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Women in Horror Month: Drive, She Said: and Other Stories by Tracie McBride

cover art for Drive, She Said by Tracie McBride

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Drive, She Said and Other Stories by Tracie McBride

IFWG Publishing Australia, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781925956689

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

This book contains eighteen short stories of horror and dark fantasy written by the author. The tales feature women as protagonists, doomed heroines, and villains. While all the stories in this collection are well executed and well written, a few of them stood out above the others for me.

 

The tale “Breaking Windows” treats possession as a virus transmitted somehow through sight. Treatment is an ocular prosthesis that are programmed with demonic spectrum detectors. Jess’ partner, Leo, opts to get them implanted and he does his best to persuade her to do the same. As the statistics look grimmer, and a pregnancy test comes out positive, Jess must make her choice.

 

In “Ugly”, Janine has a growth on her face that, after treatment, continues to grow…and grow…and grow. This story in particular has some gruesome body horror involved.

 

In “The Changing Tree”, Sten, Liath, and the other boys of age are counting the days until ‘Changing Day’. The priestesses who guard the Changing House don’t allow anyone in the grounds unless they are chosen. All that Sten knows is that the chosen walk in boys and walk out as women. All of the women of the village had the same origin. What unfolds is a touching story of the two friends as they grapple with the changes of identity, gender, and sexuality.

 

Lara and Maxine are sisters who share a dark secret in “Slither and Squeeze”. The story opens on a subway with Lara trying to calm down an old homeless man who is yelling about a snake, disrupting other passengers. After she gets him calmed down, the sisters have a conversation about what to do about the situation. He witnessed the Change, something the sisters can’t abide. However, they are at odds about what to do: kill him or leave him as his words are only the drivel of a deranged old man.

 

In “Life in Miniature”, Michael is picked up by a middle-aged woman, thinking this will be some kind of favours traded for a meal and a shower kind of thing, but discovers too late that she has a more specialized use for him. She has so many realistic dolls in the house, but they do not look quite right around the faces.

 

This is just a small offering that Tracie McBride offers in her book. She has a concise way of writing her short stories that did not leave me wanting more at the end. I don’t want to say she ties everything up nicely at the end. That does not quite fit. It’s more like she provides just enough in each tale for the reader to digest. I will definitely be picking up more of McBride’s work. Recommended.

Contains: blood, body horror, sex

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 3, 2021 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Daphne Byrne by Laura Marks, art by Kelley Jones

Cover art for Daphne Byrne by Kelly Marks

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Daphne Byrne by Laura Marks, art by Kelley Jones

DC Comics, 2020

ISBN-13:

Available: Hardcover, Kindle, comixology

 

Set in 1886 New York, Daphne Byrne is still in mourning over the death of her father and has been affected greatly upon his passing. She’s tormented at school by the popular girls. She’s grappling with her mother who has been seeing a medium who she knows is a fraud. Her mother is spending the little money they have left on trying to contact her dead husband. Daphne tries her best to expose the medium, only to earn the ire of them both. While all of this is going on, Daphne meets a supernatural entity, simply called Brother, who offers friendship and support to the sad girl. He also encourages Daphne to stand up for herself, inviting her to use his powers as a tool. This power becomes particularly useful when she discovers the utter betrayal committed by certain parties close to the family.

 

Daphne Byrne would be of interest to anyone who enjoys stories from this period. Something I noticed in the less favourable reviews out there regarded the setting, which also influenced some of the plot points such as the fraudulent medium. I loved the story and found Daphne to be an interesting character. The artwork helped in this. Jones has been drawing comics for a long time, and I recognized his work immediately from his work on Sandman. He lends an otherworldly quality to creatures and characters. At times Brother reminded me of a sinister Dream. Recommended.

Contains: blood, body horror, nudity, sex

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on January 30, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Lakewood: A Novel by Megan Giddings

cover art for Lakewood by Megan Giddings

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Lakewood  by Megan Giddings

Amistad, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0062913197

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, Kindle edition

 

After her grandmother dies, college student Lena discovers her disabled, neurologically impaired mother is unable to pay her bills or afford the medication she needs to manage her disability. So when she is recruited for a research study on memory for a substantial sum of money she pushes her reservations to the side, signs an NDA and paperwork stating her agreement to any procedure the study may require, drops out of school, and tells her mother and friends she has a new, well-paid job in the small town of Lakewood as an employee at a warehouse. Bizarre psychological testing, vaccines, pills, induced isolation, and hallucinations become normalized as different test subjects come and go. Realizing that something must be very wrong, Lena attempts to question observers and participants in the study and to find information online, but is blocked at every turn, until finally she discovers that unethical government experimentation on Black people has historical precedent. Despite her unsettling findings, Lena continues to participate in the study so her mother can keep her health insurance and pay the bills.

Obviously inspired by the Tuskegee experiment and other research studies that exploited Black people in the United States, as well as the Flint water crisis, Lakewood carries that legacy forward into the present, through generations of trauma. Ir is timely in its exploration of scientific racism, the drastic actions family members will take to help ill and disabled family members afford healthcare, and government gaslighting and neglect of the study participants and their own health.

Told from Lena’s point of view, this history metamorphoses into a personalized, hallucinatory, and terrifying situation that will appall, disturb, and shock the reader as the layers peel away. Highly recommended.

 

Contains: body horror, mutilation, murder, gore, violence, medical experimentation

 

Posted on January 23, 2021 by , Reply
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