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Book Review: Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. by Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith

cover art for Tortured Willows by Lee Murray and others

Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. by Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith

Yuriko Publishing, 2021

ISBN: 9781737208

Available: Paperback  (Amazon.com)

 

A striking, heart-wrenching masterpiece, comprised of four vital voices in verse.

 

This four-poet compilation of works extends on themes addressed in the multiple award winning anthology, Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn, editors). The individual poems are highly accessible and strike fiercely, each bringing to life “a story on skin” (Angela Yuriko Smith, “Her Hajichi”), and each written with unyielding voice and unique strength.

 

At once painful and powerful, the collection as a whole exemplifies the best of speculative poetry and is a collection that will be re-read again and again: first all at once because the poems bring you quickly into their vivid images and worlds, and then returned to over time for their courageous meanings and profound insights.

 

Highlights includes Murray’s “Defining Character,” which explores language itself and the associations inherent to female life; Flynn’s remarkable blackout poem “Abridge,” unearthing hidden realities and hopes for an end to gendered violence”; the harsh cruelties imposed by the wealthy on a young immigrant girl employed in the home in Sng’s “Phoenix.”

 

Alongside a combination of traditional forms and free verse work, the poets also offer short commentaries. This addition invites readers into deeper reflection on and conversation with the authors’ processes and purposes, an engaging and inspired aspect of the collection. Filled with diverse poems that explore complex themes like ancestral obligations, cultural appropriation and violence, intimate exotification and misogyny, the impact of the work also moves in intriguing, new directions toward empowering, reimagined histories and myths.

 

Beautifully arranged by individual author, each set of poems works on its own and contributes to the overall themes. The resulting range of voices and styles is merged into a magnificently cohesive set addressing intersecting issues of culture and gender. Potent truths, rich details, and dynamic verse, these poems bloom with taut images that slice away preconceptions and deepen attention to appropriations of heritage and impositions of restricting expectations.

 

Fans of Black Cranes looking for more work by the authors, as well as fans of modern speculative verse and horror poetry will revel in this impressive collection. From goddesses and teenagers to angry ghosts, these poems will haunt and inspire. Highly Recommend.

 

 

Reviewed by E.F. Schraeder

Posted on October 8, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

cover art for Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

Unchosen by Katharyn Blair

Katherine Tegen Books, 2021

ISBN-13 : 978-0062657640

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

 

Two years ago, the world was cursed with an infection that spread through direct eye contact, turning the infected into bloodthirsty, cannibalistic killers whose personalities and intelligence degrade over time, leaving only the monster behind. An infected person can gain immunity if they look directly into the eyes of three uninfected people, meaning there is a huge market for uninfected people. I thought this was a creative, unusual idea for spreading and controlling the infection.

The infection was caused by the defiling of the remains of Anne de Graaf, a young woman who cursed a pirate captain and jumped to her death rather than allowing her body to be claimed. Her remains were discovered and treasure hunters attempted to rob her body, activating the curse. According to prophecy, only the Chosen One can end the curse (why this infection is the curse is unclear to me, but Blair does such a vivid job creating her apocalyptic world that it didn’t really matter to me).

Harlow, Charlotte, and Vanessa are sisters, living in a survival camp and attempting to avoid the notice of raiders and infected, or Vessels. Harlow, the oldest, is nineteen, attractive, athletic, musical, and a leader in the camp. She’s also the long-term girlfriend of Dean, Charlotte’s crush. Vanessa, the youngest, is a talented gymnast and also the Chosen One, something that’s kept very carefully under wraps. She has night terrors and makes prophecies in her sleep. Charlotte shares a bedroom with her and writes them down. Raiders searching for the Chosen One discover the camp. They know she is there, but not which sister. To protect her sisters, Charlotte claims to be the Chosen One. The other members of the camp, including Dean, Harlow, and Vanessa, are led to a different ship that will take them to the Blood Market to be sold.

