Book Review: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology Edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

 

 Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology Edited by  Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. 

 416 pages, Paperback
Published September, 2023 by Vintage

**I will be interviewing co-editor Shane Hawk at the book launch in San Diego at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore on October 20th So see you there. After that, there will be a podcast interview with Shane**


Sometimes a book happens that makes so much sense you can’t believe it didn’t happen before. The success of Stephen Graham Jones and Rebecca Roanhorse in the horror and SF marketplace might give you the impression that indigenous horror was marketing subgenre like extreme horror or quiet horror. When you look at the credits of the author in this collection – that could’ve been the case in the sense that many of these authors had novels, collections, and stories published widely. It took Hawk and Van Alst to tie their efforts together into one book.

As a long-time horror nerd, I can remember when Owl Goingback blazed this trail. Two-time winner of the Stoker Award for his novels Crota and Coyote Rage. Goingback suffered more than one indignity including conventioneers thinking he was cosplaying to Facebook refusing to accept his real name. Thankfully the horror community itself recognized his talent. Goingback’s books always left the reader wanting more horror from that cultural point of view.

The thing about First Nations is there are so many different cultural points of view one author cannot represent that diversity. A project like this is what you need for something like that. The introduction by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones makes perfect sense except that means we don’t get a story by SGJ.  He perfectly opens the collection by suggesting how he might approach the idea of a Never Whistle at Night at Night story. He goes through the thought process and then suggests a few ideas.

“It’s kind of what we want, really.
And sure the anthropologists and social scientists and literary critics can all shrug and say maybe we like stories that function like that because they mean our story – the story of us in what’s for the moment called America – hasn’t quite processed all the way through yet, hasn’t completed. Things can happen. This place can be ours again. Why not.”

The diversity of this book is the strength, the first 60 or so pages of stories come from women, and more of the stories were by Canadian authors than I was expecting. That country has as nasty of a history with native populations so that voice is an important piece of this book, you would expect several of the stories like Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden deal with the notorious boarding and church-run schools.

Many of the stories are set in nature, there is a connection to the land in the stories. Where the land itself is the agent of horror. Revealing a false “America.”  There are twenty-six stories and I could if I took the time break down the themes in each of them. Colonization, sexuality /gender roles, cultural harmful stereotypes, generational gaps, monsters, ghosts, haunted houses, legends from deep native American lore make up the threads woven into the fabric of the tales.
 
Mathilda Zeller opened the book with Kushtuka – The name of a Pacific Northwest mythological shape-shifting creature. The story starts with the narrator’s mother trying to get the main character is have the baby of the man she is having an affair with for money. The appearance of the shape-shifter in a story that starts off with this theme makes for an interesting opening story that mixes lore with questions of identity.
 
Rebecca Roanhorse’s White Hills and Nick Medina’s Quantum are similar themes of children, and the idea of blood Quantum, the amount of native blood, and what that means. For me, these were two of the most powerful stories early in the collection because they speak to identity and forces beyond the character's control. Pieces like Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau and The Ones Who Killed Us by Brandon Hobson are written in a surreal poetic prose style that is light on narrative but dripping with vibe.

Many of the stories take place in nature trips and one set on the four corners called Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D. H. Trujillo is one of the most powerful stories in the book. It is well-written and this story is strange and gooey. Also, out in nature is Before I Go by Norris Black is probably the darkest story of the entire collection, a heartbreaking and emotionally wrenching tale that involves a lost love.

Behind Colin’s Eyes by Shane Hawk – as co-editor of the project and my connection to the book, I am super proud of Shane, this story continues where his short story collection Anoka left off and certainly this story could have appeared in it. The story of father and son's hunting trip and the spirit of nature leaves a lasting feeling from the last words. The other editor of the project The Longest Street in the World by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., I don’t know about street but the opening sentence alone has many, many words. The story is an interesting character piece.

Capgras by Tommy Orange presents an interesting seemingly personal tale that is filled with good character moments but felt to me like one of the weaker stories that left me with no feeling at the end. I only point this out because it is a rare story here that didn't feel horror, that is actually a problem in many horror anthologies, and this was rare in this book. All the stories capture the vibe and tone for the spooky season.

Many of the stories are stories within stories, building on legends and lore. This is true of horror fiction no matter the cultural background of the authors. I am always interested in author bios when I read an anthology, I am always interested in where authors grew up or lived because I am interested in how geography informs these writers. Never Whistle at Night has a biography at the end of each story and yes their location is involved, but also important for their cultural heritage, which helps provide context from the heritage that is the not-so-secret ingredient.

Never Whistle at Night is the type of anthology like Dark Forces, Revelations, or Dark Matter that will live on for Generations.  Fans of short horror fiction should not miss this collection but it is also a must-have for horror readers that want to explore the genre through the work of diverse authors.