Vile Affections

Kiernan (Comes a Pale Rider) ties together these 22 shorts with an aesthetic of intimacy, strangeness, eroticism, and lingering mysteries. Many of these pieces are more vignettes or explorations of dreamscapes than traditional short stories. Though no worldbuilding crosses between tales, and settings vary from postapocalyptic fantasy landscapes (“A Chance of Frogs on Wednesday”), undersea realms (“The Line Between the Devil’s Teeth (Murder Ballad No. 10)”), dark fairy tale lands (“Iodine and Iron”), and vampire lairs (“King Laugh (Four Scenes)”), to deserted highways (“Virginia Story”) and art openings (“Untitled 44”), Kiernan’s beautiful descriptions easily pull readers into each microcosm. Almost all are told by a first-person narrator in implicit conversation with an unseen, perhaps monstrous, “you,” or with a lover or psychiatrist in the room, giving them a confessional immediacy and immersing the reader in the role of voyeur. But the repetition of this aesthetic together with the lack of closure in many of the pieces makes it difficult to read too many in one sitting lest they meld into a dark, dreamy sameness. Kiernan’s extensive endnotes, on the other hand, will be a treat for devoted fans interested in their process. Though there’s nothing that particularly stands out, Kiernan’s skill at weaving eerie, magical moments shines. (Nov.)