OBIR: Occasional Biased and Ignorant Reviews reflecting this reader’s opinion.
Northern Nights – edited by Michael Kelly
Published by Undertow Publications, Pickering, Ontario, Canada, October 2024.
Cover art: by Serena Malyon
There are 20 stories and poems in this anthology. I’m going to attempt to review as many works as possible in the time and space I have available.
Introduction – by Michael Kelly
Interesting to note Northern Nights was inspired by several all-Canadian anthologies: Northern Stars (1994), Northern Suns (1999), and the five volumes of Northern Frights (1992 to 1999). A proud tradition to live up to!
Rescue Station – by Nayani Jenson
Premise:
Saving lives more altruistic than you might think.
Review:
109 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia lies an island of ever shifting sand dunes and wild horses (I assume based on Sable Island). Shipwrecks are frequent. John regrets accepting his position among the rescuers stationed there. He thought it would be a wonderful experience for his wife and three children to join him. Alas, not. Frenzied attempts to save crews from ships disintegrating in crashing surf are all that keep him sane.
This is an understated psychological horror story. Oddly enough, it has to do with one of the more obscure definitions of “altruism,” one employed in the study of animals, which I won’t quote because it would give too much away. The story is accurate in its revelation of how the human mind, driven by extreme emotion, employs rationalization to justify behaviour not normally seen as acceptable. Consequently, in a quiet way, the horror in this story rings true. I suspect most readers would prefer not to believe this. The story is thoroughly grounded in one of our most basic flaws. Subtle, but powerful.
The Needle Song – by Simon Strantzas
Premise:
A promise is a promise, except when it isn’t.
Review:
This is a story about group bullying and how little bullies care about the feelings of their victims. It’s also about the inevitability of shame and regret when the unexpected happens and it’s too late to make amends. And just to be subversive, the story employs supernatural elements to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both bullies and victims. Call it a plea for understanding.
My solution to bullying was to avoid trouble as much as possible. I tried fighting back but that didn’t work. Other kids seemed to enjoy watching me get beat up. So, I chose to become invisible. Come to think of it, the only friends I had were kids who lived on the same block. I didn’t have school friends. In grade school I was always the loner. High school was a bit better. I hung around with three or four fellow outliers.
Point is, I identify with the victim in this story. Some readers might complain, saying “But he doesn’t even try to fight back, or fit in. He does nothing.” Exactly. All in aid of not triggering the bullies. His character strikes me as psychologically authentic. I feel I understand him perfectly. As for the protagonist struggling with doubts, I have less sympathy. Yet, he too, seems very real.
The horror revealed in this story is that delusional thinking is dirt common and always with us. One would prefer to think otherwise, but the truth is there are no solutions, only the need to cope as best one can. That’s all we can hope for.
Sandstone – by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Premise:
What could be more romantic than a sunset swim?
Review:
A million things. But never mind that. Silvia is a brilliant horror/fantasy author, respected worldwide. How many of you know she had very Lovecraftian beginnings?
She founded Innsmouth Free Press in 2009, published Innsmouth Magazine till 2014, and put out a number of Lovecraftian anthologies with titles like Fungi, Future Lovecraft, and Jazz Age Cthulhu. She knows her way around Lovecraft. Yet she is considered a literary stylist effortlessly capable of evocative description and profound characterization. How can this be?
She understands the subtlety of Lovecraft. I’ll repeat that. The subtlety of Lovecraft.
Yes, for all his bombastic adjectives, his outré concepts, and his stories predictable and/or indefinite endings, Lovecraft knew how to get under people’s skin. He understood existential dread, was a masterful manipulator of mood, slowly building each unsettling story with incremental steps, a detail here, an implication there, till the reader’s imagination accepted the bombast as a suitable vehicle for horror. Lovecraft may not have understood human beings much, but he was fully conversant with the fear we are all capable of.
So, too, Silvia, but with a far greater grasp of human nature and a profoundly wider talent, of which this story is a good example. It is a Lovecraft pastiche, with all the attributes of his tales, but with something more. The details are more precise. The characterization has believable context. The reader knows that more than one level of suffering is involved. Call it a “sophisticated” Lovecraftian Tale.
To put it another way, Silvia is far better at drawing inspiration from her own life experience than Lovecraft ever was. Better at it than most writers, in fact. Better at many aspects of the writer’s craft. Reading anything by Silvia is always a treat.
