#kelly link

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Kelly Link's "Book of Love"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/13/the-kissing-song/#wrack-and-roll

Kelly Link is one of science fiction's most important writers, a master of the short story to rank with the likes of Ted Chiang. For a decade, Kelly's friends have traded whispers that she was working on a novel – a giant novel – and the rumors were true and the novel is glorious and you will love it:

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/book-of-love-9781804548455/

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239722/the-book-of-love-by-kelly-link/

It's called The Book of Love and it's massive – 650 pages! It is glorious. It is tricky.

If you've read Link's short stories (which honestly, you must read), you know her signature move: a bone-dry witty delivery, used to spin tales of deceptive whimsy and quirkiness, disarming you with daffiness while she sets the hook and yanks. That's the unmistakeable, inimitable texture of a Kelly Link story: deft literary brushstrokes, painting a picture so charming and silly that you don't even notice when she cuts you without mercy.

Turns out that she can quite handily do this for hundreds of pages, and the effect only gets better when it's given space to unfold.

Hard to tell you about this one without spoilers! But I'll tell you this much. It's a story about three teenaged friends who return from death and find themselves in the music room at their high school, face to face with their mild-mannered music teacher, Mr Anabin. Anabin explains what's happened in frustratingly cryptic – and very emphatic – terms, but is interrupted when a sinister shape-shifting wolf enters the music room.

This is Bogomil, and whenever he speaks, Mr Anabin turns his back – and vice versa. Anabin and Bogomil appear to be rivals, and Bogomil may or may not have been the keeper of the land of the dead from which the three have escaped. There's also a forth, a tattered shade who's been dead so long they don't remember who they are or anything about themselves. Bogomil would like to take the four back to the deadlands, but Anabin proposes a contest and Bogomil agrees – but no one explains the contest or its rules (or even its stakes) to the four dead teenagers.

That's the wind up. The pitch that follows is flawless, a long and twisting mystery about friendship, love, queerness, rock-and-roll, stardom, parenthood, loyalty, lust and duty. There's a terrifying elder god of Lovecraftian proportions. There are ghosts upon ghosts. There are ancient grudges. There are sudden revelations that come from unexpected angles but are, in retrospect, perfectly set up.

More than anything, there are characters. It's impossible not to love Link's characters, despite (because of) their self-destructive choices and their impossible dilemmas. They are so sweet, but they are also by turns mean and spiteful and resentful, like the pinch of salt that transforms a caramel from inedible spun sugar into something that bites even as it delights.

These characters, so very likable, are often dead or at death's door, and that peril propels the story like an unstoppable locomotive. From the very start, it's clear that some of them can't survive to the end, and Link is merciless in making you root for all of them, even though this means rooting against them all. This, in turn, creates moments of toe-curling, sublime horror.

Link has built a complex machine with more moving parts than anyone has any business being able to keep track of. And yet, each of these parts meshes flawlessly with all the others. The book ends with such triumphant perfection that it lingers long after you put it down. I can't wait to read this one again.

#pluralistic #romance #books #reviews #kelly link #magic realism #horror #gift guide #fantasy #cthulhoid #fhtagn #rock and roll #queer

[sixofravens-reads]

First book haul of the year! Went to the little indie bookshop downtown for The Book of Love (Kelly Link my beloved) and ended up picking up some Ottessa Moshfegh too!

#technically second book haul cause i got some books at value village last weekend but those aren't interesting lol #books #book haul #the book of love #kelly link #ottessa moshfegh #eileen #lupvona

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

#short story collections #short story collection #monstrous affections: an anthology of beastly tales #kelly link #gavin j grant #gavin j. grant #various authors #english language literature #american literature #british literature #have you read this short fiction? #book polls #completed polls

[yekokataa]

i've been reading white cat, black dog by kelly link. it's a phenomenally good collection of short stories. every single one is strange and compelling, and not a single one of them wraps up neatly with an ending that ties everything together, and i think that's part of their power. so many things happen in these stories that i can't logically figure out why it was included, but it makes me want to keep reading.

i went to look up reviews, and not surprisingly, this book was very well reviewed critically, but has a lower than average 4-star goodreads rating because no one can quite figure out what these stories are. it seems to be a chronic issue for her, from this article:

#kelly link #currently-reading #books #white cat black dog

[charliejaneanders]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/11/14/best-science-fiction-fantasy/

Here's my roundup of the 10 best science fiction and fantasy books of 2023, over in the @washingtonpost!

