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When I was teaching English composition, nothing gave me more delight than starting off a semester by close-reading “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood. I’d hear a couple of students giggle at the end, and when I’d ask, “What’s funny?” they’d clam up. When I rephrased the question, “No, you’re right. It’s funny. In a macabre sort of way… what is a siren? Google it right quick.”
Then they’d read about them being birds from the chest down, and I watched the confusion materialize on their faces: “But not THIS siren. She’s a human.”
“Oh, nope. She got you. You died.” Because that’s the thing about animal/human hybrids, right? You can never tell which part is human and which part is animal, and that’s what makes those monsters dangerous.
You might have guessed by now, you’re in The Fright Stuff, Book Riot’s weekly newsletter about the latest and greatest in horror. I’m Mary Kay McBrayer, and I’ll be your Virgil through this week’s realm of hell, the cryptids.
Ear worm: “Committing Love” by Lynx & Kemo… but the performance here, with Zoe Jakes the bellydancer, complete with antler headdress, is exactly the visual interpretation of this song to cement its creepiness.
Fresh Hells (FKA new releases):
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
According to popular culture, Indians use every part of the animal… but when the ill-willed game warden shows up just before a blizzard to a group of First Nations hunters who have hit the jackpot out of season, the warden makes them abandon the elks’ carcasses. One doe’s spirit does not take this slight on the chin…
Bunny by Mona Awad
Weird things happen at Warren University, not only with the bunnies ubiquitous on its campus, but also with the women in the MFA writing program who call each other “Bunny.” This novel perfectly illustrates the kind of false intimacy that can happen among artists as well as the exploitation that female friendships often foster. But more than that, it’s a dark fairy tale for the creative imagination. I can’t recommend this one enough.
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
There’s a new toy on the market, a Furbee-like robot that you can host in your home… except for the fact that, rather than operate like a computer who learns, there’s a dweller inside, a stranger operating the robot from somewhere far away. Though the robots’ shells look like different animals, inside, they’re all human… or maybe monster.
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado, illustrated by Dani
You’re likely familiar with Machado from her collection of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties, or her memoir, In the Dream House, and this graphic novel does not fall short of the high bar she’s set for herself. Best friends Vee and El wake in a movie theater to an absence of memory–what just happened to them? And when the animals in their hometown Shudder-to-Think start acting weird, well, there’s more to that amnesia than the reader anticipates.
Cryptkeepers (FKA horror from the backlist):
“The Mermaid in the Tree” by Timothy Schaffert
You’ve heard me sing this author’s praises before, in the form of his novel The Swan Gondola, among his other writings, but this short story is the one that first grabbed my heartstrings. It’s located in the anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, and it tells The Little Mermaid narrative from the perspective of the non-mermaid woman that the prince DOES marry. More than that, though, the mermaids in their coastal town are treated like monsters, embalmed and set afloat in their personal aquariums to be literally paraded by bicycles through the gritty fairy tale.
Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, illustrated by Peter Sis, translated by Andrew Hurley
A classic for y’all: this bestiary compiled by Jorge Luis Borges is a compendium of cryptids, or mythological creatures that inspire fear and imagination. And, bonus, it’s full of illustrations! (This one is truly amazing–when I taught it to gifted middle-schoolers, they loved it, and it inspired them to imagine their own cryptids.)
Harbingers (FKA news):
“Why are horror and fantasy so queer-coded?”: LGBTQ celebs discuss the appeal of magic and monsters at The A.V. Club.
Art Young’s Dante-Inspired Satire Replaced Demons with Exploitative Capitalists: Steven Heller on an Old Master of Political Cartoons.
You have to read Octavia Butler’s motivational notes to herself!
Near the allegedly haunted pub, The Witch Stone of Great Leighs, you can find strong spirits on the rocks.
Atlas Obscura is hosting a number of “wonder from home” virtual tours. Check out the list of freaky literary spots here. (Past tours have included Weird Homes: Ghosts in the Machine, and Ascend Ascend: A Poetic Performance.)
While we’re on the Atlas Obscura trail, co-founder Brian Thuras interviews an auctioneer of “the unusual” (like catalogs detailing “magic-related material,” Ernest Hemingway first editions, automatons, taxidermy, sideshow and circus, and more), on their Show & Tell series.
And, more in the worlds of cascading disappointment, J.K. Rowling tweets praise for Stephen King, deletes it after he voices support for trans women. But… glad we got King in our corner!
Everything gets reborn, including the Midsommar Director’s Cut. Now available in a special edition Blu-ray exclusively at shop.a24films.com.
Speaking of Midsommar, Ari Aster, along with horror director Robert Eggers, horror actors Florence Pugh, Lakeith Stanfield, Cynthis Erivo, and most of the cast of Parasite are all now part of the Motion Picture Academy.
Want to see the 50 different covers of The Plague by Albert Camus? Of course you do.
Enter to win a copy The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.
Enter to win 12 hardcover books chosen for YOU specifically.
Enter to win $250 to spend at Barnes & Noble.
Until next week, follow me @mkmcbrayer for minute-to-minute horrors or DM me there to let me know of other books I should include. I’m also on IG @marykaymcbrayer. Talk to you soon!
Your Virgil,
Mary Kay McBrayer
Co-host of Book Riot’s literary fiction podcast, Novel Gazing