PRAISE FOR FROM THE NECK UP
"[Shows] Aliya Whiteley's poetic skill with horrific-tinged fantasy. From The Neck Up and Other Stories, feels like a major collection."
– The Washington Post
"Readers of Jeff Vandermeer, Meg Ellison, and Jeffrey Ford will love this complex, grotesque, and brilliantly humanistic collection." - Publishers Weekly starred review
"When I read Whiteley's short stories I think of Japanese netsuke - magnificent miniatures, perfect in every detail. But netsuke don't keep me awake at night."
– M. R. Carey
"Strange, playful, or downright heartbreaking, each of these tales is a storytelling masterclass. Aliya Whitely's endlessly inventive fiction is clearly in a league of its own. Quite another level of speculative fiction writing."
– Marian Womack
"If any more proof were needed, From the Neck Up secures Aliya Whiteley as one of the most important and interesting current writers of SF and weird fiction. Equal parts Shirley Jackson and John Wyndham, these tales are consistently unsettling, yet despite wild concepts they remain warm and humane, populated with recognisable people and their recognisable fears and compulsions. In short, this collection is an absolute triumph."
– Tim Major, author of Snakeskins and Hope Island
"Aliya Whiteley is one of this generation’s most exciting science fiction authors. Her stories are miniature universes that crackle with energy and intellectual acumen, combining keen observation, wry wit and a willingness to imagine the impossible. I adore everything she writes."
– Helen Marshall, author of The Migration
"Darkly delicious and strange, Whiteley uses the future to show us where we are, horror to unbury what we think about love, ageing and loss. I was never quite comfortable reading these stories, which is how it should be. They seize you from the neck up."
– Angela Readman
"Aliya’s stories are gloriously inventive, wide-ranging and beautifully written. A vibrant collection."
– Alison Moore
"A masterful collection from one of the most talented and original speculative fiction writers working today. The stories in From the Neck Up are strange, unsettling, quietly beautiful and utterly unique. They got under my skin and lodged there."
– Stark Holborn, author of Ten Low
"This beguiling and beautiful, yet undeniably unnerving collection, with its tales of the ordinary made strange, will captivate readers. It explores provocative and intriguing feelings similar to those in the short stories of Samanta Schweblin, Kelly Link, and Carmen Maria Machado."
– Library Journal
"Phenomenal from beginning to end."
– Fangirl Nation
"Endowed with a powerful, versatile imagination able to produce dark stories, often in a surrealistic vein."
– Horror Tree
"A book for anyone with any interest in modern speculative fiction... written by a master of the genre"
– The Frumious Consortium
"Whiteley’s wild imagination and her ability to craft vivid, surreal imagery never ceases to amaze."
– Whimsy Dearest
"An imaginative, original and intelligent collection... Recommended for fans of something different and infinitely strange"
– Advance the Plot
"Gets under your skin and lingers"
– Looking Glass Reads
"There is a lot to think about in these excellent stories. If you have read Skein Island or Skyward Inn, you'll recognise some of the atmosphere, and themes, but the exploration of them across different fragments of story adds new depth (and enjoyment)."
– Blue Book Balloon
"Whiteley's gothic inflected science fiction is icy and remote and you can't look away."
– New Scientist Review
"Whiteley has a penchant for infusing the mundane with the strange and the uncanny, successfully punching holes in the surface of our perception of everyday life with her creepy little tales. She is a skillful writer, seamlessly combining lightness of style and a wide range of topics with socio-philosophical observation."
– Re-Enchantment of the World Review
"Memorable and unique... Whiteley is one of speculative fiction's best writers and this is a very rewarding read."
– Runalong the Shelves Review
"I found myself being blown away by some of these stories... To the Farm was particularly poignant and resonated with my own ideas about the heartlessness of abandoning pets."
– Literary Flits Review
"The art of a good short story to me: being able to condense an idea down to its core without losing substance... This collection delivered a coherent and fascinating experience, that will get under your skin and linger there."
– The Fiction Fox Review
"[Whiteley] is truly ambitious and capable of making her writing enjoyable while pushing the boundaries of normal storytelling... The way [Whiteley] combined this strange world of hers, and the ugliness of humanity at times made it a gripping read.. I'm very impressed."
– Days in Other Worlds Review
PRAISE FOR ALIYA WHITELEY
"Aliya Whiteley’s fiction scintillates with ideas, skips back and forth across genre boundaries with an ease and audacity that is glorious to behold. She is very much at the forefront of the new wave of UK genre writers"
– Mark Morris
"There’s something so easy about Whiteley’s prose despite constantly delivering a dense philosophical gut punch. Her characters are rich but mysterious, flawed and fascinating. The plot twists and turns, blindsiding the reader at every turn while feeling as though it could never really have gone any other way."
– British Fantasy Society
06/01/2021
Winner of numerous awards for her short fiction, Whiteley is back with another excellent collection of 16 lyrical, thought-provoking original stories. On a surface level, they incorporate the tropes of science fiction and fantasy, but at heart, they aim to make readers feel more deeply the unease and discomfort of horror. The stories, of varying lengths, feature cli-fi, monsters, aliens, fairy tale frames, and general weirdness that's just on the speculative side of normal, grabbing readers' attention but leaving them unsettled at the conclusion of each story. "Into the Glass," a short but powerful body horror tale of love and art, is a perfect example of Whiteley's way of melding darkness with beauty; it's a showcase of her ability to lure readers in and unsettle them with her stories, then hook them into turning the page and experiencing it all over again. VERDICT This beguiling and beautiful, yet undeniably unnerving collection, with its tales of the ordinary made strange, will captivate readers. It explores provocative and intriguing feelings similar to those in the short stories of Samanta Schweblin, Kelly Link, and Carmen Maria Machado.
