Harare Review of Books

254 pages.

First published Dec 4, 2023 (Interstellar Flight Press)

Mixed anthology.

It was wonderful to discover Interstellar Flight Press’s “Best of” series a couple of years ago, and Year Four brings the same highlights—original articles (essays), book and film reviews, and interviews—this time with much writing around the theme of speculative horror, with a few pieces on race and Blackness and other subjects. Horror not being my jam, it was cool to read Lee Murray’s I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales); perhaps this essay will bring about a change of mind.

Other interesting things in Year Four: an interview with Nebula Award winner Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, as well as many other interviews with authors about their process (Blue Neustifter—author of the feted Unknown Number, J. Corvine, Randee Dawn, Ren Hutchings, and others). I discovered scifaiku and the work of Christina Sng. I did not know about the 1988 movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and now I feel I must find the courage to brave it. Holly Lyn Walrath, a passionate fan of Ghostbusters, writes about it (and particularly about being a female fan). Grant Butler writes persuasively about the Predator and Prey films, and the genre that Predator spawned. There’s a fair bit about Star Wars, but I was more interested in Aaron Emmell’s piece on Apple TV+’s Foundation (I never finished the novels, and I haven’t finished the series either). Netflix’s Resident Evil, Pixar’s Lightyear, Marvel’s Moon Knight, and John Carpenter’s Halloween also get pieces.

There’s a lot more in Best of Year Four, covering happenings in SF books and film in 2022, but, again, this particular anthology will be most appreciated by fans of horror film, and perhaps by new authors who are interested in the writing process of other relatively new authors.

Thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and to Netgalley for access.