Helen Marshall is one the rising stars of speculative fiction and there
are plenty of things proving that. An excellent debut short story collection, “Hair Side, Flesh Side” (ChiZine Publications), named one of the
top ten books of 2012 by January Magazine, nominated for Aurora Award,
long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize and winning
the British Fantasy Sydney J. Bonds Award. Two volumes of poetry, “Skeleton Leaves”, nominated for a
Rhysling Award and winner of the Aurora Award, and “The Sex Lives of Monsters”, nominated for a Rhysling Award and a
Bram Stoker Award and winner of the Elgin Chapbook Award. And from this month a
second short story collection, “Gifts
for the One Who Comes After”, also released by ChiZine Publications, that promises to consolidate Helen Marshall’s
position within the genre: Ghost
thumbs. Microscopic dogs. One very sad can of tomato soup. Helen Marshall's
second collection offers a series of twisted surrealities that explore the
legacies we pass on to our children. A son seeks to reconnect with his father
through a telescope that sees into the past. A young girl discovers what lies
on the other side of her mother's bellybutton. Death's wife prepares for a very
special funeral. In Gifts for the One Who Comes After, Marshall delivers
eighteen tales of love and loss that cement her as a powerful voice in dark
fantasy and the New Weird. Dazzling, disturbing, and deeply moving. To celebrate the release of Helen
Marshall’s new short story collection, which Kaaron Warren highly recommends (Gifts for the One Who Comes After is
in turns chilling, heart-wrenching and uplifting. Marshall has a way with words
that makes even the most peculiar seem possible, and the stories here are each
so layered with character and meaning, they are like perfect, condensed novels.), SF Signal offers
us the chance to read one story from “Gifts for the One Who Comes After”, “Supply Limited, Act Now”, for free on their website.
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