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Through the Night Like a Snake: Latin American Horror Stories
A boy explores the abandoned house of a dead fascist…
A leaked sex tape pushes a woman to the brink…
A sex worker discovers a dark secret among the nuns of the pampas…
The mountain fog is not what it seems…
Kermit the Frog dreams of murder…
In ten chilling stories from an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, including Mariana Enriquez (tr. Megan McDowell), Camila Sosa Villlada (tr. Kit Maude), Claudia Martinez (tr. by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren) and Mónica Ojeda (tr. Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz), horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche. One story features a murderous Kermit the Frog doll; in another, a leaked sex tape is filtered through the dizzying lens of altitude sickness. Through the Night Like a Snake showcases short stories from writers who are redefining, reinterpreting, and remixing the horror genre.
A leaked sex tape pushes a woman to the brink…
A sex worker discovers a dark secret among the nuns of the pampas…
The mountain fog is not what it seems…
Kermit the Frog dreams of murder…
In ten chilling stories from an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, including Mariana Enriquez (tr. Megan McDowell), Camila Sosa Villlada (tr. Kit Maude), Claudia Martinez (tr. by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren) and Mónica Ojeda (tr. Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz), horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche. One story features a murderous Kermit the Frog doll; in another, a leaked sex tape is filtered through the dizzying lens of altitude sickness. Through the Night Like a Snake showcases short stories from writers who are redefining, reinterpreting, and remixing the horror genre.
232 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 11, 2024
There are books which take you not so much into another world than rather into another reality. You know that place exists, only it is different from where you are, they do things differently, the history is another, and the horrors, though similar in nature, are different there too. In ten stories from various Latin American countries, Through the Night Like a Snake takes you into such a different reality where it’s nothing astounding to have a vulture as neighbor, where you can see the ghost of a serial killer, supernatural, extraterrestrial beings among us, in our houses, in our gardens, and the haunting remnants of Nazism brought here from far away mesh with cults and communes and reign in terror.
The arrangement of stories within an anthology is just as significant as the selection of stories themselves. Interestingly, it can be anticlimactic to read the right story at the wrong time or wrong order. Often collections start with flashy stories to get you hooked but fail to keep up that umph later into the book, sometimes you have a build-up and sometimes a strong middle streak. In my experience, whether in the Best Horror Anthology or other thematically sorted anthologies, this middle streak has offered me some of the best short stories I have read, and I read a lot of them. Here too, I found some of the strongest stories to be the middle stories;
Soroche by Mónica Ojeda shows the horrors of aging in the time of social media and amateur filming from the point of view of five women who take a trip into the mountains as a consolation for one of them who goes through separation.
This story describes images which will never ever leave my mind. It is horrifying, disgusting, yet so tragic, so sad and so comical all at the same time, so much so you want to take off your hat and bow before the author.
The Third Transformation by Maximiliano Barrientos – cosmic horror in a Latin American setting is something else entirely. I would absolutely love to read this short story about two metalheads breaking into the house of an old European Nazi and finding themselves pulled into a circle of transformation and instrumentalization for violence in book length. I have been searching other works by the author but couldn’t find any English translations.
Visitor by Julián Isaza. Though written in a lighter tone, this story describes an incident from such an unusual angle that you won’t know whether to laugh or to cry when you’re finished. One of the finest psychological horror writings, mixing paranormality with sorrow. Just wow.
The collection ends in a tour de force, The House of Compassion by Camilla Sosa Villada in which a sex worker ends up in a sort of psychedelic monastery and having dragged you through so much powerful feelings, so much pain, terror, sadness and tragedy, succeeds in resuming by putting a smile on your face.
On a final note, I’d like to highlight the absolute beauty of the physical book – the cover picture, the small format, the pictures separating the stories – an absolutely gorgeous addition to any personal library.
The arrangement of stories within an anthology is just as significant as the selection of stories themselves. Interestingly, it can be anticlimactic to read the right story at the wrong time or wrong order. Often collections start with flashy stories to get you hooked but fail to keep up that umph later into the book, sometimes you have a build-up and sometimes a strong middle streak. In my experience, whether in the Best Horror Anthology or other thematically sorted anthologies, this middle streak has offered me some of the best short stories I have read, and I read a lot of them. Here too, I found some of the strongest stories to be the middle stories;
Soroche by Mónica Ojeda shows the horrors of aging in the time of social media and amateur filming from the point of view of five women who take a trip into the mountains as a consolation for one of them who goes through separation.
This story describes images which will never ever leave my mind. It is horrifying, disgusting, yet so tragic, so sad and so comical all at the same time, so much so you want to take off your hat and bow before the author.
