Chasing Whispers

by Eugen Bacon

Chasing Whispers is a unique Afro-irrealist collection of Black speculative fiction in transformative stories of culture, longing, hybridity, unlimited futures, a collision of worlds and folklore. It contains 13 stories, 11 of which are original, with a commanding introduction by D. Harlan Wilson. The collection is aligned with the themes of Eugen Bacon’s other fiction, and her recognition in the honor list of the 2022 Otherwise Fellowships for “doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction.”

Chasing Whispers casts a gaze at mostly women and children haunted by patriarchy, in stories packed with affection, dread, anguish and hope. The connecting theme is a black protagonist with a deep longing for someone, someplace, something… and a recurring phrase in each “a deep and terrible sadness.”

What They’re Saying

“Described as Afro-irrealist speculative fiction, Bacon’s newest story collection makes a lasting impression, delivering unique takes on body horror, technological advances, and existential dread.”—Booklist, starred review

“In some ways, these are not stories, but emotions made flesh…Chasing Whispers is an emotive, immersive short story collection whose entries trade between being entertaining and thought provoking.” —Foreword Reviews

“A new star is born in the emerald skies of Fantasy, and its name is Eugen Bacon.” —Nuzo Onoh, Queen of African Horror

“Chasing Whispers challenges the reader both in form and content. Bacon speculates with the form of the short story just as much as the stories blend together African folklore and the modern world. SF readers are frequently travellers in the past, present and future. We are all invited to explore the uncertaintes of humanity in this engaging collecton of short stories from Bacon.”—The BSFA Review

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Horror, Folklore, Collections

214 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to find the word evocative ridiculously overused when it comes to describing writing styles but in this particular case, I think it really is the most fitting word. Bacon has a unique and highly stylized literary voice and while it can be challenging to read it's also satisfying and if you let it Bacon's writing will leave you with strong feelings that will far outlast the time spent with her stories.

It's not full-on horror or full-on sci-fi though elements of both are present in the stories as well as strong fantasy elements, the term afro-irrealist really is the best way to describe the genre of this collection (when a book tells you what it is sometimes it really is best to believe it and this book really knows what it is). I'm telling you this because I want to reinforce that notion that you really have to let go of the expectations you might have about this book based on the genres it is listed under in order to let it be what it is and to let it impress you with it.

I almost didn't read this book because of the introduction but, ultimately, I decided I wasn't about to judge a book by an intro that wasn't even written by the author herself and I'm glad I resisted my knee jerk reaction to an intro that came across as very abrasive. I'm adding this here in case someone who is about to make that mistake comes across my review, the stories do not match the tone of the intro and they really are new and unique the intro's author isn't just being boastful.

I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasing Whispers is a fantastic collection of short stories that starts out strong and stays that way. You’ll want to find a quiet spot to sit down with this one so you can submerge yourself in its dark and strange worlds.

These stories are filled with longing, with disappointment, with transformation and every single one of them takes you to unexpected places. I’m just going to say a little bit about each one because that’s how I always review collections. I’m not going to say too much in order to avoid revealing any spoilers. If you want to go in completely cold please stop reading this review here. I completely understand because that’s how I usually go into most things.

Chasing Whispers
Zeda is facing the difficulties of seeing life through a different lens than others just wading through their lives in oblivion. But is this a life she wants? This is a mind-bending tale both strange and disturbing and it’s not to be missed. It’s an excellent way to start off the collection.

Memories Of The Old Sun
This is a story about obligation and overbearing mothers and a deep longing to live life as one wants - and also biorobots with no choice in any of it.

When The Wind Blows
Humans are so disappointing 😩 and that’s all I’ll say about that.

The Shimmer
Ok, I admit I am easily confused and this is a story that requires your full attention. Don’t read it when you’re sleepy like I did. I’m not entirely sure what happened here but I enjoyed reading it anyway.

