Leavings

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

One of the best short story collections by one author I have ever had the pleasure to read. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. It is refreshing to see a new writer who can scare without being a splatterpunk or having to throw in erotica and excessive foul language for effect. Cacek is the Jerry Seinfeld of horror.

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.

What a great writer p.d. cacek is! She's managed to scare the heck out of me with every story I read, and I usually scare the heck out of everyone else! I really loved this book and am looking forward to reading more from her. I recently read that both the short story "Leavings" and the whole collection of short stories in the book "Leavings" has made it to the final ballot of the 1997 Bram Stoker awards! Congratulations to the author!From: Guess Who!?!?!