“Scenes from the Second Storey”, Amanda Pillar
and Pete Kempshall’s anthology
published by Morrigan Books in 2011,
is one of the best collections of short stories I’ve read in the past several years. Born as a tribute for the music album “Scenes from the Second Storey” of the alternative rock band The God Machine the eponymous anthology
featured some very strong stories from some very talented and powerful writers.
Among them, Andrew J. McKiernan, who
at the time of my reading of “Scenes from the Second Storey” was a mystery to
me. However, his story, “The Desert Song”,
a mix of post-apocalyptic setting, zombie/vampire fiction and spaghetti western
to the best effect, opened my eyes to and made me very interested in Andrew J.
McKiernan’s works. So, since then I was on scouting duty for more of his
stories, enjoying each opportunity to read the discovered tales, “Calliope: A Steam Romance”, “All the Clowns in Clowntown”, “The Final Degustation of Doctor Ernest
Blenheim” or “They Don’t Know That
We Know What They Know”. And each new story I read was one more step taken
by Andrew J. McKiernan in becoming one of my favorite writers. But as pleasant and
rewarding as it is the search for new stories from favorite writers I find the
benefits of a single author collections a bit more satisfying. As is the case
with Andrew J. McKiernan’s debut collection, “Last Year, When We Were Young”. I was thrilled to see Andrew J.
McKiernan’s stories gathered for the first time in a volume, not because I didn’t
enjoy searching for them, but because as satisfying as the rewards offered by
these tales were sometimes for me it was very frustrating to learn of one of
his stories and not to be able to have access to it. Still, that does not
remain the only reason for my delight, because after all, I am always happy
when I can take a book by a favorite writer from the shelves of my personal
library wherever I feel like doing so. And that is exactly where Andrew J. McKiernan’s collection of short stories is going when Satalyte Publishing is releasing “Last Year, When We Were Young” later
this year.
The
debut collection from multi-award nominated author Andrew J McKiernan brings
together 14 of his previously published short stories and novelettes, plus two
brand new tales unique to the collection.
Often
defying conventions of genre and style, these stories range from fantasy and
steampunk to science fiction and horror, but always with an edge sharper than a
razor and darker than a night on Neptune.
From
the darkly hilarious "All the
Clowns in Clowntown" to the
heart-breakingly disturbing title story, the collection pulls no punches.
Delving deep into what scares us most, McKiernan's tales are by turns heartfelt
and gut-wrenching.
With
an Introduction by Will Elliott, Last Year, When We Were Young is
a collection of horror and dark fantasy from one of Australia's finest new
authors that should not be missed.
Table of Contents (tentative):
“The
Memory of Water”
“All the Clowns in
Clowntown”
“White Lines,
White Crosses”
“Love Death”
“The Dumbshow”
“Daivadana”
“The Message”
“Calliope: A Steam
Romance”
“The Final
Degustation of Doctor Ernest Blenheim”
“Torch Song”
“A Prayer for
Lazarus” (new)
“The Haunting that
Jack Built”
“They Don’t Know
That We Know What They Know”
“The Desert Song”
“The Wanderer in
the Darkness”
“Last Year, When We Were Young” (new)
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