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

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense

4.5

never whistle at night is an anthology of indigenous dark fiction, containing 26 stories from writers across a variety of tribes and areas. i dont read a lot of horror, so this was branching outside of my normal fiction genres, and reading bipoc horror is different than white horror because there are additional layers of horrors and things to fear for us.the stories in this collection tell tales of monsters, nightmares, bodies, bugs, of colonization and retribution. i didn’t give it a full five stars because i was hoping for a little more queer rep. 

the story i enjoyed most was uncle robert rides the lightning by kate hart, about love and grief and ghosts. my other favorite stories were kushtuka by mathilda zeller, white hills by rebecca roanhorse, hunger by phoenix boudreau, human eaters by royce k. young wolf, and the scientist’s horror story by darcie little badger. 

i want to thank whoever bought me this from my bookshop wishlist, it didnt come with a note!

TWs

general TW for colonization, death, murder, residential schools, and violence.

kushtuka: unwanted touching
white hills: forced abortion
navajo don't wear elk teeth: sex on page, unwanted rough sex
wingless: animal death, child abuse
quantum: child abuse/neglect
tick talk: misogyny, bugs
snakes are born in the dark: birth, destruction of petroglyphs, pus
before i let go: suicide
behind colin's eyes: body stuff (nails falling off, teeth falling out), mention of child labor 
heart-shaped clock: drug use
scariest.story.ever: animal death, drugs
human eaters: mentions youth death
the prepper: elder neglect, mental break, self-harm
uncle robert rides the lightning: grief
sundays: child rape, pedophilia, suicide
eulogy for a brother, resurrected: homophobia
limbs: physical torture
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