The Third Transformation by Maximiliano Barrientos – cosmic horror in a Latin American setting is something else entirely. I would absolutely love to read this short story about two metalheads breaking into the house of an old European Nazi and finding themselves pulled into a circle of transformation and instrumentalization for violence in book length. I have been searching other works by the author but couldn’t find any English translations.
Visitor by Julián Isaza. Though written in a lighter tone, this story describes an incident from such an unusual angle that you won’t know whether to laugh or to cry when you’re finished. One of the finest psychological horror writings, mixing paranormality with sorrow. Just wow.
The collection ends in a tour de force, The House of Compassion by Camilla Sosa Villada in which a sex worker ends up in a sort of psychedelic monastery and having dragged you through so much powerful feelings, so much pain, terror, sadness and tragedy, succeeds in resuming by putting a smile on your face.
On a final note, I’d like to highlight the absolute beauty of the physical book – the cover picture, the small format, the pictures separating the stories – an absolutely gorgeous addition to any personal library.
June 20, 2024
The sheer delight in this collection of Latin American horror stories will send chills down the spines of horror lovers. The physicality of the actual book is splendid. Beautiful designs on the cover and within the book, the lovely layout of text, and even the typography add to the allure. The stories by various authors run the gamut from anxiety and trepidation to all-out fear. Sigils appear as delicately carved animals, carefully hidden. Young girls flirt with the imagined romanticism of serial killers. Extreme altitudes play with the minds and prejudices of a group of hiking women. A missing friend discovers the reaches of a maddened mind. Nature and the lack of proper nurture disturb young personalities and cause them to act out in their own ways. Are aliens real, or do they lurk in old toys and a slip of the mind? These stories and more were compelling to read, leaving me with some thoughtful questions to ponder after finishing each tale. I especially liked the page numbers that contained zeros. Each tiny dot in the center of each zero was as exquisite as the stories themselves. A highly recommended package.
June 27, 2024
More notes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I love Mariana Enriquez's short fiction, and Megan McDowell's translation is as usual flawless. "That Summer in the Dark" ends like this:
Overall this is an interesting anthology, with some solid if not outstanding contributions. In addition to the Enriquez story, I also like the ones from Tomas Downey and Giovanna Rivero.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I love Mariana Enriquez's short fiction, and Megan McDowell's translation is as usual flawless. "That Summer in the Dark" ends like this:
... blood and flesh that decorated our building and that the firemen hadn't been able to wash off entirely, nor the rain, because we all know that bloodstains are the hardest things to clean, even once they're impossible to see.
Overall this is an interesting anthology, with some solid if not outstanding contributions. In addition to the Enriquez story, I also like the ones from Tomas Downey and Giovanna Rivero.
April 12, 2024
Brilliant and un-putdownable collection. My favourite stories were ‘That Summer in the Dark’ from Mariana Enriquez, ‘The House of Compassion’ from Camilla Sosa Villada, and ‘Lazarus the Vulture’ from Claudia Hernandez.
May 18, 2024
Full of absolute bangers. I’m convinced Monica Ojeda is a goddess like everything she writes I’m absolutely obsessed with. The Kermit the Frog story was my favourite out of the whole collection because it was just insane. Every story sent a chill up my spine and was so atmospheric and well written. What a collection and can’t wait to read more from each of the authors.
June 8, 2024
read in May
full post here:
https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/202...
I don't remember where I first heard about this book but I was so excited for its release that I preordered it back in December of 2023. Through the Night Like a Snake is a volume of ten dark and beyond-edgy stories written by "an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers," with each translator's name featured prominently at the beginning of each new tale. It is also the ninth in the Calico series of books published by Two Lines Press, which as posted at the blog at the Center for Translation, is
"dedicated to capturing vanguard works of translated literature -- curated around a particular theme, region, language, historical moment or style ..."
As also stated on that blog post, the series is an opportunity to learn from translators "what's being left unread by English readers," which is truly the bottom-line draw for me. In the editor's introduction to this volume (not included in the finished product but so generously provided by Kelsey at Two Lines Press via PDF), Sarah Coolidge refers to a subgenre called "narrativa de lo inusual," a phrase coined by literature professor Carmen Alemany Bay. I'd come across this term last year while reading Mariana Enriquez's Our Share of Night, while looking up different articles about the author. Alemany Bay is quoted by Benjamin Russell in his 2022 article in the New York Times entitled "Women, Horror and Fantasy Capture Everyday Struggle," saying that the "depictions of normal life" offered by these writers "aren't intended to heighten the effect of the fantastic or supernatural; instead the unreal is used to sharpen readers' view of what's true."
