Drowning in Beauty: The Neo-Decadent Anthology

Isis and Corrick gather 12 aesthetic stories that embrace the narcissism of neo-decadence, “the subject of obsessions, damnations, and salvations.” Lucid descriptions and smart vocabulary animate stories from around the world. In Brendan Connell’s “Molten Race,” a smelter in industrialized Milan joins a revolution, only to become a downtrodden plebeian himself. Isis surveys self-obsession in “The Quest for Nail Art,” in which a shallow hostess in Shinjuku, Japan, eliminates rivals as she adopts ever more trendy personas. In Ursula Pflug’s “Fires Halfway,” a young Canadian groupie who followed a musician to Berlin takes a drug called Purple that can show her beauty but not reality, and must choose between the two. Avalon Brantley’s “Great Seizer’s Ghost” finds warrior king Henry V of England on his deathbed regaling a sympathetic stranger with tales of ghosts from ancient and future wars. A recluse in Damian Murphy’s “A Mansion of Sapphire” loses herself in a vintage video game that promises intimacy and aspiration. Desolate characters sinking into despair and oblivion yearn for significance in these crisp stories, which conjure visions, textures, and echoes. (Apr.)