Literary Horror discussion

Please join Marie-Therese and me for yet another buddy read for this busy month: Isabel Yap's Never Have I Ever! (Call it March Madness, if you must.)

Reviews, interviews, free online stories, and other enthusiastic verbiage can be found here:
https://smallbeerpress.com/books/2021...

The collection is published by Small Beer Press, run by among others Kelly Link, which has put out some of my favorite books in the last few years. Never Have I Ever is available as a paperback and an e-book.

We're ready to go, so let us know if you're interested but need a few more days to get a copy.

"Milagroso", one of the free online stories, is actually quite different from the two that precede it. It has more of a science fiction context, quite unlike the dark intimacy of "Good Girls" and "A Cup of Salt Tears". More later.

I find the manananggal to be probably the most bizarre folkloric supernatural being that I've come across. (Ok, maybe it didn't help that I first came across them in an over-the-top indie horror movie. But how did people come up with this stuff?) So I'm very surprised by the creepy, intimate take in "Good Girls". The relationship between the two young women is quiet, suggestive and open-ended. Yap casually drops a few details of mananaggal anatomy and magic; the story is all the more effective with this darkly quiet treatment.

I've started this and managed to get the first two stories, "Good Girls" and "A Cup of Salt Tears", read yesterday morning. I'd read both previously (in "year's best" type anthologies)-loved them then, still love them now.

Of the two, "A Cup of Salt Tears" is my favourite and remains one of the best modern kappa stories I've read. It is just so beautifully imagined and Yap sustains a gently melancholic mood through the whole tale with such great delicacy that I'm a bit awestruck. It's practically perfect and one of the loveliest things I've read in a long time.

"Good Girls" is more down to earth, partly due to the subject matter, but also because I think the author wanted to contrast this amazingly strange, horrific, timeless nightmare creature with very modern girls and the familiar but also horrific things they face every day. I like the way Yap has presented Kaye to us in two very different ways: her inner, poetic ramblings as she floats over Manila, in search of prey but always appreciative of beauty and the boundless freedom of the skies; and the outer Kaye in America: a sort of winsome psychopath, stocked to seduce the unwary with tasty snacks, winning smiles, and sudden confidences. That her relationship with her roommate, Sara, takes on genuine emotional weight, becomes one of trust and intimacy, is, I think, as surprising to her as it is to the reader and the final scene is ambiguous and even moving.

I hope to get to 'Milagroso' later today.

Marie-Therese wrote: "I think the author wanted to contrast this amazingly strange, horrific, timeless nightmare creature with very modern girls and the familiar but also horrific things they face every day. ."

I got this from the story as well; but I think it was compare as much as contrast. It's obvious how ridiculously regressive and ineffective the "reformation retreat" is, with its philosophy of dealing with troubled girls by having them repeat the mantra “I’m a good girl. A good girl for a good world." Its ridiculousness is made even more glaring when faced with Kaye, who's nature makes it very plain she'll never be a good girl for a good world. Kaye extends this to the rest of them as well "the dormitories where so many girls are sleeping like wolves, retreating from the world. Just waiting to bare their fangs."

I also loved the developing trust between the two girls. With Kaye letting Sara witness her division, and Sara with her flying and falling issues trusting to Kaye's wings. I expect others looked up the manananggal, outside of Bill's over-the-top horror movie (name, please!), and saw their one vulnerability is their temporarily abandoned lower half.

I am ready to adopt the creature that flies around with its guts hanging out eating fetuses and organs as a new feminist icon.

I'll just add a "well said" to your comments about "Salt Tears".

...the manananggal, outside of Bill's over-the-top horror movie (name, please!)..."

Here: https://letterboxd.com/film/vampariah/

It's really pretty trashy. Best viewed on a weekend night after lots of alcohol or other inebriating substance of your choice.

I really enjoyed "A Cup of Salt Tears" as well. Again, Yap's quiet prose is attractive, and I like the low-key, matter-of-fact presence of the kappa. Like a lot of Tiptree's stories, Yap draws us into very specific human situations, with the supernatural elements adding a thought-provoking perspective.

"Milagroso" is quite different. Compared to the first two stories, it's much more open and exuberant. The science fiction backdrop (artificial vs old-fashioned "natural" food items) colors all the character interactions and events through the festival. But the treatment is light and nuanced, and never obtrusive. I liked it as well, but probably not as much as the first two stories.

Four in, and I like the range of stories. The first two made me think it would be assorted supernatural critters - not that I would have had a problem with that.

I'm used to stories like Milagroso being a thinly veiled attack on GMO's and other "Frankenfoods". I appreciated the nuance of authorial as well as character intent.

