The Doll Collection
Seventeen Brand-New Tales of Dolls
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Doll Collection is exactly what it sounds like: a treasured toy box of all-original dark stories about dolls of all types, including everything from puppets and poppets to mannequins and baby dolls.
Featuring everything from life-sized clockwork dolls to all-too-human Betsy Wetsy-type baby dolls, these stories play into the true creepiness of the doll trope, but avoid the clichés that often show up in stories of this type.
Master anthologist Ellen Datlow has assembled a list of beautiful and terrifying stories from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Pat Cadigan, Tim Lebbon, Richard Kadrey, Genevieve Valentine, and Jeffrey Ford. The collection is illustrated with photographs of dolls taken by Datlow and other devoted doll collectors from the science fiction and fantasy field. The result is a star-studded collection exploring one of the most primal fears of readers of dark fiction everywhere, and one that every reader will want to add to their own collection. Stories in this anthology by: Stephen Gallagher, Joyce Carol Oates, Gemma Files, Pat Cadigan, Lucy Sussex, Tim Lebbon, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Stephen Graham Jones, Miranda Siemienowicz, Mary Robinette Kowal, Richard Bowes, Genevieve Valentine, Richard Kadrey, Veronica Schanoes, John Langan, Jeffrey Ford
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dolls, puppets, and other human simulacra are objects of fear and wonder in this eclectic anthology of 17 excellent original stories that Datlow (Nightmare Carnival) selected for their ability to "mine the uncanniness of dolls for all its worth." In Stephen Gallagher's "Heroes and Villains," the creepy candor with which a ventriloquist's dummy tells truths about its deceased former owner suggests that it's not the current owner who is speaking through it. Joyce Carol Oates's "The Doll-Master" is narrated by the title character, who gradually reveals the ghoulish nature of his "doll" collection. Datlow's ban on clich d "evil doll" stories encouraged contributors to explore refreshingly original ideas, including the doll hospital in Veronica Schanoes's "The Permanent Collection," which nods to E.T.A. Hoffmann's classic "The Sandman" while depicting a Mengele-like surgeon named Coppelius, and the strange folk tradition of Jeffrey Ford's "The Word Doll," in which children are compelled to escape into the world of an imaginary playmate. Accompanying photos of dolls and their parts intensify the eeriness of these works, which easily transcend their familiar theme.
Customer Reviews
The sample is amazing
Incredible free sample short story in this collection by Ellen Datlow. Story called "Skin and Bone". I don't get scared from stories, but this one was scary. If you dare, this winter, read that story in some old cabin or tent in the snowy wilderness — you'll get scared. If the sample speaks for the whole collection, which I'm sure it does, this is a highly, highly recommended book.