I've always believed that an anthology should start with an offering that points to what a reader can expect from the rest, and if the idea here is to examine modern anxieties of the realities of life in different parts of Latin America, then "Bone Animals" by Tomas Downey (translated by Sarah Moses) definitely succeeds. After reading that one, I couldn't wait to get on with the rest. In this story, a family has been "moving from village to village" over several months, "unable to find shelter or work," and they've just been asked to leave the school where they've been sleeping. Luckily, they are told about a shack that doesn't belong to anyone -- a "single room, just a roof over our heads, really." They survive by living off the nearby land, and soon discover a "small, carved animal, almost hidden ..." at first a bobcat, then a piranha, which "could have only been carved by an impossibly skilled hand." They are cleaned, collected and displayed in a corner, and soon multiply with more discoveries. However, as the collection begins to grow, things begin to take a dark, thoroughly unexpected and frightening turn. My favorite story here is "The House of Compassion" by Camila Sosa Villada, translated by Kit Maude. It starts on a normal note, but then takes off in a direction that I guarantee nobody will expect. I was so in awe of this the author's writing that I immediately bought two of her books, I'm a Fool to Want You and Bad Girls, also translated by Kit Maude. Flor de Ceibo (named after the national flower of Argentina) is a travesti sex worker in a rural area on the Córdoba Pampas, where the highway is plagued by a large number of car crashes; as we're told, "the side of the road is littered in crosses." After getting caught robbing her clients one day, they come after her, and during a chase through a cornfield, she collapses. The next thing she knows, she is waking up at the convent of the Sisters of Compassion, where the nuns are taking care of her and also a number of dogs -- evidently the convent doubles as a sort of dog sanctuary. When she's feeling better and is ready to leave, the dog Nené has asked the nuns to keep her there is not allowed to go. Believe it or not, it gets weirder and more mystical/horrific from there.
Considering that there are only ten stories in this book, these authors manage to cover a wide scope of issues that range from the political to the personal, engaging with issues that are not only relevant within geographical boundaries, but which also, in some cases, take on universal importance, especially for women. At the same time, the actual horror content is solid enough to please readers of more sophisticated work in the genre, so it's a win-win all around.
Most definitely and very highly recommended. I loved it.
full post here:
https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/202...
I don't remember where I first heard about this book but I was so excited for its release that I preordered it back in December of 2023. Through the Night Like a Snake is a volume of ten dark and beyond-edgy stories written by "an ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers," with each translator's name featured prominently at the beginning of each new tale. It is also the ninth in the Calico series of books published by Two Lines Press, which as posted at the blog at the Center for Translation, is
"dedicated to capturing vanguard works of translated literature -- curated around a particular theme, region, language, historical moment or style ..."
As also stated on that blog post, the series is an opportunity to learn from translators "what's being left unread by English readers," which is truly the bottom-line draw for me. In the editor's introduction to this volume (not included in the finished product but so generously provided by Kelsey at Two Lines Press via PDF), Sarah Coolidge refers to a subgenre called "narrativa de lo inusual," a phrase coined by literature professor Carmen Alemany Bay. I'd come across this term last year while reading Mariana Enriquez's Our Share of Night, while looking up different articles about the author. Alemany Bay is quoted by Benjamin Russell in his 2022 article in the New York Times entitled "Women, Horror and Fantasy Capture Everyday Struggle," saying that the "depictions of normal life" offered by these writers "aren't intended to heighten the effect of the fantastic or supernatural; instead the unreal is used to sharpen readers' view of what's true."
I've always believed that an anthology should start with an offering that points to what a reader can expect from the rest, and if the idea here is to examine modern anxieties of the realities of life in different parts of Latin America, then "Bone Animals" by Tomas Downey (translated by Sarah Moses) definitely succeeds. After reading that one, I couldn't wait to get on with the rest. In this story, a family has been "moving from village to village" over several months, "unable to find shelter or work," and they've just been asked to leave the school where they've been sleeping. Luckily, they are told about a shack that doesn't belong to anyone -- a "single room, just a roof over our heads, really." They survive by living off the nearby land, and soon discover a "small, carved animal, almost hidden ..." at first a bobcat, then a piranha, which "could have only been carved by an impossibly skilled hand." They are cleaned, collected and displayed in a corner, and soon multiply with more discoveries. However, as the collection begins to grow, things begin to take a dark, thoroughly unexpected and frightening turn. My favorite story here is "The House of Compassion" by Camila Sosa Villada, translated by Kit Maude. It starts on a normal note, but then takes off in a direction that I guarantee nobody will expect. I was so in awe of this the author's writing that I immediately bought two of her books, I'm a Fool to Want You and Bad Girls, also translated by Kit Maude. Flor de Ceibo (named after the national flower of Argentina) is a travesti sex worker in a rural area on the Córdoba Pampas, where the highway is plagued by a large number of car crashes; as we're told, "the side of the road is littered in crosses." After getting caught robbing her clients one day, they come after her, and during a chase through a cornfield, she collapses. The next thing she knows, she is waking up at the convent of the Sisters of Compassion, where the nuns are taking care of her and also a number of dogs -- evidently the convent doubles as a sort of dog sanctuary. When she's feeling better and is ready to leave, the dog Nené has asked the nuns to keep her there is not allowed to go. Believe it or not, it gets weirder and more mystical/horrific from there.