Don’t just read this story. Think about it. Pondering Silvia’s writings brings many rewards.
Prairie Teeth – by EC Dorgan
Premise:
How do you deal with the Devil when you’ve got nothing to deal with?
Review:
It occurs to me I’ve read a number of deal-with-the-devil stories written by Prairie dwellers over the years. Hmm, not sure what to make of that.
Anyway, this type of story stands little chance with acquisition editors, being so common and all. Unless there’s something original about them. Three things are “new” in this story or, at least, new to me. The nature of the devil, the method of gambling, and the attitude of the elderly woman toward her tormentor. These three things render the story unpredictable, psychologically astute, and painfully grim. Makes for an impactful fantasy reflecting how bleak life can actually be. Also makes me wonder if the devil ever suffers from imposter syndrome. At any rate, not all bargains are easy. Far from it. As this story clearly illustrates.
Lightbringers – by K.L. Schroeder
Premise:
Denial kills more than fear.
Review:
The story takes place in and around Yellowknife in the dead of Winter. I know people who’ve lived there, and they quite liked it. However, something bad is happening and no one knows why. Its as if something natural is learning to be unnatural. A variety of people have a variety of solutions, none of them good. The best would appear to be the most evil. It doesn’t surprise me to learn that the author is apparently both Métis and a microbiologist. A scientific feel combined with a mythic aspect adds considerable depth to the story, possibly in aid of a metaphor outlining the societal pressures the Métis endure their entire lives. I don’t think the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce would approve of this story. Way too creepy to attract tourists… or maybe it would?
In the Gulf, the Night Comes Down – by Siobhan Carroll
Premise:
A boating trip is no fun if you don’t know boats.
Review:
In part this appeals to me because much of it takes place on a boat sailing about the Gulf Islands on the East Coast of Vancouver Island. Living in Nanaimo, I know lots of people who regularly do the same thing on a weekend if the weather is good. If I walk down to the beach I can see a number of these Islands. Two Islands, de Courcy and Valdes, are but a half hour sailing from Nanaimo. Circa 1929 to 1932 they were ruled by Brother Twelve and his Theosophical Egyptian cult. His followers believed him to be a reincarnation of the God Osiris, and his mistress, Madam Z, to be Isis. Many strange goings-on rumoured.
Brother Twelve is barely mentioned in the story, but a legacy of his provides a supernatural background to the conundrum faced by the people aboard the boat. The real horror is perhaps the protagonist’s inability to fit in anywhere and his desire to avoid as much human contact as possible. His contact with the baleful influence of Brother Twelve the result of a desperate if half-hearted effort to be normal. An argument, perhaps, that striving to be normal is very much like attempting to join a cult? A frightening concept in itself.
Note: Once again, I underestimated how many stories I could review in the time leading up to my deadline. Apologies to the authors of the following stories I didn’t get around to. I must say, many intriguing titles.
Fancy Dad – by David Nickle
The Black Fox – by David Demchuk
The Key to Black Creek – by Rory Say
The Night Birds – by Premee Mohamed
The Church and the Westbound Train – by David Neil Lee
The Fragments of an Earlier World – by Camilla Grudova
Banquets of Embertide – by Richard Gavin
The Breath of Kannask – by Hiron Ennes
Jane Doe’s Tongue – by Lynn Hutchinson Lee
Every Friday – by Naben Ruthnum
Do Not Open – by Rich Larson
What is Waiting for Her – by Senaa Ahmad
The Mi-Carême – by Marc A. Godin
The Slow Music of Drums – by A.C. Wise
CONCLUSION:
All six stories I read and reviewed base their horror on psychologically vivid manifestations of doubt about one’s place in reality. Is that a Canadian thing, or an acquisition editor’s preference?
Though supernatural forces are “real” in most of these stories, what happens in the prison of one’s own mind, combined with the fact that few of us have enough situational awareness to cope with whatever wicked this way comes, proves it’s not the threat which terrifies, but rather our helplessness in the face of that threat. Better to be oblivious. Delusional thinking the key to sanity. Or as my brother used to say, “Don’t think too much.”
In short, all of these stories will get under your skin, if you let them. They’re too personal and close to heart to ignore. The power of originality revealed.
Check it out at: < Northern Nights >
