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Book Review: A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Cover art for A Darker Shade of Noir edited by Joyce Carol Oates

 

A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers

Edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Akashic  Books, 2023

ISBN: 978-1636141343

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers  disturbs the imagination and makes horror reality. Writers Megan Abbott, Margaret Atwood, Aimee Bender, Tananarive Due, Elizabeth Hand, Cassandra Khaw, Sheila Kohler, Aimee LaBrie, Raven Leilani, Lisa Lim, Joanna Margaret, Valerie Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, Lisa Tuttle, and Yumi Dineen Shiroma offer many strange, twisted stories that attest to the diversity of approaches to the genre.

 

Editor Joyce Carol Oates divides these little masterpieces into three sections: “You’ve Created a Monster,” “Morbid Anatomy,” and “Out of Body, Out of Time.” Aimee Bender’s story “Frank Jones” opens the book with the weird creation of a skin tag doll that should not have been taken to the office. Margaret Atwood delves into female anatomy through a snail who suddenly becomes a woman customer service rep in “Metempsychosis, or The Journey of the Soul.” And then we find a new wife, in ““Sydney” by Sheila Kohler, who finds herself in a shocking sexual situation with a gender-bending robot when she ventures into a part of her home that is designated as off limits by her husband.

 

There are often very surprising developments in these stories. In “Concealed Carry” by Lisa Tuttle, Kelly, fresh from London, finds out that there is a strict moral code in Texas that is enforced in a way she could never imagine.  In “Malena” by Joanna Margaret, Laura, who makes sculptures of women with missing body parts, discovers that the artistic “gift inside her” is also literally inside her. In “Dancing with Mirrors” by Lisa Lim,   a beautiful woman addicted to mirrors hides spectacularly murderous veins..

 

In addition to being entertaining, these writers are not afraid to tackle serious issues. “Dancing” by Tananarive Due and “Breathing Exercise” by Raven Leilani grapple with the impact of racism on the mind, body and soul.. Aimee Labrie in “Gross Anatomy”, and Cassandra Khaw in “Muzzle”, deal with physical violence against women. These are stories that head straight to the heart of the matter without becoming entangled in politics and platitudes.

 

Readers truly benefit from iconic writer Joyce Carol Oates’s expert shaping of this excellent collection of stories. There is not one dull moment in this book, and beginning the next story is like the start of a new and darker adventure.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

 

 

 

Posted on April 23, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: FRIGHT! Stories of Murder, Monsters, and Mayhem by Matt Martinek

cover art for FRIGHT! by Matt Martinek

Fright! by Matt Martinek

Self published, 2023

ISBN: 9798864210465

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

This little183 page volume has 19 short stories that vary in quality.  Most are decent: there are a few clunkers mixed in, and a few real hum-dingers as well.  If you like your horror fiction short, this may be worth looking at.

 

All the stories are written in the first person.  If there is a theme, it’s “very bad people doing random bad things”.  There’s not much in the way of monsters or supernatural material, although  “Blood of My Blood”, a nice little werewolf story, is an exception.  The best stories are undoubtedly “Diary of the Red Spike”,  “WarWolf”, and “The Butterfly of Prometheus”.  “Diary of the Red Spike” gets props for being a serial killer story with some real ingenuity in the murder methods.  “WarWolf” is a clever tale of the government creating war machines, and “Butterfly”…well, just say it’s a crazy take on how art is extremely subjective to the viewer.  One person sees it and throws up in disgust, another sees it and falls in love.  These three alone can pretty much justify purchase of the book.

 

The rest of the stories, minus the few bombs, hit in the nice middle of the road area.  They are good…not great, but not bad either.  There are grave robbers, a strange “nice guy around town” character, sex dolls that get emotionally attached, it’s an odd mix.  Nothing is new enough to be earth-shattering, but it is creative enough to be entertaining.  These stories do not have happy endings: this is not Disney-style writing.  Be prepared for the bad guys to win.

 

One thing that might have helped boost the book up a level would have been mixing up the narration perspective. Writing in first person or present tense is all the rage right now, but first person can be pretty limiting.  It does allow for more internal material for the protagonist, but it also limits the ability to narrate and describe, since everything is from the main character’s point of view.  “WarWolf” is one story that feels like it would have benefited from third person narration. Getting some parts from the wolf point of view could have turned a very good story into a real smasher.

 

Bottom line?  It’s an interesting collection, and at the price, it could be a reasonable pickup for short story fans.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on January 20, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Influence by Lucy Leitner

Influence by Lucy Leitner

Blood Bound Books, 2023

ISBN: 9781940250571

Availabilite: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Influence is a 120 page book containing six of the author’s short stories, some were published previously in other analogies.  The stories are all good to excellent, and Leitner makes good use of her scathing wit to destroy many of the habits of millenialls and Gen Z that people find annoying.  People that enjoy stories about self-obsessed people getting their comeuppance will love this book, as will most horror/suspense fans.

 

There’s a nice bit of variety in Leitner’s style.  One story is written wholly as a series of Instagram posts, another is the script of a podcast.  The longest story, “Karen”,  is also the best.  Karen exemplifies all the bad traits of the younger generation that people love to hate: social media obsession, complete self absorption, superiority complex, etc.  She also loves to run over obese people with her car, since (according to Karen) they are pathetic excuses of humanity.  Her life changes when everyone around her is able to know what Karen really thinks about them, but would never say out loud.  Naturally, the results aren’t pretty, but they are bloody, and readers will be cheering as Karen’s life becomes a living hell.

 

The other stories are also good fun, with the same traits that make “Karen” so enjoyable.  “Get Me Out Of This Shimmering Oasis”, is an Instagram-styled story,   Using ridiculous health trends as a jumping-off point, it succeeds in creating an intriguing tale of taking self-obsession too far, and also points out the silliness of people blaming health woes on obscure ailments that don’t exist.  “Xorcize.me” has a wellness twist to it also, but in this, all problems are due to obscure demons.  Those demons, of course, can be evicted from a person through a home exorcism kit, available for purchase online. This story wins the award for ‘most entertaining dialogue’ due to the snappy patter and sarcasm of the podcast host in the story.  “The Shoe Box Challenge” is a nutty tale twined around the outrageous things people will do for their 15 seconds of YouTube fame. The other two tales are somewhat more straightforward, but no less entertaining.

 

Bottom line: if you like Lucy Leitner’s style before (one of her books, Bad Vibrations, was previously reviewed on this site) then this will certainly tide you over until she gets another full length one completed.  The book would have been worth it for “Karen” alone, so getting the other stories is a nice bonus.  The author has a knack for stories that mix originality with the ability to poke fun at modern conventions: this book should help to expand her fanbase.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on November 13, 2023 by , Reply
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