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Winner of the World Fantasy Award

"A story of love and magic that will scintillate and haunt you long after you close the cover and turn off the light."
— Francesa Lia Block

"Extravagantly, willfully romantic. No one is better than Elizabeth Hand at convincing us that great magic is possible in the real world we live in."
— John Crowley

"The subtlety and raw ache of the prose, and the realistic portrayal of artistic lives, triumphantly heralds Hand’s arrival into youth fiction."
— Booklist, Starred Review

"In this enchanting fantasy with a romance far more taboo than the current spate of paranormal pairings, Madeline and Rogan are 14-year-old first cousins and deeply in love...The edgy subject matter, explicit but not gratuitous, relegates this novel to mature readers, but it’s beautifully written, rich in theatrical detail and intensely realized characters."
— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"This intense, sensual and bittersweet love story unfolds in hauntingly lyrical prose and should appeal to mature teens."
— Kirkus

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REVIEWS

In this enchanting fantasy with a romance far more taboo than the current spate of paranormal pairings, Madeline and Rogan are 14-year-old first cousins and deeply in love. Their great-grandmother was a famous actress and although her descendants have become increasingly staid, these two cousins have inherited her talent. One day, after making love for the first time, they discover, hidden in the attic of the family’s ancestral mansion, “a toy theater, made of folded paper and gilt cardboard and scraps of brocade and lace,” where, each time they visit it, the scenery and lighting have changed, among other curiosities (“Snow was falling. Not everywhere. Only behind the proscenium, on the tiny stage itself”). The cousins are cast in a high school production of Twelfth Night, one that shares the magic of the toy theater. Rogan, as Feste the clown, seems inspired but increasingly wild. It soon becomes clear that his love for Madeline is doomed to disappointment, if not tragedy. The edgy subject matter, explicit but not gratuitous, relegates this novel to mature readers, but it’s beautifully written, rich in theatrical detail and intensely realized characters. Ages 14–up. (May)"

Growing up in 1970s Yonkers, Maddy and Rogan were called the “kissing cousins” of the Tierney clan. In a secret attic space, they find a toy theater, complete with lighting and stage effects that appear like magic, but no actors or audience. As their discovery stirs within them the desire to create, Aunt Kate, mysterious and unnaturally beautiful, brings their abilities to a boil. Determined to restore the family’s long-abandoned theatrical heritage, Kate pushes Maddy and Rogan to nurture their gifts in the school’s production of Twelfth Night. However, Rogan’s wild nature is ever at odds with his haunting, melodious singing voice, and Maddy’s glamour, no doubt the gift of their great-grandmother, an ingénue of the stage, shines dimly in the brilliance of Rogan’s fey charms. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Hand’s slim novella is sublime and daring; she makes no mystery about the nature of the 15-year-old cousins’ relationship. It’s as sweet, sexual, obsessive, and devastating as any other first love. YA readers are entrusted with a narrative of burgeoning and squandered talent, unapologetic incest, familial decline on par with that of Faulkner’s Compson family, and a hard-won ending that’s, at best, tenuously hopeful. The subtlety and raw ache of the prose, and the realistic portrayal of artistic lives, triumphantly heralds Hand’s arrival into youth fiction.
— Courtney Jones

Growing up in a large, eccentric, extended family in Yonkers in the late 1960s, two first cousins exist in their own private world. Born on the same day, 15-year-old Rogan and Maddy are the youngest children of identical twin brothers and great-grandchildren of a famous actress. The “kissing cousins” routinely tryst in an attic room, where they discover a toy theater that foreshadows their future. With his fey appearance and mesmerizing voice, Rogan’s tormented, a bit dangerous and afraid of nothing, in sharp contrast to the bright, devoted and supportive Maddy. Their latent dramatic talents emerge when they star together in the school production of Twelfth Night, but their overly close relationship triggers parental intervention, forcing Maddy to choose between the wayward Rogan and a possible acting career. Maddy tells their tender story in the past tense, recalling the passion, isolation and urgency of their relationship and its repercussions many years later. This intense, sensual and bittersweet love story unfolds in hauntingly lyrical prose and should appeal to mature teens. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)

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(Click here for the Hardcover) GENERATION LOSS

(paperback)

Cass Neary made her name in the 1970s as a photographer embedded in the burgeoning punk movement in New York City. Her pictures of the musicians and hangers on, the infamous, the damned, and the dead, got her into art galleries and a book deal. But thirty years later she is adrift, on her way down, and almost out. Then an old acquaintance sends her on a mercy gig to interview a famously reclusive photographer who lives on an island in Maine. When she arrives Downeast, Cass stumbles across a decades-old mystery that is still claiming victims, and into one final shot at redemption.

