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From Zencore about
Mary's Gift, the Stars,
and Frank's Pisser

"If the last story had an American voice, then Mary’s Gift, the Stars and Frank’s Pisser could only be written in Britain. A group of abusive tramps are living at the edge of society. One of them, Mary, has the ability to channel the power of a distant star. This gives her psychic ability, but she is crippled by self-doubt and fear. It’s a bleak, harsh story with just enough of a hint of redemption about it to lift it up to the top rank."

Jim Steel
Whispers of Wickedness

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"Mary's Gift, the Stars, and Frank's Pisser: Mary, Frank, Ruth and Alf are homeless street people, literally living in the gutter. The harshness of their life and ailments is described like the way they live: in your face. But between the filth, madness and despair Mary has a gift, one she is both reluctant to use, and when she uses it, people mostly do not believe her. As such, it is more a curse, and one she passes on to her — let's put this euphemistically — less-than- considerate partner. There were quotes in Nemonymous 1 (no less than eleven), and Nemonymous 2 (six), none in Nemonymous 3, two in Nemonymous 4 (one at the beginning, and one incorporated in the story by some pretentious writer...;-), and two in Nemonymous 5. Zencore! has no quotes, but I suspect that "We are all of us lying in the gutter, but some of us are staring at the stars" from Oscar Wilde would have been perfect for this story. And well deserved.

Jetse de Vries
the Ecliptic Plane

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"“Mary’s Gift, The Stars and Frank’s Pisser” is another of the shining gems in this collection. Mary and her fellows are street people—addicted, mentally ill, and emotionally impaired. Yet Mary is a true angel in human form, capable of miracles. If only she could just find a reason to do so. Even among the filth and vomit of the gutters, she marvels at the beauty of the heavens. And despite the wretchedness of her world, we feel her wonder and celebrate her redemption at the end."

Jim Stratton
Tangent Online

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"Mary’s Gift, the Stars and Frank’s Pisser: Mary and Frank are a homeless couple. While she lies in the filth next to Frank, Mary likes looking up at the stars. She knows them all by name: "the Shoplifter’s Elbow on the rise to the east, Mad Alf’s Pigeons almost overhead, the snaking Frank’s Pisser to the south."

Mary’s very possessive and protective of her stars. And also of Frank’s Pisser, which she likes to ride while looking up at them.

This one’s written with a brutal honesty, and for me, this is another argument in favour of smaller future Zencore volumes. There are a number of worthy stories here, but as I’ve said, not all are easy reading so that what should be a pleasurable reading experience becomes an endurance test. My own reading tends to be done with notebook to hand, a stack of new and old anthologies half-read, half-written-up beside me and maybe a half-read novel to fall asleep over last thing. I’d say that my attitude towards reading most stories these days is similar to that of a student swotting for an exam. This is probably not what the authors or Editor Des Lewis had in mind as their ideal reader when they penned their stories. It’s certainly not how I used to read and probably explains why I actually finish so few books now.

Anyway, the story of Mary, one of life’s victims, channelling the energy of a distant star for her abusive love is one of the least palatable and best stories in the book."

ligotti.net

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