...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

A new month is here, time for the new shorties again!

Even though October is the epitome for horror for most people, I now realize that I haven't been reading much scary stuff but rather normal, maybe a little creepy contemporary literature and darkish fantasy. When the weather gets darker I really enjoy reading short stories most, I don't know why, but that's how it is. Probably because they're rationable, one or two stories per evening per collection or anthology are perfect, and they don't require much commitment but are still rewarding. I've been stocking on a lot of anthologies and collections, so I'll probably be reading lots of shorties for the rest of the fall/winter.

I hope you had a great month, enjoy the new short reviews!

Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moïra Fowley

Moïra Fowley’s stories orbit around themes like motherhood, coming of age / girls growing up, and again and again sapphic love and relationships. The depicted intimacy between the characters creeping through each story was especially moving. I generally enjoyed these, although they are also quite similar in tone, so much so that after the halfway mark the book turns almost a little monotonous.

Accordingly, I loved the stories that stood out for me; the touching, world-defying relationship in Flowers; The Summoning in which a hot demon was summoned for revenge purposes but she’s so hot it only distracts the summoner, and The Carrier with a disturbing and grotesque baby and a mother sacrificing her body for it.

The cover is so gorgeous 😍

Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo

"Inwardly, I shrieked with laughter."

Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination was this year's Halloween read for Shine&Shadow in which we aim at reading one spooky story per day, everyday in October. Because we mods didn't really pay attention during the nomination process this book won, although we usually prefer anthologies (not collections from one author) with many more short stories (this one had ten stories) for the Halloween read. Next year we need to better open our eyes.

Though somewhat old-fashioned and stale, there were still some disturbing ideas in these mysterious tales to be found, which I didn't always enjoy, but accept the perverted brilliance of.

Take, for instance, the first story “The Human Chair”, which is exactly what the title says it is and it's disgusting, really. Or “The Caterpillar” which was just cruel and depraved. My personal number one of the collection is “The Hell of Mirrors” which explores what effects our own reflection has on us and how maddening that can be (Edogawa Rampo died in 1965, so he should see us now and re-write that story with selfies). I mainly liked this story because it has a very crazy, yes almost insane, but lightheartedly insane main character who furthers his non-normalcy with his obsession and has a lot of fun in doing so.

The themes, characters, narration styles and even character names turn repetitive after a while and although this was a nice group read, I won't actively seek Rampo's books in the future.

Only the Stains Remain by Ross Jeffery

"To kill a monster, you have to become a monster."

I have a friend, Narin, that I love to bits, and every time someone's talking about how they're pacifists and against violence, she refreshingly goes “Not me, I'm plenty for violence!” Well, I thought of her a lot while reading Only the Stains Remain because there's nothing but brutal, painful, revengeful violence you wish for certain people, especially a group of adult men torturing and assaulting two little boys.

The story is obviously about a heavy subject matter, and is accordingly sad. Although well-written, especially initially, later in the book the sad writing tends to turn a little artificial, almost histrionic, which honestly kept me from being fully invested.

I later realized that publishing this review at a time where the subjects violence and revenge are obviously featured prominently in the news and in our realities might have been thoughtless of me but I hadn't made the connection until someone on goodreads made me aware of it. I'm so used to deal with the subject of violence on a deeply conceptual level that I sometimes forget people can see or perceive the written word differently. For me art is the perfect outlet for such discussions but yeah, not everyone has to see it the way I do. I think I will ponder on this a lot in the near future.

This was my first read with the lovely extreme gore whores.

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

Fifteen-year-old nameless protagonist is the backbone of her family – she cooks, cleans, takes care of her little brother Michael, does the finances and basically has her mother's back so she can make her art, her tapestries. It's not unusual for the mom to bring lovers home, but one day she brings someone unusual - a six foot tall crane! And he's there to stay. The children don't like this new “father” but he takes their mother under his complete control for her to produce the artwork of her life. That he sucks her life, her children, her health and everything out of her is just the beginning.

This was a short and sad read. I just recently realized I've read When Women Were Dragons by the same author so women turning free and flying away is kind of a central metaphor for her, I'm not sure I like it very much, though this book was OK for me.

Also, this is apparently the re-telling of the Japanese folktale The Crane Wife, which I haven't read before (and don't really intend to read in the future). 

Nubia: The Reckoning by Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes

Yay, it continues! After the great success Epps and Haynes had especially in the USA amongst middle graders and young adults with their epic saga about the children of refugees from a destroyed land, this second part closes most threads but in my opinion leaves room for a third installment. Which confused me, this was supposed to be a duology? Well, maybe Clarence fooled me and it's not after all.

The Reckoning picks up where The Awakening has left - while some Nubians made it up-high and even work with a crazed militia leader determined to use their powers for his business, others face the challenges of building a new order, a new community and those challenges come from left and right, from everywhere, really.

I did enjoy the new characters coming in, the subplot of my favorite character Vrianna, of course, the thoughtful message of unity and individual strength. If the series were to continue, I wouldn't mind at all.

The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

"Yes, freedom is the best air, my darling."

To leave everything behind, to start a journey, sit in a vehicle and just look at landscapes, let the impressions cleanse you of your worries, responsibilities, your routines is as exciting as it is cathartic. The road adventures of China Iron take place in the Argentina of the late 19th century, a time in which a voyage poses greater dangers and risks than in our time, but leads through an extremely rewarding place. For the most part, at least. On their wagon, China and her companions the Scottish wife Liz, gaucho Rosario and the dog Estreya will pass through the pampas, witness the pitiful existence of gauchos in an estancia and the detestable colonial order, and finally find and join the indigenous Iñchiñ people.

Martín Fierro is a real life epic poem about the gaucho life, and China Iron is an interpretation, a re-telling of the story surrounding this epic poem, adding and putting in focus a queer quality; Liz and China learn from each other about their respective worlds and learn how to love each other, learn what they are and what they want to be.

Matching its pace to the ox-drawn wagon, The Adventures of China Iron takes its time, inviting us slowly slowly, comfortably rocking and swaying into historical Argentina's impressive landscape, and before we know it, we're completely captivated by this vast and rich, yet at the same time miserable and cruel place. The slow introduction, together with a feeling of detachment from both heroines, would be the only points I consider flaws, everything else was quite fascinating.