The Angel's Share

by Martin Cahill

In Martin Cahill's "The Angel's Share," an exciting work of original fiction for Reactor, a woman hires an exorcist to clear an infestation of 32 angels who think they're helping her. (They are not.)

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Horror, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, Paranormal

31 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 2024

Reviews

[S.A Reidman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jude was probably right.
But what the fuck did he know?
The angels agreed, every last one of them.
That was rare, all of them agreeing.
And so, it must have been true". - The Radiance/Mrs Mead

Remember the scene in Gabriel Byrne's The Prophecy y'all know the one, all the angels sitting on a roof waiting for the birth of the most evil soul in the world. Yes that scene - it was the first time I feared the heavenly beings, ¿heavenly host?. Eh, loved and feared them. There is a moment in this book that evokes the same feeling and now I'm off to watch that movie again. Classic.

Goodness, I don't know if I've ever read a more interesting opening paragraph. What a hook. I love angels, biblically accurate to daydreamy bi-pedal to romacncy-nephalim to the Kings of Hell and Fallen ones. I love angels. Now gimme a short story about an angel exorcism well I am here for it.

Time to dust out the ole Tewahedo version of The Book of Enoch and go all deep-nerd rabbit hole on Angels again. Toodles.

Thingamajigs, Bits and Bobs I Loved:
■ A horde if angels
■ Minster Mother soul
■Angel Ward: dandelion, Juniper? Rosemary
■Jude representing
That Audacious Character: I love book Jude and Mrs Mead
One Helluva scene: Visiting Monster Mother
Favorite /Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She didn't think of herself as mean. But you didn’t survive decades of abuse without a little meanness rooting itself in you, just enough to growl when you had to.” (Wholeheartedly agree, inner protector)
 🖤 “Angels are everything they say and more. But they are also moths, and they’re drawn to the flame of suffering..” ( Huh ...okay so where was my radiance of Angels a year ago hmmm?)
🖤  “It felt good to be seen as a person, by another person, in this house of ghosts and angels.” (Aww Poor Margaret)
Cover Cause I'm a Bird: Hauntingly sad. Love it
Re-readability: why yes, I'll haunt it
GR Rating:4 ⭐
CAWPILE:8
StoryGraph Challenge: 180 Books by 2028
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2028

[X]

I found this unpleasant and mostly not in a compelling way - the angels were creepily good, but I found Mrs. Mead annoying and Jude generic. I was speed-scrolling through and just decided to call it. DNF somewhere near the end.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sold at the taxonomy: a bonfire of devils, a humble of reapers, a radiance of angels

What came was even better: a refreshingly original take on angels, and a good examination of coping mechanisms that might have saved one's life at some point but will only bring misery as the life goes on.

I wish my misery had won me a lottery, though.

[Francesca Forrest]

Read on the recommendation of Claire Cooney, who writes some pretty terrifying angels herself.

The writing was gorgeous. The nature of angels was ultimately a little hard to parse, and consequently the metaphysics of the universe of the story was a bit hard to parse, but that wasn't the focus of the story; the focus was on cruelty, suffering, and revenge.

It got me thinking about cruelty, about suffering, about how we say "it's not an oppression Olympics," and yet we also agree (I think???) that some pains are more severe than others. I think about how people's reactions to experiences can be so very, very different. Recently someone told me with satisfaction that the person who had killed their brother was later tortured to death, so like... that's a real thing. But there are also people who plead with courts for their kid's killer not to be executed. So that's real too.

This story wants both to acknowledge and validate people's desire for revenge (or is there a different word if it's wanting to hurt the person who hurt you?) and also to get to the normative, societally approved (and I agree with this! I'm for this!) point where you let go of that.

I found the first aspect highly unsettling and the second aspect almost not enough to let me shed the stress of the first part. I'm not sure I understood or quite believed in whatever made possible the change. But the story was definitely a powerful read.

[Chanel Chapters · Rating 4 out of 5]

The angels in this are parasites - they feed on a persons suffering and pain. Both them, and the pain, can only be exercised by the person holding onto it.
A book about abuse, trauma, suffering and how it’s easier to stay in what you know and feed that cycle, instead of letting go and moving on from what wronged you.

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story. I had a feeling like it will be a dark comedy, but instead it was harrowing and deals with grief and hurt and trauma.

[Shiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do angels and demons have in common? Haunting the living and getting their powers from us! Each operate differently, but at the end it is a very unhealthy life if we have them around!

“And angels, well.” Jude chuckled as he reached into his coat pocket for a match. “Angels are everything they say and more. Miracles? Done and done. Light? They have that in abundance. Prayers? Oh, they’ll answer you, time and time again. But they are also moths, and they’re drawn to the flame of suffering. The brighter the hurt, the more angels flutter and clutter around it, aching to eat that hurt and make it better by any means necessary.”

[Alex Sarll]

The idea of angels as a parasitic infestation drawn by suffering could be the basis for something wonderfully gothic, but filtered through this cloying, sub-Gaiman literary-adjacent style of fantasy vignette, is instead reduced to faux-wisdom on trauma and healing that ends up feeling terribly trite: "It felt good to be seen as a person, by another person, in this house of ghosts and angels." It doesn't help that Cahill's angelic taxonomy, with its smitebringers and sundrifters, rings deeply naff compared to the classic thrones, dominions et al.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story, angels can perform miracles for a person. But they also need to feed on the person, and what they feed on are the bad feelings; angel, rage, revenge. The person in question finally calls an exorcist to banish the angels. But then the exorcist discovers the source of her anger and frustration, and it is not something the exorcist can get rid of: only the person can do so. But what if the person doesn't want to? A rather grim story about hitting back at the source of a person's trauma, and what it would take to finally heal and exorcise the angels, in this case.

[stitchingcub ✿ ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the concept of angels as a radiance that's too good meaning and end up evil—so original and eerie. The atmosphere was perfectly dark and moody, just the way I like it. It’s impressive how much complexity the story packs into just 31 pages. The characters were just missing a little depth for a full 5 stars.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that sometimes people use fiction to work through their trauma, but this one felt a little too trauma heavy for me to fully enjoy it. It's a well written piece though, I just couldn't fully connect with it.

[Sara G · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the aftermath of life long abuse, or, Angels are Demons.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up

[Heaven Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A harrowing story that really dug into the meat of a toxic family relationship in less time than many full novels try to do.

[Renn · Rating 5 out of 5]

CWs: abuse, depression, trauma

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

link: https://reactormag.com/the-angels-sha...

[Fatimah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if you were manifested not by ghost, but by angels?

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this you will have a very different view of heavenly angels! I really liked it.

[Sierra Hess · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)