Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

17 reviews

acepiary's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Hate crime, Death, Sexual violence, Blood, Animal death, Colonisation, Bullying, Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Suicide, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Body horror

sydapel's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I mean, from the incredible cover to all the new indigenous authors I have to check out, this was so worth the two month library wait. I feel like I better how appreciate horror and dark fiction uncover the nuances of our racist and colonialist mindsets. There's also so much storytelling and context these stories add to a wide range of Indigenous cultures. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, Murder, Racism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Violence

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

This was a really interesting collection of Indigenous short stories. As with any anthology, it’s hard to rate because you personally like some more than others. I have a hard time with anything that’s super graphic/gory and has body horror, so any of the stories with those elements weren’t that good for me, and there were a number of them like that. However if that’s your thing in horror you might like those stories more. I particularly enjoyed the ones that were either ghost stories (especially Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power) and thrillers (“Collections” and “Navajo Don’t Wear Elk Teeth” really stood out to me). There were a few like “Heart Shaped Clock” and “Sundays” that I thought were really emotional or powerful but I don’t necessarily know what genre to put them in, as they didn’t fit any of the categories I listed above. Even though many of the stories weren’t for me, I really liked seeing different elements of Indigenous cultures and history and it’s worth a read just for that alone, even if you don’t like traditional horror that much. There’s a really broad range of stories here and I definitely found some new authors to explore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Chronic illness, Classism, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Cannibalism

midsummernoodle's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this anthology. Of course there were some stories I liked more than others (and some I did not understand), but overall I had a good time with it! 

If you have any triggers at all, you should look up CWs for the individual stories. There are some disturbing plots in this book. Pretty much every story has the potential to be upsetting, but that’s dark fiction for you. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Colonisation, Rape, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

Minor: War, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Classism, Car accident, Hate crime, and Genocide

akizato's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Really great anthology, with some stories resonating with me harder than others. Note if you're reading the reviews before reading yourself: there are some triggering topics in some of the stories. I'll use a spoiler tag here if you want to remain unspoiled.

As well as the usual horror collection tropes like body horror and gore, there are a few stories with some on-page depiction of things like child rape (story title: Sundays- and this happens immediately at the start of the story), forced abortion (story title: White Hills), pretty graphic torture (story title: Limbs), and depiction of severe psychosis leading to murder (title: The Prepper, though it's told in a past tense by the person involved that makes it clear what the person is experiencing was not real).

Overall, I really liked it! My favourite stories were:
- Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller (very strong opener!) 
- Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau
- Snakes Are Born in the Dark by DH Trujillo
- Scariest. Story. Ever by Richard Van Camp
- Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power
- Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
- The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger (too real as someone with a life sciences degree) 
- Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Child abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Torture, Abortion, Body horror, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

Probably one of the strongest short story anthologies I’ve ever read! I have read a fair amount of horror at this point and am often hard to please, and I’d say like 1/3 of these stories made me say “oh no” out loud which is hard to do! Obviously, I enjoyed some much more than others, but I was very impressed by how much these stories complimented each other while also providing such diverse approaches to and perspectives on horror. Some were more thriller-y, some classic feeling slashers, some very grounded in folklore, others sharp social commentaries. My favorites were Kushtuka, Tick Talk, Night in the Chrysalis, Behind Collin’s Eyes, and Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning (and SGJ’s foreword, which probably doesn’t count as a story but really hyped me up for the collection so I’ll give it a shoutout, too). This anthology has introduced me to a lot of new authors I’m excited about, I had a great spooky time reading this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Grief, Murder, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Violence

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, and Animal death

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Gun violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, and Grief

Moderate: Cannibalism, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Alcohol, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Vomit, Genocide, Colonisation, Abortion, and Chronic illness

Minor: Excrement, Misogyny, Death of parent, Animal death, Self harm, War, Cancer, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Infidelity, Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

Residential schools, MMIWG2S.