Gabino Iglesias Reviews No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed
No One Will Come Back for Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications 978-1-98896-442-3, $18.99, 290pp, pb) May 2023. Cover by Slug Draws.
It’s still early in the year, but I can already tell you Premee Mohamed’s No One Will Come Back for Us is one of the collections I’ll be writing about months from now when I sit down to write about the best books of 2023. Dark, strange, and dazzling, No One Will Come Back for Us is full of amazing short stories that show an impressive range. From Lovecraftian nightmares at the bottom of the ocean to tiny gods in small islands, there is something here for everyone, and Mohamed’s sharp, stylish prose is on full display in every single story.
There are no throwaway stories in this collection, but a few are standouts that deserve a moment in the spotlight. ‘‘Below the Kirk, Below the Hill,’’ which opens the collection, follows a woman after she finds an undead child. Full of darkness and magic, this one really sets the tone for what follows. ‘‘Instructions’’ is a short, humorous piece about how to behave during combat that introduces war as one of the cohesive elements of the collection and shows that Mohamed isn’t afraid to mix speculative fiction with humor. ‘‘The Evaluator’’, one of two crowning jewels here, made me wish for an entire novel about this world in which ‘‘Evaluators’’ have to assess people who have been, in a way, possessed by certain deities. Wonderfully creepy and hinting at the existence of an entire universe (one that seems to tie with other stories like the aforementioned ‘‘Below the Kirk, Below the Hill’’), this one will stick with readers for a while because its combination of characters, descriptions, and atmosphere is superb. There are a few Lovecraftian stories here. The first is ‘‘The Adventurer’s Wife,’’ in which a reporter tries to get the story of an adventurer’s life by talking to the wife almost no one knew he had. She tells him a tale that includes shoggoths, old mysteries, and Miskatonic University. ‘‘Sixteen Minutes’’ is one of the quickest, most brutal descents into madness I’ve read. Last, the second crowning jewel here is another Lovecraftian tale, ‘‘For Each of These Miseries,’’ in which humans encounter giant monsters at the bottom of the ocean who are gods and make them realize, in perfect cosmic horror fashion, just how tiny and insignificant they are.
Death, war, fear, danger, and strange gods are some of the cohesive elements that give this collection a wonderful sense of unity despite that variety of tales and approaches. Mohamed is a great storyteller, and no matter the length, she always nails atmosphere and tension. Also, there are times in which chaos erupts and the prose accelerates with the action, but also passages in which Mohamed slows down and revels in the use of language to effectively communicate the depth of her stories. The result is a memorable collection that celebrates the freedom speculative fiction offers and isn’t afraid to jump from science fiction to horror to anything else that fits a particular tale.
There are 17 stories in No One Will Come Back for Us, and given Mohamed’s knack for packing a lot into her short narratives this means there are 17 worlds here full of stories that seem to be slices of much larger pieces. The opening lines of ‘‘At the Hand of Every Beast’’ show most of what Mohamed does well, and they are a perfect example of just how much she can pack into three lines: ‘‘As it walked, the cathedral dropped strange detritus – torn hymnals in unreadable tongues; mouldering surplices; broken candles whiter than teeth. Madness also left in its wake, and a great black gouge across the tame fields of Nivernais, then Bourbonnais. The rich earth wept out its blood as if it had been slashed in a duel.’’
No One Will Come Back for Us is an impressive collection that shows a talented writer at the top of their game. It’s also a book that truly embraces the possibilities offered by the speculative fiction umbrella. Last but certainly not least, it is a collection in which a writer of color has fully embraced Lovecraftian elements while simultaneously using them in a new way. Mohamed will be showing up in many best of the year lists with this one, but the perfect time to read it is now. And strap in, because these tales will take you to some dark, strange, magical places.
Gabino Iglesias is a writer, journalist, professor, and book reviewer living in Austin TX. He is the author of Zero Saints and Coyote Songs and the editor of Both Sides. His work has been nominated to the Bram Stoker and Locus Awards and won the Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel in 2019. His short stories have appeared in a plethora of anthologies and his non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and CrimeReads. His work has been published in five languages, optioned for film, and praised by authors as diverse as Roxane Gay, David Joy, Jerry Stahl, and Meg Gardiner. His reviews appear regularly in places like NPR, Publishers Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, Criminal Element, Mystery Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other print and online venues. He’s been a juror for the Shirley Jackson Awards twice and has judged the PANK Big Book Contest, the Splatterpunk Awards, and the Newfound Prose Prize. He teaches creative writing at Southern New Hampshire University’s online MFA program. You can find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.
This review and more like it in the June 2023 issue of Locus.
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