Considering that there are only ten stories in this book, these authors manage to cover a wide scope of issues that range from the political to the personal, engaging with issues that are not only relevant within geographical boundaries, but which also, in some cases, take on universal importance, especially for women. At the same time, the actual horror content is solid enough to please readers of more sophisticated work in the genre, so it's a win-win all around.
Most definitely and very highly recommended. I loved it.
November 27, 2023
I love translated horror. I enjoy learning what evokes fear in other cultures, and opening my imagination to new things to keep me awake at night. Through the Night Like a Snake, a new collection of Latin American horror from Two Lines Press’s Calico series, introduced me to exciting new writers and translators. With not a traditional haunting in sight, this is an anthology of innovative terror.
All these stories are fantastic, and I’m going to give each the attention they deserve:
“Bone Animals” by Tomás Downey (Argentina), translated by Sarah Moses - The opening story is very unsettling. A family retreats to a strange, abandoned house for some unknown reason. Strange carvings of animals begin to appear, made from a disturbing material.
“That Summer in the Dark” by Mariana Enriquez (Argentina), translated by Megan McDowell - A new Mariana Enriquez story?! Yes please. Told against the rolling blackouts of 1989 Argentina, our teen narrator and her friend become obsessed with serial killers. And then, the unthinkable happens in their building.
“Soroche”, by Mónica Ojeda (Ecuador), translated by Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz - I loved the multiple, unreliable perspectives of this story. After a woman is humiliated by a particularly graphic sex tape, her friends take her on a hike. A fantastic commentary on shame and embarrassment.
“In the Mountains”, by Lina Munar Guevara (Colombia), translated by Ellen Jones - A brief and terrifying story of a girl driving in the mountains. Completely disorienting in the best way.
“The Third Transformation”, by Maximiliano Barrientos (Bolivia), translated by Tim Gutteridge - One of the strangest stories in the collection. A man visits a childhood friend who is in a coma. Murders, death metal, and some very disturbing images.
“Visitor”, by Julián Isaza (Colombia), translated by Joel Streicker - The last paragraph of this story made my blood run cold. An old woman receives a Kermit-like alien visitor, which leeches energy from her.
“The Man with the Leg”, by Giovanna Rivero (Bolivia), translated by Joaquín Gavilano - This was moving and unnerving. A couple take a New York vacation, trying to get pregnant after many failed attempts. They encounter hope in a very unlikely character.
“Rabbits”, by Antonio Díaz Oliva (Chile), translated by Lisa Dillman - A weird, vague little tale about a commune, and the questionable behavior therein.
“Lazarus the Vulture”, by Claudia Hernández (El Salvador), translated by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren - A short one about a weird vulture man. Narrator doesn't like him because he ate his wife's dog and clearly wants to eat his daughter.
“The House of Compassion”, by Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina), translated by Kit Maude - I let the storyteller guide me along with this one, not entirely sure where we were going. But it unfolds remarkably. A trans woman unexpectedly finds herself in the care of nuns.
Two Lines Press have gathered a fantastic collection here, and I would love to see more. Horror fans will not be disappointed.
All these stories are fantastic, and I’m going to give each the attention they deserve:
“Bone Animals” by Tomás Downey (Argentina), translated by Sarah Moses - The opening story is very unsettling. A family retreats to a strange, abandoned house for some unknown reason. Strange carvings of animals begin to appear, made from a disturbing material.
“That Summer in the Dark” by Mariana Enriquez (Argentina), translated by Megan McDowell - A new Mariana Enriquez story?! Yes please. Told against the rolling blackouts of 1989 Argentina, our teen narrator and her friend become obsessed with serial killers. And then, the unthinkable happens in their building.
“Soroche”, by Mónica Ojeda (Ecuador), translated by Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz - I loved the multiple, unreliable perspectives of this story. After a woman is humiliated by a particularly graphic sex tape, her friends take her on a hike. A fantastic commentary on shame and embarrassment.
