I am just so desperate for Susanna Clarke

[pretty_plant]

As I was checking Susanna's Clarke amazon page, I found a strange book listed, "Tails of Wonder and Imagination". Apparently, it is a collection of book about cats written by authors, including Susanna Clarke. So I got it to check out Clarke's story. The story was called "The dweller in High Places" and apparently, it was written for the BBC before its first print appearance in this collection of short stories.

By that time, I was so desperate for new Clarke's content that I was willing to buy anything she wrote, including cookbooks (I am still now XD). It it is a charming story, set in roughly the same period as her other stories. It could have fit into The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories if it hadn't had The Sphinx what with the Sphinx's talk about lying heroes and then complimenting the main character by calling her heroine. However, it is too short, I read it in like 15 minutes so I was disappointed.

Comments

[ohveda]

It's a shame that "The Dweller in High Places" wasn't included in the Ladies of Grace Adieu. I haven't read it (although I'd love to) but I have listened to the BBC audio version. I'm sure the audio version is likely to be online somewhere if you search for it.

(Speaking of audio, the audio version of "Mrs Mabb" is very good and worth listening to. It includes the voice of Bertie Carvel no less!)

The only other "non-Adieu" short story of Susanna Clarke's that I know of is "Stopp't-Clock Yard". It's in a collection called "The Sandman: Book of Dreams", which is full of stories based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I haven't read the Sandman series at all, but I still enjoyed "Stopp't-Clock Yard". The style is very Susanna Clarke, and parts of it feel very proto-JSMN.

[pretty_plant]

It will probably be hard for her to include it in "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" because while "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" was published in 2006, "The Dweller in High Places" was first broadcasted in 2007.

I haven't read "Stopp't-Clock Yard yet", mostly because I haven't read The Sandman and think I might not understand the story if I read it.

[ohveda]

It's been a long time since I read "Stopp't-Clock Yard" so I can't say for certain, but I think most of the characters in it are OCs created by Clarke. Dream is in it (being very Uskglassian) but I don't think I needed to know anything about him beforehand. My memory of "Stopp't-Clock Yard" is very hazy; all I know is that my knowledge of the Sandman is non-existant, but I still found it an enjoyable short story.