Nyamizi, the Skinless One
This is a strange vignette about a skinless child longing to learn more about her mother and discovers some things about herself in the process.

A Visit to Lamont
A man desperate to save his lover from something horrifying tries his best but he has absolutely no idea what to do and fumbles around and I found it all rather hilarious. Stick around for the ending because you don’t want to miss it.

Industrial Pleasure
Capitalism discovers a new energy source. This was nicely sarcastic!

Black Witch, Snow Leopard
If I had to pick a favorite story, this one is it. It reads like a dreamlike dark fairy tale. Two wounded souls forge a bond and it’s spectacular. I’d like to read an entire novel in this world.

Neuter
The way language is used in these stories is so striking, and unusual, and forces you to absorb those words and sit back and think. The author has an Incredible talent.

“I like what you host. A deep and terrible sadness.”

A Deep and Terrible Sadness
A beautifully surreal tale.

Sita and the Fledgling
We visit with a crabby old witch doctor who dispenses ridiculous cures and accurate insults to a desperate group of village idiots during the time of Covid and it's pure joy. Hilariously told from the point of view of a raven who wishes to be a familiar. This was so much fun and the sarcasm was so sharp it may cut you.

Fire Fall on Them
A misogynist gets what he deserves and that’s all I’m sayin’ 🤷‍♀️

Namulongo and the Edge of Darkness
This is the longest story here and is a fantasy adventure set in a strange world.

I highly recommended this collection to fans of imaginative fiction. You can’t go wrong here!

[H.V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasing Whispers is thematically varied, but all the stories are unified by a sense of uncanniness and displacement, and by protagonists who push against oppressive people, systems, and circumstances in search of meaning and a place for themselves. Bacon’s writing leans fearlessly into the isolation created by differences in generations, cultures, and ideological outlooks. She also explores the continuing damage of racism, colonialism, and capitalism (perhaps most directly in the darkly humorous “Industrial Pleasure,” which shows nothing is safe from commodification). Yet, despite grief and sadness, there’s hope and determination in these emotionally complex stories.


Eugen Bacon’s writing plays with narrative structure and the nature of storytelling in unique and compelling ways (it’s one of the things I loved most about Mage of Fools). The stories in Chasing Whispers continue this examination, challenging her characters (and readers) to reevaluate truth, identity, perception, and what constitutes a “story.” It’s refreshing to see so many authors, especially in speculative fiction, engaging in new ways with stories, identity, and the very nature of reality, and Bacon is at the forefront of this innovation.

In addition to her fiction writing, Bacon is a skilled poet. There are sections of Chasing Whispers which read like poetry, enriching the stories by adding additional layers of complexity and alternative perspectives. This is especially true in “Chasing Whispers,” and “Memories of the Old Sun” which contain interspersed italic paragraphs that read like self-contained prose poems and compel the reader to slow down and consider the text carefully.

As always, Bacon’s fiction doesn’t fit into any set genre category. In his thought-provoking introduction, D. Harlan Wilson discusses how Bacon’s work moves “towards an Afro-Irreality that calls attention to the haunted houses of the past, signals a better future, and accomplishes the increasingly rare feat of Making It New” (pg. 10-11). This is an apt and succinct summary of Bacon’s style in Chasing Whispers. Bacon deftly weaves elements of science-fiction, fantasy, folklore, horror, and the surreal together into something unique and uncategorizable, shifting like a kaleidoscope before the reader’s eye.

I recommend this whole collection, but I’ll mention some of my favorite stories:


Memories of Old Sun: a biorobot named Jazz and hir creator interrogate memory, emotion, and identity through parallel and interconnecting narratives. This story made me deeply uneasy because it feels so plausible, like it's a possible future outcome of our advancing technology. There’s a compelling ethical conundrum regarding what humans will owe to the biorobots and other intelligent beings we may create in the near future.

