Wildly uneven collection:

1) Kushtuka, by Mathilda Zeller. Racist white guys slaughtered in a gore-fest by the mythological double of part-native Alaskan young woman… or by her? 3.0

2) White Hills, by Rebecca Roanhorse. To be part of elite white culture a woman will have to literally cut off part of her body that represents her part-Native ancestry… or does she use the knife for something else? 4.0

3) Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth, by Conley Lyons. A queer native young man gets into an abusive relationship with a domineering young white man who ultimately wants to literally extract something from the native body. 2.5

4) Wingless, by Marcie Rendon. Violently abusive foster mother gets violence returned by one of her fosters. 2.0

5) Quantum, by Nick Medina. A young mother dotes on her infant who meets the threshold of blood quantum to be enrolled in her tribe while neglecting her child whose blood quantum falls short and thus cannot be a tribal member; as a result this child transforms into something non-human. 4.0

6) Hunger, by Phoenix Boudreau. Mythological evil spirit possesses racist white frat boy, and two native young women defeat it. 2.0

7) Tick Talk, by Cherie Dimaline. Alienated young man returns home to stay with his father, after whose death the young man finally goes out on a traditional hunt as the father wanted, young man gets bitten by a surreally growing tick. 3.5

8) The Ones Who Killed Us, by Brandon Hobson. Surreal fever dream of prose and story, the ghosts of Cherokee take their vengeance on the ghosts of soldiers in the lands of the Cherokee reservation in an ever repeating cycle of anger and despair. 5.0

9) Snakes Are Born in the Dark, by D.H. Trujillo. Racist white guy disrespects ancient Indian rock carvings on a hike, he and his girlfriend are tortured all night as they walk back. 1.0

10) Before I Go, by Norris Black. Woman hikes to the cliff her fiancé fell to his death from, camps, and is visited at night by his phantom… and by Mother Night. 3.0

11) Night in the Chrysalis, by Tiffany Morris. Woman moves into new house. It doesn’t want her there. 2.0

12) Behind Colin’s Eyes, by Shane Hawk. A boy and his father go hunting a large elk, and the elk’s spirit takes possession of his body, leaving him only able to observe, imprisoned behind his eyes. 4.0

13) Heart-Shaped Clock, by Kelli Jo Ford. A family drama about abuse, neglect, a burning desire for a sense of belonging, that erupts into violence. 5.0

14) Scariest. Story. Ever., by Richard van Camp. Wanting a scary story to tell for a contest, a young man visits an elder and gets half of a scary story followed by a didactic lesson on honoring the community and its stories. 3.0

15) Human Eaters, by Royce K. Young Wolf. Grandma tells kids about seeing spirits, which most people can’t anymore “after all these white people and other ones who are backward without culture arrived here”. 1.5

16) The Longest Street in the World, by Theodore G. Van Alst Jr. Somewhat Tarantino-influenced urban crime story involving a demon-like figure who assists the tribal community. 2.5

17) Dead Owls, by Mona Susan Power. Teenage Dakota girl is attacked through her dreams by the vengeful ghost of Custer’s widow, and is rescued by the ghost of her gmom’s Japanese-American love interest during WWII internment. “Sometimes it’s convenient being Native - we’ve got a pretty high tolerance for weirdness.” 3.0

18) The Prepper, by Morgan Talty. On an island reservation which previously was the tribe’s burial ground, a young man becomes convinced the dead are about to return as zombies, as his grandfather simultaneously hovers near death from cancer. 4.0

19) Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning, by Kate Hart. A man is killed and his ghost hunts for the biker who killed him, while his friend’s ghost searches for him. 2.5

20) Sundays, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden. Fifty years after being abused at an Indian boarding school as a child, a man angrily confronts the retired priest who assaulted him. 4.5

21) Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected, by Carson Faust. After a woman’s brother is murdered, she and her medicine woman aunt reanimate him using mud and his ashes, with one eye on Christian mythos. 3.5

22) Night Moves, by Andrea L. Rogers. Werewolf tale set among American soldiers stationed in Germany. 2.0

23) Capgras, by Tommy Orange. In France to promote his new novel, a horrific buried memory starts to affect the author’s body and mind. 3.5

24) The Scientist’s Horror Story, by Darcie Little Badger. In a small group of scientists sharing horror stories, one woman’s story is about not winning a grant that would have helped a small native community, and asks if they have a future. 3.5

25) Collections, by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala. Native college student goes to party at house of her English professor and finds the professor has a collection of human heads on her walls, and wants to add to their diversity. 1.0

26) Limbs, by Waubgeshig Rice. Late 19th century Canada, a white businessman amputates and eats the toes of the native man he’d hired to show him around the woods; before he can continue, the woods come alive to kill him and drag his body into the earth. 1.5 ( )

A really enjoyable anthology from a perspective I've seen too little of. Lots of surprises, suspense and spookiness. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
Compiled and edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Last Jr.

