Scan barcode
rubybastille's review
5.0
Amazing collection. I marked my favorites and ended up dog-earing half the book. I only wish I’d read it sooner.
suzig's review
4.0
Even though it's a book of short stories, it's a thick one! Took me a while to make it all the way through, but perhaps also because some of the stories demanded that I pause and think before rushing on to the next story. Overall high quality writing and a few real gems. Refreshingly feminist and post-colonial narratives from around the globe. Definitely a lot of authors that I plan to investigate to find more of their writings!
popthebutterfly's review
3.0
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Fantasy/ Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16+ (mature scenes, language, and some gore)
Favorite Quote: "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul"
"In 1514 Hungary, peasants who rose up against the nobility rise again – from the grave. In 1633 Al-Shouf, a mother keeps demons at bay with the combined power of grief and music. In 1775 Paris, as social tensions come to a boil, a courtesan tries to save the woman she loves. In 1838 Georgia, a pregnant woman's desperate escape from slavery comes with a terrible price. In 1900 Ilocos Norte, a forest spirit helps a young girl defend her land from American occupiers.
These gripping stories have been passed down through the generations, hidden between the lines of journal entries and love letters. Now 27 of today's finest authors – including Tananarive Due, Sofia Samatar, Ken Liu, Victor LaValle, Nnedi Okorafor, and Sabrina Vourvoulias – reveal the people whose lives have been pushed to the margins of history. " - back cover blurb provided by Amazon
This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who love to read about history whether it be fictional or nonfictional. This book is a series of short stories that are historical fiction and also blur the lines between reality and fantasy. For the most part I loved this book. I loved the different takes on different historical points and I loved how the authors Incorporated fantasy elements into the stories, but I had a lot of issues with this series.
Some of the stories were really really well written and could have easily been made into full books, but some of the others were really bad. The characters weren't developed and the stories were confusing. The pacing was off on a lot of stories, but this is a collection of short stories.
Overall about half of the stories were very enjoyable and exciting and you might like some of the ones I didn't! That's the joy of books: no one reads the same book twice.
Genre: Fantasy/ Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16+ (mature scenes, language, and some gore)
Favorite Quote: "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul"
"In 1514 Hungary, peasants who rose up against the nobility rise again – from the grave. In 1633 Al-Shouf, a mother keeps demons at bay with the combined power of grief and music. In 1775 Paris, as social tensions come to a boil, a courtesan tries to save the woman she loves. In 1838 Georgia, a pregnant woman's desperate escape from slavery comes with a terrible price. In 1900 Ilocos Norte, a forest spirit helps a young girl defend her land from American occupiers.
These gripping stories have been passed down through the generations, hidden between the lines of journal entries and love letters. Now 27 of today's finest authors – including Tananarive Due, Sofia Samatar, Ken Liu, Victor LaValle, Nnedi Okorafor, and Sabrina Vourvoulias – reveal the people whose lives have been pushed to the margins of history. " - back cover blurb provided by Amazon
This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who love to read about history whether it be fictional or nonfictional. This book is a series of short stories that are historical fiction and also blur the lines between reality and fantasy. For the most part I loved this book. I loved the different takes on different historical points and I loved how the authors Incorporated fantasy elements into the stories, but I had a lot of issues with this series.
Some of the stories were really really well written and could have easily been made into full books, but some of the others were really bad. The characters weren't developed and the stories were confusing. The pacing was off on a lot of stories, but this is a collection of short stories.
Overall about half of the stories were very enjoyable and exciting and you might like some of the ones I didn't! That's the joy of books: no one reads the same book twice.
competencefantasy's review
4.0
This leans heavy on the historical fiction aspect and lighter on the fantasy elements than I had originally expected. That said, historical fiction needs to pay attention and become more like this, recognizing the wide variety of viewpoints that comes from having one's choice of temporal setting. I know of nothing else like this collection, and I wish I did.
morgandhu's review
4.0
One thing I'm loving about what's happening in the world of sff anthology editing these days is the growing number of projects devoted in one way or another to supporting the concept of diversity. Because, as editors Rose Fox and Daniel José Older note in the Introduction to their anthology Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History,
"We grew up reading stories about people who weren’t much like us. Speculative fiction promised to take us to places where anything was possible, but the spaceship captains and valiant questers were always white, always straight, always cisgender, and almost always men. We tried to force ourselves into those boxes, but we never fit. When we looked for faces and thoughts like our own, we found orcs and deviants and villains. And we began to wonder why some people’s stories were told over and over, while ours were almost never even alluded to."
