Volume 9, Twelve Planets
ISBN 978-1-922101-06-8
Cover design by Amanda Rainey
Ebook Conversion by Charles Tan
Published June 2013/ Ebook Released December 2013
Caution: Contains Small Parts is an intimate, unsettling collection from award-winning author Kirstyn McDermott.
A creepy wooden dog that refuses to play dead.
A gifted crisis counsellor and the mysterious, melancholy girl she cannot seem to reach.
A once-successful fantasy author whose life has become a horror story - now with added unicorns.
An isolated woman whose obsession with sex dolls takes a harrowing, unexpected turn.
Four stories that will haunt you long after their final pages are turned.
‘Kirstyn McDermott’s prose is darkly magical, insidious and insistent. Once her words get under your skin, they are there to stay.’ - Angela Slatter, British Fantasy Award-winning author of Sourdough and Other Stories
‘The supernatural lurks in the shadows of Kirstyn McDermott’s first collection, an ambiguous or mundane presence that keeps these four quasi-horror stories feeling palpably real ... McDermott’s poignant stories defy genre labelling, being primarily about damaged people seeking solace, escape, or meaning. The otherworldly merely gives them a chance to find it, and makes these unflinching but touching stories even more evocative and irresistible.’ - Aurealis, Issue 64
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What Amanda Wants
- Horn
- Caution: Contains Small Parts
- The Home for Broken Dolls
"Kirstyn McDermott gives us another unique new voice in her powerful Caution: Contains Small Parts" - Locus Magazine
"McDermott’s stories are offbeat, spellbinding tales where suspension of disbelief never staggers thanks to her hypnotic narrative style." - British Fantasy Society
"McDermott's first collection explores the unfamiliar among the known, in worlds where nothing works quite right. Her insight into the individual condition draws readers down into dark places." - Honourable mention, 2014 Norma K Hemming Award
"The Home for Broken Dolls" - winner Ditmar for Best Novella/Novelette 2014
Locus Recommended Reading List for 2013 for Best Collection, Best Novella and Best Novelette
Kirstyn on writing "The Home for Broken Dolls" - Feminism, Anger and Silicone Dolls
Sample
Kirstyn McDermott reads from "Caution, Contains Small Parts" at the Twelfth Planet Press Showcase, Melbourne Writer's Festival 2012:
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Video by Terry Shepherd
A creepy wooden dog that refuses to play dead. A gifted crisis counsellor and the mysterious, melancholy girl she cannot seem to reach. A once-successful fantasy author whose life has become a horror story - now with added unicorns. An isolated woman whose obsession with sex dolls takes a harrowing, unexpected turn.