Strange Weather
Well. Last week it was snowing and today it’s supposed to be 86 degrees which is some serious bullshit. My pear tree had flowers and now it has I don’t know what, though at least the birds are happy with the new feeder. Climate change is real kids and if you try to tell me it’s not, I’m going to look at you with a very dubious face, look in several other directions, and then look back at you.
Hopefully, the heat won’t be quite as hard on me as it was last summer, now that I’ve been treated for that much-dreaded tick-borne bacteria I have no idea how I contracted because I barely ever go outside if it can be avoided. Alas, this is, I suppose, what I get for pretending to be an actual baseball and soccer mom.
But you’re not here to listen to me complain. You’re here to find out what I’ve been reading throughout this grand weather adventure. We do, alas, have several DNF’s again, a couple of which I’m actually really bummed about. As always, I’m not going to name names; not for me doesn’t mean it’s not for you and I’m not here to yuck your yum. I’m also not here to dunk on other authors. We’re all here to do our thing and tell our stories especially in this world we’re all forced to live in. I want everyone to find theirs and it’s not for me to say which one is right for you.
But, if you like what I tend to recommend, here we go:
The Hunter’s Daughter by Nicola Slovinic (5/14, Berkley)
https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780593639726
It’s never too early for serial killer stories. I know, I know, everyone thinks they’re a Halloween thing, but a well-written murder spree can enthrall you any time of year as The Hunter’s Daughter proves by throwing readers right in there with the trauma, focusing and wide-angling in turn, asking questions about nature vs. nurture, how much control one has over her destiny, and whether or not goodness can truly exist in the face of evil.
Also, everyone's a little shady, even the protagonist, which is my favorite kind of slasher because what if your final girl isn’t as deserving of her survival as we think she is? What if she’s in on it? What if she’s also the guilty party? What if it’s all her fault?
Then who do we root for?
If I have a quibble with this one, it’s the end is a little bit rushed, which is more of an editorial complaint than one with the writing or story. It feels a bit like The Hunter’s Daughter had a max word count and Slovinic was told to cut back and, not wanting to omit story, she chopped out bits of the denouement. I, personally, would have preferred that to flow a little more smoothly but, that said, I’m still giving this one four out of five big, sharp knives.
Guardian Vol. 2 by Priest (Seven Seas)
https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638589402
Still obsessed with Shen Wei and Zhen Yunlan. Yup, definitely still obsessed and a bit of mystery solved in this second volume. Well, a lot of mystery actually, and now, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do until August when Vol. 3 comes out. Where the Hells is the fandom for this one, I need people to vibe with.
Your Utopia by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin)
https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781643756219
These are some weird-ass stories and they, each and every one of them, have something very important to tell us about ourselves. I couldn’t tell you which one is my favorite - or if I can say any of them are - because they’re all extremely fucking disturbing. They’re also tender, funny (a component that speaks not only to Chung’s skill as a writer but Hur’s as a translator), harsh, honest, and beautiful. They show us the terrible things that we’ve done to our world and one another and the beauty that still exists, the connections we can forge if we reach out the end of a single finger, the treasure we can find if we dig deep enough, and force us to wonder if we deserve the stars.
I really can’t recommend Chung’s stories highly enough, both those in Your Utopia and her previous book, Cursed Bunny (https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781643753607) . Few authors can say so much with so few words and in such creative, bizarre, fascinating ways. And sometimes gross. And did I mention weird?
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Whole Talabi (Recorded Books)
https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780756418267
I highly recommend listening to Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon on audio. Like all of the best stories, it’s one that should be told out loud and meant to be received directly by open ears despite the sheer volume of words that will pour out of your device. It isn’t a particularly long book but it is mostly internal monologue and dialogue which can be a fair bit to follow; believe me, it’s worth it.
The tale is a phenomenal one, revolving around the machinations of “Spirit Companies,” the world’s various pantheons, attempting to undercut not only one another but various members attempting to one-up each other until Shigidi, a nightmare god, gets out of the game altogether, becoming even more powerful as an ally of Nneoma, a succubus with a story of her own.
The rest of Shigidi’s Company isn’t going to let that go, of course. Especially not with Alastair Crowley involved and a critical artifact in British hands. So it’s one last mission and then freedom. If Shigidi and Nneoma can get it just right.
I enjoyed Shigidi so much. Back in the day, the only book we had that was remotely in this wonderful magical, mystery, mythological journey was American Gods but now authors of all nationalities and ethnicities have taken up the cause of their own stories and all of us are the better for receiving the tales from #ownvoices tellers.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (MacMillian Audio for Flatiron Books)
https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781250884251
Up to the modern day, people who grew up devoutly Catholic lit candles in closets on Friday nights or said a blessing over bread in a language they didn’t know and didn’t use at any other time. They didn’t know the origins of these transitions but they carried them forward because they were things their families had done for generations and every family has unique traditions, doesn’t it?
These rituals, however, were shared across families and had their origins in a very specific historical event: The Inquisition. During that period, Jews in Spain were forced to either convert or, depending on the year, exiled or killed. Some converted but kept up important traditions in secret. Others pretended to convert but continued to practice Judaism in secret. Others refused and either left the country or accepted execution.
These are the building blocks upon which Bardugo’s new novel, The Familiar, is establish, though the book is about much more than that. It is a book of secrets and lies, magic and cruelty, despair and escape and I really enjoyed it (and I say this as someone who didn’t make it through Ninth House). I liked that the book roamed larger as well, that Bardugo gave is a wider view of the world, that this wider view showed readers how everyone had something to fear, that the world hasn’t changed all that much, but that there is always something to live for, that despite the darkness, there is still strange and wonderful love to find if we are willing to trust just a little bit.
Current reads are Stephen Graham Jones’s Angel of Indian Lake (https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781668011669), purchased at Pittsburgh’s newest indie bookstore, Stay Gold Books (https://www.staygoldbooks.com), and the MZDS manhua (https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638585237)because I will consume that story in any form. Yes, I have a problem, no I don’t care.
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