Harare Review of Books

228 pages.

US publication date (paperback): Mar. 23, 2023 (RDS Press)

Fiction anthology/Horror.

Zombies, monsters, ghost food, switched husbands, genetically-modified daughters, nine-tailed foxes, demons in love, furious women.  Black Cranes is a collection of stories from Southeast Asian women exploring weirdness and otherness, borrowing from Asian mythology, imagining futures, and subverting stereotypes. This is dark fiction with depth, horror, and occasional humour. 

Motherhood is a recurring theme; there are overbearing and demanding mothers, and mothers who sacrifice everything for their children. There are dutiful daughters, and daughters who’ve had enough. There’s lots of gore, and body horror, but it’s never gratuitous. The overarching theme is women (with non-binary representation): strong, wrong, complicated, twisted, divine, confused, young, old, in love and out of love, controlling, grieving, powerful, and powerless. But, above all, this collection succeeds on the level of story, with a wonderful array of imaginative writing.

Thank you to Raw Dog Screaming Press and to NetGalley for the advance copy, and grateful thanks to RDS Press for the giveaway copy!