“In the Mountains”, by Lina Munar Guevara (Colombia), translated by Ellen Jones - A brief and terrifying story of a girl driving in the mountains. Completely disorienting in the best way.
“The Third Transformation”, by Maximiliano Barrientos (Bolivia), translated by Tim Gutteridge - One of the strangest stories in the collection. A man visits a childhood friend who is in a coma. Murders, death metal, and some very disturbing images.
“Visitor”, by Julián Isaza (Colombia), translated by Joel Streicker - The last paragraph of this story made my blood run cold. An old woman receives a Kermit-like alien visitor, which leeches energy from her.
“The Man with the Leg”, by Giovanna Rivero (Bolivia), translated by Joaquín Gavilano - This was moving and unnerving. A couple take a New York vacation, trying to get pregnant after many failed attempts. They encounter hope in a very unlikely character.
“Rabbits”, by Antonio Díaz Oliva (Chile), translated by Lisa Dillman - A weird, vague little tale about a commune, and the questionable behavior therein.
“Lazarus the Vulture”, by Claudia Hernández (El Salvador), translated by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren - A short one about a weird vulture man. Narrator doesn't like him because he ate his wife's dog and clearly wants to eat his daughter.
“The House of Compassion”, by Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina), translated by Kit Maude - I let the storyteller guide me along with this one, not entirely sure where we were going. But it unfolds remarkably. A trans woman unexpectedly finds herself in the care of nuns.
Two Lines Press have gathered a fantastic collection here, and I would love to see more. Horror fans will not be disappointed.
October 21, 2023
through the night like a snake offers a selection of eerie, eclectic stories from ten latin american authors:
*translated from the spanish by sarah moses, megan mcdowell, sarah booker & noelle de la paz, ellen jones, tim gutteridge, joel streicker, joaquín gavilano, lisa dillman, julia sanches & johanna warren, and kit maude / edited by sarah coolidge
tomás downey (argentina)a solid, satisfying collection of horror and dark unusuality, each story inhabits its own singular realm of the blackly fantastical. enríquez’s “that summer in the dark” and ojeda’s “soroche” scream loudest.
mariana enríquez (argentina)
mónica ojeda (ecuador)
lina munar guevara (colombia)
maximiliano barrientos (bolivia)
julián isaza (colombia)
giovanna rivero (bolivia)
antonio díaz oliva (chile)
claudia hernández (el salvador)
camila sosa villada (argentina)
the city was small but it seemed huge to us, mostly because of the cathedral, monumental and dark, that loomed over the plaza like a gigantic crow.
*translated from the spanish by sarah moses, megan mcdowell, sarah booker & noelle de la paz, ellen jones, tim gutteridge, joel streicker, joaquín gavilano, lisa dillman, julia sanches & johanna warren, and kit maude / edited by sarah coolidge
May 17, 2024
As a reader, one knows never to “judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, I did not heed this advice. I judged this book by its cover, well also, my familiarity with some of the writers and their work. I thought this collection would be “my type of book/writing.” While, I liked several stories, including Mariana Enriquez’s, That Summer in the Dark, Monica Ojeda’s Soroche, & Tomas Downey’s Bone Animals. Unfortunately, the other stories were either too grotesque or just too odd, to really enjoy reading them. But, please, don’t listen to me. Read this collection and see what you think.
March 13, 2024
I have become a huge, tremendous fan of the surreal socio-political horror Sarah Coolidge identifies as "narrativa de lo inusual," a growing Latin American genre led by women like Samanta Schweblin and Mariana Enríquez. So I was thrilled for this collection, Through the Night Like a Snake: Latin American Horror Stories, which gathers together 10 stories in that landscape, including tales by Mariana Enríquez (tr. Megan McDowell), Claudia Hernández (tr. Julia Sanches & Johanna Warren), and Mónica Ojeda (tr. Sarah Booker & Noelle de la Paz).
The collection didn't disappoint. A pair of teenage best friends become obsessed with serial killers and wonder why Argentina doesn't seem to have any; an older woman finds an alien being in her yard (or is her mind going?); a travesti sex worker comes up against a squadron of nuns with a dark secret. All of these stories play at the edge between dark social commentary and speculative fiction—magic or impossible things might happen, but it's the people who are horrifying, who we should be scared of, in this descendent of the gothic and magical realism genres. This compact collection is a superb introduction to 10 talented authors (and their translators) and the new genre being born in Latin American speculative fiction, but all fans of speculative fiction, spoopy stories, and horror will enjoy this collection.
