Jeffrey Ford, “The Prelate’s Commission.” Subterranean, Winter 2014.
It’s interesting how these stories in this list run in packs, despite being listed in alphabetical order of their writer. Here we have three fantasy stories that each attempt to put a new spin on an old tale; in “The Prelate’s Commission” it’s the religious horror story. The talented assistant of a renaissance master artist gets a commission to point a true portrait of the devil, on pain of auto-da-fe. Things do not go according to the prelate’s plan.
This is an odd complaint to make, I understand, but to me this story failed because it wasn’t formulaic enough, because the doom of the assistant wasn’t brought down on him by his own actions. In a deal with the devil story either that’s what happens, or you outsmart him somehow; here he had too much agency.
Karen Joy Fowler, “Nanny Anne and the Christmas Story.” Subterranean, Winter 2014.
Karen Joy Fowler meanwhile attempts to blow new life into another hoary genre, the Christmas horror/changeling story, about a little girl who is sure something is wrong with her nanny slowly assuming the role of her mother, but her twin sister can’t see it. Starts off slow, had to get myself over the hump, but ends in an interesting, somewhat unexpected place. Karen Joy Fowler’s writing is always a pleasure to read and it’s no different here.
Max Gladstone, “A Kiss with Teeth.” Tor.com, October 29, 2014.
Finally Max Gladstone writes a vampire story about the vampire, the original, the one called Vlad, who has changed and is living in American suburbia, out of love for his wife, the vampire hunter who fell in love with him. Now Vlad is Tempted once again, by his young son’s primary school teacher.
As with each of these three stories, there’s a slow buildup of dread as you fear you know where it is going, but Gladstone veers off at the last moment and does so without betraying that dread. What you feared would happen, could’ve happened, on another day.
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