Parallel Hells

Product Information

This year, we got a ton of new releases set in spooky castles, remote countrysides, or deserted estates that fit this description perfectly. Expect necromancy, Frankenstein-ish monsters, bloodthirsty plants, malicious spirits, and a whole lot of revenge. So if that’s your thing, let’s get started! This decadent and distorted collection of queer gothic short stories didn't disappoint. * Brixton Review of Books * In the thirteen darkly audacious stories of Parallel Hells we meet a golem, made of clay, learning that its powers far exceed its Creator’s expectations; a ruined mansion which grants the secret wishes of a group of revellers and a notorious murderer who discovers her Viking husband is not what he seems.

raw pork and opium: 2 stars, I liked the 2 parallel perspectives up until the girl had sex with her friend because he suddenly had boobs and then told him that she did not want him and was the other part a metaphor for how gay the two men are for each other? I will never know. 3 stars taken off because this read like a bad fanfic of The Secret History which is already a bad fan fiction of If we were villains (yes I know TSH preceded IWWV and no, I do not accept criticism on this statement) Seeking distance away from her unworthy family after her beloved grandfather dies, Ursula Kelp travels to Buenos Aires to work as the Head Gardener of a remote, dilapidated estate in the Pampas. The fact that the name of the place means “The Tears”, and that previous gardeners have turned down the job because they believe it’s cursed, does not deter her in the slightest. And she arrives eager to prove she can do the job just as well as, if not better than, any man. A far braver person than me, I have to admit. I personally wouldn’t be caught within a mile of any place named “The Tears”.I’m a huge fan of the “morally grey character seeks revenge but struggles with growing positive sentiments toward their enemy” trope, and the addition of furious ghosts driving on this mission is just… chef’s kiss! In this glorious and twisted collection of short stories, Leon Craig uses folklore and gothic horror to “explore queer identity, love, power and the complicated nature of being human.” The thirteen stories follow a golem whose powers far surpass its Creator’s expectations, a lonely demon who feeds on shame, a woman who plans a Satanic ritual to disconnect from her trauma, and more beings, to analyze the human condition via a queer lens. From Rebecca and Dracula to the more recent hit Mexican Gothic, gothic horror has cemented its position in popular culture thanks to its ability to frighten and horrify us in a foreboding setting. After all, nothing says excellent literature than a book that keeps you awake at night with all the lights on! The stories include a murderous anti-heroine in 10th Century Viking-era Iceland who becomes suspicious of her husband’s relationship with his best friend; an ancient being who feasts on 21st Century Londoners and an Oxford University historian who delights in using occult methods from a medieval tome on her nemesis. Vampires, corpse brides, fairy curses all feature, as does Jewish folklore. In The Bequest, a woman is possessed by a dybbuk when she discovers more about her family history than she anticipated and in Unfinished and Unformed, a golem’s powers exceed the expectations of its creator.

By turns dark, sharp, witty and tender, I'm a huge fan of Leon Craig's writing, and the way she reveals the complex dance of beauty and brutality in our innermost, most vulnerable selves. -- Naomi Ishiguro (November 2021) The most rewarding aspect of Craig's prose is its duality. Her reader never feels too full of one poison or too far from its antidote...Anyone searching for an adventure into the literary underworld need look no further than this queer and compelling collection.' -- Lily Kuenzler The short twisted tales . . . have a laconic elegance that’s both chilling and pleasurable’ Financial TimesSara A. Mueller delivers an unflinching narrative about trauma, power dynamics, and the treatment of sex workers. Content warnings include sexual assault, domestic violence, suicide, suicide ideation, and emotional abuse. Craig’s day job is as an editor for the publisher, Serpent’s Tail, where she works in literary fiction and memoir as well as looking after their classics list. Working in publishing is an obvious asset but, as a writer with intimate knowledge of the business, she is acutely aware of the importance of maintaining some distance. “You need to allow someone else to be the expert because there are things about it that you are just too close to see.” She has written freelance journalism for the White Review, the TLS, the Brixton Review of Books and Another Gaze , among others. Leon is particularly interested in reviewing short story collections and fiction by other queer women.

By turns unsettling, funny and fiercely intelligent, Parallel Hells is a queer carnival of monsters and masks. These stories penetrate the surface of their characters' assumed identities to reveal the glittering realities beneath. -- Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea In this deliciously macabre debut collection, Leon Craig explores queer identity, power, love and the painful complexities of being human in startling new ways.Craig grew up in north London and although she describes her family as not “particularly devout,” being Jewish is something she has always been proud of. Berlin is, she says, a really great place to be queer but she has found living amongst the Stolpersteine, unsettling. “I’m hardly the first Jewish person to say this about them, but I also think there are quite a few other countries who could perhaps do better at remembering these things.” Arresting and provocative, this strange and dark collection grabbed me by the throat. * Megan Bradbury *