Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas edited by Carina Bissett, Hillary Dodge, and Joshua Viola
Hex Publishers (November 30, 2021)
461 pages; $26.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
The Shadow Atlas is a really clever concept for an anthology. It is described as follows: “Ancient peoples knew there were lands given over to shadow and spirit. The world is full of haunted places that exact a terrible toll on trespassers. Our forebears paid a heavy price to earn the wisdom and the warning they bequeathed to future generations. Their stories are maps revealing the topography and contours of landscapes unimaginable and dark. The Shadow Atlas collects their adventures.” This idea, that authors and writers will be looking at various locations and landscapes throughout the Americas and writing the horror specific to those locales is intriguing, and while this is a mixed bag (as any anthology is going to be), it’s a really strong showing of thematic writing that horror fans will enjoy.
Often, with a narrow theme like this, it’s easy to tell that the authors were aiming for a theme and relying on formulaic plots or similar. This is not the case with Shadow Atlas. The stories are varied and work well on their own. There were a few standouts, though. “Xipe Totec” by Mario Acevedo takes the legend of Aztec gods and incorporates the cucuy monster myth as well. It’s a cool story that deals with Latin American folklore in a way that reads as authentic and political at the same time. “God Spelled Backward” by Tim Waggoner is a clever take on the Michigan Dogman legend, transposed to Ohio, that dances between a few perspectives to tell its terrifying tale in a way that’s very intriguing.
“Xtabay” by Julia Rios is a haunting story about a femme fatale demon from the Yucatan Pennisula. What makes this story standout is the deep sorrow of the speaker and the generational relationships within the story.
Overall, the variety of stories and approaches to telling these tales makes for a constantly surprising and delightful read.
The poetry in this anthology, for the most part, is equally strong and scary. “Will-O’-the-Wisp” by Tiffany Morris is a minimalistic poem about ghost lights in Nova Scotia leading travelers astray. Angie Hodapp’s “Invasion” is an eerie sonnet that hints at alien visitors and how they influenced Mesoamerican myth. “La Ciguapa” by Christina Sng is a narrative poem that gets darker stanza by stanza until the final lines leave the reader cringing. While there are fewer poems than stories, what’s here works to accentuate the stories and keep readers engaged.
The presentation of this anthology is really fascinating. There are notes from explorers, redacted reports, even blank lined pages for readers to write their own work. The art is spectacular and really serves to propel the narratives further. Overall, this is a strong anthology, and fans of monster horror and mythic horror will really enjoy these poems and stories.
