Laura Grothaus

Mar 15, 2023 | strangehorizons.com | Electra Pritchett |Laura Grothaus |L. Acadia |Abhilash Jayachandra

For some time now I have been eagerly anticipating Where Black Stars Rise, a new graphic novel written by Nadia Shammas and illustrated by Marie Enger, an artist whose work I’ve been a fan of for a while. Set in Brooklyn in 2022, this book’s story follows two women who have both come to New York from West Asia: therapist-in-training Amal Robardin is Lebanese, while grad student and therapy patient Yasmin is Iranian.

Mar 13, 2023 | strangehorizons.com | Abhilash Jayachandra |Laura Grothaus |L. Acadia |William Shaw

Content warning:This page contains: Animal cruelty/death Disregard for personal autonomy Death/dying MurderThey had trouble choosing a song to execute Malakine. The executioner and his chosen chorus had walked up to the bench where the judge, jury, and the headman of Immer village sat. They looked at each other for some time before the judge asked, “Well? Get on with it. Execute him!”“With what song?” the executioner and his chosen chorus had asked.

Mar 13, 2023 | strangehorizons.com | William Shaw |Abhilash Jayachandra |Laura Grothaus |L. Acadia

Alan Moore is the sort of writer one would be tempted to call an elder statesman, were he not such a staunch anarchist. The blurb for Illuminations, his new prose fiction collection, declares that he is “widely regarded as the best and most influential writer in the history of comics.” It’s a tricky accusation to shrug off. Like many a maladjusted geek, I spent my late teens falling in love with Alan Moore’s work from the eighties.

Mar 13, 2023 | strangehorizons.com | Laura Grothaus |Seth Wade |Shinjini Dey |Michael Imossan

Content warning:This page contains: Animal cruelty/death Blood Body transformation Death/dying Homophobia Self-harming behaviorsIOnce, the Ohio River ran thick with pig bloodwhich clotted in gullies along the silty bed. You couldsink your hand in and pull out a strand of intestinessilky as a rope of pearls. The city slept through long nights, lulledby soft river tides, save the dusk, whentwo girls climbed out an open window to seethe moon’s milky eye catch the water. It was winter.

Mar 13, 2023 | strangehorizons.com | L. Acadia |Laura Grothaus |Abhilash Jayachandra |William Shaw

Content warning:This page contains: Drug use Spiders/insectsWhat was he saying, nā? the fishmonger elbows her friend:Red-slippered Grandma ZhuāngYou know, every Monday I bring a basket roadside:cabbage pumpkin lotus wood-ear okra ginger yam, for herchair is rebuffed by narrow market rows, wheels snagged in gratesYes, generous cook, unschooled beautiful calligraphy,her parents wouldn’t kētóu to new soldiers,careful dresser even after what happened? Then or now?