Content warnings for violence, homophobia, fatphobia, revenge porn, suicide attempt, miscarriage, sexual assault, child abuse, ableism.
The collection didn't disappoint. A pair of teenage best friends become obsessed with serial killers and wonder why Argentina doesn't seem to have any; an older woman finds an alien being in her yard (or is her mind going?); a travesti sex worker comes up against a squadron of nuns with a dark secret. All of these stories play at the edge between dark social commentary and speculative fiction—magic or impossible things might happen, but it's the people who are horrifying, who we should be scared of, in this descendent of the gothic and magical realism genres. This compact collection is a superb introduction to 10 talented authors (and their translators) and the new genre being born in Latin American speculative fiction, but all fans of speculative fiction, spoopy stories, and horror will enjoy this collection.
Content warnings for violence, homophobia, fatphobia, revenge porn, suicide attempt, miscarriage, sexual assault, child abuse, ableism.
May 31, 2024
I'm so glad books like this exist - I love short story anthologies and especially themed ones
Through the Night Like a Snake was good without ever being great though the final story in the collection almost got there
Recommended
Through the Night Like a Snake was good without ever being great though the final story in the collection almost got there
Recommended
March 26, 2024
An incredible collection. I ended up here, and at Calico in general, by way of Mariana Enriquez’s incredible translated works. I’m walking away with several new names to seek out.
There’s not a bad story in this collection, and it’s nice to peruse so many unique voices in horror - like a trip through a spooky museum. Enriquez’s contribution here (That Summer in the Dark) is as chilling, moody and nostalgic as her other work.
I particularly love The Third Transformation by Maximiliano Barrientos, Visitor by Julian Isaza, and Lazarus the Vulture by Claudia Hernández. The first is tense, straightforward in its prose and the choices of its protagonist, while blending in abyssal strangeness at every turn; the second wraps you in its own distorted logic so easily that when it’s crushes you with a peek of reality at its conclusion it does so simply, a flick of the wrist from a master magician; the third is almost cartoonish, in a wonderfully gruesome way, carrying the reader along merrily before leaving them to sit with the echo of its horrors.
The final story in the collection is The House of Compassion by Camila Sosa Villada, and it may be my favorite. Similar to The Third Transformation, it’s a wonderful collaboration of simple speak and poetic description, of the plain and phantasmagorical. It’s a lovely way to conclude, an initiate to a new school of horror, excited for my next return.
There’s not a bad story in this collection, and it’s nice to peruse so many unique voices in horror - like a trip through a spooky museum. Enriquez’s contribution here (That Summer in the Dark) is as chilling, moody and nostalgic as her other work.
I particularly love The Third Transformation by Maximiliano Barrientos, Visitor by Julian Isaza, and Lazarus the Vulture by Claudia Hernández. The first is tense, straightforward in its prose and the choices of its protagonist, while blending in abyssal strangeness at every turn; the second wraps you in its own distorted logic so easily that when it’s crushes you with a peek of reality at its conclusion it does so simply, a flick of the wrist from a master magician; the third is almost cartoonish, in a wonderfully gruesome way, carrying the reader along merrily before leaving them to sit with the echo of its horrors.
The final story in the collection is The House of Compassion by Camila Sosa Villada, and it may be my favorite. Similar to The Third Transformation, it’s a wonderful collaboration of simple speak and poetic description, of the plain and phantasmagorical. It’s a lovely way to conclude, an initiate to a new school of horror, excited for my next return.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2024
Okay, my earlier remarks probably point more to me being numb to spooky stuff. But I would say objectively that a majority of these are eerie fictions, not outright horror. Great reads nonetheless (except one... you know who you are)!
Bone Animals - 5/5
That Summer In The Dark -4/5
Soroche - 1/5
In The Mountains - 3/5
The Third Transformation - 4/5
Visitor - 5/5
The Man with the Leg - 3/5
Rabbits - 3/5
Lazarus the Vulture - 5/5 (my favorite)
The House of Compassion - 4/5
Bone Animals - 5/5
That Summer In The Dark -4/5
Soroche - 1/5
In The Mountains - 3/5
The Third Transformation - 4/5
Visitor - 5/5
The Man with the Leg - 3/5
Rabbits - 3/5
Lazarus the Vulture - 5/5 (my favorite)
The House of Compassion - 4/5
May 21, 2024
3.5
Like many short story collections & anthologies, this was hit or miss for me. Too many of these took their time developing the front half (which was usually great!) only to rush through the end in an unsatisfying manner.
My favorites were “That Summer in the Dark” by Mariana Enriquez, “Visitor” by Julián Isaza, and “Lazarus the Vulture” by Claudia Hernández :)
Like many short story collections & anthologies, this was hit or miss for me. Too many of these took their time developing the front half (which was usually great!) only to rush through the end in an unsatisfying manner.
