“Like reading memoirs of the damned…”

Another fantastic review of Bluegrass Symphony comes hot on the heels of the one I posted about yesterday! Wow!

Marc Nocerino has written a thoughtful and well-considered review of the collection for the most excellent She Never Slept — from which the title of this post is taken. Seriously, how cool is it to have your stories described as akin to “memoirs of the damned”? This is, honestly, an incredible compliment! (Thanks, Marc!)

Some other highlights:

The where is easy enough to pin down, but it is more difficult to put a finger on the when of this book, as Hannett expertly writes of these people and places in shadowy sepia tones that could be anywhere between the turn of last century and some near tomorrow. I enjoyed that ambiguity immensely, especially in the story “From The Teeth Of Strange Children”, where I had felt certain that it took place in the early 1900s until the characters get into an SUV with leather seats and “controls” for the windows...

Hannett’s stories themselves are some of the weirdest I’ve read in a while… 

One thing that I enjoyed tremendously about this book is that Hannett’s horror is very personal. From the very first, these tales focus not only on the terrible things that are happening in her stories, but how they are affecting the lives and emotions of her protagonists. There is a hollow sadness suffusing these pages that made me feel like I was reading the memoirs of the damned.

Read the rest here.