I often want to like short story collections more than I actually do. So I tend toward short stories that are speculative or tinged with something I love, like fairy tales, and yet I’m still usually disappointed. I don’t know why. However, when I first heard about Kelly Link’s White Cat, Black Dog, I knew I had to read it, and I’m so glad I did.
White Cat, Black Dog is a collection of short stories inspired by tales collected by the Grimms, French folklore, Scottish ballads, and our own mysterious world. In “The White Cat’s Divorce,” a billionaire concocts a outlandish quest to determine which of his three sons will be his heir. In “The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear,” a professor stranded at an airport hotel becomes increasingly desperate to get home to her wife, daughter, and an appointment she cannot miss. In “Skinder’s Veil,” a run-of-the-mill house-sitting gig turns wild as the house becomes a portal for otherworldly visitors…and creates an opportunity for the house-sitter to examine his own psyche. Weird, wild, dreamy, and unexpected, White Cat, Black Dog is a masterclass in speculative fiction.
Link’s previous book, Get In Trouble, was a finalist for the Pulitzer, which can certainly create expectations of a writer. Fortunately, she surpasses those expectations in spades. Link is a gorgeous writer, her words creating lush and vibrant settings in which these fairy tales can find their new form. What really stands out, though, is her simplicity and precision, which allows her to perfectly capture that style particular to written or transcribed fairy tales while still making each tale feel both modern and timeless. It is a delicate balance, and Link never wavers, her confident hand infusing a joy of storytelling throughout the collection as well.
I especially loved “The White Cat’s Divorce” and “Prince Hat Underground.” ”The White Cat’s Divorce” feels the most consciously updated (a marijuana farm plays a relatively prominent role), yet it retains the slightly gappy linearity of the traditional fairy tale structure most fully out of all the stories, especially the sudden, almost shocking ending. Even so, it fits in my modern world and kicks off the collection with a supremely satisfying surprise. ”Prince Hat Underground,” though, is where the collection really hits its stride. Twisty and atmospheric, it exists in a space where the surreal is normal and the normal is viewed askance. A little bit fairy tale, a little bit horror, a little bit sci-fi, and a whole lot of love story, every sentence sings off the page. You see most clearly Link’s desire to push the boundaries of genre in this story. And never has brunch felt so foreboding.
I also appreciated how LGBTQIA+ characters, themes, and stories are so fully and beautifully integrated and normalized. Several of the stories feature queer characters, but they are not “Queer Stories.” Rather Link writes in a way that shows the universality of these tales–these are experiences than can and do happen to anyone. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of TJ Klune’s writing–beautiful, joyful, loving, and inclusive of all identities. As literature as an art form and the book industry becomes more representative and diverse, they should look to genre fiction like speculative/fantasy and romance for examples of what truly inclusive writing can look like.
I am always up for retellings of fairy tales, and White Cat, Black Dog has made me a fan of Link’s writing. I saw a review that described her stories as making sense the way dreams make sense, and I think that is such a perfect description. If anyone could make me a fan of short stories, I think it is Kelly Link.