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Gwendolyn Kiste

The Rust Maidens Hardcover – November 16, 2018

by Gwendolyn Kiste (Author)

147 ratings

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Something’s happening to the girls on Denton Street.

It’s the summer of 1980 in Cleveland, Ohio, and Phoebe Shaw and her best friend Jacqueline have just graduated high school, only to confront an ugly, uncertain future. Across the city, abandoned factories populate the skyline; meanwhile at the shore, one strong spark, and the Cuyahoga River might catch fire. But none of that compares to what’s happening in their own west side neighborhood. The girls Phoebe and Jacqueline have grown up with are changing. It starts with footprints of dark water on the sidewalk. Then, one by one, the girls’ bodies wither away, their fingernails turning to broken glass, and their bones exposed like corroded metal beneath their flesh.

As rumors spread about the grotesque transformations, soon everyone from nosy tourists to clinic doctors and government men start arriving on Denton Street, eager to catch sight of “the Rust Maidens” in metamorphosis. But even with all the onlookers, nobody can explain what’s happening or why—except perhaps the Rust Maidens themselves. Whispering in secret, they know more than they’re telling, and Phoebe realizes her former friends are quietly preparing for something that will tear their neighborhood apart.

Alternating between past and present, Phoebe struggles to unravel the mystery of the Rust Maidens—and her own unwitting role in the transformations—before she loses everything she’s held dear: her home, her best friend, and even perhaps her own body.

Print length

254 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Trepidatio Publishing
Publication date

November 16, 2018
Dimensions

5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches
ISBN-10

1950305112
ISBN-13

978-1950305117
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trepidatio Publishing (November 16, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 254 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1950305112
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1950305117
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.13 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,821,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #84,097 in Horror Literature & Fiction
- #98,149 in Women's Literature & Fiction
- #124,778 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
147 ratings

About the author

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Gwendolyn Kiste

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Gwendolyn Kiste is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, from Trepidatio Publishing; And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, from JournalStone; and the dark fantasy novella, Pretty Marys All in a Row, from Broken Eye Books. Her short fiction has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Shimmer, Black Static, Daily Science Fiction, Interzone, LampLight, and Three-Lobed Burning Eye, among others. Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, two cats, and not nearly enough ghosts. Find her online at gwendolynkiste.com

Customer reviews

5 star		56%
4 star		23%
3 star		13%
2 star		7%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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VICKI HERBERT

A tedious read...

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

No spoilers: 2 stars. OMG! Where to begin... This book was a hot mess! I wanted to like it, I really did, but by its end I was just glad to be rid of it...

The story takes place in Cleveland, Ohio where the main character Phoebe lives with her parents... In her narrations Phoebe complains infinitum about everything in her world...

...her parents give her a lot of freedom which she uses to drink alchohol from a flask she carries around with her, stay out all hours of the night (sometimes not coming home at all) and constantly arguing with and judging everyone she crosses paths with...

Perhaps the author wanted her readers to feel sympathy for Phoebe and her friends but... I really just wanted to give her 18-year-old bottom a swat and ground her...

Phoebe was disrespectful to the adults in her life and blamed them for everything under the three moons. Little wonder her mother always had an alcoholic drink in hand...

Somewhere in the 40% area of the book, Phoebe describes attending church with her parents...

...in addition to inferring everyone in the church were hypocrites, nothing else about the service seemed to please her. Even the freebies served afterward were, to her, substandard: the coffee smelled burnt, and the cookies were overcooked...

Her constant criticism, blaming and finger pointing throughout the book became tedious causing this reader to focus on the negative and lose focus on the real meat of the story...

Somewhere in this novel was the story of girls in Cleveland turning into rusty metal and it might have been a good story if not for the "poor me" overkill...

