An absorbing collection of surreal tales in which anyone is liable to shape-shift or burst through a portal at any time. That makes it sound madcap, but most of the stories are carefully constructed, with strong and sometimes unsettling buildup to a moment of disruption, either internal or external. My two favorites were "Near Zennor", which is very effectively creepy without overdoing it, and "The Return of the Fire Witch", which entertained me greatly by returning to the weird world-building and verbiage of her novel Winterlong, which was my first introduction to Hand's writing back in the '90s. But I also appreciated her deep identification with the landscape of Maine, and the recurring message that a primeval green energy waits to burst forth again from the human-blighted earth. ( )

‘’For as far as he could, there was only night. Ghostly light seeped from a room downstairs onto the silver of lawn. Starlight touched on the endless sweep of moor, like another sea unrolling from the line of cliffs brooding above black waves and distant headlands. There was no sign of human habitation: no distant lights, no street-lamps, no cars, no ships or lighthouse beacons: nothing.’’

Shady figures, threatening atmosphere, secrets, shapeshifters, shadows. Crows, grey colours, Birds, clouds. Interesting background but this isn’t enough to create a striking collection.

The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon: A guide in the Museum of American Aviation and Aerospace wants to recreate the legendary flight of an aircraft that supposedly crashed in 1901. His motive is his love for an old flame that is about to burn out. I must admit that I was bored to tears with this story.

Near Zennor: Mainly set in Penzance, this is a wonderfully eerie story of a widower who discovers a disturbing connection in his wife’s past. Ancient stones, mysterious lights in the moor, bogs, scary children’s books, a potential child molester, a girl’s obsession, a dark past, all set in Cornwall. This story deserves to become a novel.

Hungerford Bridge: Two old friends witness a miracle one London afternoon.

The Far Shore: A magical story of a former ballet dancer who decides to spend a few days in a friend’s camp, trying to come to terms with the fact that age is suddenly upon him, and a mysterious boy. A tale of winter, birches and crows. Those who are familiar with the Finnish legend of the River of Tuoni will recognise the references. Beautiful.

‘’You do not want to make rocks angry, Justin.’’ She wasn’t kidding, either. She looked pissed off. ‘’Because rocks have a very, very long memory.’’

Winter’s Wife: A teenage boy narrates the story of a woman from Iceland who followed her husband n Maine to live in an abandoned school bus. A terrific story of Icelandic folklore, the survival of the forests, and retribution. Vala is a character you’ll remember for a long time.

Cruel Up North: A woman is wandering in a city during the early morning. Mystical and cryptic.

Summerteeth: A story of obsession, love and Art.

The Return of the Fire Witch: The adventures of a witch in a fairy tale land. I can’t say I enjoyed this story. It seemed naive and at the same time utterly incomprehensible.

Uncle Lou: A young woman narrates the story of her very special uncle, a man that adores travelling, Moroccan style and night. A tender story set in Hampstead, a beautiful example of Magical Realism done right.

Errantry: A strange mixture of a shadowy figure, action films and third-rate actors. Not for me.

So, a rather mixed result, this one. There were a few truly beautiful moments but nothing spectacular for readers who have read a humongous amount of Short Stories and Magical Realism. For me, this was not a memorable collection. Not ‘’frightening’’ and hardly ‘’haunting.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-of-errantry-strange-stories-by.h... ( )

The best of these stories are able to hint at horror and fantastical elements without ever making it wholly explicit: you're never sure if maybe the horror you feel creeping up has as much to do with the narrators as it does the experiences they are narrating. "Near Zennor" is a masterpiece of ambiguity, and probably my favorite story in the book. The one I liked least was "The Return of the Fire Witch": engaging with explicitly fantastical tropes removes the feeling of the uncanny that Hand works with so well. It ends up feeling like "The Masque of the Red Death" performed by Adventure Time characters. But the good definitely outweighs the bad in this collection, and I look forward to lending this volume to my friends. ( )

Lovely prose. The least successful of the stories was the Vancean pastiche, but it was kind of fun anyway. Nobody evokes scenery and landscape like Elizabeth Hand. ( )