"A Spell For Foolish Hearts" reminded me a lot of Charlie Jane Anders. I enjoyed spending time with the characters, but the ending was a bit shaggy doggish. Also, as a former Bay Arean, Yap seems to have found a much better class of tech bro than the ones I always ran into (and away from).

I'm a bit embarrassed I enjoyed "A Spell For Foolish Hearts", essentially a YA romance/fantasy piece. (Reminds me a bit of Andrea Lawlor's lovely Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, a more grown-up take on queer fantastic friendships.) But the characters are charming (agree with Whitney about them vs. tech bros in general!), and there are enough gentle surprises along the way. I can never date someone who participates in SantaCon though.

I will revert to form soon enough, no worries.

I'm pretty sure I've read "Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?" before. It's another brisk, enjoyable piece; it was fun hanging with the exuberant girl characters as they prepare for their Halloween party, and how Anamaria Marquez's story takes on multiple forms as it seeps into the girls' lives.

Poll is up:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Reminder: if you vote for a book and it wins, you are committing to participate in the discussion.

Please vote by Friday 4/2!

Stories that have strong connections with traumatic contemporary events are tough for me. "Asphalt, River, Mother, Child" is a gentle, moving tale of the afterlife transitions of victims of the horrific "War on Drugs" in the Philippines. (Marie-Therese has commented elsewhere on this story, and may post something here?)

Which leads to a kind of reader whiplash when I jump into the next story: "Hurricane Heels (We Go Down Dancing)". Did I say this is a diverse collection? As the title implies, this is a sly, ironic, and funny story about young female magical superheroes who battle deadly supernatural creatures, get very drunk, and contemplate impending marriage and its effect on friendships. They also have Netflix! Great fun, and I honestly have no idea what to expect for the next story.

So far I've really liked all these stories. I do have a fondness for stories that look at traditional supernatural beings from modern perspectives. I also love the unpredictability of what kind of story is coming next.

One theme that runs through many of these stories is the way women (or other marginalized characters) are seen or, more often, not seen. Anamaria Marquez wants her story to be told, even if the story is wrong, "At least we know her name. At least sometimes we think of her." In "Asphalt", the river is clear and the children can't move on until the wrongs they suffered have been acknowledged. In "Hurricane Heels", no one else sees the battles the women have to fight on a regular basis. The reformatory in "Good Girls" has no interest in what's really going on with their troubled wards.

Whitney wrote: "One theme that runs through many of these stories is the way women (or other marginalized characters) are seen or, more often, not seen."
That's an astute observation, Whitney!

"Only Unclench Your Hand" seems to be a relatively straightforward tale of magical retribution. I really like the rural Filipino setting, steeped in local detail without condescending explanations; not so excited with the supernatural goings-on.

Update: for our April 2021 monthly read poll, Jen points out that the Patrick Beltran anthology is actually not available as an ebook:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

(The Patricia Tillie is available in the Kindle store.)

Reminder: please vote by Friday 4/2. If you vote for a book and it wins, you are committing to participate in the discussion.

Bill wrote: "Only Unclench Your Hand" seems to be a relatively straightforward tale of magical retribution. I really like the rural Filipino setting, steeped in local detail without condescending explanations; not so excited with the supernatural goings-on."

I saw this one as another exploration of marginalization (not to take away from the cool story of supernatural retribution). Senya points out that Maria is safe from casual assaults because of her family's wealth and position. The mambabarang is someone that the powerless go to for retribution, because, unlike Maria, the law doesn't work for them.

I enjoyed "How to Swallow the Moon", another fairly conventional folktale with a (view spoiler)[supernatural lesbian romance (hide spoiler)]twist. The arc is not surprising (I identified the charismatic suitor right away, and I'm usually completely oblivious); the language is a bit rambling and ornate by my picky standards. But Yap again pulls off an engaging narrative with charming young female characters, steeped in rich folkloric detail. I'm not a fan of the no-holds-barred blowout magical climax, but it's a good fit for the story.

(Ok, I know you're all tired of me saying "this is not my usual thing, but Yap does it well and I had fun.")

"All the Best of Dark and Bright" was light and entertaining, but probably won't stick with me.

But "Misty"! Wow. Packs quite a punch in its 16 pages. It's an Evenson-esque unreliable narrative, about the young female protagonist's fraught relationship with her father. The parallel storylines become progressively more unsettling, until the tense, ambiguous ending.

(And after writing that, I check out Yap's website for the first time. Right under the title banner, she claims to like among other things "ambiguous endings". Ha.)

Not sure if M-T and Whitney are done, but I'll wrap up here.

I enjoyed the closing novelette "A Canticle for Lost Girls", more for the portrayal of the girls in the Catholic retreat, than for the supernatural events. It's maybe a bit long. But I'm looking forward to more work from Yap!