I just finished reading the book Wide Eyed
by Trinie Dalton, and it has become an instant all-time favorite. It is essentially a collection of short stories, except all of the stories are from the same first-person perspective. They seem semi-autobiographical, but what is true and what isn't really doesn't matter. What does matter is that each story is a sort of free-associative meditation on life and death and mystery and magic. You know what? That description doesn't do it justice. Let me try again: Do you like stories filled with glam rockers, glass figurines, mushrooms, sexual predators, unicorns, candy, horror movies, grandmotherly ghosts, and lavender cats? Do you like reading about video games, moonlit gardens, solitude, fairy tales, and theme parks? Do you like books which are funny and strange and touching without being schmaltzy? Then this is the book for you. It's so fresh and imaginative, yet surprisingly grounded and filled with rainbow-colored emotional subtlety. It's unlike anything I have read before.
Some other reasons why Trinie Dalton rules: 1. She is also an artist (the book cover is an example of her visual work). 2. She has another book coming out called MYTHTYM
, which is a collection of zines she's made about werewolves and other mythical creatures. 3. She is also a freelance journalist, and did an awesome feature in the last issue of Arthur about one of my favorite bands, Brightblack Morning Light.
Trinie Dalton, Phantasmaphile salutes you!
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