My favorites were “That Summer in the Dark” by Mariana Enriquez, “Visitor” by Julián Isaza, and “Lazarus the Vulture” by Claudia Hernández :)
February 12, 2024
I LOVE ANTHOLOGIESSSSSSS! Full stop.
I am so thankful to Two Lines Press, Sarah Coolidge, and all of the lovely contributors that put their writing wizardry caps on to produce this stunning collection of Latin American Horror Stories, and I'm so grateful to have a physical copy in my possession. This baby hits shelves on March 12, 2024, and I'm so excited!
In any good horror anthology, there's a shock value of at least 100, well this collection pipes it up all the way to 1000 and keeps going from there. There are stories about murderous Kermit, the frog-lookalike aliens getting jealous of their adopted caretaker's love. There's a story about an out-0f-hand vulture who lives among human, yet craves their flesh. There's a narrative about a deceased fascist who dabbled a bit too hard in the occult and ruined two boys' lives. You won't sleep a wink after reading the story about the man with the dead leg and don't even get me started the story about two girls' obsession with serial killers and then come face-to-face with one in the flesh...
I had a good time with this one and look forward to reading more translated works, especially if they dabble in horrific topics.
I am so thankful to Two Lines Press, Sarah Coolidge, and all of the lovely contributors that put their writing wizardry caps on to produce this stunning collection of Latin American Horror Stories, and I'm so grateful to have a physical copy in my possession. This baby hits shelves on March 12, 2024, and I'm so excited!
In any good horror anthology, there's a shock value of at least 100, well this collection pipes it up all the way to 1000 and keeps going from there. There are stories about murderous Kermit, the frog-lookalike aliens getting jealous of their adopted caretaker's love. There's a story about an out-0f-hand vulture who lives among human, yet craves their flesh. There's a narrative about a deceased fascist who dabbled a bit too hard in the occult and ruined two boys' lives. You won't sleep a wink after reading the story about the man with the dead leg and don't even get me started the story about two girls' obsession with serial killers and then come face-to-face with one in the flesh...
I had a good time with this one and look forward to reading more translated works, especially if they dabble in horrific topics.
February 15, 2024
Perfect in every way
July 11, 2024
This book caught my attention much as That We May Live did with its unusual square aspect ratio; with good reason as they are from the same publisher, produced with the same goal of highlighting contemporary fiction from around the world. I found it interesting that in this book each story had its own translator(s), while in the previous book some translators were featured multiple times; I wonder why that is the case, though I assume it is an indicator of the relative prevalence of Spanish as opposed to Chinese translators.
The subtitle of this book says "Horror Stories" and I wonder if that reflects the true intention behind these stories, or is more an editorial decision to try to tie them together. Some definitely are horror stories (at least as I tend to think of the genre; I'm not much of one for it normally) complete with supernatural monstrosities overtaking peoples' lives. Others are something else: eerie, weird, somewhat macabre, but not quite horror per se. But it is these harder to define stories that I generally found to be better. The definitely-a-horror-story stories felt a bit too rushed in the supernatural elements; there were hints something weird was going on, but then the weirdness showed up and then the story was over and it didn't feel meaningful. With the other stories the darkness came from people, from society, and it felt vivid, relevant, insightful.
The subtitle of this book says "Horror Stories" and I wonder if that reflects the true intention behind these stories, or is more an editorial decision to try to tie them together. Some definitely are horror stories (at least as I tend to think of the genre; I'm not much of one for it normally) complete with supernatural monstrosities overtaking peoples' lives. Others are something else: eerie, weird, somewhat macabre, but not quite horror per se. But it is these harder to define stories that I generally found to be better. The definitely-a-horror-story stories felt a bit too rushed in the supernatural elements; there were hints something weird was going on, but then the weirdness showed up and then the story was over and it didn't feel meaningful. With the other stories the darkness came from people, from society, and it felt vivid, relevant, insightful.
June 30, 2024
First things first - the book itself is beautiful. It really caught my eye at American Book Center. The edition looks amazing and it does stand out from the rest.
Second, either I got desensitized or the stories belong more in the weird fiction than horror. Some of them are just hard to swallow (and to get out of your head afterwards, like in the case of Soroche which is a deep dive in an ordinary mind put to an unwanted mirror, as is the case with many revenge porn victims nowadays). At the same time, who needs horror when there are dictators around, curfews, disappearings and killings in the ordinary world. One quote in particular stayed with me:
Third, the magical realism is still there. Only it is dark. In line with the contemporary situation in the world, very immediate and even more disturbing for that reason alone.
