In the Valley of the Kings: Stories

By Terrence Holt

Book Overview

Praised for his "beautifully crafted and strangely surreal" (Peter Matthiessen) stories, Terrence Holt had been operating under the literary radar for more than fifteen years, placing award-winning stories in such noted journals as Zoetrope, Kenyon Review, and TriQuarterly. With the release of this debut collection, Holt's work takes its "rightful place besides those works of genius--fiction, philosophy, theology--unafraid of axing into our iced hearts" (William Giraldi, New York Times Book Review). Whether chronicling a plague that ravages a New England town or the anguish of a son who keeps his father's beating heart in a jar, Holt's stories oscillate between the rational and the surreal, the future and the past, masterfully weaving together reality and myth. Like Poe or Hawthorne, "Holt is a gifted wordsmith, his sentences carefully shaped and often beautiful, and he spins these ancient, irresolvable dilemmas in an elegiac poetry" (Los Angeles Times).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393339084
• ISBN13: 9780393339086
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Terence Holt's stories

For a moment, I was tuned in looking for my lucky pencil. Long time it has been when I agree to the writing of books, the concepts to shake a reader imagination is well given. To see it and understand is well worth a time.

Lovecraft meets Beckett

This anthology offers a host of unsettling stories that is one part Lovecraft and one part Beckett. The first story, O Aoyos, is Lovecraftian in its narrative structure (crazy doctor reflecting on the horrors of an "unnameable" plague, but rich with allegory (the power of the Word, Logos, whatever). The second story, My Father's Heart, is an unsentimental reflection of the power of our parents, even after they're gone. Next comes three sci-fi shorts (Charybdis, Aurora, and Eurydike) that are eerie stories of being marooned in space (as a doomed astronaut, a probe, and an experiment gone wrong - respectively). Again, these are fairly allegorical in nature - each modern man lost in the vacuum of an unknown future. I loved the ambiance of these stories, but felt like some of the underlying themes were going over my head. The gem of this anthology is In the Valley of the Kings. It is a great story of a modern-day Egyptologist that falls victim to his own theories and passions. Well paced and well told - this was by far my favorite of the lot. The last 2 stories, Scylla and Apocalypse, are again heavy on the allegory. They remind us that the world often ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. Overall - Holt is a master stylist and storyteller. If you are not into books that are heavy into allegory and metaphor; stay away. But if you want a dose of dark philosophy, wrapped in creepy ambient short stories - look no further!