The brief for this anthology was simple: to publish stories of speculative history, set between 1400 and the early 1900s, stories that are grounded in real events, that focus on marginalised people, and that have a speculative element. The stories in this anthology for the most part do this very well. They speak in the voices of the ones who did not have the power to tell their history, who were subsumed and made to disappear into the dominant narrative of the powerful, the colonisers, the privileged.
Most written chronicles of history, and most speculative stories, put rulers, conquerors, and invaders front and center. People with less power, money, or status—enslaved people, indigenous people, people of color, queer people, laborers, women, people with disabilities, the very young and very old, and religious minorities, among others—are relegated to the margins. Today, mainstream history continues to perpetuate one-sided versions of the past while mistelling or erasing the stories of the rest of the world. (http://longhidden.com/)
The stories collected in Long Hidden are examples of resistance to this dominant master narrative of history. And there is much good reading here.
kukushka's review
5.0
This is one of the more consistent short story anthologies I've read - there are a few stories that I really didn't like, but the writing quality is fairly consistent throughout. Like most anthologies, however, there are some stand out great stories, some weak entries, and a lot of somewhat unmemorable middling entries.
I really liked the variety of backgrounds and settings on display, and it was great to see cultures and experiences that I really haven't gotten to see in fiction before. I also appreciated that the editors chose a variety of authors, from the well-known multi-published, to the first time sale - without compromising on quality.
"Ogres of East Africa" by Sofia Samatar
The collection opens with an interesting idea - the "story" is actually a catalogue of ogres, with the narrative taking place in the marginal notes. The ogres are creative, reminding me of Amos Tutuola's ghosts, though they don't have much bearing on the story beyond the set up. The narrative is a bit bare bones. It just presents us with a few interesting characters at a single point in time.
"The Oud" by Thoraiya Dyer
This story reminded me a lot of Wolf Winter. There was the same conflict between the personal story taking place within the household and the big political story taking place at a distance yet invariably spilling into the home. There was also the same competition between the old and the new religion, the same sense of isolation, the same smashing together of peasant and royal lives... It was sad, but in a dreamy sort of way. I really enjoyed this one.
"Free Jim's Mine" by Tananarive Due
On the surface, this is a story about a young family trying to escape from slavery. But within that setting, Due has woven a fairy tale. It's an interesting story with solid writing.
"Ffydd (Faith)" by S. Lynn
Set in Wales in the wake of the first world war, a family deals with the aftermath of their experiences. Shoehorned into this setting we get a vampire, who appears to be feeding off the chickens. I believe the family is meant to be Quaker, which I suppose have faced some amount of religious persecution in the past, and I guess you could say the same for the Welsh, but this comes right after a story about an escaping slave. It's hard to see where it fits in the theme of the anthology. I found the story itself to be a bit of a slog - it just kept going and going, but didn't have the either the writing or the characters to sustain interest in a "slice of life" narrative. Even the addition of a vampire couldn't save it. As is, it felt like it was trying to be coy about the vampirism in lieu of having anything interesting happen, and I've just seen far too many vampires for that to work.
"Across the Seam" by Sunny Moraine
In this story, a trans coal miner is recognized as a woman by Baba Yaga. I wasn't gripped by the story itself - it played out a little too predictably and there was quite a bit that I think just passed me by. But I really enjoyed the core premise. Knowing a few Baba Yaga stories, it fits quite well to have her recognize the woman inside the coal miner.
"Numbers" by Rion Amilcar Scott
Mobsters meet sirens! It's an interesting idea, coming together to become a story about loyalty. The writing is good, just not to my taste.
