Book review: SLAY, Stories of the Vampire Noire – Brig Newspaper

By Stephanie Hanlon

This anthology celebrates vampires and slayers of the African Diaspora. Drawing from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and myths, each short story has a unique tale to tell which allows the reader to dive into multiple worlds, each involving our favourite undead monsters.

The book is separated into three sections: United States and Britain, Africa, and The Future. This allows the reader an understanding of the settings and prepares them for some of the myth or cultural references which are made within the stories.

Unfortunately, the quality of the content is not consistent throughout the anthology and some stories are far more memorable than others. Tales such as The Retiree, Frostbite and Quadrille excel in creating unique takes on the vampire myth, introducing us to exciting characters and fast paced plot. Others, such as The Dance and Diary of a Mad Black Vampire embrace the concept of vampirism as eroticism a little too readily, which impacts the narrative a little too much although the plot twist of the latter is definitely one which catches you off guard!

Thankfully, the enjoyable short stories do outweigh the less enjoyable and this anthology remains a positive celebration of the diversity of the African diaspora, be it through the authors, the characters or the mythology mentioned in the tales and this is definitely a short story collection to be reckoned with.

Featured image credit: mochamemoirspress.com

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Book review: SLAY, Stories of the Vampire Noire - Brig Newspaper

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero