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A Sinister Quartet Kindle Edition

by C. S. E. Cooney (Author), Mike Allen (Author), Amanda J. McGee (Author), Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
2020 Locus Recommended Reading List, Best Anthology
Contains “The Twice-Drowned Saint” by C.S.E. Cooney, 2020 Locus Recommended Reading List, Best First Novel

“With fiction from C.S.E Cooney, Jessica P. Wick, Amanda J. McGee, and Mike Allen, Mythic Delirium’s excellent new anthology, A Sinister Quartet, provides further evidence that long-form genre fiction is not just alive and well but thriving.”
—Locus, Ian Mond

“Mythic Delirium is one of the smaller presses which sustains our field . . . This is lovely and fascinating . . . Really fine work.”
—Locus, Rich Horton

“Easily one of the best things I’ve read this year . . . ‘The Twice Drowned Saint’ alone is worth five times the cost of the collection.”
—The Little Red Reviewer

NOW WITH BONUS STORIES AND EXCERPTS AND NEW FULL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS Behind the walls of an invulnerable city ruled by angels, old movies provide balm for the soul and a plan to escape risks grisly retribution. A princess discovers a passage to a nightmarish world of deception and blood-sealed enchantment. A woman who has lost everything meets a man of great wealth and ominous secrets. In a town haunted by tragedy, malevolent supernatural entities converge, and the conflict that ensues unleashes chaos. A Sinister Quartet gathers original long-form wonders and horrors composed in unusual keys, with a short novel by World Fantasy Award winner C. S. E. Cooney and a new novella from two-time World Fantasy Award finalist Mike Allen joined by debut novellas from rising talents Amanda J. McGee and Jessica P. Wick. All four offer immersions into strange, beautiful and frightening milieus.
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  1. Print length
    382 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    9 June 2020
  4. File size
    5.3 MB
  5. Page Flip
    Enabled
  6. Word Wise
    Enabled
  7. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B085XMVB4G
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mythic Delirium Books (9 June 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.3 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 382 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1732644039
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

About the authors

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  1. C.S.E. Cooney

    C.S.E. Cooney

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    C. S. E. Cooney is the World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans: Stories. Other books include The Twice-Drowned Saint, Saint Death’s Daughter, Dark Breakers, Desdemona and the Deep, The Witch in the Almond Tree and Other Stories, and the poetry collection How to Flirt in Faerieland and Other Wild Rhymes. Forthcoming from Outland Entertainment is Negocios Infernales, a TTRPG she co-designed with her husband Carlos Hernandez.

     

    See more on the author's page
  2. Mike Allen

    Mike Allen

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    Mike Allen is an author, editor and publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He has written, edited, or co-edited thirty-eight books, among them his forthcoming dark fantasy novel TRAIL OF SHADOWS and his new horror collection SLOW BURN.

    UNSEAMING and AFTERMATH OF AN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT, his first two volumes of horror tales, were both finalists for the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Story Collection, and his dark fable “The Button Bin” was a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Another collection, THE SPIDER TAPESTRIES, contains experiments in weird science fiction and fantasy. His dark fantasy novel THE BLACK FIRE CONCERTO combines sword and sorcery with a zombie apocalypse.

    As an editor and publisher, he has been nominated twice for the World Fantasy Award: first, for his anthology CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 5, the culmination of the Clockwork Phoenix series showcasing tales of beauty and strangeness that defy genre classification; and then, for MYTHIC DELIRIUM, the magazine of poetry and fiction he edited for twenty years.

    He’s a three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for poetry. His six poetry collections include STRANGE WISDOMS OF THE DEAD, a Philadelphia Inquirer Editor’s Choice selection, and HUNGRY CONSTELLATIONS, a Suzette Haden Elgin Award nominee.

    With his wife, Anita, he runs Mythic Delirium Books, based in Roanoke, Virginia. Their cat Pandora assists.

    Find him on Instagram and on BlueSky via his mythicdelirium handle.

    See more on the author's page
  3. Amanda J. McGee

    Amanda J. McGee

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    Amanda J. McGee is a mapmaker by day and a writer by night. When not writing, she can be found in the garden. She lives in Southwest Virginia with the love of her life, two excellent cats, and a plethora of plants.

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4 out of 5 stars
18 global ratings

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  • Anthony R. Cardno
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful genre-blending novellas
    Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The short novel and three novellas debuting in A Sinister Quartet play a familiar lament: the abuse by those in power of those they deem powerless. But listen closely: there are crescendos of rebellion, adagios of personal loss, secrets revealed sotto voce and bravura, and a trembling bass line of body horror tying it all together. These stories are not happy, but they are hopeful, even if that hope doesn’t come until the coda.

    CSE Cooney's story feels like a blend of SF and high (almost Biblical) fantasy. Cooney’s masterful use of language soars into the ethereal and plummets through the earthen – colors and sounds and smells evoked with unexpected turns of phrase and exacting word choice.

