''Alabaster'' is a

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

collection by American writer

Caitlin R. Kiernan Caitlin () is a female given name of Irish origin. Historically, the Irish name Caitlín was anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s, however, non-Irish speakers began pronouncing the name according to English spelling rules as , which ...

. It consists of five stories concerning the misadventures of Dancy Flammarion, the albino girl and monster hunter who first appeared in Kiernan's 2001 novel, ''Threshold''. The tales follow Dancy from her childhood in the backwoods and swamps of the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

panhandle to her teenage duels with strange and murderous creatures in south Georgia. Haunted by a being which may or may not be an angel, Dancy is driven from one encounter to the next, gradually beginning to doubt the nature of her quest. All of these stories occur before the events of ''Threshold''. Released by

Subterranean Press Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novels, short stor ...

, the book is illustrated by

Ted Naifeh Edward "Ted" Naifeh is an American comic book writer and artist known for his illustrations in the goth romance comic ''Gloomcookie''. Naifeh has since become most known as the creator of the Eisner Award, Eisner-Award-nominated series ''Courtney ...

. The collection was released with a

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

containing a sixth Dancy Flammarion story, "Highway 97." The book's afterword, "On the Road to Jefferson," was originally released as a chapbook by Subterranean Press in 2002 to accompany the hardcover edition of "''Les Fleurs Empoisonnées,''" titled ''In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers''. In 2009, Subterranean Press released a trade paperback edition of the collection through its now defunct Far Territories imprint. In February 2014,

Dark Horse Books Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

released a new and expanded second edition of ''Alabaster'', with a new author's preface and "Highway 97," a Dancy Flammarion story that had, until then, been available only as a Subterranean Press chapbook. Both paperback editions include the original Ted Naifeh artwork. The Dark Horse edition includes a new cover by Greg Ruth.

Contents (First Edition)

*Author's Preface **"''Les Fleurs Empoisonnées''" **"The Well of Stars and Shadow" **"Waycross" **"Alabaster" **"Bainbridge" *Afterword: "On the Road to Jefferson"

External links

* {{isfdb title, id=182771, title=Alabaster 2006 short story collections Fantasy short story collections Short story collections by Caitlín R. Kiernan Subterranean Press books