{"id":8386,"date":"2021-02-27T12:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=8386"},"modified":"2021-02-27T12:15:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T16:15:00","slug":"women-in-horror-month-book-review-velocities-stories-by-kathe-koja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/women-in-horror-month-book-review-velocities-stories-by-kathe-koja\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in Horror Month: Book Review: Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover<\/a><\/p>\n

(\u00a0\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n

Velocities: Stories<\/em> by Kathe Koja<\/p>\n

Meerkat Press, 2020<\/p>\n

ISBN-13: 139781946154231<\/p>\n

Available : Paperback and Kindle<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kathe Koja\u2019s work defies any label. Certainly it is in the area of dark fiction, often imbued with gloomy atmospheres, occasionally turning into horror, sometimes disguised as historical vignettes. The eclectic nature of her\u00a0 literary output is well represented in this collection, which provides an effective showcase of some her short fiction, previously scattered in different anthologies, as well as two new ones.<\/p>\n

Thus, if you\u2019re not familiar with this gifted author, the present volume is a great opportunity to get acquainted with her work. While most of the stories collected here have been previously published, there are two original to this collection.<\/p>\n

The book is formally divided into five\u00a0 different sections: At Home, Downtown, On the Way, Over There, <\/em>and Inside, <\/em>but, truth be told, these labels mean very little in terms of the stories\u2019 content.<\/p>\n

This volume features thirteen stories, some more memorable than others, but mostly interesting and quite enjoyable. To me the more accomplished tales are:\u00a0 \u201cBaby\u201d, a dark story revolving around a peculiar puppet; \u201cThe Marble Lily\u201d, featuring a morgue janitor morbidily fascinated with death; \u201cPas de Deux\u201d, portraying a woman who decides to leave the boring comfort of her married life to totally devote herself to dancing; \u201cFar and Wee\u201d, where country life and city life are painfully compared;\u00a0 the disquieting \u201c La Reine d\u2019Enfer\u201d; and the gloomy \u201cCoyote Pass\u201d.<\/p>\n

Very few writers share Koja\u2019s ability to describe the grim side of life and the pain and secret melancholy of human condition. You\u2019ve been warned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: occasional sex and mild violence<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Editor’s note:\u00a0Velocities: Stories<\/strong> is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(\u00a0\u00a0Bookshop.org\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon.com ) Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja Meerkat Press, 2020 ISBN-13: 139781946154231 Available : Paperback and Kindle   Kathe Koja\u2019s work defies any label. Certainly it is in the area of dark fiction, often imbued with gloomy atmospheres, occasionally turning into horror, sometimes disguised as historical vignettes. The eclectic nature of her\u00a0 literary output<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2474,316,181,495,4792,825,828],"class_list":["post-8386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-dark-fiction","tag-horror-genre","tag-short-story-collections","tag-stoker-awards-2020","tag-women-in-horror-month","tag-women-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8391,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8386\/revisions\/8391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}