Award-winning poet Kyla Lee Ward invites you to whistle past the graveyard and get on your dancing shoes! Inspired by the fourteenth century "Danse Macabre" (the Dance of Death), The Macabre Modern transcends time and updates for contemporary readers the allegorical, medieval concept of the universality of death. Defy death with the doctor. Mourn with the soldier. Indulge in the rich, weird traditions of Ancient Egypt and the Victorians, as you trip over the unspeakable at your own front door. Chuckle at the grotesque and the fallible but remember—the last laugh will be on you! With a sharp wit, compelling satire, and fervent, feverish imagination, Ward generates fiendishly compelling vignettes of the human drama, and offers a profound reflection on life.
Author
Kyla Lee Ward is a Sydney-based creative who works in many modes, that have garnered her Australian Shadows and Aurealis awards. She has placed in the Rhyslings and received multiple Stoker and Ditmar nominations. Reviewers have accused her of being “gothic and esoteric”, “weird and exhilarating” and of “giving me a nightmare.” This Attraction Now Open Till Late is her first collection of dark and fantastic stories after two poetry collections, The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities and The Land of Bad Dreams. Her work on RPGs including Demon: the Fallen saw her appear as a guest at the inaugural Gencon Australia. Her short film, 'Bad Reception', screened at the Third International Vampire Film Festival and she is a founding member of Deadhouse - tales of Sydney Morgue and the Theatre of Blood, which have also performed her work. A practicing occultist, she likes raptors, swordplay and the Hellfire Club. Please permit me to explain my personal scheme of ratings - I would prefer to simply provide reviews, but here at Goodreads, one is a necessary precursor to the other. 3 is the most common score I give, because it means the book was good. I enjoyed it, it was well-presented and properly proofed, and I consider the author to have achieved their objective. I give out 4s much more rarely and believe I have only ever given out one 5. 2s are also rare and mean I found the book flawed in respect of its own intent, or atrocious formatting and proofing errors. I have never yet rated a book at 1.
