astralstreeting reviewed Tales of Pain & Wonder by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Good enuff to read her later work...
3 stars
This book didn't start well for me. The introduction by Douglas E. Winter is the worst intro to a book I have ever encountered. Then the author herself admits it is cringey in the preface. So it took me awhile to warm up to the stories in the collection.
Yup, parts of it are cringey self-conscious 90s subculture stuff. I wouldn't have liked it at all back then but there's good stuff shining through that I recognize reading it here and now.
Peter Straub's afterword is excellent -- it pinpoints what is good about this collection and gives me hope that Kiernan's later writings will align much more with the vision she is trying and nearly failing to get across here.