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Review

The Pavilion of Frozen Women

S. P. Somtow

1996

Gollancz






Review by Peter Young in The Thai Literary Supplement #5 (June 2016).


Somtow’s first UK short story collection was published by Gollancz and featured the spooky title novella (a World Fantasy Award nominee) as well as the masterful American Civil War zombie tale ‘Darker Angels’ which formed the basis of the novel of the same name. A few themes crop up again and again, deliberately so: zombies, theology, fathers and sons, dangerously fucked-up Christians believing they’re angels, and some retellings of a few of the more violent Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Best is the Vietnam fantasy ‘The Steel American’, as well as the chilling Frankenstein-like story ‘Chui Chai’, the only story set in Bangkok. Some are beginning to date in style but they’re still consistently good, even the deeply weird ‘Hunting the Lion’ which predictably enough was written for Weird Tales. His mastery of idiosyncratic Americanisms is also entertaining and dead on target. Good if rather violent fun, often with some well-considered depths in the right places.