Book: Kiernan, Caitlin R., Silk (1998)

In praise of Silk, Neil Gaiman described Caitlin Kiernan as a “the poet and bard of the wasted and the lost.” Having managed to read four of her six novels, I totally agree. She is one of the most brilliant and exciting writers that I've come across in recent memory. Her writing is meticulous and evocative, lush and insanely atmospheric. A few years ago, after reading my first Caitlin Kiernan book (Murder of Angels) I ordered all of her books via interlibrary loan. When they arrived, I was very excited and checked everything out, took it all home and sat on the floor of my bedroom. I remember that I was totally undecided about what to read first and picked a book at random. I think that everything had arrived except Silk, the prequel to Murder of Angels. The book that I happened to crack open first was Low Red Moon. I remember that I read the first paragraph, got so jealous that I closed the book and promptly took the lot back to the library. I was so envious that I couldn't bear to read them. I have NEVER had that response to a writer.

I've heard that her style or genre is similar to Poppy Z. Brite and Kathe Koja, both whom I've yet to read(with the exception of Koja's short story I Shall Do Thee Mischief in the Woods which was part of the inspiration for the Negative Numbers section of my B/A fic, Ever After). There's a great deal of excitement for me at the prospect of discovering other, equally wonderful authors in a genre that I am only just really discovering outside of fandom.

If you were to attempt to categorize Kiernan, I think that the popular place to put her is horror. However, I would contest that designation. Heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, what Kiernan writes reminds me of American Southern Gothic, but with a modern goth aesthetic. It can be labeled urban fantasy or, very simply, dark fiction. Whatever it is, however you choose to call it, I love it.

I came across a review for Murder of Angels about four years ago in an issue of Entertainment Weekly. The title is what caught my attention, the review was favorable and with that title I couldn't pass it up. It took four years for me to finally get my hands on Silk which has, with quite a few of her earlier novels, been re-released by Roc. Getting my hands on her short story collections remains difficult. They are largely out of print and the copies offered up on Amazon via Used Bookstores are priced in anywhere from $20 to $80. I'm not quite ready to shell out that kind of dough. I still plan to hunt through some of the local used bookshops and there's always ebay.

Silk is the sort of prequel/companion to Murder of Angels. You don't really have to have read one in order to read the other, but it doesn't hurt. They are more directly related than the Novels of Deep Time (Threshold, Low Red Moon, Daughter of Hounds) and having read Silk, I plan to re-read Murder of Angels because I suspect that there are things that will be clearer.

( Before the World, there was a war in Heaven )