These are the books I couldn't stop talking about all year, the ones that I wanted to press into people's hands so we could geek out together.

Paywall-free link: https://wapo.st/3FZuxsk

#books #writing #science fiction #yume kitasei #kelly link #silvia moreno garcia #sl huang #mona awad

[whilereadingandwalking]

The debut novel from acclaimed short story author Kelly Link, The Book of Love, is an enjoyable slow burn of a fantasy novel (even if it could have burned a little faster). Three teens—Daniel, Laura, and Mo—wake up after being dead for a year. The man they thought was a music teacher and his demonic partner Bogomil tell them that no one will remember they were dead...But the three will have to figure out how to do magic and find a magical key if they want to stay not-dead long enough to reintegrate themselves into their own lives. Only thing is, Laura's sister, Susannah, has something to do with why they're dead, but now she can't remember. Only thing is, a deadly goddess is arriving in town—and she wants to get to the key first.

The book was beautiful and rich, tactile and surreal. The town of Loveside feels real to me, like I could walk there and out to the Cliffs and see Mo's house where his grandmother wrote all those romance novels, like I could walk in her rose garden. The characters feel like real, well-developed people, from rebellious, self-destructive sister Susannah to the owner of the local coffee shop. The magic in the book is made of near-limitless potential, and their discovery of their abilities and the ethereal, web-like nature of the storytelling reminded me of Erin Morgenstern's work. I was deeply invested in finding out how the three died, who was trying to get the key before they did, and who was secretly unreal, because all of the characters felt so deeply realized.

But I do have critiques. As you all know, I strongly believe that few books need to be more than 400 pages. This book, which rings in at 625, was no exception. The beginning was very, very drawn out, and while the character and atmosphere kept me dialed in, I was being to get impatient. And I love long, atmospheric fantasies, so I'm more patient than many readers are. I genuinely believe the first half or so of this book could be cut in half and concentrated down. This pacing leaves room for a lot of eerie moments and strange happenings, but also makes the final climax feel rushed (even though it's actually quite well-placed) and starts to take some of the sting out of big twists.

This is The Book of Love, and there is a lot of love in it—and a lot of queer, kinky love, which I did appreciate. Mo and mysterious immortal Thomas were a hot couple, even if they suffered a bit from instalove. I really liked Daniel and Susannah, but I think the amount of time given to the two young troubled teen lovers and the time given to Susannah's tumultuous and difficult relationship with her more orderly sister Laura should have been switched. But then, I love a good sister story.

Overall, I really enjoyed Link's work, which had the same ethereal, satisfyingly magical feeling as her short stories do; but it could have been a lot shorter, not just for the reader but for the sake of a tightened narrative. Those with the patience will enjoy this slow-burn fantasy with a ton of atmosphere and a heart-warming emotional core.

Content warnings for homophobia and homophobic language, child abuse, grief/death, depression, body horror, miscarriage mention.

#the book of love #kelly link #my book reviews #sff #new releases #book review #erin morgenstern

[freckles-and-books]

I don’t read multiple books at once often, but when I do, it’s usually with a book of short stories (or nonfiction book) and a novel.

I want to read some more short stories, so I’m starting Pretty Monsters today. I’m also starting Flowerheart.

#books #pretty monsters #kelly link #flowerheart #catherine bakewell

[semperintrepida]

I love everything about books until it comes to writing them, and therefore the business of writing is reminding myself that there is something of interest in a story or an idea I can latch onto, like a tick. Or perhaps I’m more like an oyster, a reclusive and unprepossessing blob who needs a bit of grit, an irritant or a problem that I can begin to lacquer over.

—Kelly Link, "34 Transformative Prompts to Unlock Your Writing"

#tag urself #i'm an oyster lol #kelly link #on writing #commonplace book

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2024 📖 no. 018

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

“I’m not supposed to just go around doing magic. But we’ll see about that.”

