Other Stars

My reading this week ended up having a theme, which I didn’t necessarily intend ahead of time but which is always fun. That theme is horror-tinged fantasy from what we would now call the “Islamic World.” It’s important to note, however, that the seeds of these stories pre-date that designation by centuries if not millennia, that like many elements of folklore, mythology, and eventually codified religion, what was once oral tradition evolving into the stories we know today, many of which are part of 2/3 of the wonderful books I inhaled over the course of the last seven days.

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah (The Sandsea Trilogy, Book II), (Orbit, 4/15)

Yes, you do need to read The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilohy, Book I) before The Ashfire King but, good news, you have a couple of weeks. You should go do that. I mean, I worked hard on this blog post so finish reading it first, but acquiring The Stardust Thief is the next thing you should do.

Fantastic news: If you read it already, there’s an old school, comic splash-page recap at the beginning of The Ashfire King. Which is my new favorite book thing. They should be in all books we’ve had to wait more than like, three months for. In fact, I hereby command it. Sorry, I’m drunk with power, my nephew just finished Impossible Creatures and asked me to summon book two for him, genuinely believing I could do so. If only.

The Ashfire King is fantastic. I loved it. The world continues to build upon itself in that distinctive and wondrous way Persian and Arab stories do, “Neither here nor there, but not so long ago…” There are miracles and possible impossibilities and beauty and horror, all gorgeously described by Abdullah as we’ve come to expect from her magical keyboard.

I have one minor quibble and it’s one more to do with editing than with the writing or with the story: a lot happens in The Ashfire King and that’s great. It keeps the book exciting. There are a few points, however, were too many things are happening at once in this multiple POV tale or something that’s “currently” happening to one character is almost identical to something that’s already happened to someone else; both of these scenarios led to confusion on my part as the reader, of the sort that left me feeling like my brain was running on a hamster wheel. As a writer, I know how easy it is to lose sight of those when you know your story well, which is why editors exist; someone else should have caught those on one of multiple passes. Again, very minor and it shouldn’t stop you from reading an excellent book.

This story also had me thinking, especially as Passover approaches (and as I finally got around to watching Moon Knight - and having watched, I maintain Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Moon Knight should have been played by a Jewish actor despite the fact I would literally watch Oscar Isaac eat wallpaper paste. Yes, I know one of his parents is Jewish, but he’s never practiced and that’s key here) about colonizers. And that fact that anyone can be a colonizer. This is going to take me a minute, so follow, if you will. Or don’t, it’s up to you. Yes, I’m getting political in a book review, because I think this is important.

In The Sandsea Trilogy, humans have colonized the djinn in that they control those djinn who remain above ground despite the djinn having magical abilities for various reasons (I don’t want to spoil the story too much here). In Moon Knight, Marc Spector/Stephen Grant is colonized by Konshu, an Egyptian god (see, thoughts connect, I just needed a sec). That origin story bears a striking resemblance to the Passover story, in which the ethnic group mytho-historical sources label as “Jews” or “Hebrews” is colonized/enslaved, and later culled, by the Egyptians as ordered by the Pharaoh (maaaaaaaybe Ramses II). The reason I think Marvel should have cast a Jewish actor in the role is that the lived experience of immersion in the repetition of that specific colonizer narrative is integral to an understanding of the character, his internal struggles, and even his psychosis (he’s faced with drowning twice which also happens to Moses twice; once when his mother puts him in the basket and once when he parts the Red Sea. The fact that Marc Spector’s brother doesn’t survive that same danger is significant as well).

Which brings us to now. Now when, sitting in the congregation at a Bat Mitzvah, I heard a rabbi say in his sermon that, “Jews can’t be colonizers,” a moment I was reminded of at the end of The Ashfire King when a certain thing happens. A horrifying moment that shouldn’t happen, just as a people who have been repeatedly colonized should never colonize anyone else. To say we can’t, however, bullshit of the most ignorant and disgusting caliber. We have demolished lives and dignity and safety, we have stolen everything from fellow humans and if you aren’t speaking out against it, then there is something wrong with you as a Jew. The highest mitzvah you can perform is tikkun olam, healing the world. That doesn’t include murdering innocent people under any circumstances. Any. If you support what Israel is doing to Gaza, you are a colonizer. And if you don’t mention it at your Passover Seder, when we’re recounting our own colonizer narrative, then you have failed as a Jew.

So. Read The Ashfire King. And think about all those times you said, “Never Again.”

