Hunting the Shadows: 02 (Selected Stories of Tanith Lee)

While lots of people go ga-ga over Tanith Lee's writings, I am slowly realising that those impressions must have got developed during late 70-s and early 80-s. Unfortunately, Wildside Press has, in a rather wily ploy, seems to have decided to dispose off the boring and drab stories of 90-s and thereafter, in the first two collections of her stories. Consequently, almost all these stories, while displaying the author's trademark prose & imagery, often reach nowhere at their end. Nevertheless, I would like to express my thoughts with respect to the stories, as under: -1. "The Woman in Scarlet": Freud would have made it a chapter in his books. As a mere mortal, I simply felt disgusted.2. "Zelle's Thursday": Evoked a few chuckles (or were they groans?). Reading stories like this makes me really nostalgic for Asimov.3. "Unlocking the Golden Cage": Good, but so darned predictable that it could have been included in a book of fables.4. "The Eye in the Heart": Horrible, yet exquisite.5. "Vermilla": Good. Neat.6. "Flower Water": Good, but entirely formulaic.7. "Doll Skulls": Reading 'The Happy Prince' would have been more profitable!8. "Queens in Crimson": Readable feminist stuff, that seemed to be contrived towards an ending that could be seen from the beginning.9. "All the Birds of Hell": Exactly what the author sought to convey through this piece, beats me. Perhaps there would be more receptive readers, who were intended at the time of its birth.10. "The Persecution Machine": And this is the (mandatory) soporific that would draw Morpheus to anybody!11. "Antonius Bequeathed": Another weird, pointless, well-written, and utterly vapid story.12. "One for Sorrow": And just as I was practically sharpening the knives inside my mind to slash this collection into ribbons, the last story simply stunned me. No, I won't summarise it. You just have to read it.And with that, Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that I have come to the end of my reading of Tanith Lee. I would continue my search for a readable copy of "Cyrion", but except that one book, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH.