There is nothing like a good anthology full of speculative fiction to spark creative energy and get our story-loving hearts pounding. This week, we picked up Shadows & Tall Trees edited by Michael Kelly and published by the wonderful Undertow Publications. contributors Gemma Webster and Danyelle C. Overbo, got to dig into this new collection of dark spec fic featuring the work of Kay Chronister, Simon Strantzas, Kurt Fawver, and more. We are already big fans of these authors and this press, so we are very excited to explore the creations of more authors in the space. The beautiful thing about an anthology is that while the stories may resonate with each other, you don’t have to read it all at once. You get to reach into the minds of multiple creators at your leisure, savoring each new experience or devouring them all in one go. They might give you nightmares. They might leave you with many questions. Either way, Shadows & Tall Trees certainly makes for solid 2020 summer reading (I think we all know why).
Gemma Webster’s Thoughts
“Hungry Ghosts'' by Alison Littlewood
I loved this story because it transports the reader to Vietnam and is as close as most of us are going to get to traveling any significant distance. I loved her version of Vietnam and while it felt like a world that was really alive and at the same time the writer conveyed a sense of the white lens through which her character is seeing the world. It gets her into trouble and it keeps us aware of our outsider status.
“‘I’m sorry,” I said. “What did I do? I thought it was for everyone.”
’It is.’ Despite her words, she looked unhappy. ‘It is a—merry-making, for the festival. To honor the hungry ghosts. That is why it is so loud, you see? To reach the ears of the spirits.’
I did not see, not at all and I frowned.
’The seat you took—that row is for the spirits, not for us. You took a seat that belongs to the dead.’”
“Quiet Forms of Belonging” by Kristi DeMeester
This is the story of two sisters abandoned by their father in a very strange house. The house is capable of magic that it’s residents don’t fully understand even when they try to wield its power. This story had elements of We Have Always Lived in the Castle and “Yellow Wallpaper” but is still wholly it’s own strange tale.
“Since Helene tucked herself away, the house does not move in the day, and it hides itself from me. Like it doesn’t know me. Like I haven’t grown up here beside Helene, day in and day out, waiting for whatever occupied the liminal spaces to notice there was breath inside of me, too.”
“Child of Shower and Gleam” by Rebecca Campbell
Perhaps the most thrilling part of reading an anthology is discovering a writer who is new to you and falling absolutely in love with their work. This story was that for me. This is a heartbreakingly beautiful tale of a mother-to-be, Lynn, on the run from her abusive partner who lands in an apartment that seems to be safe. But as implacable villains do he finds her again but not before she meets the curious Nis. “Nissa. But people call me Nis,” is an uncanny neighbor girl who visits Lynn fairly freely considering how old she appears to be. This is a story of the terror of girlhood and motherhood and the transition between them. But it’s really the beauty of the details in this story that took my breath away. I will be adding Campbell’s novella to my reading list.
“That afternoon she found the plastic bag Nis had left behind. At first Lynn thought it was garbage, but when she picked it up she realized it contained a small bottle, something you’d find in the craft section at a dollar store, stopped with a cork and full of some viscous golden liquid. Maybe the slime Nissa loved to make? In it floated flakes of iridescent plastic. She set it on a shelf where it would be safe until she could return it, and for a moment admired the way the sunlight nuck between the slats of the blinds and struck the glitter. It made her think of collecting stickers with holographic silver unicorns on them. It made her think of being a little girl and loving, beyond all things, iridescence and sunset tints. Glitter and silver paper and purple ribbon.”
Danyelle C. Overbo’s Thoughts
“The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell” by Brian Evenson
I hate to say this about an anthology, because I usually love them, but some of these stories were a little harder to wrap my head around. The writing is fabulous and the concepts really cool (seemingly, some I had more questions than answers), but I never found grounding in a lot of these stories. It was almost like getting pieces and parts of a really intriguing photograph, but never getting to see the whole thing. Luckily, this short work by Evenson gave me the grounding I crave. Speculative fiction can sometimes be evasive, like many of the stories in this collection, but “The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell” had enough concrete elements that I could find my footing. What I found, I liked a lot. We are introduced to Hekla who is reluctantly attending a spiritual retreat with her sister. Her sister backs out at the last minute so she doesn’t really want to go. Nevertheless, she goes, but she arrives very late, resulting in her sleeping in a room that is very clearly NOT for guests. Her nightmares turn real, the spiritual “guru” has something up his sleeve, and she ends up in a situation she isn’t likely to escape. Admittedly, I was still left with a few questions (What’s up with the leg? Is the fake leg a monster? What exactly happened in that room?), but I understood enough to feel the horror.
“The Sound of the Sea, Too Close” by James Everington
All right, someone please explain this one to me. Seriously. This story is frustrating yet compelling. All the details are there. I can see what’s happening when Jack, an elderly caretaker of a small-town school that has long since been abandoned due to the encroaching sea, handles interlopers breaking into the school. Something is horribly wrong. He calls them “kids” but chides himself that they are not “kids.” In fact, they are adults who have suddenly reverted back to childhood, stricken by some kind of sickness and doomed to die, soon. At first, Jack handles them with care and consideration, he even breaks down sobbing, but then he is angry and shoos two grown-men (older than him), who now have the psychology and capability of children, outside…into the heat…near a cliff.
What does the sea have to do with this sickness? Why does Jack care about the upkeep of this school? Why does Jack keep thinking about a foster child he and his wife took in for a few months, years ago? Why doesn’t Jack get sick or worry about getting this sickness the others have? Why does Jack tell the first “kid” he encounters to follow a road, by herself, towards another distant town to, presumably, die horribly, alone, and with the mentality of a five-year-old? Is this some kind of purgatory situation for Jack? You can see the problem, I’m sure. The story was compelling enough that I really care about these questions. I want to know wtf is going on, but I don’t get to know. Feel free to chat with me about it in the comments. I’d love to hear more opinions on this.
“Workday” by Kurt Fawver
I’m here for this piece. This was a breeze compared to a few of the others. A truly haunting narrative told exclusively through a playful back and forth between emails to employees from an evil corporation and excerpts from messages of warning and old news items that keep popping as the BIG HOLIDAY PARTY looms on the horizon. Fawver does a remarkable job here building a subtle-at-first tension that grows in horror as the messages keep coming and the days march on. I can attest to the accuracy of these email communications. It sounds exactly how a company would calmly respond to increasing acts of vandalism around their property. It’s hilarious as it is horrifying. By the end, you know exactly what’s going to take place at this “fabulous” company party.
“Remember to arrive by 7p.m. this evening for the holiday party. Enter through the west wing entrance, as all other entrances will be locked at 6. Tonight is going to be very special. I can’t wait to see all of you there. Happy holidays!”
Shadows & Tall Trees is available now from Undertow Publications and your favorite indie bookstore. Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
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