And fourth, it got me curious about the other stories from Latin America, from these authors and others which could be found via translators. Nice feat from the (relatively) short book and it tells everything about the selection itself.
Second, either I got desensitized or the stories belong more in the weird fiction than horror. Some of them are just hard to swallow (and to get out of your head afterwards, like in the case of Soroche which is a deep dive in an ordinary mind put to an unwanted mirror, as is the case with many revenge porn victims nowadays). At the same time, who needs horror when there are dictators around, curfews, disappearings and killings in the ordinary world. One quote in particular stayed with me:
"Argentinta has no serial killers", said my dad as he poured himself some wine. "Unless you count the generals", added my mother. Yes, there are some that could be said to belong to the horror genre but the selection itself is more diverse than that.
Third, the magical realism is still there. Only it is dark. In line with the contemporary situation in the world, very immediate and even more disturbing for that reason alone.
And fourth, it got me curious about the other stories from Latin America, from these authors and others which could be found via translators. Nice feat from the (relatively) short book and it tells everything about the selection itself.
June 4, 2024
Latin American horror writing often works for me, and that's true here, too. I enjoyed all of these to different degrees. These mostly felt like actual horror, which was nice, since sometimes you end up with "horror" collections that include stories that are just suspense or speculative. The type of horror varied, so I wouldn't say there's a particular theme to the collection.
Favorites:
Soroche - I just love toxic people, and this was super toxic. A friend group of women with one particular woman definitely filling the role of the pitiable one.
Visitor - An older mother takes on a pet of sorts. But when her son comes home there's tension... This one had some humor to it (or that's how I read it).
Favorites:
Soroche - I just love toxic people, and this was super toxic. A friend group of women with one particular woman definitely filling the role of the pitiable one.
Visitor - An older mother takes on a pet of sorts. But when her son comes home there's tension... This one had some humor to it (or that's how I read it).
July 20, 2024
Okay, there are a lot of good stories in this. Good ones that hit so hard and well that make you go, what the hell.. but in a good way. Alas, though, there are a lot of mid ones. Stories that left me wanting more, bored, and confused. As a whole, it's a fun read, but with anthologies, you can see some weaker writing from certain authors and concepts that didn't hit (least with me). Here is my ranking for each story.
Bone Animals - 3.5/5
That Summer in the Dark - 5/5
Soroche - 1/5
In the Mountains - 3.5/5
The Third Transformation - 4/5
Visitor - 5/5 (My favorite one)
The Man with the Leg - 3/5
Rabbits - 4/5
Lazarus the Vulture - 5/5
House of Compassion - 3/5
Bone Animals - 3.5/5
That Summer in the Dark - 5/5
Soroche - 1/5
In the Mountains - 3.5/5
The Third Transformation - 4/5
Visitor - 5/5 (My favorite one)
The Man with the Leg - 3/5
Rabbits - 4/5
Lazarus the Vulture - 5/5
House of Compassion - 3/5
April 1, 2024
Interesting anthology but many stories are exercises in tolerating cruelty. There are several stories where terrible things happen to people and then the story ends. A few tales are genuinely creepy but most read like nihilistic torture porn. I wonder what role cultural history plays in interpreting horror in that way.
July 3, 2024
My favorites are "That Summer in the Dark" by Mariana Enriquez, "Soroche" by Mónica Ojeda, and "The Man with the Leg" by Giovanna Rivero. No stories stood out to me as not being good. I've been trying to cut back on buying physical books, but no e-book version of this is available. I do think that they make the book worth it by including an image before each story and having a nice matte cover.
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July 11, 2024It’s not fair for me to rate this book because I do not care for short story collections and proceeded anyways… I will say that the last story, The House of Compassion by Camila Sosa Villada made me immediately research all her other works! That story was a real stand out and made me very glad that I finished this book when I almost gave up.
May 15, 2024
This was a really good read! Every story was unique in their own way and these short stories were not afraid to push the limits of horror. Using sensitive topics to their advantage and inimitable imagery to draw the attention of the reader. I want to read more!
February 7, 2024
demasia’o bueno.
March 16, 2024
Bone Animals was definitely my favorite in this collection.
April 1, 2024
a thousand times yes.
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April 18, 2024
An excellent anthology of horror work from Latin America. Stories range from mild to dark to very weird. Very much enjoyed the experience of reading.
May 31, 2024
Not my fav.. confused at the stories more than anything! Hit or miss.. wondering if the stories got lost in translation for me! However I did like the format of the book
June 2, 2024
favorite stories: that summer in the dark, soroche, rabbits
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