Diverse horror | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Book Review: The Twisted Book of Shadows edited by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore

The Twisted Book of Shadows edited by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore

Twisted Publishing, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1949140156

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Christopher Golden and James A. Moore, inspired to create a diverse and varied horror anthology, teamed up with Haverhill House’s Twisted Publishing imprint to create a collection that did not include the heavy hitters of horror. They wanted to highlight stories by new authors, and give as many authors as possible a fair chance. They also wanted to be able to pay the authors more than a pittance. To that end, the editors created a GoFundMe crowdfunding project in October 2016, asked for submissions, and required a blind submission process. Out of the 700 stories they received, 19 were selected, also by a unique and diverse editorial committee, for the anthology. I noticed that ten, over half, of the stories are written by women.

In Melissa Swensen’s “The Pale Mouth”, the world must remain vigilant in constant lighting, and no shadow may be permitted indoors or out. Layla, as the Primary of her household, has responsibilities in taking care of the home. Every lightbulb is monitored and has a life counter. If any light is found to be out or defective, it is her fault. But the darkness is so tempting.

“Cake” by M.M. De Voe tells the story of a frazzled mother in second-person perspective. You can’t seem to get your spouse to help keep an eye on the children, and your beautiful toddler daughter has a knack for obtaining sharp objects. Surely, your two sons are to blame. Who could accuse that perfect blonde child who can’t even reach the counter of doing such a thing as getting the butcher knife, or getting a hold of the sharp cleaver, or locking the front door with you on the other side?

Eóin Murphy’s “The Birthing Pool” gives us a tale of Lovecraftian folk horror. A couple is expecting their firstborn child. Jim takes Sarah to the small fishing community of Danog to see his Aunt Sylvia for her final birth class. What happens is beyond Sarah’s comprehension. A town of cultists, ready to sacrifice their own firstborns at the birthing pool, is also ready to welcome Sarah’s sacrifice. However, Sarah isn’t one to back down, and Jim certainly deserves his comeuppance.

I have a soft spot for stories that include Alaska as a setting since it is my home state. In “Midnight Sun” by Andrew Bourelle, Alginak is the last of his people. Oil pipeline construction are destroying the land. He always seems to run into the same camp of white construction workers who don’t stop at the destruction of land, but also in killing the local wildlife, some of which he has befriended. Bourelle’s rich use of the Alaskan landscape is superb, and Alginak’s story is intense.

P.D. Cacek’s “Mirror, Mirror” centers on a mother’s obsession with watching over her terminally ill baby and her husband’s concern for her wellbeing. When he is finally able to convince her to rest, he makes a series of terrible mistakes.

That’s only a handful of the great stories in this anthology. I would like to see more collections curated in such a way where lesser known writers have the opportunity to publish their work. There are so many new voices, at least to me, in this volume that I want to continue reading. I do hope they all continue their craft. I’m glad to see that this has been nominated for a Stoker Award.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Editor’s note: The Twisted Book of Shadows is a nominee on the final ballot of this year’s Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievment in an Anthology.

Long Fiction Review: Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung by Usman Malik (Nightmare Magazine, Issue 74)

“Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung” by Usman Malik

Nightmare Magazine, Issue 74, November 2018

ASIN: B07K386T2B

Available: Kindle edition

“Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung” is an #ownvoices novelette that takes place in Pakistan. The narrator is a cleaned-up heroin addict who has been accused of killing a doctor in Uch, a site of pilgrimage, at various times, for Sufis, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. The tale is his confession to the police, who he is certain will turn him over to some very angry heroin dealers who think he swindled them.

The narrator tells the story of being rescued and sobered up by a doctor studying snake venoms for their healing uses, who has been asking addicts in the park if they have seen a girl in a photo he carries. The girl turns out to be his wife, Maliha, purchased by him when she was eight years old, who became a herpetologist. Maliha ran away to seek the Serpent Pearl, a mythological stone given by the Serpent King of the underworld to his wife, which gave her the power to command animals and birds, immunity to venom, open a gateway to other worlds, and immortality, that she believed could be found in Uch. The doctor decides to follow her to Uch, accompanied by the narrator, who is now on the run from heroin dealers.

In Uch, they approach a shrine during a musical festival. The narrator follows the doctor past the crowd and into the shrine, and witnesses the doctor’s apparent, and fatal, reunion with his wife, who may be a cobra, or an apparition, or may be something else entirely, driving him to poison the water supply of Uch with snake venom as he loses touch with reality.

The setting and much of the language are way outside of my realm of experience, and I don’t feel that I can truly do this story justice, but I can say that the summary above in no way can express the feeling of this tale. It is a fever dream that creates a world that envelops the reader in a combination of the grim life of a heroin addict, with a dark mythology grounded in both Pakistani folklore and cosmic horror. At the same time, it is grounded in a terrible real-life story: the doctor who purchases a wife when she is eight, and chases her down when she runs away as a young woman. In “Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung” Usman Malik steps the reader into an unreal, fantastic, and horrifying world that he makes very, very real.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Editor’s note: “Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung” is a nominee on the final ballot of the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.