"Each Part Without Mercy" by Meg Jayanth
The magic in the story happens through the use of dreams, as dreams are used in the conquest of a city, and then in an attempted assassination. I really liked the story, but I didn't think it worked too well in that format. The world building was so interesting that I wish this were a novel - with more time to develop the characters and explore their relationships. But because the story tried to cover so much ground in such a small word count, it felt like the ending came out of nowhere and story lacked a satisfying resolution. I would gladly read this again as a full length novel.
"The Witch of Tarup" by Claire Humphrey
This one is a simple little story about witchcraft in rural Denmark. There's no great twist or insight, just a solidly written little portrait. This is another one that I could easily see as a novel, where the author could better explore the relationships and setting. But while I liked the story, I really don't see how it fits with the theme of the anthology.
"Marigolds" by L.S. Johnson
Lesbian prostitutes in Paris. The magic system is quite interesting - bringing together menstruation and female sexuality. It's not something that I've seen too often in fiction, despite how much it comes up in culture studies. And while it's lovely to get a story about lesbians with a happy ending, I'm rather put off by the "Paris prostitutes" setting. It just comes up too much and is way too fetishized.
"Diyu" by Robert William Iveniuk
The story begins as an interesting period piece set among the Chinese workers on the Canadian railroad, then gets some good Lovecraftian suspense going when an Eldritch horror appears (particularly satisfying given what a raging racist Lovecraft himself was)... But then the story ruins all of that built up good will by over-describing both the horror itself and its backstory. It even had the alien horror chatting! After such a strong beginning, all suspense was sucked right out of the story and it fizzles to a close.
"Collected Likenesses" by Jamey Hatley
This is a story about retributive magic and generational pain, exploring the aftermath of slavery. I found the second person narrative a bit jarring, as is the glimpse-by-glimpse narration. But despite these, it's one of the collection's strongest stories. It's simple - easily summarised in a sentence - yet has quite a lot going on.
"Angela and the Scar" by Michael Janairo
In the Philippines, locals are losing the fight against the Yanquis until a forest spirit (kapfre) gets involved. This was one of the anthology's middling entries - not great, not bad. It's perfect filler. The idea of enlisting the land itself to aid in a freedom conflict is an interesting one (particularly in the context of guerrilla warfare), but the author doesn't really do anything with it other than have it happen. I did like the way the kapfre was represented - it's alien, and its help is very capriciously given. There's a sense that it could just as easily (and happily) turn against the locals as against the Yanquis.
"The Colts" by Benjamin Parzybok
Another middling entry, this time about Hungarian zombies. The story takes place in a moment in time, as the main characters continue to act out the revolution that killed them while putting to rest the remainder of the living selves. The writing is solid, but this is another story that just doesn't really do anything with its premise.
"Nine" by Kima Jones
I really didn't like this one. The whole story seems to be exposition, yet I never actually got a feel for either the setting or the characters. The characters are puppetted through the story without appearing to really care about anything.
"The Heart and the Feather" by Christina Lynch
The story is about a family with Ambras Syndrome, or Hypertrichosis, which is characterised by abnormal hair growth over the whole body. This story didn't really sit well with me. It uses real people and a real condition, but doesn't really do anything with it - making it a bit of a spectacle. I struggled to see how this story fits with the theme of the anthology. The only thing I can think of is that it deals with the enslavement of the "Other" for entertainment, but the "Other" is presented as bestial, and that's some very dangerous ground. There seems to be a lesson that the "Other" characters are good while it is the humans who are responsible for the evil happening in the story, but that's undercut by having the responsible human be an actual, literal werewolf. So then what is the point, other than that some "Others" are fine, some are more at home in nature living as animals, and some eat children? I think this is the only story in the collection that I really disliked.
"A Score of Roses" by Troy L. Wiggins
This is a little story about two (magical?) people meeting and having a baby, and the baby is special in some way. The writing is solid and engaging, but the story doesn't really go anywhere. It feels more like a first chapter than a complete story and, honestly, I can recall very little of this story now that a few days have passed since I read it.
"Neither Witch nor Fairy" by Nnghi Vo
This one is another story about a trans woman (or girl, in this case) being recognized by a supernatural creature. This time, the supernatural creatures are Irish. The setting lends a bit of an extra dimension to the self-discovery story, as the main character believes herself to be a Changeling, since she never feels like she fits as the boy she is thought to be. The story doesn't stand out as anything special or particularly memorable, but it's a solid entry.
