Leavings [Paperback]

"Leavings" won the 1997 Bram Stoker Award. Instead of producing horror of the ghost-ghoul-goblin variety (although there is one vampire who preys only on her own blood-relatives), P.D. Cacek has tapped into a morbid, 'magical reality' for her stories. Two of her characters are dying of cancer and their loved ones can't let them go. A boutique shop owner and her employee try to cope with the death of a beautiful doll. An old woman protects her favorite grandchild from her dying husband's 'leavings'.

Merlin, a unicorn, and a gargoyle make an appearance in three of the stories, but for the most part, Cacek ignores the usual fantasy stereotypes and concentrates on twisting an ordinary life off-center, especially in the presence of death.

The blurb on the back cover states, "Not since Rod Serling terrified an entire generation with his 'Twilight Zone' series has anyone tapped into the well of fear that exists inside the human soul the way P.D. Cacek does..."

That's coming on a bit strong. Cacek didn't tap into my 'well of fear'. I don't think she meant to. 'Terrifying' is not the adjective I'd use to describe any of the stories in "Leavings". They are morbid, occasionally obsessive, sometimes humorous stories with dead-on characterizations (my favorite is the boyfriend from hell in "Heart of Stone").

"Ancient One" comes closest to terror, but the monster under the crib is telegraphed way in advance of its actual appearance.

"Under the Haystack" may have a ghost, but it is really the story of a woman who loses her unborn child.

"Leavings" has many good stories, misleadingly advertised.

I bought this book because I love horror and the supernatural and it was priced right. I've never heard of Cacek, and I was totally stunned by her wonderful short stories. She is truly a treasure of a writer! My goodness, this woman should be right up there with the best of horror/supernatural authors. Her stories grab you and hold you in as each story unravels. I will have to agree with the previous review by Stephen King - this is some of the best short stories I have ever had the pleasure to read! As you can tell I can't say enough about this book - I only hope I can fine tune my craft as well as P.D. Cacek has done.

Leavings is a collection of short fiction by the author. From the intro. it appears that these are earlier writings in her career and aren't her best work. The intro. was a bit odd but maybe I need to read it again . . .

"Leavings" tells the story of an old woman who believes that when one dies bits of their personality are passed on to whoever is near. As her mean spirited husband lay dying in a bed upstairs she does her best to keep her favorite grandchild away from the bed as he passes. What bothered me most about this story was the fact the she allowed her many other innocent grandchildren and her children to "inherit" his qualities and wasn't concerned in the least about them.

"Baby Dolls" is a sad little tale about a lonely, childless man who works for a woman running a porcelain doll shop. She praises him for his gentleness with her babies and when one of the dolls is damaged in transit he learns that quirkiness isn't the reason she's so careful around the dolls.

"Mime Games" tells the story of one woman's harrowing lunch hour run-in with a local mime. It says some disturbing things about human nature and isn't easily forgotten.

"The Princess" is about a spoiled little girl left to her devices. It's one of those "whose the ghost" type stories and left my mind shortly after reading it.

"Gilgamesh Recividus" tells the tale of immortal men and unicorns. It was another that just didn't stick with me.

"Ancient One" is about a cursed family and the teddy bear passed down through the generations that is much more than it seems. I liked this one more than the previous two but thoughts of a Koontz book featuring a similar type thing kept popping into my head. The one where the juju doll comes alive and wreaks havoc on its hapless protagonist? I think its called Tick Tock.

"Tomb with a View" Nice title but less than stellar story. This is about a New York city that is quickly being swallowed up by smog. One man decides to stick it out after nearly everyone else evacuates (or dies) and is slowly going mad. In this bizarre tale, the rats, the roaches and the underground dwellers move on up to his highrise. This story just never jelled for me.

"Under the Haystack" is a sad vignette about lost dreams, death and a ghost who may or may not be real.

"Heart of Stone" is about a heartless man who collects gargoyles. His hobby and callousness end up causing a whole lot of trouble! This would've made a good "Tales from the Darkside" episode.

"Here There Be Dragons" is another that didn't work for me at all. It's about merlin in the modern world and his search for a man to assist him in locating the holy grail. I was bored and skimmed most of it.

"Letting Go" is another tale of grief. More reality and just plain sad than horror or fantasy.

"Yrena" is about a male predator in post revolution Russia who takes in a homeless waif to use and abuse but discovers she's some sort of vampire. Morbid and a bit scattered, this one didn't work for me either.

The collection ends with "Just A Little Bug" that revisits the same theme as "Letting Go" and "Under the Haystack" but which is much more painful to read than either of them. It's about a little girl with terminal cancer and though extremely hard to read it makes one step back and think about the fragility of life.

In the end I have mixed feelings about this collection. Some were ok, some deadly dull and several extremely emotional but I wouldn't reread any of them.

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