I grabbed a paperback of Signs and Portents by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, among a bunch of other books, the last time I was in Atlanta. I think the copy of Signs and Portents was maybe .50¢. It is a collection of ten stories by Yarbro that are somewhat difficult to classify in a precise genre. Maybe they lean toward horror or science fiction/fantasy, but I think identifying them like that would mislead potential readers. So, normally I would not have picked up this book. However, I had to remind myself that I am supposed to be reading from a more expanded panorama and I saw it was cheap and threw it on the stack of books I had already collected. Why would I normally not read this book? Well, the scary graveyard 80s cover art, for one thing. I do not normally read books with those covers. Yes, very superficial. Secondly, Yarbro is around in science fiction/fantasy and I do not have any interest in her stories and she seems a little “far out,” maybe? I am not sure. In any case, this just is not a book I would gravitate to.
Sadly, after having read the stories, a fiesty part of me wants to exclaim that this proves my point and that my instincts were correct! Honestly, the ten stories averaged out to a two-star rating, but there were plenty of single star and two star stories and maybe I was being somewhat generous with a three-star here and there. So, it actually took a lot out of me to read through this, because it was just not very good.
- Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin’ – (1984) – 2 stars
- Depth of Focus – (1984) – 2 stars
- Space/Time Arabesque – (1978) – 1 star
- Savory, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme – (1981) – 3 stars
- Best Interest – (1978) – 3 stars
- The Ghosts at Iron River – (1973) – 1 star
- Fugitive Colors – (1979) – 1 star
- Coasting – (1983) – 2 stars
- The Arrows – (1983) – 2 stars
- The End of the Carnival – (1984) – 3 stars
This collection was first published in 1987. It contains a variety of stories that have a diverse range of settings. It is my belief that the two best stories in the collection are Savory, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme and The End of the Carnival. In fact, I feel any interested reader would do well to just skip everything in the collection but those two stories. However, I want to also say I am not just picking these two stories “because they are the best of the bunch.” They are, actually, quite decent reads irrespective of the surrounding stories.
Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin’ is predictable, but its a decent story to start the collection. Its really not a terrible story, but it is very predictable and a little tedious. Even if something is predictable, it can be suspenseful, but somehow that suspense was absent. Still, its a good one to settle the reader in to the book. A modern, mundane setting in which an unseen entropy is at work.
Depth of Focus is quite unique. It, again, is a modern setting, but quite noir and maybe that is what earned it two stars instead of just one. I liked the pacing and the way the time in the story was depicted. I also liked disliking the main character. Unfortunately, the ending just fell down and maybe it could have had a little moral adage or a provoking assertion, but instead it was flat. The end. I did mention it has a noir feel to it – and I did like a certain turn of phrase: “…there was no conviction in his words and his eyes were like chips of stone.” (page 24). The ‘chips of stone’ to describe eyes really caught me. I liked this wordworking.
Space/Time Arabesque is not really a story. Its got a few alternative history lines/paragraphs. It feels too weak; like an idea that could have been so much better, even if we kept its choppy stylings. I liked only one “snippet” in the thing, which involved an alternate “Sherlock Holmes.”
Savory, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is definitely the best piece in the collection. It is well-written and feels like a finished work from start to finish. It is both shocking and horrific and yet, weirdly, endearing and sympathy-drawing. It is a rural setting wherein the main character is a teenage girl. The girl, Amy, evenutally is the pivot of the story when she turns from lovesick, to stubborn, to empowered, to vengeful. Its a story that has elements of the shift from traditional to modern and from patriarchical to otherwise. There is actually a lot one can unpack from this story. The ending is somewhat shocking – you can see it coming, but its got the twist and victory anyway. Recommended for readers who like revenge stories, coming-of-age stories, witches (herb women), and nighttime forest adventures.
Best Interest is a good story to a point. I hestitated on giving it three-stars – that feels like a gift. It is smutty and the characters are snarly and vile. It is easily the most obviously science fiction in the collection because of the main gimmick, which is a household “computer” that has residents’ best interests at heart. And in 1987 it was probably more interesting than now – “now” when Google, Siri, Alexa, Cortana, et al. are a chorus in our world. No, it does deserve the three-stars. The ending is rueful, black humor, which offsets the somewhat unpleasant reality of ill-tempered future humans.
The Ghosts at Iron River and Fugitive Colors are bad. Really bad. The one is a total mess – as if it wanted to be a noir rural crime story and then turns into a tribal dispute, which degenerates into bickering and then just gets worse until the ending happens and its pointless. Fugitive Colors is maybe an attempt to write very meta…. esoteric… science fiction from deep, deep space. But it just feels painful and tedious as heck. I am surprised I survived reading these, my word!
Coasting is a story I would likely enjoy. The probability of me enjoying a story that takes place “at sea” is high. I really liked the setting and the problems that the main character faces and the descriptions are vivid and, honestly, quite frightening. However, the horror is ruined by awful introspective drivel about the character’s relationships with his ex-wife and his son and it kills the suspense and all the work of the wordsmithing. Still, it probably is worth reading for the setting.
The Arrows is also fairly predictable and unsurprising, and yet seems like it is so plausible. It feels realistic and maybe has a perspective of artist-painters that just seems to stereotype them. The unique thing amidst all the predictability was the subject of the main character’s painting. It works well with the story, but it still feels like an unique and interesting selection by the author. Literally, this one is a “graphic horror.”
The End of the Carnival is a heckuva way to end the collection. Once again the unique and unusual setting for this one really does a lot of the work for the story. It is also one of the more “completed and polished” in the collection. It is a revenge tale, but the revenge is also bittersweet. Sorrows all over the place here, some little twist per page to make the story interesting and unpredictable. The main character is strong-willed and stubborn and her rôle is dynamic. She takes ownership and she stands up to injustice. It is another story worth reading for the unusual perspective and storyline that deals with an accident at a power company and the victims/sufferers that are left in that accident’s wake. Not a story full of joy, though.
Savory, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme and The End of the Carnival are worth reading because they are unique perspectives with lots of unusual elements. And they are the ones that feel the most put-together and established. I do not know if I would suggest readers go out of their way to get these two stories read. However, these stories will probably be enjoyed by readers who are looking for a little more than the usual, dull and predictable storylines.
2 stars
AQ's Reviews 