Ceri Louise Reads

 e-Arc received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The deets:

editor: Tia Ross

Publisher: Flame Tree Press

Released: 15th June 2021

Rating: 4⭐️

The review:

This is a collection of 20 short stories and novellas from a variety of Black speculative fiction authors, both contemporary and several older stories that were included because of their importance to the development of the genre. A couple of these older stories I found harder to get through, especially the novella length ones, but this was at least in part due to my lack of familiarity with the style of writing, which was quite different to better known works of the same era. One of the older stories I did enjoy was called “Of One Blood” by Pauline Hopkins – although quite melodramatic I enjoyed the gothic elements and Wakandan vibe. Stand out stories for me were “The Orb” by Tara Campbell, which was incredibly creepy and atmospheric; “Elan Vital” by Tempest Bradford, which was just a marvellous concept and quite emotive; and “Suffering Inside, But Still I Soar” by Sylvie Soul, which was an interesting take on superhero narratives. Although I struggled with some of the older stories, there were none I really disliked, and I really loved the majority of the modern tales, which has provided me with many new authors to look out for.