The Stardust Thief: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780316368865

The Ashfire King: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780316369060

Impossible Creatures: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780593809860

Djinnology: An Illuminated Compendium of Spirits and Stories from the Muslim World from The Notebooks of Dr. N, Edited by Seema Yasmin, and Illustrated by Fahmida Azim (Chronicle Books)

This one you’re going to want to hold in your hands, people. It’s an absolutely gorgeous book with all the visual conceits of the found notes genre: fun fonts, deliciously rich illustrations, “smudges” and “coffee rings,” asides, whispers of conspiracy… Chronicle is always good, but they really outdid themselves with this particular volume and it’s definitely worth the price of admission. I’d pay the $33 just for the map with the overlay of Alam-Ghayb to hang on my wall.

Americans and Europeans are woefully underinformed when it comes to Muslim and pre-Muslim folklore and mythology; a huge part of that is Eurocentrism. Another huge part of that is a systemic anti-Muslim bias many of us don’t even realize we have (I majored in religion and went on to get a masters in academic theology. I consider myself fortunate to have studied Arabic, Islam, and Islamic art and to have my own learned bias checked both early and forcefully). What we do know is vague and comes from highly-adulterated/ignorant pop-culture references (looking at you Aladin, all due respect to Robin Williams). Djinnology goes a long way toward correcting misapprehensions while sharing not only wonderful myths and legends but also original oral traditions and Qur’an passages, as well as modern adaptations of monster stories from across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and numerous diaspora communities. They’re all fantastic. I’m can see myself delving into them again and again, just for the pleasure of experiencing this magical world that runs parallel to ours, close enough to touch, if you’re brave, and perhaps, foolish enough to take the risk of reaching into the unknown.

Djinnology: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781797214818

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy (Tor Nightfire)

I have read a lot of disturbing books in my 46 years of life. I love horror. I like being creeped out. I like slasher shit. I once watched every Halloween movie in a month with a friend for a live-tweet website project (yes, even Halloween III and I will die on the hill that it’s hilariously terrible in a way that makes it fun to watch, dude’s name is Sam Hain for fuck’s sake). Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorite authors. The first of Cassidy’s books I read was Rest Stop and one of the reasons I loved it was because it was off-the-chain, balls-to-the-wall disgusting.

So, when I tell you Mary is the most disturbing book of which I have ever partaken, please take me seriously.

I listened to it, which definitely added to the gah! of the experience. The reader’s name is Susan Bennett and I’m sure she’s a lovely human but if anyone ever came up to me and was like, “Shiri, this is Susan Bennett, she was the reader for Nat Cassidy’s Mary,” I would probably faint because she is fucking terrifying as this POV character. And I’ve been a corrections nurse and a psych nurse. I’ve had a patient who was only allowed to leave her room on a tether previously, look me in the eye and tell me she was going to kill me. I’ve told a murderer there’s nothing wrong with him and he has to go back to his cell when he doesn’t want to. My first kid was stuck and we didn’t know and I pushed for two hours with no epidural. When I went in for my schedule c-section with #2 in active labor, they fucked around for an hour because, “You were so calm, we didn’t actually think anything was happening.” I was, in fact six centimeters and had been advised by three specialists not to try to deliver as one typically does. I do not scare easily. I do not freak out. I do not faint.

Would faint if I met Ms. Bennett. Before she even opened her mouth. Just knowing I was in her presence. That is how disturbing this book is. There were a few times I almost returning it without finishing it.

But it is also so insanely compelling I had to know what happened because there is a serial killer and maybe reincarnation and also maybe just perimenopause and I am also a lady of a certain age but also maybe a cult and maybe human sacrifice but also maybe not and this fine line between Shirley Jackson and Joe Hill and also Stephen Graham Jones and if I didn’t finish it I was going to regret it for the rest of my life but Jesus Christ on a bicycle…

All this to say, fuuuuuuuck me, if you’re looking for a really excellent horror novel, yeah, this one. Right here.

If you want to tone own the impact, I imagine reading the book rather than listening to it would likely take it down a few notches. Full experience though, grab that audio book. Prepare to be changed. Let yourself turn it off if you need to. Maybe don’t listen if you’re already feeling anxious or having a weird day. But yeah. Whew. Real good book.

Oh, and Nat, if you read this, as that woman of a certain age, you hit it out of the park.

Mary: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781250265234

Rest Stop: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781959565369

Currently reading: a book on synesthesia, Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and an upcoming from FT Leukens. Talk soon!