Futuro Imperfeito

Here is a selection of readings for biggest party of the year: Halloween, of course. 

Maeve Fly, by C.J. Leede

The American writer’s debut novel was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and won the Splatterpunk Award for best of 2023. Maeve is a young woman trying to pursue an acting career in Hollywood, following in the footsteps of her grandmother, who was a big star. Meanwhile, she spends her time acting the part of a cartoon princess in a well-known amusement park. But Maeve has a dark side, and sets out on a journey of brutal revenge against those who wronged her. It’s a visceral narrative (literally), and the Splatterpunk award should be is a warning to the unsuspecting. The book also has a great playlist on Spotify, ranging from Billie Holiday to David Bowie, including Ramones, The Specials and The Cramps. Leede’s new book, American Rapture, just came out, and went straight to the top of my reading pile.

The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones

It took me a while to get to this book, released in 2020, because first I wanted to read some of Stephen Graham Jones’ previous work – I like following the evolution of a writer. And here he seems to reach maturity and fulfill the promise of earlier works, and winning the Stoker, Bradbury and Shirley Jackson awards. Four indigenous friends have a traumatic experience and make a serious mistake on a hunt. Ten years later, they face supernatural but also brutally physical revenge. Jones comes from the Blackfeet Nation, and portrays life on the reservation (and off it) with realism. Just like Stephen King, he has the gift of creating characters with whom the reader empathizes and becomes involved, and this is what fuels the suspense. After this, Jones has already published four more novels, and has another one scheduled for next year. I really need to run and catch now.

Delevan House, de Ruthann Jagge & Natasha Sinclair

One of the pleasures of Worldcon is discovering new writers and independent publishers. In Glasgow this year, I had a lovely conversation with the American Ruthann Jagge. Together with Scottish Natasha Sinclair, they form the Brazen Folk Horror imprint. Delevan House is the duo’s first book, and mixes Scottish folklore, witch hunts, ancestral revenge, a reaction to structural misoginy, and a discussion about the role of the community – the crimes that this community is capable of committing and the terrible secrets it’s willing to keep in the name of a supposed common good. And here’s a warning: the fae or spirits taken from Scottish folklore appear here in a very primordial and violent version. It also has a great playlist as a soundtrack, and a sequel on the way.

Haunt Sweet Home, they Sarah Pinsker

Sarah Pinsker is one of my favorite writers, ever since she accurately predicted the social crisis that would be caused by a pandemic in A Song for a New Day. Here she deals with haunted houses, but Haunt Sweet Home it is not really a horrific novel. Mara is a young woman looking for direction in life. She gets a temporary job on a reality show about haunted houses: she is in charge of arranging the hauntings in the absence of real ghosts. Of course, in one of the houses, strange things start to happen… The focus of the story is not so much on supernatural events: the worst ghosts that Mara faces are the ones that she carries with herself, and that she needs to face to discover who she is and what she wants to be. It’s a coming-of-age and self-discovery story, told by Pinsker with a good dose of humor.