- Shortlisted: British Fantasy Award – Best Collection
- Shortlisted: British Fantasy Award – Best Newcomer
- Shortlisted: British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Short Story, ‘Kingfisher’
Cover Art: Vince Haig
These stories explore place and landscape at different stages of decay, positioning them as fighting grounds for death and renewal. From dystopian Andalusia to Scotland or the Norfolk countryside, they bring together monstrous insects, ghostly lovers, soon-to-be extinct species, unexpected birds, and interstellar explorers, to form a coherent narrative about loss and absence.
Contents:
Introduction, by Priya Sharma
I
Orange Dogs
Little Red Drops
Black Isle
Stones
Love(Ghost)Story
The Ravisher, The Thief
Frozen Planet
Marvels Do not Oftimes Occur
II
Kingfisher
A Place for Wild Beasts
Acknowledgements
Timothy J. Jarvis Interviews Marian Womack
New Revised Edition – With a new introduction by Priya Sharma
“An intriguing and illuminating first collection, chockfull of interesting ideas about the natural world and ourselves.” Jeff VanderMeer
“A beautiful, haunting eulogy to our planet.” Eco-Fiction
“This book – an aviary of the strange, a vital evocation of wild and fleeting spirits – marks the emergence of a fantastic new talent.” Helen Marshall
“Luminous and disturbing as the unearthly things they describe, Marian Womack’s gorgeously written tales map the shifting boundaries between waking life and dream, past and future and our own profoundly unsettled present. Reading them left me with goosebumps.” Elizabeth Hand
“These stories, where birds drop from the sky and giant butterflies haunt the imagination, fizz with a unique and strange originality.” Gary Budden
“These short story gems dance at the edge of the world, finding poetry in loss and devastation. Marian Womack is an artist with a unique and powerfully-wrought vision.” Una McCormack
“A gorgeous, intelligent collection, both masterfully written and cannily prescient… and crafted in a manner that I suspect we will come to recognise as uniquely Womack.” Laura Mauro, Black Static
New Revised Edition Available 16 November 2024
Marian Womack 