Babbling Into The Void

Another Split Scream , another double-feature - and what a double-feature it is. This time our novelettes (the handy little explainer intro is also repeated in this volume) are The Shivering World  by Cynthia Gómez and What Ate the Angels  by M Lopes da Silva. The first follows a young woman's struggles with poverty, identity and patriarchy, and the sacrifices required to escape the position she is in, as manifested both figuratively and literally by the story of La Llarona. The second is a razor-sharp exploration of toxicity - within ourselves, within our relationships, and in the foundations and history of its setting, Los Angeles. There is an acute sense of embedding in both these stories; a feeling that we are really seeing into a character's life, a real tangle of relationships and emotions, daily struggles and internal experiences. Though both writers have unique voices, they are united in their ability to ground the uncanny in affectingly real worlds. In that vein, the...