    High fantasy and portal fantasy are the genres for “An Unkindness,” Jessica P. Wick’s marvelous look at the power of the Fae over the mortal world. The sibling relationship we see at the beginning of the story is so real and touching that the sudden antipathy/distance of Aliver in the second chapter hits the reader as hard as it does Ravenna. Kudos to Wick for establishing that relationship so well in such a short opening space; the rest of the story would not work as well if we didn’t believe in the bond between sister and brother that threatens to be severed.

    Amanda J. McGee’s “Viridian” is very much rooted in the “modern Gothic” and “reconstructed fairy tale” traditions. It’s always interesting to me when a writer can make a story feel both laconic and urgent, and McGee shifts seamlessly from one to the other in the same scene. Of the four stories in A Sinister Quartet, this is the one I can most easily see being adapted to film – and in the right hands, I think it would be amazing.

    Finally, “The Comforter” by Mike Allen, is the one most firmly rooted in a single genre. This is body horror, straight-up and unadultered, mixed as it may be with classic supernatural thriller elements. Throughout the story, and in increasing detail as the story unfolds, characters are physically altered in horrific ways. The constant shifts in POV keep the reader off-center and always on edge, not sure where the story will go or how much of the truth will be revealed or even if the disparate threads will converge. It’s a masterful mind-screw.
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  • Gin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the five stars for the first and last story alone
    Reviewed in Canada on 28 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The mix of horror and not-quite fantasy was perfectly done.

    The first and last stories made the book. The first « The Twice Drowned Saint » and the last, « The Comforter » are tight, keeping you rooted to your book, chapter after chapter.

    The second and third stores, An Unkindness and Veridian respectively, have an amateurish feel about them - as if they were written by new authors, not quite polished enough.

    Buy the Kindle book though...those first and last stores are well worth the money.
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  • Autumn Canter
    5.0 out of 5 stars So much Fun
    Reviewed in the United States on 25 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This collection of four stories is the equivalent of a hearty meal. My favorite part of collections is that you get the voices of four different writers in one beautifully bound book.

    C.S.E. Cooney's novella "The Twice-Drowned Saint" immerses you in an entire quirky world of humor and dark whimsy with the same ease you might slid into a pool on a hot day. It's effortless. You want to learn more about this mythical angelic city that is strangely familiar (there are movies and popcorn!) and utterly alien (there are also some truly grotesque creatures that do things like eat deaths and manifest food). Cooney is also amazing at building relationships between characters. You just want to give everyone a hug and the entire thing is over far too soon.

    Jessica P. Wick's "An Unkindness" takes some familiar ideas about the faerie realm that play backdrop to a story about the love of one sibling for another, grief and depression. Made me cry. She painted a beautiful, haunting realm in my imagination.

    "Viridian" by Amanda J McGee also deals with grief set into a Bluebeard horror story that has you cheering on the main character as she struggles to move forward and heal.

    Mike Allen's "The Comforter" has one of the most interesting monsters I've ever read about described in such a way that it was pure, disgusting poetry. It's like one of those things you just can't look away from even though it's gross!

    The entire collection is typical Mythical Delirium style: beautiful written, novel, engrossing and wonderful put together to take the reader on a journey through the imaginations of four talented writers. I can't really compare these works to anything else out there. Mike Allen, once again, showcases some one-of-a-kind fiction. They aren't stories, they are beautiful confections. It isn't just what is told but the way it is told. Some phenomenal writing is found here. Highly recommend.
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  • Sandra M.
    2.0 out of 5 stars CSE Cooney makes it worth the price, but barely
    Reviewed in the United States on 15 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    CSE Cooney. Not her best work but a solid work. The world-building got a little confusing in the first third but straightened out. For a very meticulous author, a surprising number of grammatical errors and other issues a copy editor should have caught. Makes the book worth the buy and this story is worth re-reading.

    Jessica Wick. This is the most misogynistic take on Girl-Saves-Boy that I have read in umpteen years. If the author was trying for fairies meet grimdark she succeeded. Zero character development, zero redemption, nothing to respect in any of the characters at the end of the story.

    Amanda McGee. I actually cannot remember anything about this story despite the fact that I read it this morning.

    Mike Allen. Channeling Stephen King but doing it very very very badly, the only thing more incoherent than the story was the ending.
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  • Far-ranging Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars Each story has something special to offer
    Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    "The Twice-Drowned Saint" --like Hieronymus Bosch meets C.S. Lewis
    "An Unkindness" --It is truth universally acknowledged that a brother palely loitering in fairy realms is in need of a rescue, or he may find himself paying a teind to hell.
    "Viridian" --reminiscent of DuMaurier's "Rebecca" ... if Maximillan DeWinter was into necromancy.
    "The Comforter" --full-bore eldritch horror/body horror; terrifying
    Report

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