Museums and fairy tales both deal in the magic of Thing Worlds. But it is not easy to write a good fairy tale. You have to be able to breathe a kind of numinous significance into a place or a thing or a moment in time, to invest them with some kind of indefinable meaning that you feel like a breath on the back of your neck. And Stephanie Victoire is very good at this. She's an economical writer, building up her effects quickly and with conviction. She knows how to get the reader to swallow a huge fiction by getting it over in the first paragraph, how to cast a spell over the reader by summoning up an atmosphere that feels strange and off-kilter, and how to tuck a lifetime of stories into the structure of one short story.
* Museum of Marco Polo *
When it comes to scary reads, I'm always a fan of the subtly disquieting rather than over-stated horror, and of stories that, although they involve magic, still speak of very human feelings and failures - of love, revenge, fear or desire. These stories do just that. Some are downright creepy, others more like fairy-tales with a twist, but they all echo real emotions and situations. I loved them.
* Our Book Reviews *
These are the kinds of stories that linger, and I'm sure I'll return to them time and again.
* Down the Rabbit Hole *
Victoire seamlessly literalises the feeling of not being oneself, or of not being the self that others believe one is or should be, that often haunts people struggling with their sexuality. Her interest in liberation-physical, mental, emotional-is rooted in a belief in the power of transforming magic.
* Elle Thinks *
The Other World, It Whispers is one of my favourite books of the year. In just 164 pages Stephanie Victoire has cemented her reputation as an incredible author who has not only written nine short stories, but has created nine amazing and detailed worlds, all of which I wanted to spend more time in, which, for me, is exactly how a short story should be. I also just want to point out that the cover of this book is gorgeous and my favourite book cover of the year.
* The Stuart Review *