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A review by aphelia88
Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales by Livia Llewellyn, A.C. Wise, Ellen Datlow, Alison Littlewood, Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, M. John Harrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Cadigan, Sandra Kasturi, Seanan McGuire, Usman T. Malik, Richard Bowes, Mike O'Driscoll, Jeffrey Ford, Nicholas Royle
5.0
I always pick up an anthology if either of the awesome team of [a:Ellen Datlow|46138|Ellen Datlow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1616102283p2/46138.jpg] and [a:Terri Windling|46137|Terri Windling|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1606984612p2/46137.jpg] is involved. They coauthored the long running Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series together. Terri covers Fantasy while Ellen covers Horror.
As the cover suggests, this is a collection of dark - very dark, twisted sickly sticky tar-black dark - fiction. It is haunting.
Themed. 16 stories, 14 original and 2 reprints. Short introduction by Datlow.
My ratings:
5 ⭐ = 9
4 ⭐ = 2
3 ⭐ = 3
2 ⭐ = 2
1 ⭐ = 0
1. O Terrible Bird (poem) by Sandra Kasturi; 4 ⭐
The black bird as Death.
2. The Obscure Bird by Nicolas Royce; 2 ⭐ (reprint)
Inspired by a line from Shakespeare's MacBeth. Weird. A man may be turning into an owl.
3. The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids" by Seanan McGuire; 5 ⭐
My favourite story in the anthology. Heartbreaking. Gave me chills. A 15 year-old girl with an obsession for counting corvids (ravens, crows, jays, etc.) tries to make sense of her world with her counts.
4. Something About Birds by Paul Tremblay; 2 ⭐
Deeply unsettling. Stylized as an interview with an overlooked horror writer. Bird masks.
5. Great Blue Heron by Joyce Carol Oates; 5 ⭐
A widow dreams of the freedom of a heron.
6. The Season of the Raptors by Richard Bowes; 3 ⭐
Creepy. A man becomes obsessed with hawks.
7. The Orphan Bird by Alison Littlewood; 5 ⭐
Blackly twisted and completely convincing. A serial killer obsessed with birds.
8. The Murmurations of Vienna Von Drome by Jeffrey Ford; 5 ⭐
Written in a stylized, Victorian-esque voice. A police detective tracks a serial killer and finds a monster and a marvel. Amazing starling flock imagery.
9. Blyth's Secret by Mike O'Driscoll; 4 ⭐
Horrific. An unstable man tries to understand how birds communicate.
10. The Fortune of Sparrows by Usman T. Mauk; 5 ⭐
"I mothed to the strange light and entered the room." (173) One of many clever turns of phrase. A rich and strange story set at an Indian orphanage.
11. Pigeon From Hell by Stephen Graham Jones; 5 ⭐
Straight up horror, old school. Snarky teenager runs over a babysitting charge and tries to cover it up. Blackly funny but disturbing.
12. The Secret of Flight by A. C. Wise; 5 ⭐
"You should never trust a wild animal. A fox cannot change its nature no matter how it dresses itself up, or what fine words it uses. It will always hunger. If you let your guard down, even for a moment, it will devour you whole." (213-214)
Styled as film scripts and letters, an old mystery and a strange grief.
13. Isobel Arens Returns to Stepney in the Spring by M. John Harrison; 3 ⭐ (reprint)
Bizarre. Designer avian/human DNA mixes for better sex but a relationship fails anyway.
14. A Little Bird Told Me by Pat Cadigan; 5 ⭐
I'd love to read a book based on this! A death census-taker - who matches bodies to names before the Reapers come to avoid mistakes - is shaken out of her workaday existence when parrots start stealing the souls of the dead.
15. The Acid Test by Livia Llewellyn; 3 ⭐
As the title says. Strange and disturbing.
16. The Crow Palace by Priya Sharma; 5 ⭐
Frightening. A human changeling story; cuckoo tactics and crow thieving.
You'll never look at birds as harmless again!
As the cover suggests, this is a collection of dark - very dark, twisted sickly sticky tar-black dark - fiction. It is haunting.
Themed. 16 stories, 14 original and 2 reprints. Short introduction by Datlow.
My ratings:
5 ⭐ = 9
4 ⭐ = 2
3 ⭐ = 3
2 ⭐ = 2
1 ⭐ = 0
1. O Terrible Bird (poem) by Sandra Kasturi; 4 ⭐
The black bird as Death.
2. The Obscure Bird by Nicolas Royce; 2 ⭐ (reprint)
Inspired by a line from Shakespeare's MacBeth. Weird. A man may be turning into an owl.
3. The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids" by Seanan McGuire; 5 ⭐
My favourite story in the anthology. Heartbreaking. Gave me chills. A 15 year-old girl with an obsession for counting corvids (ravens, crows, jays, etc.) tries to make sense of her world with her counts.
4. Something About Birds by Paul Tremblay; 2 ⭐
Deeply unsettling. Stylized as an interview with an overlooked horror writer. Bird masks.
5. Great Blue Heron by Joyce Carol Oates; 5 ⭐
A widow dreams of the freedom of a heron.
6. The Season of the Raptors by Richard Bowes; 3 ⭐
Creepy. A man becomes obsessed with hawks.
7. The Orphan Bird by Alison Littlewood; 5 ⭐
Blackly twisted and completely convincing. A serial killer obsessed with birds.
8. The Murmurations of Vienna Von Drome by Jeffrey Ford; 5 ⭐
Written in a stylized, Victorian-esque voice. A police detective tracks a serial killer and finds a monster and a marvel. Amazing starling flock imagery.
9. Blyth's Secret by Mike O'Driscoll; 4 ⭐
Horrific. An unstable man tries to understand how birds communicate.
10. The Fortune of Sparrows by Usman T. Mauk; 5 ⭐
"I mothed to the strange light and entered the room." (173) One of many clever turns of phrase. A rich and strange story set at an Indian orphanage.
11. Pigeon From Hell by Stephen Graham Jones; 5 ⭐
Straight up horror, old school. Snarky teenager runs over a babysitting charge and tries to cover it up. Blackly funny but disturbing.
12. The Secret of Flight by A. C. Wise; 5 ⭐
"You should never trust a wild animal. A fox cannot change its nature no matter how it dresses itself up, or what fine words it uses. It will always hunger. If you let your guard down, even for a moment, it will devour you whole." (213-214)
Styled as film scripts and letters, an old mystery and a strange grief.
13. Isobel Arens Returns to Stepney in the Spring by M. John Harrison; 3 ⭐ (reprint)
Bizarre. Designer avian/human DNA mixes for better sex but a relationship fails anyway.
14. A Little Bird Told Me by Pat Cadigan; 5 ⭐
I'd love to read a book based on this! A death census-taker - who matches bodies to names before the Reapers come to avoid mistakes - is shaken out of her workaday existence when parrots start stealing the souls of the dead.
15. The Acid Test by Livia Llewellyn; 3 ⭐
As the title says. Strange and disturbing.
16. The Crow Palace by Priya Sharma; 5 ⭐
Frightening. A human changeling story; cuckoo tactics and crow thieving.
You'll never look at birds as harmless again!