Sita and the Fledgling: a witchdoctor and his apprentice, Sita, balance folk medicine with more modern treatments for those asking for help. They’re observed by ravens, including Ja who nurses ambitions to be the witchdoctor’s familiar. I really love Bacon’s clever use of footnotes to add facts, commentary, and humorous asides to the main narrative. I also thought this story took a fresh approach to commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic and how people responded to it.

Namulongo and the Edge of Darkness: Namulongo (Namu) has spent her whole life with her mother, Maé, in a self-sufficient submarine. As Namu comes of age, she learns who she is and her place in the universe and must confront power hungry Aunt Umozi (mild spoilers ahead). In this story, there’s no clear triumph of good over evil at the end, showing that a story doesn’t require certainty or a decisive victory or defeat to be complete. Namu’s story feels more real than many similar stories because, despite the magical elements, it reads like a chapter in a “real” life.


Bacon’s style combines grounded details with abstract concepts, allowing her to simultaneously evoke both singular experiences related to specific characters and more universal experiences which will resonate with all readers. There’s such richness and variety in this collection, and I’m looking forward to rereading these stories in the near future.

I highly recommend this book!

[Bianca Rose (Belladonnabooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I’m not really sure how to rate or review this book as it’s written well but I didn’t really understand it.
My ratings are based on both quality and enjoyment so I’m unable to give Chasing Whispers a high rating but I want to be clear - I believe this says more about me rather than the book.

This is a very speculative and strange collection of stories that are thought provoking and have a great deal of depth to them. They blur the line between horror and the fantastical.

Some readers will appreciate this collection and others will not connect to it.
Unfortunately I seem to fall in this second category.

Thank you so much to the publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press and the author for providing me with an advance copy of this book to read and review.

[Carrie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short review: I am fully in love with this author.

Long review: By the third story, I ended up searching for Eugene Bacon and looking into her and her other writing. I hadn’t come across the term “Afrofuturism” before, which sadly showcases how lacking I still am in the diversity of books I consume, though I welcome the chance to dive into it.
Bacon’s words and descriptions are pure poetry, hit me straight in the heart throughout most of this collection and the amount of highlights I made are bordering on ridiculous.

When the Wind Blows:
Absolute poetry. All the feelings, exposed from beginning to end, were breathtaking.

A Visit to Lamont:
That freaking ending had me in stitches. Such a great story!

A Deep and Terrible Sadness:
“You are homeless from yourself” This story, in particular, broke my heart. I wasn’t expecting it to hit as hard as it did.

I would highly recommend this collection of stories to anyone interested in speculative fiction, you will not be disappointed.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

In ‘Towards an Afro-Irreality’, his stimulating introduction to this collection of short stories, D. Harlan Wilson discusses (amongst other things) the power of irrealsim in storytelling, reflecting that ‘perhaps irreal stories have the ability to depict “reality” better than “reality” itself because they can account for conscious and unconscious realms simultaneously, imploding objectivity and subjectivity ... can come closer to representing how one might perceive the “real” world than a work of “realism” ... Only our capacity to see and interpret something makes something into something’.
By the time I reached the end of his introductory essay I realised that he had eloquently encapsulated why I have always found Eugen Bacon’s stories not only enthralling, but also thought-provokingly satisfying to read. Through her multi-faceted, creative use of speculative fiction she quickly draws me into the lives of her characters, encouraging me to reflect on the challenges they are facing and to empathise with their reactions, the decisions they make, their hopes and their dreams, even when their experiences of the world are, in so many ways, very different from mine. I think this is because she so effectively combines using her life experiences as an African Australian, the gift of her wonderfully lyrical writing-style and her rich imagination, to make it possible for her readers to readily identify with the universality of the whole gamut of human emotions, needs, desires and expectations her characters are experiencing.
I love the fact that no matter how long or short the stories are (the shortest is barely four pages, the longest forty-six), each one took me on what usually proved to be an unpredictable journey, one which not only felt exactly the right length for the trajectory of the storyline, but also had a resolution which felt psychologically credible and satisfying. Whether deeply-disturbing, full of sadness and yearning, dreamlike, erotic, sensuous or, occasionally, deliciously funny (and many contain a number of these elements!) each story is told using very vivid, often disturbing, imagery and pulsate with a passionate intensity, sometimes quietly gentle but often almost explosive in its rendition. This level of intensity made for such an immersive reading experience that at the end of each one I found it impossible to quickly move on to reading the next because I needed to take time to reflect on where the story had taken me in my imagination. These are stories I’ll definitely be returning to, confident that when I do I’ll find them even more enjoyable, intriguing and thought-provoking ... a confidence which enables me to unreservedly recommend ‘Chasing Whispers’ to all readers who appreciate provocative writing which makes them think!