"Brilliantly written and completely original, Hand’s novel is an achievement with a capital A.”
— Booklist, Starred Review   (read full review )

"Take a weird trip into a deep pit of moral decay!"
— Cleveland.com (more)

"Hand's terse but transporting prose keeps the reader turning pages until Neary's gritty charm does, finally, shine through."
— Entertainment Weekly (more)

"Generation Loss" has been rightly compared with the sort of crime fiction turned out by the late, great Patricia Highsmith ... Hand expertly ratchets up the suspense until it's at the level of a high-pitched scream near novel's end."
—Journal Sentinel (more)

“Intense and atmospheric, Generation Loss is an inventive brew of postpunk attitude and dark mystery. Elizabeth Hand writes with craftsmanship and passion.”
—George Pelecanos

"A lucid and beautifully rendered tale of an aging and damaged punk photographer's journey from the safety of the streets of New York into the wilds of Maine. Great, unforgiving wilderness, a vanished teenager, an excellent villain, and an obsession with art that shades into death: what else do you need? An excellent book."
— Brian Evenson

"Cass Neary, the battle-scarred shutterbug of Elizabeth Hand's incendiary literary thriller "Generation Loss" ... is a marvel, someone with whom we take the difficult journey toward delayed adulthood, wishing her encouragement despite grave odds."
— Los Angeles Times

REVIEWS

Hand, mainly known for sf/fantasy stories, veers off in a new and exciting direction, drawing on but going well beyond the crime genre. Three decades ago, Cassandra Neary was an avant-garde photographer whose book, Dead Girls, was published to acclaim. But her hard-driving lifestyle, in concert with the rapid collapse of the counterculture, led to a downward spiral. Salvation appears in the form of an editor who offers her the chance to interview a reclusive photographer, Aphrodite Kamestos. But when Cass arrives at the photographer’s private island, she finds that Kamestos had no idea she was coming. Rather than turn around and go home, Cass decides to use the opportunity to find out what she can about Kamestos, uncovering a few shocking secrets and one old mystery in the process. Hand combines elements of the traditional amateur-sleuth mystery with a visceral story of personal redemption, and her pulsating prose smacks us in the face with frank, fascinating discussions of sex and drugs and with staccato dialogue peppered with expletives. The utterly compelling protagonist, whose self-loathing competes with her hatred of life to see which can beat her into submission first, wins us over almost in spite of herself. Brilliantly written and completely original, Hand’s novel is an achievement with a capital A. — David Pitt

• Publisher's Weekly starred review. HERE >>
• Working Waterfront. HERE >>
• Boston Globe. HERE >>
• Bostonist. HERE >>
• Techgnosis>. HERE >>
• Blogcritics. HERE >>
• Washington City Paper. HERE >>
• Washington Post review by Graham Joyce. HERE >>
• Time Out Chicago review. HERE>>
• And Jacob McMurray on the genesis of the Generation Loss cover. HERE>>
• Read the first chapter at Small Beer Press. HERE  >>
• Locus review by Nick Gevers. HERE >>
• Bookslut review. HERE >>
• Valley Advocate review. HERE >>

Generation Loss related Multimedia!

Read Nicholas Rombes, author of Continuum's 33 1/3 volume THE RAMONES and NEW PUNK CINEMA, on Generation Loss in his blog, Digital Poetics.

Download an exclusive mp3 of the first chapter of GL - read by Elizabeth Hand - HERE >> (37.5 Mb file)

Also as podcast - HERE >>

Lizhand interview on Youtube - HERE >>

GENERATION LOSS will be coming out in April 2007 from Small Beer Press, with Harcourt's trade edition available next year. Preorder your copy from Amazon.

Read an excerpt from Generation Loss here.

SAFFRON & BRIMSTONE

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SAFFRON AND BRIMSTONE includes three stores from the World Fantasy Award-winning collection BIBLIOMANCY (CHIP CROCKETT'S CHRISMAS CAROL is available, published separately by London's Beccon Press), in addition to more recently published fiction. It will feature work original to the collection, as well as the first appearance of the story suite "The Lost Domain," four takes on my muse which have appeared in various publications but were written to be read in sequence.

Reviews:

"Enthusiasts for Hand's sensuously descriptive brand of literary fantasy are in for a treat with her latest collection of short fiction. Aptly subtitled "strange stories," the eight superbly crafted tales share Hand's predilection for probing the translucent borderline between magic and reality. A young lepidopterist spends a summer volunteering at London's Regent's Park Zoo and discovers a talent for transforming her lovers into rare butterfly specimens. The tattoo-artist daughter of a children's book writer finds a tarot deck once owned by a colleague of her famous mother and watches her destiny become inexplicably intertwined with the cards. In a separate section entitled "The Lost Domain," Hand offers four contemplative tales about transient relationships that she links by using poignant, recurring themes: the fragility of intimacy, the insidious unraveling of civilization following 9/11, the influence of Greek myth on modern love. Her beautifully nuanced, often disquieting style should inspire poets as well as lay down the gauntlet to colleagues also reaching for expressive heights in contemporary fantasy."
— Booklist

• Kirkus Review HERE >>
• Locus HERE >>
• Library Journal HERE >>
• Green Man Review HERE >>
• Fantasy Magazine HERE >>
• Reading the Leaves HERE >>

PANDORA'S BRIDE

After Dr. Frankenstein's and Dr. Pretorious's prized creation survives the conflagration that was meant to destroy her, she seeks vengeance and wreaks havoc on a Fury's tour through the erotic and criminal underworld of Weimar Berlin.

WONDERWALL

More on Wonderwall soon!