mixed habitat & densely vegetated hiding places

This is part four of my book club notes on Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. (Part 1, part 2, part 3.)


"Old Flesh Song" by Ibi Aanu Zoboi (2004)

A confrontation between two soucouyants. I didn't like this story and neither did anyone else. I found much of it thin and tedious, offering little but superficial horror imagery without meaning behind it. Okay, she reeks of death and she's feeding on the life force of infants. Gross! But so what? The introduction of the second soucouyant character at least creates some conflict, but it was unclear to me what the characters' fundamental disagreement was since they both ultimately feel that eating babies is okay, and that made it hard for me to care about the nuances of their motivations.

Group members thought the story was intended to make a statement about the injustice of a system where poor women of color care for the children of privileged white families, but the message was not really coherent and was overwhelmed by the... well, the baby-eating. (It was noted that none of us were thrilled to be having a discussion with such frequent use of the phrases "eat babies" and "bag of dead babies.")

We also thought that if you're going to depict a homeless person as a disgusting, scary monster who is out to hurt children, you'd better have a very good reason for it, but this author didn't have one.


"Whispers in the Dark" by Walter Mosley (2001)

A gifted child's caregiver fights to protect him from exploitation. This was interestingly different from a lot of SF dealing with supergenius characters. Here the focus is not on the child and his specialness, but on the caregiver uncle and how he sacrifices everything to nurture his nephew's talents while keeping him with family and not letting him be taken away. The child is not an isolated lone genius whose family doesn't understand him, he is loved and valued for his gifts and his humanity. The assumption is that outside of this community context, that wouldn't be the case.

The group discussed how the story reflects a Black perspective on giftedness. Whatever "special powers" you have as a Black person, whether it's intellectual genius or artistic talent or athletic ability or what have you, white people will want to exploit it. You may be told it's going to be to your advantage, but it won't be.

The story's ending came out of left field to me, and even after discussing some possible interpretations, I didn't feel satisfied that I understood it completely. But maybe I wasn't supposed to.


"Aftermoon" by Tananarive Due (2004)

A werewolf grapples with her identity. This is not horror, and it's not really even about werewolves. It's a quiet character piece that explores what it's like to feel like a freak, and the different ways you can find to not see yourself like that anymore. That journey looks different for everyone. Maybe it means finding your people. Maybe it means reclaiming images that hurt you. Maybe it means a change in vocabulary that shifts your perspective. Maybe it's all these things and more. (Of course, to avoid undermining her message, Due depicts werewolves as harmless. It's only in sensationalized fiction that they go around killing people!)

For me the story read like queer allegory ("Is he family?" someone asks, meaning is he a werewolf like us?) and there are many places where you can really just replace 'werewolf' with 'trans person' and the dialogue remains relevant and insightful. But I don't think it's a one-to-one mapping that excludes other interpretations. Other group members shared how the piece resonated with their own experiences and touched on many ways that people's bodies are judged and marginalized. The story doesn't offer a pat happy ending, but concludes with the protagonist beginning to be able to imagine herself being accepted as she is, no longer grimly assuming that rejection is inevitable. I and others found this extremely powerful.


"Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms" by Tyehimba Jess (2004)

A homeless artist makes a Faustian bargain. The author is primarily a poet, which tracks with the inviting rhythms of the prose and the fun storytelling voice of the narrator. The plot was pretty predictable but it was nice to get a more lighthearted piece. The discussion compared it to other stories and folktales with similar themes of receiving gifts of money and/or magic that come with strings attached and challenge the recipient to make ethical choices.