This collection of twenty-six short stories provides an interesting and different look at some issues I have never thought about. In reading through reviews of this work I found that some reviewers were able to relate to more of the stories than other readers and some readers were unable to relate much at all. Most went into reading believing the stories would be scary, horror stories, or put them on edge – some did, and some didn’t, in my opinion.

The stories that had the biggest impact on me were:
* KASHTUKA by Mathilda Zeller in which a young woman is pushed by her mother to go with someone she doesn’t want to be with to cook and help with a party. A ghost/scary story is told briefly and seems to allow a Kashtuka to materialize and kill a few people – the twist at the end was a grabber indeed.
* WHITE HILLS by Rebecca Roanhorse looks at what a woman might do to maintain a better quality of life than she was raised in. I hated Marissa’s mother-in-law and husband and really questioned the decision she made at the end of the story.
* SNAKES ARE REBORN IN THE DRAK by D.H. Trujillo’s story brought in a bit of magic and touch of horror while talking about respecting and honoring ancient wall/cave paintings.
* BEFORE I GO by Norris Black dealt with grief and loss and made me hope I never run into Mother Night.
* DEAD OWLS by Mona Susan Power is a cold story with ghostly encounters that I hope to never experience myself.
* NAVAJOS DON’T WEAR ELK TEETH by Conley Lyons was dark and disturbing with a main character I wanted to shake and tell to spend time with someone else…someone safer, less abusive, and better for him…that had a darker ending too.
* WINGLESS by Marcie R. Rendon dealt with two boys in a foster care situation no child should find themselves in. I cringe thinking about that story and hoped at the end they both found a brighter future somewhere somehow.

There were a LOT of stories and though I couldn’t relate to all of them, the stories above were the ones that stood out the most to me and will linger longer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC – this is my honest review.

4 Stars ( )

If you like dark, twisted tales that will live rent free in your mind- this is the book for you. Calling this “dark fiction” is putting it lightly. The collection of stories has something for all kinds of fans of creepy / spooky tales. There’s some psychological tales, some folklore, and some that had me absolutely squirming in my seat as I read. Looking forward to reading more from these authors. ( )

What a thrilling anthology of stories to get your heart pumping, your pulse pounding and your imagination soaring. With a wide range of stories inside this delightfully dark Native American and Indigenous Peoples Anthology, everyone is sure to find something that appeals to their reading taste and that they will leave thinking in new ways . With a wonderful Introduction by Stephen Graham Jones, you will be welcomed into a different way of thinking about stories and Storytelling while being left with an exciting feeling of Wonder for the stories you will meet here.

I cannot cover all of the stories and authors in such a small space, but know that all truly showcase each author’s art, craft, style and voice. Some of the stand out stories to me, that really speak to the breadth of the anthology as a whole are:

Stories like “Tick Talk”, “Snakes Are Born in the Dark”, and “Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth” that cater more to those who like a more horror story that has a little bit of a bone chilling quality but which speaks back to a story with a style and argument worthy of PEN Magazine.

Other stories were more in line with “Wingless”, “Before I Go” and “The One’s Who Killed Us” will leave your skin crawling and a need to check on your family and friends to be sure they are okay, because the horror is equal parts story, setting, and atmosphere that author transported me to.

Finally, my favorite grouping was those that transported me not just in time and space to a scary world of the dark side of imagination, but were the ones that ripped the covers off the horror of daily life and taught me things that I never knew or that showed me a different life story than I have. These authors put a mirror up to their world, and mine, and challenged me to truly LOOK at what I saw and see how the past and present still blend. I think, for me, that was the most horrific of all because it was Real, with a capital R. These have left me so affected by them that even days after reading I still feel my skin crawl. Stories “Quantum”, “White Hills”, “Hunger” “Night in the Chrysalis”, “Heart-Shaped Clock”, “Human Eaters”, “Dead Owls”, “The Prepper”, “Sundays”, and “The Longest Street in the World” and others will make you pause and reflect on what you know, and think you know, about the Native American / Indigenous Peoples Experience & History as well as their Folklore, Legends, and Mythology.

Each story is followed by a very concise, enlightening small biography of the author that highlights their connection to their Heritage. As you can see, this is a wonderfully expansive anthology that will ask a lot of you as a reader, but that is what good literature does. The skill, knowledge, and sheer writing ability of all these authors, although varied from story to story, easily puts this book on a five star scale for me.

Enlightening, Challenging, Thought Provoking, Engrossing, All Encompassing and Sad, these stories use the Power of Dark Fiction to engage me in seeing the Horror of Life, which proves what a powerful anthology this is and why it needs to be read. ( )