Woman with Dark Horses
Winner of the 1st Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction, chosen by Cris Mazza

The stories in Woman with Dark Horses are atmospheric and dark, incorporating murder motifs and dissociated voices and characters. Mazza praised the collection's "raw, loosely sewn, sinuous narratives which surprise the reader frequently with astonishing climaxes — frequently a lack of climax where, in a different tradition, there seemingly should have been one." "A keen eye and ear for unique detail are at work here," said Mazza.

"Aimee Parkison offers a distinct new voice to contemporary fiction. Her seductive stories explore childhood as a realm of sorrows, and reveal the afflictions of adults who emerge from this private geography."   Carol Anshaw

"These sometimes violent, sometimes visionary stories haunt the reader for days, and make the ordinary world look stranger."   Alison Lurie

"These are stories both about the difficulty and the intense suddenness of human connection, about the profound link that exists between being in love and being alone."   Brian Evenson

"Aimee Parkison's first collection of short stories opens a Pandora's box of imagery so lush it seems to belong more properly to poetry. Some readers will be titillated by her lavish depictions of female characters who want only to be skeletal, or beautiful, and who seem to see no difference. But as with Pandora's box, Hope remains: women's studies instructors will appreciate this book's powerful insights into the situation of Woman oppressed by conventional standards of beauty and sexuality."   Lisa Lewis, author of Silent Treatment and The Unbeliever