Nico Von
A stirring mixture of style and content, of which the undoubted highlights for me were the sharp and esoteric ‘What Makes a Shadow' by J. Daniel Stone, the pitch black whimsy of ‘Last of the Clown Hunters' by Andrew Wilmot and the skin crawling fever-dream of ‘The Mother Chase' by Alana I. Capria. The smattering of intriguing non-fiction articles and tenebrous selection of art added just the right amount of variety to an overall fine anthology. I'll be picking up volume two imminently.
If there is a better ‘attacked by cosmic swine-things and transported to the death of the universe to contract an alien fungal infection' story, then I've certainly never heard of it.
Avoid the 2008 edition with the gilt edged pages - it has numerous grammatical and typesetting errors. The corrected 2011 edition has silver page edging.
I really wanted to give this a higher rating, as it certainly kept me turning the pages (the deliciously descriptive satanic rituals and the coven itself are a delight), but much like it's titular character, the narrative starts to crumble towards the end. After everything Isobel endures, resulting in the hardening (and liberation) of her character against her oppressors, she seems to just give up her arduously earned destiny right at the crucial moment, leaving us with a disappointing and ultimately unsatisfying resolution. Some may feel I've missed the point, as undoubtedly Jane Parkhurst wanted to retain a sense of history regarding the ‘real' Isobels fate, but the weak and lamentable finale can't help but leave a musty aftertaste.