In the Palace of Repose

"The essential Holly Phillips story begins like this: In a world that felt too little, there lived a girl who saw too much." – Sean Stewart's introduction

In the Palace of Repose is a collection of nine such stories, ranging from the delightfully fantastic In the Palace of Repose, to the delicately horrific One of the Hungry Ones, to the hauntingly literary The Other Grace. Here indeed are young women, and young men, who have seen too much, and who have been abandoned to wrestle alone with the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying. Some triumph, some tragically fail. Most struggle on beyond the boundaries of their stories, carrying their wonders and horrors into their lives, into their worlds – worlds, and lives, startlingly like our own.

"I read [Holly Phillips'] Prime Books story collection (a debut volume, I understand) not once but twice, with a level of admiration bordering on incredulity... Every story, from the hugely original title story to the haunting end piece, Variations on a Theme, represents an apparently seamless blending of emotion, insight, and craft." – Michael Bishop

"These are some accomplished, splendid, enticing – even masterful – stories. Holly Phillips steps out for her first time on stage, all unknown, and brings down the house with a restrained yet bold performance. We are present at the birth of something major." – Paul Di Filippo, Asimov's

"Holly Phillips, in the smoky backrooms and internet dives I hang out in, might just be the hottest name in genre fiction, based on reactions to her first short story collection." – Jeff VanderMeer