Exploring Dark Short Fiction #5: A Primer to Han Song

by Michael Arnzen, Han Song, Eric J. Guignard

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1949491129
• ISBN13: 9781949491128
• Release Date: September 2020
• Publisher: Dark Moon Books
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Ingenious and well thought out.

I received a paperback copy of Exploring Dark Short Fiction #5: A Primer To Han Song, edited by Eric J. Guignard and translated by Nathaniel Isaacson, PhD ( except for Two Small Birds, which was translated by John Chu ), commentary by Michael Arnzen, PhD, and illustrated by Michelle Prebich, from the editor in return for my honest review. This follows below, I thank him for this opportunity. I rated this primer 5 stars. This is my first exposure to the Exploring Dark Short Fiction Modern Masters series but it will not be my last. I started on #5, the next will be Ramsey Campbell in 2021, a favourite of mine, and there are 4 previous I need to collect now that I’ve seen how ingenious and well put together these are in person. We are given an introduction by the editor, Eric J. Guignard, a little backstory to how this all came to be for this particular volume. Next is a biography of the highlighted author, in this case Han Song, which I found interesting since I had zero knowledge going in; perfect amount in my opinion, helpful without feeling like a wiki entry, on and on. Then the stories, translated of course, and after each is commentary from someone who knows more about the multifaceted stories than I ever could, helping to give a little more information to the mindset of the author and the intention of the work. We are also treated to the script of Eric’s interview with Han Song! I thought this was especially magical, we have stories translated for the first time into English for this primer, but then we get to hear straight from the author’s own mouth about his career, awesome sauce. There is an essay by Han Song, and then a complete bibliography of both Chinese and English fiction for him. Finally you will see other works by Dark Moon Books at the very back, as well as information pages for everyone that helped make this primer come together. I think it made sense, was orderly, and I loved the artwork. Below are the stories and my thought on them, spoiler free, hopefully. EARTH IS FLAT: I found this story bubbling to the surface of my mind again and again, for a story described as ironic in the commentary, this got under my skin for some inexplicable reason. TRANSFORMATION SUBWAY: I could think of few things worse than being stuck on a moving tube, squished against other people, until the author found a way to make that situation even more panic inducing. Too easily did I find myself creating imagery to follow along with his words, claustrophobia and enochlophobia cranked up to 11. THE WHEEL OF SAMSARA: An example of one I enjoyed reading but felt most of the cleverness went over my head. TWO SMALL BIRDS: A beautiful story to read, it kept me in a feeling of free fall, jarring but perfect. FEAR OF SEEING: As a parent I of course compared myself to the parents in this story, trying to see how I would measure up, an impossible and laughable task for things like this; imagine asking your husband if he would still love you if in the morning you had dog ears? Other aspects in the story were heavier, a strange balance. MY COUNTRY DOES NOT DREAM: When I saw this listed in the TOC, I knew this one had to have made some people angry on the home front. I respect having the bravery to write what is important to you, knowing you will be censored. I also hope this story can never become a reality. I think this primer gave me a good introduction to Han Song’s work, I am interested in reading more by him, which I can handily look up in the bibliography. It’s a great, hands on guide to an author I didn’t know, yet.