Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

I’m hesitant to put a star rating, because I don’t want others to see a low-ish star rating and assume I thought Never Whistle at Night was bad.

If you’re considering reading it, you’ll likely find something to enjoy!! It’s an anthology with over 20 short stories by as many authors, so you’re bound to find a story and an author you connect to.

I enjoyed hearing all the different writing styles (I listened to the audiobook version), and especially loved the voice actor Sheldon Elter, who voiced several of the stories. Sheldon Elter brought the characters and action to life with his emotion and voices — and none of his skillful spice distracted from the heart of the story, only served it. Sheldon Elter — you rule!

This book swerved for me towards the end. First, because I wasn’t aware when I picked it up that SA would be a major element in two stories (there was something that border-lined sexual violence in a third one, but it wasn’t viewed as a assault by the character who experienced it). Some readers can get through SA in their stories, but for me, it’s a trigger I can’t get past. Speaking of which: I completely skipped the second to last story (I think it was that one?) because, without warning, it opened with a first-person description of child SA in progress. I couldn’t do that one.

Second — as someone with a mental illness, I’m always hesitant when it comes to horror stories that paint mentally ill people as monsters or mental illness as a supernatural evil. At best, it’s tired — at worst, it’s perpetuating a harmful stigma. So yeah — for me personally, it’s not enjoyable to find that the “horror” of the story is a character being mentally ill and not taking their medication. In this anthology, there was one story that disappointed me in that way.

Lastly, I wasn’t ever creeped out by any of the stories, or on the edge of my seat with any of them — something I was looking forward to, as it was a horror anthology. Maybe that’s because I was listening to the audiobook version, and not reading in silence?

Huge trigger warnings for colonization, racism, white supremacy, racial slurs, talk of genocide and all of that directed at Indigenous people. If that is something that is a trigger for you, just know that all of those topics come up in almost every story. As one would expect, likely, given that these are horror stories written by Indigenous people, about Indigenous characters from this real world, where all of these horrors make up the real past and present.

Okay. ALL THAT BEING SAID: I did *really* love learning more about indigenous culture, and hearing about the fears, battles, resilience and triumphs of indigenous people. I am very interested in continuing to read my fav authors from this anthology! I learned a LOT I didn’t know before, and so much of the writing was so visceral, which I enjoyed immensely. This book has further motivated me to continue reading work by indigenous authors featuring indigenous characters and stories.

I want to note here, too, that horror stories deal with complicating and disturbing topics. So (apart from painting mental illness as an “evil”), I understand that my displeasure at some of these topics mostly means I’m a bit of a picky horror reader!

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pineapple_queen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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dezzella's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Went a little outside of my usual genre reading this, not usually the horror/thriller type reader, but I really enjoyed this! I thought there was lots of variety in the types of stories you encounter (whether from a paranormal/otherworldly experience to just other humans doing some terrible things). Glad I picked this up, and would recommend for those who love dark stories.

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moukinnokage's review

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The second story absolutely BROKE me 😭 I wanted to read spooky horror like the Kushtuka, not reality. The book touches on some of the worst aspects of human history, including genocide, discrimination, and dehumanization. It is beautifully written overall. That said, I personally won’t finish it for my mental health.

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justagir1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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rorikae's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

‘Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology’ edited by Shake Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr is a great anthology collecting horror short stories from a variety of Indigenous writers. The stories span the more fantastical to the horrors of everyday lived existence. Between exploring folklore horrors and the horrors of humanity, this anthology does a great job of showcasing not only a variety of writing talent but also a variety of what Indigenous writers find horrific. A few personal favorite stories from this collection include:

- White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse, which touches on the violence of white supremacy and the idea of ‘pure’ blood

- Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons, which discusses feeling entitled to a person and seeing them as a commodity

- Quantum by Nick Media, which touches on the idea of blood quantum and the impacts of nurturing (or lack there of) on a child

- Scariest Story Every by Richard VanCamp, which discusses the importance of story and who gets to tell a story

- Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, which delves into academia and how academia collects diverse students to tokenize and use them

I enjoyed so many of these stories and this is just a selection of some of my favorites. This anthology has definitely added more authors to my TBR list and I’m excited to explore some of their other works. I highly recommend this anthology if you are interested in horror short stories.

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akizato's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Really great anthology, with some stories resonating with me harder than others. Note if you're reading the reviews before reading yourself: there are some triggering topics in some of the stories. I'll use a spoiler tag here if you want to remain unspoiled.

As well as the usual horror collection tropes like body horror and gore, there are a few stories with some on-page depiction of things like child rape (story title: Sundays- and this happens immediately at the start of the story), forced abortion (story title: White Hills), pretty graphic torture (story title: Limbs), and depiction of severe psychosis leading to murder (title: The Prepper, though it's told in a past tense by the person involved that makes it clear what the person is experiencing was not real).

Overall, I really liked it! My favourite stories were:
- Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller (very strong opener!)
- Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau
- Snakes Are Born in the Dark by DH Trujillo
- Scariest. Story. Ever by Richard Van Camp
- Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power
- Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
- The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger (too real as someone with a life sciences degree)
- Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala

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