"A Deeper Echo" by David Jón Fuller
This story read like heartbreaking wish fulfilment - a First Nations father, recently returned from fighting for the Canadian government, comes after his children who were stolen first by the schools, and then by a white woman. Oh, and also, he can change into a wolf. I'm attracted to the subject, so that may have carried me through a story that didn't otherwise stand out. But this is certainly a solid addition to the anthology.
"Knotting Grass, Holding Ring" by Ken Liu
This is the first original story I've read by Liu, though I have read a few of his translations, and I absolutely loved it! The writing is lyrical, the setting is vivid, and the characters shone through brilliantly. This was by far one of my favourite stories in the collection!
"Jooni" by Kemba Banton
Another story with a bit too much exposition, but otherwise quite solid. The story takes place in a single moment as a freed slave deals with her trauma and recovers her sense of hope.
"There Will Be One Vacant Chair" by Sarah Pinsker
Hungarian Jews fight in the US Civil War while a disabled brother is forced to stay at home. The magic in this story involves reincarnation. This is another one that I think would have worked better as a longer piece - perhaps a novella. I would have liked more exploration into Julius's theology.
"It's War" by Nnedi Okorafor
This is another story that shows us its characters in a single moment, implying rather than narrating all that comes before and after. There's a girl who can fly, there are women protesting taxation, and it all just kinda gets thrown together without explanation. It had a very similar feel to Okorafor's Who Fears Death. The writing is fantastic, but I found something lacking in it as a story. I wanted either more about the protesters or more about the girl, but the two threads just didn't seem to fit together.
"Find Me Unafraid" by Shanaé Brown
Booker warns Charlotte that the Klan is coming and holds her door strong against them. In the daylight hours, he gives her the money she will need to get herself and her family out of the small town where the mob in white sheets prowl. I enjoyed most of the story, but found the reveal at the end to be a little obvious and forced (the dialogue exposition, in particular, was clunky - especially since I had already picked up on most of the information that was being revealed). I'm also not sure how I feel about Charlotte having magical powers as well. I understand why she did, but it felt like a bit too much supernatural in a story that was otherwise more on the pleasantly ambiguous side. Overall, though, I found this to be one of the anthology's stronger stories.
"A Wedding in Hungry Days" by Nicolette Barischoff
This was one of my favourite stories in the anthology! It's the story of a ghost girl in rural China who marries a living boy. It's practical and hard, but also very tender. It's about caring for one's family and creating a community. The narrative voice skipped around a bit, which I don't like much in general and especially dislike in a short story, but that's really my only complaint.
"Medu" by Lisa Bolekaja
What if Medusa the Gorgon were a black cowgirl? On the surface, the story is about a conflict between two types of magical humans (the Medusa-like and something like a xenomorph), but I felt a strong "natural hair movement" vibe from the story as well.
"Lone Women" by Victor LaValle
Adelaide is a settler heading out to her claim in Montana. With her is a creature, locked up in a trunk. As I was reading the anthology, I tried not to look at the author names or biographies before I read the stories so that my assumptions about their identities wouldn't colour my perceptions. But when Adelaide turned out to be pregnant from a one night stand, I rolled my eyes and was utterly unsurprised to find that the author is a man. It's not so much what happens as how, and the way in which it's told. The story is fine, but suffers from both too much and not enough going on. There's the story of the four boys, but that doesn't get the ominous buildup it should have had and feels more like sequel-baiting rather than being impactful to this story. Then there's the sisterhood angle, that seems to be looking disability and Otherness, but concludes by implying that disabled people are okay as long as they can be useful. I liked some parts of this story, but others made me quite uncomfortable.
"The Dance of the White Demons" by Sabrina Vourvoulias
The anthology ends with a strong story about native South American resistance against Spanish invaders. The story itself is great (and I would gladly read a novel-length version), but it's also the perfect choice to end the book. It closes the anthology with a message of hope and survival even through times of oppression.
I really liked the variety of backgrounds and settings on display, and it was great to see cultures and experiences that I really haven't gotten to see in fiction before. I also appreciated that the editors chose a variety of authors, from the well-known multi-published, to the first time sale - without compromising on quality.
