No One Will Come Back For Us

Starred review from February 27, 2023
Dark, strange, and wonderfully wild, these 17 short stories from Nebula and World Fantasy award winner Mohamed (the Beneath the Rising trilogy) thrust human characters into impossible, otherworldly situations. In “Below the Kirk, Below the Hill,” a lonely lighthouse keeper must decide what to do with a drowned child coughed up by the ocean once she discovers that the kid isn’t all the way dead. “The Honeymakers” sees the bizarre bond between a group of girls and a swarm of bees made even stranger and deeper after the swarm attacks. The folk horror story “Everything as Part of Its Infinite Place” follows a young boy as he mourns his brother’s death while exploring the mysterious standing stones of his village. In the title story, a journalist travels to Africa to report on a strange plague only to find himself out of his depth as the impossible nature of the threat is revealed. The collection is by turns brutal and tender, terrifying and sweet, and Mohamed accomplishes the rare feat of maintaining a sense of human connection no matter how outlandish the stories’ premises. The result will both terrify and delight—and is especially recommended for fans of Caitlin Starling and Rivers Solomon. Agent: Michael Curry, Donald Maass Literary.

Starred review from June 1, 2024

Mohamed (The Void Ascendant) brings eldritch horrors from beyond space and time to the world's oceans, down lonely back roads, and into the trees beyond the backyard. As she frightens listeners with unknowable intelligences, she demonstrates the breadth of her skill at horror by dressing it in fantasy and science fiction. Several stories approach war or environmental disaster through a speculative-fiction lens. Narrator Soneela Nankani deftly employs different accents and tones, giving each story its own life and making each character a distinct individual. Though Nankani is the sole narrator, the audio often feels like a full-cast production in its own right. There are no one-note stories in the collection; nearly all are tense and unnerving, and they pair with a host of emotions ranging from tragic to wondrous. Among these 17 stories are a proud altruist paired with a cannibal cult, childhood wonder communing with an uncanny hive, and a jaded military man tempted toward deadly mercy. VERDICT Genius narration pairs with an excellent collection to create a must-listen audiobook, particularly for fans of John Hornor Jacobs's A Lush and Seething Hell and Laird Barron's The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All.--Matthew Galloway

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