hair on the back of our neck, Olsen reminds us that fear lurks in every shadow of every culture. Themes of cultural oppression, the evil claws of colonialism still deeply embedded in the back of certain nations, feminine sacrifice to ancient traditions with hidden shackles, and other literary facets pepper the tales and elevate them beyond mere horror stories. In “Blooding the Bride” by Margo Lanagan for example, we meet newlyweds on their wedding night. But the bride awakes to discover she is in a nightmarish world populated by dead brides and poison. To give away the end a bit, she awakes from this dream to find all is well. But is it? What poison remains in Loriane’s soul toward her marriage? Lanagan presents a strong feminist subtext on the nature of the marriage rite as an oppressive trap for women, even in our modern, post-feminist movement time. Hers is but one example of how the authors here are not afraid to step out of genre and into literature in order to create a more compelling story.
  
  The authors here clearly understand the Gothic literary tradition and Olsen has assembled a powerhouse of new masters. Deftly weaving the haunting siren songs of Gothic (pain, madness, illusions, fear) within a modern framework, this collection lures you in from start to finish.
  
• 
  John

  I never ever read books, or short story anthologies, like this - but this happened to be the book I got on my monthly book exchange with a friend, so I gave it a try. I did, amazingly, enjoy a few of the stories even if I don't care too much of this kind of writing. I do see the appeal and the qualities present, so there are good things to say even if they do not match my taste in literature at all. There is also a great variety and diversity both in authors and in locations in the stories, which I enjoyed - but I did sometimes feel that the modern setting of some of the stories was out of place(as I imagine gothic to be something of an older time) but I found it nice to see the genre to be adaptive and innovative. Other than that, it was nothing special as the stories were shallow horror stories usually inspired by some mythical thing.