Helllooo!

Well a trickier week than expected thanks to becoming a Covid household and it being HOT. Fortunately, the first is happily under control but the second is likely to continue and Wombles and heat is a thing humans do not need to see.

Anyhow for the next Shirt Shelves lets start with the latest The Dark and then look at what the finalists for the Hugos this year have to offer. The first is great horror while the other I found a mixed bag indeed!

The Dark Issue 86

Fisheyes by Ai Jang – a strong reminder that horror is a sense it creates in a reader not always purel of a supernatural nature. Our narrator is a teenager who is clearly not happy with their mother’s new relationship. This story has a tremendous, pressured atmosphere and leads to a disturbing troubling act of defiance. Prepare for a shudder and a remarkable opening tale

Nothing Is Wasted by Sean Padraic Birnie – our strange narartor awaits their next prey in a bar. This is a tale from a monster’s more dispassionate point of view. I loved the way their sense of otherness and puzzlement at humans and our floating through life. Clues as to our narrator’s nature are delivered subtly and overall, here the disquiet is that for this character its just another day staying alive and the consequences for others are not its concern.

Idolo by James Bennet – Here we get a toxic relationship that is about to hit old folklore. Bennet uses Iberian landscapes to make you feel a hot desert-like countryside that feels from the start a million miles away. Drew a model who knows he has cheated on his fiancé Renzo feels guilty while Renzo drives them to a remote village to meet his dying mother, but this area has its own myths and legends to fear. A great mix of emotional exploration for this duo and then it descends quickly into some Iberian folk horror for a powerful finale.

A Game at Clearwater Lake by Gillian Daniels – This story is playing with the roots of horror telling of a young child who meets a strange boy on a lake by a camp site that is often the scene of bloody murders. The boy even at one stage wears a hockey mask… What I loved about this story is it puts the humanity into the victims of the slasher – they are not simply people t enjoy gruesome traps they’re people with heir own families lives and dramas that get lives cut short. From a ghost’s point of view can you grow as a person after death and what do you make of your supernatural killer then. Its wistful and yet beautifully defiant at not giving in to hatred.

Now let’s turn to the Hugos. Short Story finalists which I read through this week

Tangles by Seanan McGuire – a tale based in the Magic: The Gathering universe. Sadly I found this story quite unengaging and while I’ve tended to enjoy Mcguire’s work a lot this story felt very flat very quickly and was a disappointment.

The Sin of America by Catherynne M Valente – on the one hand a great idea of someone representing all the sins of their country and I can see a lot of work has gone into the choice of language, imagery and creating a sense of atmosphere. Unfortunately, I always struggle to really click with Valente’s work. They are a stylist but it always for me feels a little overwhelming and for me gets in the way of me enjoying their stories. It’s very much not them its me

Mr Death by Alix E Harrow – an unusual tale of a reaper who works for Death almost like an employee of an organisation. Our male narrator is wry and human but gets a challenge to take the life of a young child whose time is due. This tale had a very Twilight Zone feel but more the warm light hearted episodes than the more crueller twists (can you guess which I enjoy more?). As such it feels a little underwhelming in terms of where it goes and the final outcome. Enjoyable but not really a standout read.

Proof by Induction by Jose Palbo Iriarte – Has an interesting idea of a technology where you can spend time with the consciousness of someone who has died. In this case the lead character’s father and unusually to help solve a equation and become famous. There is though an undercurrent of the sad unsaid conversation between father and son. I enjoyed this again and it had slightly more of an emotional pull than the other stories so far but ultimately again it lacked any surprises for me.

Unknown Number by Blue Neustifter – A really intriguing story delivered in the style of text messages rather than more standard prose. Here our character gets a call from themselves but in another universe. I loved this story a lot the innovative updating of a two hander (ish) as a conversation between themselves but also its got an emotional power as it discusses the choice of someone who accepted they needed to transition their gender and someone who did not. The discussion of the emotional issue that dysphoria created over many years is really well handled and yet the story also has a sense of kindness and positivity that really works.

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker – In many ways like Unknown Number this takes a familiar idea and uses a different format. Here we get a folk horror tale in the form of a reddit/wiki set of discussions and posts all analysing a strange folk song and within all the characters’ (users’) voices and footnotes lies someone falling into a trap. I loved how it caught the sense of these forms – the judgements; the people promoting their blog (we deserve so much) and yet nimbly Pinsker sows a story that takes place over centuries.

So my favourite is Oaken Hearts followed by Unknown Number. Both stories that do really interesting things and created a respective emotional response for me. The rest sadly just don’t really stand out and while I appreciate that I tend to read more anthologies until recently I’m struggling to see what these stories did that was so remarkable.