"Ogres of East Africa" by Sofia Samatar
The collection opens with an interesting idea - the "story" is actually a catalogue of ogres, with the narrative taking place in the marginal notes. The ogres are creative, reminding me of Amos Tutuola's ghosts, though they don't have much bearing on the story beyond the set up. The narrative is a bit bare bones. It just presents us with a few interesting characters at a single point in time.
"The Oud" by Thoraiya Dyer
This story reminded me a lot of Wolf Winter. There was the same conflict between the personal story taking place within the household and the big political story taking place at a distance yet invariably spilling into the home. There was also the same competition between the old and the new religion, the same sense of isolation, the same smashing together of peasant and royal lives... It was sad, but in a dreamy sort of way. I really enjoyed this one.
"Free Jim's Mine" by Tananarive Due
On the surface, this is a story about a young family trying to escape from slavery. But within that setting, Due has woven a fairy tale. It's an interesting story with solid writing.
"Ffydd (Faith)" by S. Lynn
Set in Wales in the wake of the first world war, a family deals with the aftermath of their experiences. Shoehorned into this setting we get a vampire, who appears to be feeding off the chickens. I believe the family is meant to be Quaker, which I suppose have faced some amount of religious persecution in the past, and I guess you could say the same for the Welsh, but this comes right after a story about an escaping slave. It's hard to see where it fits in the theme of the anthology. I found the story itself to be a bit of a slog - it just kept going and going, but didn't have the either the writing or the characters to sustain interest in a "slice of life" narrative. Even the addition of a vampire couldn't save it. As is, it felt like it was trying to be coy about the vampirism in lieu of having anything interesting happen, and I've just seen far too many vampires for that to work.
"Across the Seam" by Sunny Moraine
In this story, a trans coal miner is recognized as a woman by Baba Yaga. I wasn't gripped by the story itself - it played out a little too predictably and there was quite a bit that I think just passed me by. But I really enjoyed the core premise. Knowing a few Baba Yaga stories, it fits quite well to have her recognize the woman inside the coal miner.
"Numbers" by Rion Amilcar Scott
Mobsters meet sirens! It's an interesting idea, coming together to become a story about loyalty. The writing is good, just not to my taste.
"Each Part Without Mercy" by Meg Jayanth
The magic in the story happens through the use of dreams, as dreams are used in the conquest of a city, and then in an attempted assassination. I really liked the story, but I didn't think it worked too well in that format. The world building was so interesting that I wish this were a novel - with more time to develop the characters and explore their relationships. But because the story tried to cover so much ground in such a small word count, it felt like the ending came out of nowhere and story lacked a satisfying resolution. I would gladly read this again as a full length novel.
"The Witch of Tarup" by Claire Humphrey
This one is a simple little story about witchcraft in rural Denmark. There's no great twist or insight, just a solidly written little portrait. This is another one that I could easily see as a novel, where the author could better explore the relationships and setting. But while I liked the story, I really don't see how it fits with the theme of the anthology.
"Marigolds" by L.S. Johnson
Lesbian prostitutes in Paris. The magic system is quite interesting - bringing together menstruation and female sexuality. It's not something that I've seen too often in fiction, despite how much it comes up in culture studies. And while it's lovely to get a story about lesbians with a happy ending, I'm rather put off by the "Paris prostitutes" setting. It just comes up too much and is way too fetishized.
"Diyu" by Robert William Iveniuk
The story begins as an interesting period piece set among the Chinese workers on the Canadian railroad, then gets some good Lovecraftian suspense going when an Eldritch horror appears (particularly satisfying given what a raging racist Lovecraft himself was)... But then the story ruins all of that built up good will by over-describing both the horror itself and its backstory. It even had the alien horror chatting! After such a strong beginning, all suspense was sucked right out of the story and it fizzles to a close.
"Collected Likenesses" by Jamey Hatley
This is a story about retributive magic and generational pain, exploring the aftermath of slavery. I found the second person narrative a bit jarring, as is the glimpse-by-glimpse narration. But despite these, it's one of the collection's strongest stories. It's simple - easily summarised in a sentence - yet has quite a lot going on.