Due to its content, I sincerely hope that this novel wasn't meant for YA readers. I would recommend passing on this one.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

David Bridges

Industrial Gothic

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2019

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A dark gothic story about the loss of innocence as well as the decline of the American promise. The Rust Maidens splits between two time periods in Cleveland Ohio, a time period when factories are beginning to close and current dilapidated times. I am always attracted to stories like this as I grew up during the 80’s in a failing mill village in South Carolina. The writing is emotional and economic struggle hovers throughout the story even when it is not the primary focus of the narrative. The primary narrative is about a young lady, Pheobe, returning to Cleveland after fleeing the city during some traumatic experiences as she was graduating high school. Some of the young ladies in this declining community began to display bizarre behavior and physical deformities that scared locals into hysterics. The word gets out about the Rust Maidens and even the Federal government comes into investigate. No one really knows what is going on. Phoebe is a main character who’s cousin and best friend Jaqueline becomes one of the Rust Maidens. The “illness” changes their friendship and tears them apart leading Pheobe to flee. She returns in current times to check in on her ailing father requiring her to face what she ran from before.

The milieu in this story is bleak and brutal but there is a sense of love and community holding some aspects together. The book does not let you forget bad things happen and life requires a certain strength and acceptance to keep plowing ahead. The symbolism and allegory were definitely my favorite overall take from the book. The “horror” is subtle but it is there and will linger after finishing the book. If you enjoy gothic weird fiction then check out this book. I will definitely be giving Gwendolyn Kiste another try. I discovered the author and book due to it being on one of my favorite publishers of 2018.

12 people found this helpful

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Sara Tantlinger

An incredible debut novel

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2018

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The Rust Maidens is easily one of my favorite books I have read this year. Kiste's prose is as beautiful as the overall story she weaves. The whole concept behind the book offers an original idea that I found myself quickly falling into, desperate to know more. Yet, there is familiarity here within Phoebe's story (I adored this character by the way), and within the town where rust has come to consume the residents. Beneath the surface of the decay lingers even more powerful stories -- stories about girls seeking their identity in a town that doesn't want them to understand how much power they may truly hold, a town that represses young women so deeply that they literally rust inside. Kiste has not only crafted a dark and gorgeous story, she has offered up some incredible writing that holds strong literary merits. One of the reasons I love horror so much is because it can be quiet, creeping horror like the rust growing over the girls, and because horror offers such deep commentary on societal and cultural values. Kiste has captured this side of horror in a phenomenal way. I really cannot recommend this book enough. I will be thinking about it for a long time!

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jamie Stewart

Favourite novel of the year

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste

Mild spoilers!

I haven’t read a book like this in some time, you know, the type of book your going to be talking about for years because it will occupy a space in your brain, the type you force on anyone that says they read.

Reading The Rust Maidens is akin to being seduced under a spell. The language and writing style is of such a quality I will happily read any story by Kiste in the future, she just that good.

The story here is set on Denton Street, a suburb in Cleveland, where everyone living there is in some way attached to the mill that blazes day and night. It’s graduation day for the girls of neighbourhood, the last day of the lives as they know it. For Phoebe Shaw and her cousin Jacqueline it’s also their last day in Denton, intent on leaving a town where the men are fodder for the mills and the women form committee to gain a false sense of control over their lives. That’s the plan until the young woman begin to change. To say anything more would lead to spoilers that I don’t want to give away, only know that Kiste communicates this story with a light touch that can be harrowing. A contender for my favourite read of the year.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Des Lewis

The wrecking balls, too. I may be one of them.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

There are various climaxes …. but do they ever really end?
A series of binary choices. But each of them has a third option which is doing both. Hence this book’s triple moon.
A book that has its share of fallibilities but without those fallibilities it would be nothing. The wrecking balls, too. I may be one of them. I hope not.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of my observations at the time of the review.

Kindle Customer

Butterflies and an old steel mill

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

The Rust Maidens is a dark fantasy novel about the coming of age of a group of girls, of their transformation. It is told through Phoebe as she struggles to save her best friend Jacqueline.

We are introduced to Phoebe in the present day, the story alternates back to the events 30 years ago . The multiple events and characters are very nicely woven together.

A wonderful and very enjoyable read.

David Benjamins

Great writing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

Great story told very well and that cover is gorgeous. The voice of the writer is very clear and the characters really come to life. Read this!

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