These stories invest their fantastical premises with surprising emotional resonance. The collection is full of wild beasts like vampires, scarecrows, women turning into silkworms, equine former presidents, and magical tattoos, but I remember the feelings more than the fantasy. The strongest stories are metaphors for self-empowerment.
Russell's stories are very traditional in structure, in fact they often felt like variations on stock "creative writing program" narratives. She's such a strong writer, though, that they transcend all of the genres they partake of.
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