"Angela and the Scar" by Michael Janairo
In the Philippines, locals are losing the fight against the Yanquis until a forest spirit (kapfre) gets involved. This was one of the anthology's middling entries - not great, not bad. It's perfect filler. The idea of enlisting the land itself to aid in a freedom conflict is an interesting one (particularly in the context of guerrilla warfare), but the author doesn't really do anything with it other than have it happen. I did like the way the kapfre was represented - it's alien, and its help is very capriciously given. There's a sense that it could just as easily (and happily) turn against the locals as against the Yanquis.
"The Colts" by Benjamin Parzybok
Another middling entry, this time about Hungarian zombies. The story takes place in a moment in time, as the main characters continue to act out the revolution that killed them while putting to rest the remainder of the living selves. The writing is solid, but this is another story that just doesn't really do anything with its premise.
"Nine" by Kima Jones
I really didn't like this one. The whole story seems to be exposition, yet I never actually got a feel for either the setting or the characters. The characters are puppetted through the story without appearing to really care about anything.
"The Heart and the Feather" by Christina Lynch
The story is about a family with Ambras Syndrome, or Hypertrichosis, which is characterised by abnormal hair growth over the whole body. This story didn't really sit well with me. It uses real people and a real condition, but doesn't really do anything with it - making it a bit of a spectacle. I struggled to see how this story fits with the theme of the anthology. The only thing I can think of is that it deals with the enslavement of the "Other" for entertainment, but the "Other" is presented as bestial, and that's some very dangerous ground. There seems to be a lesson that the "Other" characters are good while it is the humans who are responsible for the evil happening in the story, but that's undercut by having the responsible human be an actual, literal werewolf. So then what is the point, other than that some "Others" are fine, some are more at home in nature living as animals, and some eat children? I think this is the only story in the collection that I really disliked.
"A Score of Roses" by Troy L. Wiggins
This is a little story about two (magical?) people meeting and having a baby, and the baby is special in some way. The writing is solid and engaging, but the story doesn't really go anywhere. It feels more like a first chapter than a complete story and, honestly, I can recall very little of this story now that a few days have passed since I read it.
"Neither Witch nor Fairy" by Nnghi Vo
This one is another story about a trans woman (or girl, in this case) being recognized by a supernatural creature. This time, the supernatural creatures are Irish. The setting lends a bit of an extra dimension to the self-discovery story, as the main character believes herself to be a Changeling, since she never feels like she fits as the boy she is thought to be. The story doesn't stand out as anything special or particularly memorable, but it's a solid entry.
"A Deeper Echo" by David Jón Fuller
This story read like heartbreaking wish fulfilment - a First Nations father, recently returned from fighting for the Canadian government, comes after his children who were stolen first by the schools, and then by a white woman. Oh, and also, he can change into a wolf. I'm attracted to the subject, so that may have carried me through a story that didn't otherwise stand out. But this is certainly a solid addition to the anthology.
"Knotting Grass, Holding Ring" by Ken Liu
This is the first original story I've read by Liu, though I have read a few of his translations, and I absolutely loved it! The writing is lyrical, the setting is vivid, and the characters shone through brilliantly. This was by far one of my favourite stories in the collection!
"Jooni" by Kemba Banton
Another story with a bit too much exposition, but otherwise quite solid. The story takes place in a single moment as a freed slave deals with her trauma and recovers her sense of hope.
"There Will Be One Vacant Chair" by Sarah Pinsker
Hungarian Jews fight in the US Civil War while a disabled brother is forced to stay at home. The magic in this story involves reincarnation. This is another one that I think would have worked better as a longer piece - perhaps a novella. I would have liked more exploration into Julius's theology.
"It's War" by Nnedi Okorafor
This is another story that shows us its characters in a single moment, implying rather than narrating all that comes before and after. There's a girl who can fly, there are women protesting taxation, and it all just kinda gets thrown together without explanation. It had a very similar feel to Okorafor's Who Fears Death. The writing is fantastic, but I found something lacking in it as a story. I wanted either more about the protesters or more about the girl, but the two threads just didn't seem to fit together.
