Wraeththu by Storm Constantine

[Brian G Turner]

I would have thought with the increasing focus on post-apocalyptic fiction, along with greater discussion of gender roles and sexuality, that Storm Constantine's Wraeththu might have got a lot more discussion than at present.

I've just checked Amazon, and she's apparently re-released revised versions on ebook through her Immanion Press:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007A6TH0Q/?tag=brite-21

I remember I got rid of my paperback omnibus the last time I had to shrink down my book shelves, thinking that I wouldn't feel inclined to read it again. Now I think I may have been a little too hasty.

But back to the original question - are the the Wraeththu books still relevant to the modern YA market? If so, are they not discussed simply because she is now published under a small press banner that is too easily overlooked? Or is it the case that they are a product of their original time, and better remembered only in that context?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I read these a few years after they came out I think, but I have to admit I struggled with them. For some reason they just didn't grab me, whereas her Sign For The Sacred was much more memorable.

 

[HareBrain]

I read a few of her books in my younger days, and a collection of short stories recently. They have a heady sort of incense about them, but in the end I'm not sure they're really about anything apart from subversive sex -- "subversive" as it was when they were written, rather than now, which is why I think they are a product of their times and unlikely to have a great deal of relevance today.

 

[wam]

I don't know about the YA market. I always got the impression that these were aimed at the Goths when they originally came out and since that partly shifted into Steampunk there's probably an audience beyond her fans. If there wasn't would there have been any point to the next trilogy?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I read them several years ago, and although I found them compelling I've never felt the desire to go back and read them again. As I remember them, I can see no reason why they would be classified as YA.

Wam is quite possibly right that they were meant to appeal (or at least did appeal) to a Goth sensibility. Which right now would probably limit the interest since that is not what most readers are looking for. But these things go in cycles, as we know, and the day may come when they are just what a wide number of readers are looking for.

Since it is Storm Constantine's own publishing company, the books can stay in print long enough for that to happen, rather than being given a short window to make an impression and then disappear.