Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley.
This collection of speculative short stories mostly focusses on possible futures and presents set in British Columbia as well as stories about transformation. The stories often focus on nature and humanity and the way the world changes. My favorite stories where A Hole Cut in the Wall, about a scholar interviewing a poet, who finds himself unable to leave when he wants to, The Bletted Woman, about a woman who agrees to partake in a science experiment that keeps her between life and death, but may give her the ability to communicate with mycelium, Such Thoughts Are Unproductive, which follows a call center employee, who finds himself cut off from the outside except for the calls he gets, and Wider Than the Sky, Deeper Than the Sea, about a woman, who has used technology to extend her senses and now tries to figure out what she can use her sensory experience for besides performance.
In general, my favorite stories were the ones that made use of creeping horror and dread, which I think worked very well with the atmospheric writing. Some of the stories did feel a bit short, but all in all I quite enjoyed reading this collection, in particular for exploring strange worlds across genres from explorations of mythology to magical realism, folk horror and sci-fi, mostly with a focus on ecological themes. If you enjoy weird fiction, then I can certainly recommend this collection to you.
My only criticism is that some of the stories were a bit too short to really allow me to dive deeper into the topic and were over before I could really grasp what was going on. And while there was a somewhat overarching theme present in this anthology (ecology and change), the stories did not really flow well into each other all things considered. I decided to take a short break after each short story and that certainly improved my reading experience, but I would not recommend to read the stories quickly one after the other.
And finally, while some people may not enjoy the little author notes before each story, I mostly liked them as I found it interesting to see what the author intended with the stories and how that influenced my reading experience for each short story. However, I do prefer such story notes to be placed behind a short story, as it did keep me from going into each short story unprejudiced and that can be a bit distracting. If I could reread this collection, I would try to skip the author’s notes from the beginning, as my reading experience definitely improved once I started doing so.
The High Lonesome Frontier: This story centers around a song, from its moment of conception to the fame it brought to an artist and finally into space, where it remains as a fond memory for one astronaut. Intriguing and really touching!
*FAV* A Hole Cut in the Wall of the World: A scholar interviews a poet for his dissertation on a small, deserted island. While the poet just wants to enjoy his isolated island life, the scholar dreams of fame. Very lyrical writing style that lulls you into a false sense of security (just like it does the scholar), which worked really well!
Lares Familiares 1981: A family celebration of a family shaped by their trade in the lumber industry receives an unexpected guest, that offers a few of them a trade. Really interesting take on fae and the dangerous lure they offer.
TW: ableism, homophobia, injury, sexism, slurs (f-slur)
On Highway 18: A story about girls hitchhiking on a lonely road, the friendship of two of them and how it changes as they grow up. Touching.
TW: murder
The Other Shore: A waitress watches a group of archeologist divers as they unearth items from her past. Their initial joy at discovery soon turns into confusion as they become aware that time has not passed quite as linear as they expected. Haunting and strange and really atmospheric, I loved that one!
Thank You For Your Patience: Working in a call center is not really fun for the protagonist of this story, who has to deal with high pressure and annoying managers. But worse is the fact that he is completely cut off from the world due to long work hours and a no-mobile-phones-allowed policy keeps news restricted to what he is able to glance from times when costumers drop his calls. I really liked how tense this story!
TW: anti-muslim racism, terrorist attack
*FAV* The Bletted Woman: A woman is offered the opportunity to partake in a new study after she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s like her mother before her. Her choice to rot alive and form a bridge between human life and the afterlife will transform the world. Strange, beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking, I really loved this story!
TW: death, vomit
*FAV* Such Thoughts Are Unproductive: In a world full of surveillance, where people who say or do the wrong thing can be easily disappeared a daughter tries to keep in contact with her imprisoned mother, growing more and more unsure if she is actually talking to her mother or an AI replica. And when an aunt, that cannot be her aunt, shows up to keep her company, things soon become even scarier. Really haunting story!
TW: imprisonment, surveillance
*FAV* Wider than the Sky, Deeper than the Sea: In this story a woman has chosen to extend her senses through technological means far beyond what humans normal perceive for the sake of performances. Now retired, she plans to create a full sensory Salmon Map so people can experience a salmon spawning, but she’s been stuck in a rut for a while now, watching her funds run dry. As she tries to figure out how to make her artistic vision come to life, she reminisces about her time as a performer and the ways she and her troupe pushed their bodies, sometimes too far. Incredibly intriguing take on cyborg technology as a way to get closer to nature, while causing constant sensory overload in human environments and how this might change ones interactions with others.
An Incomplete Catalogue of Miraculous Births, or, Secrets of the Uterus Abscondita: Here the author examines a few historical cases of miraculous births, as well as stories from folklore, including the woman, who birthed rabbits, Gaea and her cyclops babies captured in Tartarus and a hen that laid eggs inscribed with holy words. It was very interesting to see how the author gave a voice to these figures and described their (potential) motivations.