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Apprehensions and Other Delusions
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is best known for her suave, vampire-about-the-world Count Saint-Germain, but she is also an accomplished short fiction writer as well. Five Star is proud to present the best of her dark fantasy and horror fiction all in one collection. Featuring a brand-new short story, "Fugues," and an introduction by noted editor Patrick LoBrutto, Apprehensions and Other Delusion s is a feast of psychological thrills and chills that readers will enjoy for many dark nights to come. Aside from writing, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has worked as a cartographer, read tarot cards and palms, and composed music, all of which she continues to do. Over the years she has studied seven different instruments, voice, and musical composition, voice, and piano have continued to be active interests for her.
Hardcover
First published November 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 22, 2024
2.5, rounded up. This had some neat ideas and elements, and a few stories I really liked, but wow. If you're a fan of the St. Germain books, be forewarned that this short fiction collection gets very, very, very dark. CW for sexual assault, torture, and war crimes.
August 8, 2018
And my final mop-up of Yarbro stories led me here, for two pieces. That's all I read and then back to Inter-Library Loan it goes!
"Confessions Of A Madman" is very strong story of "Brother Rat" who, after being determined a lunatic by the Inquisition who was investigating him for charges of heresy arising from his actions after the Black Plague destroyed his family and city, was thrown into the care of some monks (not after suffering some debilitating torture - the Inquisition has to keep up its standards, you know!). Now, years later, Brother Rat is dying and gives his last confession. This tale is very dark, with no "genre" element specifically but could certainly be considered a "conte cruel" as it turns on The Inquisition's ability, or lack thereof, to determine sanity or heresy, all while a poor man, in service of saving his loved ones, adopts a bit of wisdom that we all (hopefully) now consider common sense, but back then would have gotten all your teeth pulled out. No one expects the Religious Liberty Task Force!
Meanwhile, in "Novena", a nun strives to do good in a hopeless situation of eternal revolution and violence in some unnamed country. Man perpetrates horrors upon himself over and over and in the face of this, what good is faith? A dark, dark piece but well done all the same.
"Confessions Of A Madman" is very strong story of "Brother Rat" who, after being determined a lunatic by the Inquisition who was investigating him for charges of heresy arising from his actions after the Black Plague destroyed his family and city, was thrown into the care of some monks (not after suffering some debilitating torture - the Inquisition has to keep up its standards, you know!). Now, years later, Brother Rat is dying and gives his last confession. This tale is very dark, with no "genre" element specifically but could certainly be considered a "conte cruel" as it turns on The Inquisition's ability, or lack thereof, to determine sanity or heresy, all while a poor man, in service of saving his loved ones, adopts a bit of wisdom that we all (hopefully) now consider common sense, but back then would have gotten all your teeth pulled out. No one expects the Religious Liberty Task Force!
Meanwhile, in "Novena", a nun strives to do good in a hopeless situation of eternal revolution and violence in some unnamed country. Man perpetrates horrors upon himself over and over and in the face of this, what good is faith? A dark, dark piece but well done all the same.
December 30, 2014
I have yet to read a book by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro I did not like. Some I liked more than others... but the essential point is that I liked them all.
This collection is a bit of a departure from the St. Germain series and, if you have not read any of her other work, might surprise you by the breadth and depth of subjects and techniques. I'd like to say that it did not surprise me at all but I would be fibbing; I was delightfully surprised - again - with Yarbro's writing.
'Nuff said?
This collection is a bit of a departure from the St. Germain series and, if you have not read any of her other work, might surprise you by the breadth and depth of subjects and techniques. I'd like to say that it did not surprise me at all but I would be fibbing; I was delightfully surprised - again - with Yarbro's writing.
'Nuff said?
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews