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Book Review: And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin

 

 

And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin. (Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com)

Tor.com. 2022

ISBN: ‎978-1250798077

Available: Paperbsck, Kindle edition.

 

 

This was an PDF ARC provided to me by Ellen Datlow so changes may have been made prior to publication.

 

And Then I Woke Up has an unreliable narrator, a middle-aged man named Spence, who (we are told) is at a mental facility for people who have been “infected” by a virus that caused a mass delusion that made them believe people around them were flesh-eating zombies, reinforced by a media narrative, and by infected charismatic leaders who emerged from the chaos to take control of small groups of “survivors”.

 

Spence notices Leila, a new patient, is not fitting in. After accidentally seeing a snippet of a news report she decides to break out and Spence goes with her. We learn Spence’s story– or do we? The story he remembers is not the one other infected people remember, or the one the Army reported, or the account in the news, or the one the families of people he attacked remember. And only one of those stories is the one the therapist wants to hear him repeat.

 

Leila wants to return to join her group because it was easier to understand the world in black and white, but needs a different narrative to justify her survival so Spence comes up with one, or maybe a second, or maybe a third– he’s not sure what actually happens, although he hopes her story will be enough to influence the narrative positively so infected, cured, and uninfected can coexist peacefully.

 

But Spence’s imagination will no longer allow him to believe in a single narrative and as he dreams of both past events and possible futures he loses his grip on reality.

 

What’s interesting about Spence is his lack of interest in the media or politics. His reaction to the infection establishes him as a “believer” fully enough that it completely alters his perceptions despite that. Rather than simply a story about a zombie invasion or pandemic, Devlin has written a critique of how narrative can be shaped to influence even people who don’t start out with an interest in it.

 

And Then I Woke Up is a short piece that will appeal to readers who appreciate unreliable narrators, but those looking for a straightforward narrative will want to look elsewhere.

 

There’s a lot about storytelling, narrative, othering, grief, guilt, and what makes a believer. This felt political, but makes its mark on a very personal, heartbreaking, and terrifying level.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on September 8, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

cover art for The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

Harper, 2020

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062940957

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook  ( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

 

When a dark witch who is the master of a pelesit dies, the pelesit must go in search of a new master.

 

A pelesit is a Malaysian ghost in the shape of a grasshopper that has been bound to a master, created through dark magic and used to give the master power and protection. The master uses it for monetary gain, directing the pelesit to create trouble, so its victims will pay for solutions. It must feed regularly on the blood of its master and is bound to its master and the following generations. Without a binding, it causes chaos that can’t be controlled. This pelesit knows he needs to be controlled to keep darkness from completely taking him over.

 

When the pelesit finds the witch’s closest relatives, he discovers the witch’s daughter has shut herself off completely from the supernatural world. Her young daughter, Suraya, is another story. Unlike her grandmother, she makes the world a brighter place, and he binds her to him with three drops of blood in her sleep. Once the pelesit is bound to her, she changes: trouble seems to follow her, but nothing bad ever happens to her, and people start to avoid her. She names the pelesit Pink, and he becomes her only friend. But he is a dark spirit of chaos and it is a struggle for him to hold it back, especially when he perceives a threat to Suraya, and later when she does make her own friends, out of jealousy.

 

As time passes, struggle between Suraya’s brightness, widening world, and increasing independence and Pink’s darkness, and possessiveness can only lead to more and more terrible things, and also many, many Star Wars references. If insects and maggots bother you, be warned.

 

According to the author, this is a retelling of a Malaysian folktale, but she has very much made it her own. This story about family, friendship, grief, and the supernatural is compelling, unusual, occasionally funny, and sometimes disturbing, Seeing events from Pink’s point of view provides a more nuanced look than if we only witnessed events from the outside, and the author’s careful description of Malaysian ghosts, spirits, and exorcisms, contributes significantly to world-building. Highly recommended for grades 4-8.

 

Contains: child death, mutilation, insects and maggots, blood

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on November 12, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Thanatrauma by Steve Rasnic Tem

cover art for Thanatrauma by Steve Rasnic Tem

Thanatrauma by Steve Rasnic Tem

Valancourt Books, 2021

ISBN: 978-1954321052

Available : Paperback , Kindle edition (  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com  )

 

Steve Rasnic Tem is an iconic author of horror fiction who doesn’t need any introduction. Any new book written by him is an event for any lover of dark fiction.

The present collection assembles seventeen previously published stories and four original tales, most of which are imbued with a sense of dread– the curse of getting old and the feeling that death is waiting just around the corner. What else can be more horrific than that?

The  gloomy title story, “Thanatrauma”, sets the tone by portraying a widower’s gradual downfall after the death of his beloved wife. Similarly, “Saudade” is a perceptive, melancholy tale about a lonesome widower taking a cruise.

The angsty “A Stay at the Shore” is the distressing report of a long train ride to an untraceable beach by an elusive ocean , and  “August Freeze” is a veritable nightmare, depicting how a house set in the middle of nowhere becomes prey to cold and freeze, whereas all around it a glorious summer is at its peak.

In the disturbing “Forwarded”, a man returning home to celebrate his brother’s retirement finds himself overwhelmed by the memories of a long gone past.

To me the two best stories in the book are the outstanding “The Parts Man”, an insightful piece about a man making a supernatural deal to briefly bring back to life some  deceased family members (for a price), and the disquieting “ Reflections in Black”, depicting how on a Halloween night a man is allowed to fleetingly see a lost love from his past.

Although some themes tend to recur, the collection remains an upsetting but engrossing ride provided by a master storyteller.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Posted on November 6, 2021 by , Reply
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