Reviews

Music from a Strange Planet: Stories by Barbara Black

jandi's review

5.0

Powerful collection of short stories. The stories are all very short, and go straight to the point, with a very precise and evocative prose, while leaving some details ambiguous for the reader to fill in. There is strong imagery, insects appear in multiple stories as a recurrent theme, but there is a large variety of themes and emotions in this collection, just like the collaged cover art. Some of the stories are dark and creepy, some are sweet, some are funny, and some, like "End of the Line" and "The Sheen of Ice on Snow", I still have no idea what to make of. Standouts for me were "Mastering Surface Tension", "So Sorry for your Loss", "Belly-Deep in White Clover", "Sing Fly Mate Die", "The Watcher and the Watched", "Rippidu Nivicatu", the very relatable "Night People" and the pure emotion of "The Vigil".

tinamayreads's review

4.0

MUSIC FROM A STRANGE PLANET by Barbara Black is an excellent short story collection! Within 24 stories you’re taken on a journey through tales of flawed characters and strangeness. I really enjoyed the throughline of insects. The opening story Mastering Surface Tension is about Bert who believes he’s an insect and many of the other stories mentioned beetles, cicadas or spiders. I really enjoyed reading all the stories and my faves were Knedlíky and Darkling Beetle. I love reading Canadian short fiction and if you do too then pick up this book!
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Thank you to Caitlin Press for my gifted review copy!

readnext's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

4.5

Full review to come!