Gothic Wine

"In Darren Speegle's collection Gothic Wine, we encounter specters and incubi, unnatural children and maddened artists, succubi and mysterious strangers, all present in the classically resonant yet modern setting of Europe, that same time-haunted and grief-sown continent inhabited by E. T. A. Hoffman's creations. Sometimes muted by fog and night, at other times starkly revealed in daylight, Speegle's protagonists meet their occult fates in manners both elegant and brutal. These stories are like a draught of some fabled German ice wine, possessing an unforgettable sweetness that only arises when cruel frost is applied to the grape." - Paul Di Filippo, critic for Asimov's and author of Strange Trades