Book Review: She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin

She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin

Paperback, 258 pages

Published August 2017 by Word Horde

I first noticed Nadia Balkin with her stand-out story in A World Of Horror edited by Eric J Guignard which Anthony and I reviewed on youtube, and we were both impressed by Balkin's story. You can listen to that review here:

I read stand-out stories in anthologies all the time but that is not the reason I ran to Amazon to order this collection. It was the fact that she was published by Word Horde and given the publication by Word Horde editor Ross Lockhart whose opinion I trust, I decided I had to read this. I am super glad I did.

Nadia Bulkin is a writer with massive talent and finely honed skills. Her stories are perfectly tuned and there is hardly a wasted word. The last short story collection I read and reviewed was the newest from Brian Evenson who I consider to be one of the best writers alive. This might sound like hyperbole for an author with a first collection but hot damn she is that good, very close to that level.

The stories are all weird fiction the levels of horror and Lovecraftian-ness vary at times but they are worth reading. Like any collection, I had favorites and stand-outs. Since Bulkin spent a good part of her childhood in Indonesia this influences many of her stories in a positive way. The opening story Intertropical Convergence Zone was a stand-out in this regard. This dark tale of a third world General is a great example of a story that only THIS writer could've written. Those to me are the best short stories that tend rise above the rest.

Another favorite for me was Only Unity Saves the Damned. This is a very weird story about teens hoping to go viral with a prank video that accidentally catches something unexplainable. The story Girl, I Love You was a very haunting tale that touched me the most on an emotional level. I also liked the cosmic nature and big ideas of the last story No Gods, No Masters. There was a beautiful paragraph in that story that highlighted how Balkin balances weird and beautiful.

This is a must read that I can't recommend enough. I really want to read a longer work by Bulkin and I hope a novel is in our future.