Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories

by Elizabeth Hand

Book Overview

Transporting the reader to worlds both familiar and undreamt of, this collection of short stories by Elizabeth Hand showcases the work of one of America's leading literary fantasists.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595820965
• ISBN13: 9781595820969
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: M Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully strange stories

Saffron and Brimstone was my first exposure to the beautifully evocative prose of Elizabeth Hand, and I cannot wait to get my hands on one of her full-length novels! Her storytelling is unparalleled in anything I have read lately; she is truly a master at her craft and it shows in this collection of short stories. The stories included run the gamut from horror to fantasy, magic realism to experimental fiction. No two are alike, but they all share certain elements of compelling story-telling that characterize Hand's narrative style in this collection: beautifully worded description, lush and discerning metaphor, a way of showing the reader exactly what is needed to draw the conclusions and realizations that a lesser writer would have felt obliged to say outright, a propensity towards vagueness that only seems to sharpen rather than blur the truth of the pieces, and an attention to detail that firmly grounded the fantastic elements of the stories in startling realism. A careful reading reveals that each and every event, character, detail of setting, word and phrase has been carefully selected to evoke a particular response in the reader. In "The Saffron Gatherers," this discernment is seen in the way that Hand uses Grecian-derived diction in seemingly throw-away sentences to build her comparison, word by word, of the modern world verging on global disaster to that of the lost civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. In this and many other ways she uses contrast to excellent effect. Of the eight stories included in Saffron and Brimstone, my favorite was "The Least Trumps," a story about a middle-aged tattoo artist that comes across an almost used up pack of tarot cards with an ability to change what is. Like many of the other stories, "The Least Trumps" features a female protagonist living in a degree of isolation and stagnation who finds a way to break out of her rut in a rather magical way. Indeed isolation, whether physical, emotional, or both is a theme that threads through almost all of these "strange" stories. Despite this, each story has its own unique feel or ambience, from the mixed folklore, Charles de Lint-esque "Pavane for a Prince of the Air" to the chillingly dark psycho-drama "Cleopatra Brimstone," and the drug-induced blur of narrative in "Wonderwall." The last four ultra short stories comprise a sequence that meditates in several different forms and multi-varied perspectives on a number of issues, including the artist's relationship with his/her muse. These last four are more experimental and seemed a little less developed to me, both in terms of story and craft. As a result the longer beginning stories appealed to me more, though I appreciated the subtle complexity and ambition of the ending sequence. On the whole, highly recommended. I can't wait to try something else by Ms. Hand!

Brilliant and Beautiful

Elizabeth Hand's intoxicating story collection "Saffron and Brimstone" has the subtitle of "strange stories." Exactly so. The opening tale, "Cleopatra Brimstone," features a plain American Jane with an interest in entomology, who morphs into a London-dwelling goth chick who renames herself Cleopatra Brimstone and develops a unique method of collecting butterflies. The next tale, "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," is an elegy for a dying hippie and an elegy for the era in which the author came of age. Then comes the delightful (and sunnier) "The Least Trumps," in which a tattoo artist finds a deck of tarot cards at a rummage sale and discovers they have the ability to change the past. "Wonderwall" (the reason for story's title will soon become apparent) returns us to the scene of the author's masterful novel "Waking the Moon"--"The University of Archangels and Saint John the Divine" (actually Catholic University) in Washington D.C. It's another ode to the author's past, or so I would suppose. The last four stories come under the rubric of "The Lost Domain: Four Story Variations," a series of understated, impressionist, prose poems that will probably leave you giddy. "Kronia" deals with memory; "Calypso in Berlin" is about the creation of art (and love); "Echo" is narrated by a woman who might be the last person on earth (or not), while it riffs on the Greek myth of Echo and Narkissos (as Ms. Hand spells it); "The Saffron Gatherers" is about art collecting and real estate, and . . . and then something happens. Exhilarating, uplifting, wondrous, and certainly strange.

Fantastic!

I have been a fan of Elizabeth Hand since high school and haven't read anything of hers for a couple of years. When I found this book I was capitivated. Her words and worlds suck you in and don't let you go until they are over. She always leaves you wanting more!

"The Lost Domain"

This collection seems to weave in and out of autobiography--now close and real, then imagined and surreal. Even when straying from the concrete experiences of Hand's life, there remains a magnetic resonance with what I suspect is her core self, as she imagines it, as she embodies it in her private view, her "lost domain." Hand's writing glows with color, pulses with strangeness, and weaves in a mastery of detail from entomology to Greek myth with a sureness rarely seen in current fiction. Shimmering descriptions abound, such as one about a fox: "It was grinning at me, I could see the thin rind of its gums, its yellow eyes shining as though lit from within by candles." For Hand, the world is a dazzling, complex place; each square foot of earth teems with life. The beautifully crafted "The Least Trumps" is perhaps the most evocative piece, replete with hints and feints and magic set against human relationships that are fresh and strongly felt. At the end, the reader may briefly feel as if he's on the cusp of understanding the author's stories, but then this belief falls away like a foggy scrim, leaving the reader tantalized by all that he hasn't grasped. An elusive and exotic book!

Bibliomancy, indeed

Imagine a postpunk Shirley Jackson, and you have Elizabeth Hand The opening "Cleopatra Brimstone," the most conventional `horror' story here, sets the template. A plain Jane science geek girl gets sexually molested, which starts a transformation in her. Mousy Jane moves to London, gets a job at the London Zoo categorizing butterflies during the day, and becomes the glamorous Goth minx Cleopatra Brimstone at night. Cleopatra has a seductive, mysterious power that Jane doesn't have that ultimately seals her fate. The climax of the story is morally disturbing, rather than visceral. The writing is lush and richly descriptive, and Hand's attention to realistic detail anchors her tale. Several pieces here are clearly autobiographical: "Pavane for a Prince of the Air" is about the death of a hippie shaman and has vague allusions to magic, but is mostly an ode to an odd, beloved free-spirit. "Wonderwall," set in early 80s DC, is Hand's eulogy for both her wayward youth and her artistic muse, here portrayed as a queer actor and his alter ego, who succumbs to AIDS. `Calypso in Berlin' is an effectively creepy monologue about the titular muse making her way in the modern artscene. Lovers of literary fantasy and modern gothic fiction would do well to check this handsome collection out. Four of the stories appeared in a limited edition volume called "Bibliomancy," which means `book magic.' Bibliomancy is precisely what Hand does with her craft.