Animate Objects

by Tanith Lee

There is no such thing as an animate object.

An ultra limited edition of 8 short works from life achievement award winner 2013 Tanith Lee.

The Occasional Table
Torhec The Sculptor
Doll Re Mi
A House On Fire
Eva Beneath The Serpent Tree
La Dame
The Pretty Knife
The Bench

And you're quite safe. This is only a book. An inanimate object.

Genres: Fantasy

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.

Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.

Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.

Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.

Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.

Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.

Reviews

[Karl]

Although I would truly love to own the hardcover of this book, this is the paperback version that has it's own allure. From the back cover of the paperback -> "The original hardback of this collection of which there were only 35 copies, was published by Immanion Press in 2013, to commemorate Tanith Lee receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at World Fantasycon. It included five previously unpublished pieces. This new release includes a further two stories, co-written by Tanith Lee and John Kaiine, and new interior illustrations by Jarod Mills."

The two stories new to this collection are:

211 - "Death Fell in Love With A Stuffed Marmoset In A Taxidermist's Store Front Window"
173 - "Unlocked"
007 - Introduction to the new edition - Storm Constantine

The illustrations are really nice.

Perhaps one day I shall run across the hardcover of this collection. It is nice to have something to search for that is impossible to find, raison d'être.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this Tanith Lee anthology all the stories and poems are themed around objects - from the banal (a diary) to the bizarre (a taxidermy marmoset). It was really hard to rate this one because the stories vary greatly: in quality from 5* to 1*, in genre (magic realism, horror, fantasy, lesbian gothic, poetry), and style. It's rather all over the place.

I'll start with the 1* "Death Fell in Love with a stuffed marmoset in a Taxidermist's store front window." Promising title, but easily the worst thing I think I've read by Lee - It's stream of consciousness utter drivel.

On the other end of the scale we have "Unlocked" loosely inspired I feel by Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla only without the vampire element - a doomed tale of Lesbian romance. Loved this one. And I also loved "the occasional table" in which an occasional table takes on the jealousy of its buyer and goes on a killing spree.

One of the things I love about Lee is her originality and ability to surprise me, The fantasy 'The Pretty Knife" is a great example - you think things are going to pan out in a certain way and then this completely veers direction. The other great thing about this story is fantasy world building - In a 26 page story this establishes a fantasy world that most authors only manage in an entire novel.

Another rather unexpected twist tale is 'A house on fire' - generally you expect murderers to be haunted by the ghost of a victim, not the spirit of the victim's house....

So Animate Objects showcases both the best and worst of Lee's work, but some of the stories here are so strong that they more than make up for the couple of duds.