#books #2024 reads #the book of love #kelly link #booklr #lit edit

[therainbowfishy]

Books read in November & December 2023

THE WOLF SUIT by Sid Sharp

THE BOOK OF LOVE by Kelly Link

THE PUPPETS OF SPELLHORST by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Julie Morstad

LITTLE ONES by Grey Wolfe LaJoie

SHARKS IN THE RIVERS by Ada Limón

MONSTRILIO by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

JOY IS THE JUSTICE WE GIVE OURSELVES by J. Drew Lanham

WORK-LIFE BALANCE by Aisha Franz

GLACIERS by Alexis M. Smith

THE GIRL WHO BECAME A RABBIT by Emilie Menzel

PORTRAIT OF A BODY by Julie Delporte

THE ROSEWOOD HUNT by Mackenzie Reed

#illustration #books #watercolor #literature #fiction #2023 #poetry #ya #middle grade #kidlit #graphic novel #comics #graphic memoir #Kelly link #galley brag #arcs

[no-where-new-hero]

just finished kelly link's white cat, black dog, and her "tam lin" retelling, "the lady and the fox," is almost more of a fire and hemlock retelling than a "tam lin" one. the child protagonist saving an eccentric guy who starts out seeming old until he isn't, the heroine's distance from her mother, the fairies as flamboyant rich people, the prominence of a house, the use of time passing...idk it's probably just because i'm so fire and hemlock obsessed but as soon as i started it i was like ope there's the dwj coming out of kl at last.

#fire and hemlock #white cat black dog #diana wynne jones #kelly link #immortal poets society

[smallbeerpress]

Kathleen Jennings (Kindling, Flyaway) and Kelly Link (The Book of Love) one-off online event hosted by the great* people of Moon Palace.

Tuesday March 5th, 2024 @ 5:00PM Central

* How do I know they are great? Their bestselling book for the whole store for the whole year wasn't anything you'd expect, it was Junauda Petrus & Kristen Uroda's brilliant and inspiring picture book Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers.

#kelly link #kathleen jennings #moon palace #reading

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"The Summer People" is available to read here

#short stories #short story #the summer people #kelly link #american literature #english language literature #21st century literature #have you read this short fiction? #book polls #completed polls #links to text

[forthegothicheroine]

When I assign reading, I assign "The Lady of the House of Love." I usually put a ghost story by M. R. James on my workshop reading lists, too; also Lucy Lane Clifford's "The New Mother", James R. Tiptree's "The Screwfly Solution", George Saunders's "Sea Oak", Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Poacher", Joe Hill's "My Father's Mask." What I hope for, when I assign these stories, is of course not that the writers in my workshop will figure out how to write Angela Carter stories or Joe Hill stories, but rather that they will figure out something about their own approach to storytelling, point of view, and boldness. The literature of the fantastic is peculiar in that stories are necessarily in conversation with other stories, dependent on other stories to achieve their effect. There is no such thing as a vampire, except in stories, because of stories. If the writers in my workshops go on to introduce the fantastic into their own work, I want to make sure that they, too, have encountered Carter's countess, descendent of Dracula and Carmilla, and so on. I want them to see how it's possible to blend together in one story the gothic, the comic, the camp, and the cataclysmic. Writers will go on to achieve their own blends, their own effects, and yet there will be a mustard seed of Angela Carter in there as well, I imagine. How could there not be?

Kelly Link, introduction to The Bloody Chamber

#writing #kelly link #angela carter #the bloody chamber

[oracleofmadness]

I have two main thoughts on this book that sort of are in conflict. First, the book is just a bit too long imo. Second, it's just an incredible, brilliant piece of fantasy.

I was really flummoxed by how long the book was bc for whatever reason this seemed insurmountable at times. But there was no way I could have stopped reading. This author speaks on magic in so many different forms and, for obvious and yet still surprising reasons, love being one of the greatest forms of them all.

This book begins with Susannah, one of my favorite characters, grieving the loss of her little sister, Laura. She also grieves for the simultaneous loss of her friend Mo and ex-boyfriend Daniel. When a year passes and all three miraculously return to life, they find out about some pretty incredible changes and begin a sort of test to try and stay alive.

This story is full. It is told from all character's perspectives throughout and really left me feeling like I have gone through this whole thing with them. Not just main characters, but the community itself. The author doesn't just paint a picture but truly fleshed out these individuals. And, yet I feel like they are all endlessly bound together. I really enjoyed this!

Out February 13, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

#book #bookish #books #bookworm #currently reading #book review #read #bookblogger #reading #fantasy #great book #the book of love #kelly link #love this book #love this #long reads

[balbet13]

#you can call me mother #illustration #drawing #traditional drawing #book illustration #kelly link #сatskin