[Jeremy Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugen Bacon's writing provides the perfect example of a fervent and deep imagination mixed with a singular style of writing. No one writes quite like her, with her particular surrealistic style of expression and her unique voice, flavored by her experience as an African Australian woman.

"Chasing Whispers" is a collection that's hard, if not impossible to sum up, save perhaps that every story in it involves the pain and the joys of transformative change. Bodies change, minds change, lives and the perspectives on them change. In this, Bacon's stories are stories of our lived existences, but she imbues each one, each experience of change, with elements of the supernatural, or the speculative, or the simply surreal. Like life itself, Bacon's prose is natural, and beautiful, and utterly human in it's emotional depth and feeling.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea of this short story collection. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the execution. Most stories were written in a, well, bizarre style. Not just stream-of-consciousness, not just abject magical realism, not just hard truths writ bluntly ... but a style of writing that I can only describe as disjointed and purposefully obtuse. Almost like it was ad lib (maybe mad lib?), where a random sampling of the expected words in every sentence were swapped out in favour of vocabulary loosely tied to the speculative fiction theme. And there was a lot of onomatopoeia, "mystic" language, one-word sentences, poetic and unconventional syntax, etc. Some readers will find joy in this kind of writing, but not me. I did appreciate the novel alternative universe (?) take on covid, and the radical ecofeminism, especially the female organism as a "revolutionary source of renewable energy that's naturally replenishable and sustainable to the planet." In the end, I found myself wishing that this volume had been ghostwritten by someone else.

Thank you to Raw Dog Screaming Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

[D.K. Hundt]

CHASING WHISPERS – by Eugen Bacon – Afro-irrealist Collection Of Black Speculative Fiction

The Cover Art By D. Harlan Wilson is Beautiful!!

I had difficulty getting through some of these stories, so I decided to put the Collection aside for the time being. DNF – page 78

From what I have read thus far, my favorite stories are:

‘When The Wind Blows’ and ‘Nyamizi, The Skinless One’

Thank You, Raw Dog Screaming Press, for providing me with a Paperback copy of CHASING WHISPERS at the request of an honest review.

[Educator · Rating 5 out of 5]

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

As the realm of Afro-horror grows, this collection of short stories has garnered a top place. The stories take you on.a mental journey, some of the content will leave you on edge, some will have you laughing out loud and others mulling your mind over the ramifications of the story.

[Juanita Flores-Mejia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of short stories was a little hard to get through. While I do like the genre, a lot of the stories were a bit confusing and hard to get through. The slightly longer ones were easier to understand and more interesting, they were still just mostly okay.

[Spiritedbookishbabe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like this book at all. It didn’t keep me interested at all. I just couldn’t get into it. It wasn’t for me

[Morgan]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.

[Jennifer Schnakenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven collection for me. Most stories just not my thing. But I enjoyed a few of the stories (admittedly the more “traditional” sci-fi offerings like “Memories of the Old Sun”).

[Bailey]

I really liked a few of these short stories, and I found myself skim-reading others. I find it hard to rate short story collections generally, but I think I liked this one more than I disliked it. About midway I realised I was not the intended audience, and that's okay.