Mercy and Other Stories

Originally published at Risingshadow.Mercy and Other Stories is a remarkable collection of literary strange stories by one of the rising stars in the field of literary strange fiction I was impressed by this collection and I m compelled to praise it, because it was a tour de force of beautiful literary prose and stylish storytelling.Rebecca Lloyd has a voice of her own, and she has an ability to write unique stories She writes different kinds of stories and even dares to surprise her readers by [...]

Ms Lloyd delivers a solid batch of weird tales and strange stories, from the traditional ghost story to the truly strange Many of the stories have an abrupt ending but it still doesn t leave the reader high and dry These leave an ironic taste that even says, enough said.One of the longer stories already appeared in Strange Tales Volume IV.

Contents 1 Mercy 7 The Careless Hour 22 The Stone 36 Salsa 46 The Meat Freezer 56 Dust 70 What Comes 87 Momentum ,97 Lucky Cat 104 The Bath 118 The Gathering 131 Gone to the Deep 157 Maynard s Mountain 172 The Lover 186 All That Follows 201 The Reunion

Rebecca Lloyd is a writer of exquisitely dark tales who I ve discovered courtesy of those remarkable people at Tartarus Press Mercy and Other Stories includes new material from her as well as stories published elsewhere between 2002 and 2014.The opening piece is Mercy itself, which explores with subtlety and tenderness the transience of beauty, but not necessarily of love We all want to hold on to cherished things, for life is quickly gone Mercy is short, sharp and sweet, and showcases perfectly [...]

These are carefully crafted stories, fairly short for the most part Only a few of these are over 5,000 words, and most are around 3,000 4,000 But these stories are worth savoring and reading slowly, carefully.This collection consistently surprised me, it s quite imaginative, usually I couldn t predict what was coming, and unfortunately that s become increasingly rare for me I would say compared to most things I read these stories are, on the whole, milder, but imminently cerebral These are stori [...]

I got sent this story collection for review and since I ve been on such a collection wave, it fits right in Having just finished Angela Carter s Burning Your Boats, I feared I might be disappointed in this collection Thankfully, I found myself loving every single story.A lot of short story writers seem to hover between numerous different styles and genres, writing one love story before turning to some James Joyce esque stream of consciousness It leads to literary whiplash, which is why I was rea [...]

For me, the author has achieved the primary aim in these stories in that she has suspended belief, so that readers find themselves transported to a different place and time All the tales are different in their circumstances and the characters are varied and well developed.The imagery is good and the dialogue works in every case, quite simply because the writer is capable and understands her craft There is a psychological theme running through the collection which will hold appeal to any who enjo [...]

I am not usually a fan of short stories but having been surprised by another excellent collection recently I thought I would chance my luck I was not disappointed There are some dark goings on here and it took me a while to get a sense of the authors style but once I did, I found the tales to be rather compelling As psychological horror goes, I would class these as on the gentle side and I would say that the stories are peculiar than anything else, but that is a compliment not a criticism.Rebec [...]