"What's say we go double or nothing?" - Mayor Maldoon

Hannett throws down the gauntlet to erstwhile readers with a collection of twelve stories that aren't quite what you would expect from a dark genre collection. The Author has her own voice, isn't afraid to let it sing, and delivers a collection that is remarkably striking. There's something very distinctive about Hannett's style of writing, something that will reach even the most cynical reader as she takes him/her on a journey through the byways of dark undergrowth just off the well beaten path of mainstream horror. Haven't yet put my finger on a comparison, but by the end of this review I believe we will arrive at just what makes Hannett's writing so good and who she reminds me of in a literary sense. Strap on a guitar and let's go and blast away the blues.

In one of those weird occurrences that keep threatening to burst Western Civilisation asunder, okay that might just be me, Lisa L. Hannett is an Aussie living in South Australia (our condolences), with time spent in Country in Canada and of all places Iceland. Naturally therefore she writes up a storm in a particularly Southern American gothic fashion. Her writing simply drips bayou water all over the pages of the collection as Hannett captures the South's style of making it all down home. Check Anne River Siddon's The House Next Door for a similar sensibility. While the timber of the words sound alien to a Downunder ear, there's something in the beat that just wants to make you dance to the Author's music. So if expecting Australian harshness, or indeed the prim and proper crispness of British Writers then you are out of luck. What you will get are engrossing stories with a foreign diction that flow off the page in almost lyric fashion. While Hannett goes about capturing the voice of the South, it's not going to take you out of Bluegrass Symphony, the sensibilities may not be what we're all use to but the song remains the same in terms of what each story aims at achieving in a dark genre fashion.

I found the writing style easy enough to follow, there's nothing here that should take the reader out of the collection, but did trip up occasionally on the diction. Regular viewers of True Bloodshould be right in their element, though I would emphasise that Hannett isn't bringing the sex it up high or gore quotas from that show to the table. Though there will be blood. Hannatt's prose is almost poetry in motion, so if you enjoy grooving to something slightly different from death among the gumtrees then dial on in.

To the stories themselves, and there's some outstanding writing going down here, while Hannett is quite happy to throw vampires, serial killers, and the odd backwoods witchy happening onto the page, we're not talking out and out horror per sue. I get the feeling Hannett, while enjoying frolicking in the dark genre fields, had other fish to fry in terms of effectiveness and mood. For sure we're covering some common ground, but we're doing so in that Southern Fried almost surrealistic fashion that our colleagues from South of the Mason/Dixon line seem able to conjure up without even trying. Hannett through the twelve stories in her collection captures the almost permanently dusk feel of the Southern gothic, no mean feat considering this isn't her stomping ground.

While I'm not going to mention all twelve stories, we would be here for a month of Sundays if I did, I am going to highlight three outings that for mine sum up the excellent nature of the collection at hand. From the Teeth of Strange Children sees Hannett tackle the vampire story, and while you might be thinking "here we go again" I can attest that the Writer throws on a tale that is so different to any other vampire tale you might have read that you will almost be in the position of claiming you are dealing with another mythical creature entirely. While Hannett's vampers don't sparkle in the daylight, as any self-respecting vampire shouldn't, they aren't exactly the Bram Stokerish Lord Byron types either. Hannett gets downright biological with her blood suckers and goes beyond the normal depiction of the undead, here term used correctly, to paint an almost helpless desperation of their victims in the face of almost primal forces of nature. It's a great story that makes the mush Stephenie Meyers pumps out look like the inane crayon drawings of a particularly ungifted two year old. Hannett is a much better Writer than Meyers could ever hope to be, let's be honest here and forget about beating bushes to death with dead horses.

Depot to Depot sees Hannett attack the best serial killer yarn since Dexter hit the scene in an altogether engrossing tale of long distance hauling with blood on the highway. It's an enthralling piece of writing that lets you get into the mind of someone with a few Roos bouncing round the top paddock. The normal daily worries meet the extraordinary on the blacktop, you really can't ask for more. And finally I would point out Forever, Miss Tapekwa County as having something solid to say about beauty pageants and the lengths people will go to in order to get that damned sash happening. Hannett here hits the feminist bandwagon without having to bother with such bollocks as is the word "robust" a chauvinistic statement.

Okay so out of room here so wrapping prior to Editorial slashing. If you got the idea while reading the review that I dug Lisa L. Hannett's collection then you would be right on the money. I was simply having a real good time dialling through stories coming at me from a completely new angle to what I'm used to. Hannett has a strong voice, fingers and toes crossed she attempts a haunted house novel, I'd be digging that the most. Full recommendation, Hannett reminds us that the dark gothic short story is still an art form.

As ever if after a copy of the collection then browse on over to Ticonderoga Central and determine the best purchase option for your situation. All I'm going to say is the trade paperback is a work of wonder, but hey your choice on options. No pressure from over here at all. To check how completely wrong I got the details cruise to Lisa's website for all the good oil. Okay that's enough from me, I'm off checking the details of Hannett's next book that may or may not feature ghostly happenings.