Never Whistle at Night

July 31, 2023
Hawk (Anoka) and Van Alst (Sacred City) present a heavy-hitting arrangement of 26 twisted tales from established and emerging Indigenous North American authors. The collection mixes hauntings (as in Mona Susan Power’s “Dead Owls”) and monsters (in Mathilda Zeller’s “Kushtuka”) from Native tradition, with the more mundane horrors of privileged white racism taken to extremes (in Amber Blaeser-Wardzala’s “Collections”), the devastating effects of abuse (in Kelli Jo Ford’s “Heart-Shaped Clock”), and a touch of satisfyingly violent revenge against mistreatment, both supernatural (in D.H. Trujillo’s “Snakes Are Born in the Dark”) and mundane (in David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s “Sundays”). Hawk’s own contribution, “Behind Colin’s Eyes,” evokes a visceral feeling of being trapped. Family stories and intergenerational relationships form a running theme, taking center stage in Morgan Talty’s “The Prepper,” while the dangerous power of storytelling itself comes to the fore in Richard Van Camp’s gripping “Scariest. Story. Ever.” Lifting up an exciting array of authors, this anthology will be a treat for horror fans.

August 1, 2023
Indigenous authors explore the meaning of haunted spaces. In his foreword to this anthology of "dark fiction," Stephen Graham Jones notes the value of examining the blurry regions between reality and unreality, and in locating the indeterminacies of identity that linger there. The great potential of narratives which engage such topics, he says, is that they can offer redemptive alternatives to the stricter conceptual boundaries often found in non-Indigenous traditions. As Jones puts it, "Telling ourselves stories about the world being bigger than we thought, big enough for bigfoot and little people, that's really kind of saying to the so-called settlers that, hey, yeah, so you took all that land you could see. But what about all this other territory you don't even know about, man?" The best of the stories here deliver on this promise of imaginative discovery and liberation. In their explorations of obscure but decisive truths and murky crossings between the human and more-than-human, they provide some often spine-tingling and suggestive storytelling. Among the most memorable are Nick Medina's "Quantum," Kelli Jo Ford's "Heart-Shaped Clock," and Kate Hart's "Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning," each of which chillingly implies the vulnerability of contemporary Native America to unburied history and undead antagonists. The most gripping and poignant of the stories is, perhaps, Mathilda Zeller's "Kushtuka," which cannily explores the tormented in-between spaces of a selfhood afflicted from within and without: "There was something outside the house that was clearly murderous and looked just like me. There was something inside me that was clearly murderous and felt nothing like me." Though the rest of the stories are somewhat uneven in quality, this collection is entertaining and thought-provoking, especially in its highlighting of the lurking terrors--from intergenerational trauma to environmental destruction to toxic allyship--confronting Indigenous peoples today. Unsettling tales from the otherworldly shadows.

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August 4, 2023

Editors Hawk and Van Alst Jr., both of whom are Indigenous, have compiled an anthology featuring some of the more prominent Indigenous voices in speculative fiction, including Rebecca Roanhorse, Tommy Orange, and Nick Medina. Each of the 27 stories in this collection features various speculative elements (whether horror, fantasy, science fiction, or crime fiction) that are shown through the lens of life as an Indigenous person. The quality of the stories might vary greatly, but like any good anthology, it offers something for everyone. Some of the stories are quietly disturbing, like Mona Susan Power's "Dead Owls," and others are full of shocking, supernatural moments, like D.H. Trujillo's "Snakes Are Born in the Dark." There are even more sublime tales, like the stories from Rebecca Roanhorse and Kelli Jo Ford, that don't evoke supernatural elements but still have the power to capture readers' imaginations through inventive storytelling and raw emotion. What all these stories ultimately have in common is discussing aspects of Indigenous life, like the violence that still endures long after their land was colonized and the struggle to uphold traditions and history. VERDICT This anthology is perfect for those who've enjoyed Indigenous horror authors like Stephen Graham Jones, who provided the book's introduction, and want to discover more.--James Gardner

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2023
Editors Hawke and Van Alst have gathered a satisfying mix of unsettling horror stories written by an array of notable Native authors, including Cherie Dimaline, Brandon Hobson, Darcie Little Badger, and Tommy Orange. The 25 chilling tales revolve around Indigenous experiences and beliefs, cranking up the creepy factor with terrifying monsters, ghosts, curses, family secrets, and vengeful spirits. In "Hunger," by Phoenix Boudreau, a college student fights a Wehtigo that possesses humans and consumes all, never feeling satiated. In "Dead Owls," by Mona Susan Power, a young Dakota girl visits her aunt in the summer, only to be attacked by the spirit of an angry settler. In Carson Faust's "Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected," a man mourns the loss of his brother, resorting to the unspeakable to see him once again. All combined, these powerful pages use fantastical elements to create very human characters who suffer very real horrors, like oppression, poverty, abuse, mental illness, and the erasure of long-existing cultures and traditions. This volume is a must for any library collection and will be devoured by speculative fiction fans who enjoy a sprinkle of social commentary within their scary books.

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