Cat in Glass: And Other Tales of the Unnatural

by Nancy Etchemendy

The eight tales in this collection by Nancy Etchemendy weave great suspense with interesting plots and unusual characters. "Lunch at Etienne’s" is a story narrated by a woman who is surrounded by death but doesn’t seem to realize it. "Cat in Glass" is about a mysterious, malevolent sculpted cat that commits gruesome murders and is told from the point of view of the sculpture’s frightened and bewildered owner. There is also "The Sailor’s Bargain", a captivating story about an orphan whose haunting dreams lead to a stark revelation of another life, and "The Lily and the Weaver’s Heart", in which a one-eyed Jacinth dares to take her place in a cruel world by risking a journey that is usually reserved for the most able-bodied men of the culture.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

ebook

First published September 17, 2002

About the author

Nancy Elise Howell Etchemendy is a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her novels, short fiction, and poetry have appeared regularly since 1980, both in the United States and abroad. Her work has earned a number of awards, including three Bram Stoker Awards (two for children’s horror), a Golden Duck Award for excellence in children’s science fiction, and an International Horror Guild Award. Her fourth novel, The Power of Un, was published by Front Street/ Cricket Books in March 2000. Cat in Glass and Other Tales of the Unnatural, her collection of short dark fantasy for young adults, was published in 2002, also by Front Street/ Cricket Books and appears on the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list for 2002. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts and English Literature from University of Nevada, Reno. She is a former officer of the Horror Writers Association, and currently serves on the board of the Clarion Foundation. She attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop in 1982 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. She lives and works in Northern California and is married to John Etchemendy, Provost of Stanford University.

Reviews

[Miss Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became acquainted with Nancy Etchemendy's writing when I had to review The Restless Dead. Her story, Honey in the Wound, was the final entry in the anthology and I liked it so much I decided to check out her other stuff. I enjoyed Cat in Glass overall but loooooved it because of two or three shining star stories. But first, here's my story-by-story breakdown. (1) The Flat-Brimmed Hat - a young girl with a broken heart contemplates suicide only to be stopped by her future self. This was decent and reminded me of an Amazing Stories episode I saw a long time ago. (2) Clotaire's Balloon - two young kids cope with their mean aunt who comes to help take care of them during their mother's terminal illness. The kids rescue Fronch (or maybe Canadian?) balloonist/genie/alternate world visitor Clotaire and he grants them a wish in exchange. This was another okay story. Not amazing but pretty good. (3) The Lily and the Weaver's Heart - Jacinth is a weaver born with only one eye. She befriends a one-legged cobbler named Joth. In Jacinth's village, dudes choose their ladymates after embarking on a coming of age ritual that involves a quasi hero quest for a lily. When I finished it I simultaneously gushed, fan-girl-squealed, and sighed contentedly. Jacinth is such an awesome, gender-role-eschewing character. I had fantasies of teaching a short story class or starting a reading club just so I could evangelize about The Lily & the Weaver's Heart. (4) Cat in Glass - an artist creates a sculpture that embodies his madness and then sells it before going to an insane asylum. Glass cat goes around doing evil deeds. This story was a little gory and a lot creepy and fun. Warnings for child death! (5) Lunch at Etienne's - a fancy, rich lady refuses to stop her lunch dates despite the insanity and death around her. And I do mean DEATH, y'all. Hee hee! I loved Lunch at Etienne's! Black humor tralalala! It made me think of something Roald Dahl would write. (6) The Sailor's Bargain - an undergraduate foundling has crazy dreams about experiences she's never had. Oh, and she can sorta conjure the wind which is pretty cool. This was my second favorite story. I lurved the angsty ending. (7) The Tuckahoe - after a sinister rain storm a weird ginourmous fungus thing kills a young dude's family and some chickens. I had really high hopes for this story. There was a violent blurb at the front of Cat in Glass that made me all excited to read it. But meh, y'all, I was kinda underwhelmed, particularly when the lone survivor guy describes the Big Bad as a mushroom. Really? A mushroom? (8) Shore Leave Blacks - this story, like Flat-Brimmed Hat, was more sci-fi than horror. I gotta say, I prefer Nancy's Etchemendy's horror stories to her sci-fi. Still, Shore Leave Blacks wasn't bad. There's this cosmonaut lady who's reluctant to attend her family reunion because her son will be there. She's been away for a superspace year or like, 40 earth years.
So anyway, readers, if you pick up Cat in Glass and have to return it to the library before you can read the entire thing, make sure you read The Lily and the Weaver's Heart first. That story rocked my world. Then read Lunch at Etienne's, The Sailor's Bargain, Cat in Glass, Shore Leave Blacks, The Tuckahoe, Clothaire's Balloon, and The Flat-Brimmed Hat.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my middle school aged granddaughter reported being entranced by Nancy Etchemendy’s Power of Un, I found this volume of Etchemendy short stories and bought it as a potential gift. Of course, I had to read it first. The tales range from the quirky to the eerie, perhaps a couple even a bit scary. The stories are written at the middle school level. I found them each entertaining. In each, there is some twist - a moment when the heart of the story becomes clear. Fun! Now off it goes to its intended next reader!

[Flipzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although some of the stories are rather boring, majority of the short stories in this book are very interesting and keep you wondering what could happen next. Pretty average but definitely worth a read.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deft collection of short fantasies for YAs and adults.

[Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Twilight Zone in book form. Hard to give a rating as each story is different. Didnt really care for the first two. They were just kind of boring.

[Divina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Enthusiastic Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky, occasionally creepy, and fun!

[Aireon · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book u are always on a different topic of weird and frighting stories. "The Lily and the Weaver's Heart" is one of the stories you will read about of a strong-hearted, one-eyed village girl who makes a life for herself and her lover, a one-legged cobbler. She does this by selling her weavings and taking his place in a time-honored courting ritual where village men set out on a week long hunt for a rare lily for their future kids. So knowing that i would say my 5 songs would have to be "Put the blame on me" by Akon because of how the one-eyed girl blames her work as a weaver put out her left eye. The second song i would chose is "Yo" by Chris Brown because when Samantha set out to look for her pet dog in the Forbiden Forest she was stoped but her lover Redein, and when he caught up with her he let her know the reason he stoped her is to tell her that he would help her look instead of go out and hunt. My third song would be "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown because after she hears him say that he would stay and help her look for the dog she gave him a loving kiss. My fourth song now would be "I Wonder" by Kanye West that reason is because as Redein and Samantha walk throught the Forbiden Forest Samantha begins to think about how life would be if Redein and her-self had a family. The last song that i would pick is "Live in the sky" by T.I. because when Samantha went out to get the lily for the village ritual she was killed in a quick and dramatic way, but even though she died and was eaten but the spirt of the Forbiden Forest she lived strong-heartedly.

[Tejas Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but well-written collection of eight short stories. The supernatural tales were genuinely creepy. There were a couple of sci-fi stories and those captured my imagination and were touching rather than spooky. I liked these quite a lot, enough for 4 stars but just a little short for 5 stars. I read one or two of these a day, often at bedtime over the past week.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of fantasy/horror tales! Made me want to read more by this author.

[SR · Rating 3 out of 5]

...GUH. I think I only read two or three of these out of wanting to be able to ever sleep again.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved some of these stories and really wished they were longer.

[Jean Matthews]

Too scary to finish

[Ivy Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scared me senseless when I read it at 16 or so.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lily and the Weaver's Heart was BY FAR my favorite while the rest were okay :)