A review by karlakayjenniges
Hybrid: Misfits, Monsters and Other Phenomena by Nicole Givens Kurtz, D. Harlan Wilson, Michael Knost, John Claude Smith, Linda D. Addison, Michael Bailey, Alicia Hilton, Jamal Hodge, Philip Fracassi, Alessandro Manzetti, Donald Armfield, Chris McAuley, Cindy O’Quinn, Bruce Boston, Geneve Flynn, Romie Stott, Marge Simon, Lee Murray, Maxwell I. Gold, Jeffrey Thomas, John Palisano, Angela Yuriko Smith

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

"We didn’t lie to you, folks. We told you we had living, breathing, monstrosities. You laughed at them, shuddered at them. And, yet, but for the accident of birth, you might be one as they are. They did not ask to be brought into the world, but into the world they came. Their code is a law unto themselves: offend one and you offend them all. And now, folks, if you’ll just step this way. You are about to witness the most amazing, the most astounding living monstrosity of all time." – Carnival Barker, Freaks

Poetic form introducing us to an alien/witch hybrid. Monsters of love and light. Monsters that hunger and feed on emotions. Little ghost children. Human transformations into creatures of the unknown. Vampires and werewolves that have a surprising food source. Evolution stepping towards the stars. Druids and ancient beasts.

The calling of an ancestral life.

“By the Orishas, we are stubborn! There are other moments of the ancestors to be experienced. Birth. Lovemaking. Growth. The kiss of the wind, a caress of spring. Truth is in the living, not in the dead.”

Sloths luring the curious into its rainforest, watching and waiting. Backpacking amongst beasts of legend. A vindictive clone and a story of obsession, passion and revenge. Entertaining the consciousness and machines. A progeny of origami with a selfish mother. An ancient, monstrous beast that hungers for children. A mothers hidden secret and the power that lies within. Vampire/human hybrid, hunted and rebirthed. Extraterrestrials and the fight against the injustices of humanity. The dishonoring of mother earth and the monstrosities blooming into life.

The unique writng style and creations within evoke emotions from the depths of the mind. It wraps around like a shadow reaching out, clawing, grabbing, and then letting go for only a moment. Pondering each story, reveling in its dark beauty in words, the hybrids are imaginitive creatures, discomforting and yet there is love and light that shines from the darkness. A labor of love for the unatural, unusual and the monsters that lurk around corners.

"Hybrid creatures are the result of our far-flung imaginations and our

deepest fears."-James Aquilone