Reviews

Stories to Sing in the Dark by Matthew Bright

daisy_darling's review against another edition

3.0

☁️Magical Readathon: Conjuration☁️

Library of Lost Things: 4⭐️
In Search of Stars: 2⭐️
Golden Hair. Red Lips: 3⭐️
Croak Toad: 3⭐️
Nothing to Worry About: 3⭐️
Directors Cut: 5 ⭐️
Concubines Heart: 3⭐️
Antonia & Cleopatra: 3⭐️
By Chance, in the Dark: 3⭐️
The Last Drag Show on Earth:3.5⭐️
No Sleep in Bethlehem: 3⭐️

voilajean's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Murder and Death of parent

jonathanwlodarski's review against another edition

3.0

It's clear from this collection that Matthew Bright has a very powerful imagination and a strong sense of playfulness, and that comes through in many of these stories. I thought "Golden Hair, Red Lips" was a really spectacular piece, and then the rest of them had interesting ideas with executions that didn't satisfy me fully. Still worth reading, I think, just for how committed it is to exploring queerness.

3/5

vortacist's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

apostrophen's review

5.0

I was lucky enough to get to preview this book in ARC format. Stories to Sing in the Dark is a heady—and welcome—mix of the dark, the twisted, the strange, and most importantly the queer, but the tune it offers works to perfection: it doesn’t overwhelm, doesn’t leave the reader hopeless, and hooks you back for more after each tale. Nothing is safe from Bright’s distortive lens: holiday classics, childhood tales, literary greats, and thank all the gods for that. Between retellings and new tales, Bright’s threads of the other—be they spirit, steam, or futuristic—have crafted tales well worthy of their addition to the speculative fiction canon, and I for one couldn’t wait any longer to cheer their arrival.

If you'd like to read a full review, head on over to Out in Print for the longer version of what amounts to "trust me, go get this."