Thus begins a series of terrifying adventures mostly based in Charlotte’s memories of Vanessa’s prophecies, some lucky breaks, and a lot of lies. Charlotte uses her status as “Chosen One” to manipulate those who have grown to consider her an ally, including a potential romantic partner, Seth, into her search for Dean rather than aiming straight for the area she will need to get to in order to break the curse.

Charlotte is resourceful and convincing, but she’s also selfish, and her inability to ever follow directions, even when it’s a life-threatening situation for herself or others, is maddening. Her treatment of both Seth and Dean was frustrating to watch, and the message of women claiming their power for themselves was undercut by Charlotte’s continual search for Dean and the back-and-forth with Seth, who clearly respects her much more than she respects him.

There’s also a science fiction aspect to the story. One of the characters, a virologist, is seeking a cure for the infection. The combination of “infection caused by a curse” and “infection cured using science” begs the question of what kind of story is this, really? If science is the cure, why is there a need for a Chosen One?

Despite its flaws, this is an enjoyable colorful, action-packed apocalyptic story with a little romance that teen girls 12 and older will probably enjoy.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on April 15, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Bloody Britain by Anna Taborska, illustrated by Reggie Oliver

 

cover art for Bloody Britain by Anna Taborska

Bloody Britain by Anna Taborska, illustrated by Reggie Oliver

Shadow Publishing, 2020

ISBN 978-0957296299

Available: Paperback ( Bookshop.org )

 

The legends and lore of ancient Britain are an essential part of its history, and in Bloody Britain, Anna Taborska shows us that its dark past is never really dead. In a disturbingly calm, conversational tone, Taborska reports the details of torture, murder, revenge, and punishment that evolve from familiar stories and settings into new short story plots with a contemporary feel.

 

Some of the best stories in this collection find horror in the midst of everyday encounters while their innocuous titles belie the violence to come. Who would expect the nice man collecting money for a cancer charity in “Teatime” to be a serial killer who revels in making people suffer their greatest fears? What would make anyone think that a giant worm would be waiting for an opportunity to pop out of a church crypt like the monster in “Cyril’s Mission” does?

 

Two of the most inventive tales, “Rockstar” and “Daylight Robbery,” also give us something deeper to think about as we ponder the characters’ behavior. When the singer in “Rockstar” secretly pays an anonymous writer for lyrics that end up describing real murders, it calls to mind the bad choices some people make for fame and profit. “Daylight Robbery” also focuses on status. It paints the picture of a futuristic, divided society, one in which designer babies become privileged adults who drive around in electric cars wearing “smart suits” while poor immigrants are literally blind and persecuted as terrorists.

 

There are also traditional ghost stories in Bloody Britain. The ghosts include a woman who died in a meat packing factory (“The Haggis Queen”), a young wife and her servant, falsely accused of being her lover, who were both murdered by her husband (“The Gatehouse”), and even ghost dogs that roam around a pet cemetery (“A Walk in the Park”).

 

Although the events are rather predictable in a few of these short stories, they are still  entertaining due to Taborska’s writing style and skillful use of dialogue and description. For example, in “Night of the Crone,” a gang of degenerates gets what’s coming to them when they disturb a monolith in a stone circle. There is also a man who gets into trouble when he dares to inspect a shipwreck at “Formby Point,” and an innocent person imprisoned in the Tower of London who has an encounter with the ghost of Lady Jane Grey. In “The Cat Sitter,” a woman is targeted by a witch who haunts the woods nearby, and in “The Lemmy/Trump Test,” people of low social status are killed for sport. Even the curious student in “Out of the Light” can’t avoid disaster when he becomes addicted to reading a fascinating, evil book he’s borrowed from the bowels of the Bodleian Library.

 

So, light the fire, lock the door, and curl up with a diverting story and a nice cuppa. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

 

Editor’s note: Bloody Britain is a nominee on the final ballot of this year’s Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. 

Posted on April 8, 2021 by , Reply
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