"Find Me Unafraid" by Shanaé Brown
Booker warns Charlotte that the Klan is coming and holds her door strong against them. In the daylight hours, he gives her the money she will need to get herself and her family out of the small town where the mob in white sheets prowl. I enjoyed most of the story, but found the reveal at the end to be a little obvious and forced (the dialogue exposition, in particular, was clunky - especially since I had already picked up on most of the information that was being revealed). I'm also not sure how I feel about Charlotte having magical powers as well. I understand why she did, but it felt like a bit too much supernatural in a story that was otherwise more on the pleasantly ambiguous side. Overall, though, I found this to be one of the anthology's stronger stories.
"A Wedding in Hungry Days" by Nicolette Barischoff
This was one of my favourite stories in the anthology! It's the story of a ghost girl in rural China who marries a living boy. It's practical and hard, but also very tender. It's about caring for one's family and creating a community. The narrative voice skipped around a bit, which I don't like much in general and especially dislike in a short story, but that's really my only complaint.
"Medu" by Lisa Bolekaja
What if Medusa the Gorgon were a black cowgirl? On the surface, the story is about a conflict between two types of magical humans (the Medusa-like and something like a xenomorph), but I felt a strong "natural hair movement" vibe from the story as well.
"Lone Women" by Victor LaValle
Adelaide is a settler heading out to her claim in Montana. With her is a creature, locked up in a trunk. As I was reading the anthology, I tried not to look at the author names or biographies before I read the stories so that my assumptions about their identities wouldn't colour my perceptions. But when Adelaide turned out to be pregnant from a one night stand, I rolled my eyes and was utterly unsurprised to find that the author is a man. It's not so much what happens as how, and the way in which it's told. The story is fine, but suffers from both too much and not enough going on. There's the story of the four boys, but that doesn't get the ominous buildup it should have had and feels more like sequel-baiting rather than being impactful to this story. Then there's the sisterhood angle, that seems to be looking disability and Otherness, but concludes by implying that disabled people are okay as long as they can be useful. I liked some parts of this story, but others made me quite uncomfortable.
"The Dance of the White Demons" by Sabrina Vourvoulias
The anthology ends with a strong story about native South American resistance against Spanish invaders. The story itself is great (and I would gladly read a novel-length version), but it's also the perfect choice to end the book. It closes the anthology with a message of hope and survival even through times of oppression.
linguisticali's review
4.0
"We grew up reading stories about people who weren’t much like us. Speculative fiction promised to take us to places where anything was possible, but the spaceship captains and valiant questers were always white, always straight, always cisgender, and almost always men. We tried to force ourselves into those boxes, but we never fit. When we looked for faces and thoughts like our own, we found orcs and deviants and villains. And we began to wonder why some people’s stories were told over and over, while ours were almost never even alluded to. ... We drew 27 stories that spoke to the true heart of what Long Hidden is: a book of counter-narratives. It is an act of literary resistance. In whispers, shouts, and moans, these stories combine into a collective outcry that is both joyous and mournful, a forgotten praise-song that puts flesh on the bones of our hidden dreams."
This quote from the introduction almost made me cry with delight, as it echoes so many of my own feelings about speculative fiction.
As tends to be the case with anthologies, I found that the stories in this ranged from excellent to average. That said, there were very few stories in here that weren't at least interesting - and many of them were absolutely enthralling. Some memorable ones which really stand out to me are "Marigolds" (LS Johnson), "Each Part Without Mercy" (Meg Jayanth), "A Wedding in Hungry Days" (Nicolette Barischoff) and "Knotting Grass, Holding Ring" (Ken Liu).
For a book focused on the margins of history, however, it had what felt like surprisingly few African stories, with many stories set in North America. This may simply have been an issue of availability, but it would have been nice to see a better balance in that respect.
Even though not all the stories were exactly my thing, I'm really glad that this exists, and really glad I read it. It's a beautiful "act of literary resistance" in a world that really has enough cishet white guys saving the world. More of this sort of thing, please.
18thstjoe's review
2.0
I was stunned by how much I didn't enjoy this anthology, was expecting to love it, the Ken Liu story was the only one I really enjoyed
bluebec's review
5.0
An amazing collection of short stories from fantastic and often unrepresented viewpoints. Highly recommended