Engines of Desire
Tales of Love & Other Horrors
by Livia Llewellyn, introduction by Laird Barron
Death and pleasure. Freud's Todestrieb, his statement that "libido has the task of making the destroying instinct innocuous, and it fulfils the task by diverting that instinct to a great extent outwards....The instinct is then called the destructive instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power." Few authors have spun stories of Thanatos and Eros as skillfully and powerfully as Livia Llewellyn. In his introduction to this volume, Laird Barron writes, "Scant difference exists between exquisite pleasure and pain." An orphan girl with a mind for anthracite falls into the hands of a cult worshipping an entombed god. In the Pacific Northwest, evergreens lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs. A suburban housewife troubled by her present encounters the sixteen-year-old girl she ached to touch in her dreams. These ten stories promise to indulge a reader's sensibilities, fears, and desires.
A finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award in two categories: Best Novella and Best Collection!
Paperback, 214 pages
"This is a deliciously nasty little book. On a purely aesthetic level, Lethe has crafted a beautiful artifact – from the evocative cover by photographer Katharina Fösel to the handsome design by Alex Jeffers, there isn’t an off note. Fairly or not, a lovely mounting such as this raises expectations of the work’s quality before one even begins to read, but, blessed is the fortunate reader, Llewellyn is up to the task of surpassing even the loftiest anticipation." - Jesse Bullington for Innsmouth Free Press
"This a fine book written with such personal and illustrative prose that you often feel as if you're viewing the action through the harried eyes of the narrator. It is dark, engaging, and stirring in all the right ways.'' - Alex Brown for Tor.com
"If you like challenging dark fantasy and horror fiction, you must read Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors, because you'll be sorry if you don't. If you're familiar with dark fiction and know what kind of stories are out there, you'll be impressed by this collection, because Livia Llewellyn has her own writing style and she writes fluently about all kinds of things. If you're looking for "something different" and "something new", look no further because you've just found what you've been looking for. This collection is a stunning accomplishment, so make sure that you'll read it." - RisingShadow.net