Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers is a horror short story collection that traces the lives of one Cherokee family across centuries in the past and the future. And I fucking loved reading it. The stories range from horrifying to melancholy, light-hearted to suspenseful. I thought the overall tone of the collection was one of familial reverence, survival in the midst of impossible circumstances. The presentation of the book itself insists on Cherokee resiliance, with characters interspersing Cherokee language in their dialogue, illustrations by Jeff Edwards incorporating Cherokee syllablry, and a small glossary of Cherokee terms in the back.
Some stand-outs for me in the collection are:
- An Old-Fashioned Girl – The first story sets up the entire collection so well, adding a vampiric flavor to the grotesque colonial violence that already existed against Indigineous people in the early 1800s. It really took me off guard (I had to double check "Was this a YA book or not?") but overall I can stomach the squeamish and found myself really rooting for Ama, the main character in the story.
- Me & My Monster – One of the lighter stories in the collection, this one was about a short little romance between a high school girl and a Ram Boy. The opening in which her grandma responds to her confession of loving a mosnter says "All boys are monsters" made me chuckle.
- American Predators – Told entirely in the second person (something I actually love reading), this one followed up on a werewolf story told earlier in the book. A critique of the economics of the spectacle, especially by settlers consuming Indigineous culture, we still got a chilling end that was straight out of a Blair Witch era film. I wished we got to spend more time with Darla King!
- I Come from the Water – Ever since reading The Fifth Season, I've been a fan of stories told from multiple perspectives. This one follows a family, an alien, and a murder of crows narrating events following a catastrophic night that leaves them all changed. I loved the interspecies and intergenerational understanding of one another and felt emotional reading the end: "Home is where they love you."
- The Zombies Attack the Drive-In! – The last story in the book follows a girl, Charlie, reeling from family violence, and then a zombie pandemic, and then both at the same time. This one capped off the collection perfectly for me, layering the horror trope of zombies with the real-life horror of an abusive father. Despite the circumstances, I appreciated the joy that Charlie found in old movies and her new community.
One miscellaneous thing: the title chapters of the book are printed in all black ink, creating some stunning illustrations. However I think I was one of the first ones to check this book out from the library, so definitely felt guilty getting my greasy finger marks on the matte black pages. I can't help it though- it's the end of chilly fall here and my hands require copious amounts of moisturizer to survive.