Once Upon a Time *Pretty Monsters*

So I'm at work on this particular Saturday and it has its advantage for today's Once Upon a Time pick. I could wander over to the shelves and have my pick. I don't have a lot of fiction at home, I tend to leave galley copies at work and I use the library as well. So it was great to remember Kelly Link's Pretty Monsters because it is PERFECT for my use today.

First off, the cover is gorgeous. Shaun Tan also provides amazing illustrations throughout this collection of short stories. When I thought of doing this post I was like "if I can't find a Pretty Monsters Shaun Tan illustration to include in this post, then I'm not doing it". Pretty silly considering the available content of images and info online, and also silly because Kelly's writing is mindblowing and absolutley worthy of its own post.

So, here is the opening of the first story in this collection, from The Wrong Grave:

All of this happened because a boy I once knew named Miles Sperry decided to go into the ressurectionist business and dig up the grave of his girlfriend, Bethany Baldwin, who had been dead for not quite a year. Miles planned to do this in order to recover the sheaf of poems he had, in what he'd felt was a beautiful and romantic gesture, put into her casket. Or possibly it had just been a really dumb thing to do. He hadn't made copies. Miles had always been impulsive. I think you should know that right up front.

When I read the first story I was floored by the story, the voices, everything. On the back of the book there is a quote from Garth Nix saying, "{Kelly Link is}...almost certainly not human. I believe she is a storytelling elemental who has unearthly powers that she uses to create wondrous and deeply fascinating tales". Truly, I imagine this woman with a unicorn in her lap, she is so wondrous. *gush gush*

Oh, good. I just checked and the paperback is available this October. Oh, also, you can read The Wrong Grave on her website!