This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher.

REVIEW

Weird Black Girls is going to be strange to review. Do I think it was good? Yeah. I mean, I rated it four stars.

Was it what I expected based on the title, cover, and blurb? Not really. The two contemporary stories felt out of place and the focus of the collection wasn’t really on weird Black girls. More on that later.

For now, a brief summary and discussion of each short story:

THE SWITCHIN’ TREE - A Black community is faced with an authoritarian tree that progressively escalates the violence parents visit on their children. This was a remarkably strong start to the collection; I loved the main character (a tomboyish young Black girl), the prose (a little purple at times, but sue me, I liked it), and the bizarre, weird horror that came screaming in at the end.

REUNION - Two friends catch up about their lives while reality shifts around them. “The Switchin’ Tree” is hard to follow up and while I enjoyed the absurd, strange imagery of “Reunion,” the characters fell flat for me.

OWEN - A father deals with his son’s obsessional grief over the death of a wrestler. The first of the two more contemporary, less fantastical short stories. I enjoyed it! The image ||of a father taking his son to the woods to hold a shoe box funeral for a stranger is deeply touching and an image that|| will stick with me for a while.

TRIGGERED - Two toxic friends in an activist community are shitty to each other and everyone around them. The second contemporary story. It’s… fine. Sharp commentary on the ways that identity and activism get weaponized by toxic people and some excellent character work, but the pacing dragged (it’s 50 pages long). I just really wanted it to be over.

THINGS I NEVER LEARNED IN CAITLIN CLARKE’S INTRO TO ACTING CLASS - Two Black men in a relationship discover one can relive the other’s memories from undergrad when they touch. Back to spec fic. This was one of my favorites in the collection–the desperate need for human connection and the desire to be desired and the question of “what if things were different” hit hard.

TOURNAMENT ARC - Two older Black men decide to run a LARP fight at a con, only for multi-versal, cosmic, fantastical entrants to start showing up. A hilarious, sweet, nostalgic reflection on fan culture, anime, and how they can be a haven for Black kids trying to figure themselves out. My stand-out favorite of the collection and the one I’ll still be thinking about in a year.

WEIRD BLACK GIRLS - In an alternate universe where Boston was hit by the Rupture, an upheaval of the earth that thrust the city into the air and lead to a blooming of the bizarre and fantastical, a man and his younger ex-girlfriend take one last trip together. The titular short story, quite long at 100 pages. While I loved the setting, I couldn’t stand the narrator and spent the whole time wishing the POV was from his ex’s point of view.

In a way, Weird Black Girls reminds me of The King in Yellow. The weird, magical, literary short stories rule, while the contemporary stories feel out of place and aren’t as enjoyable.

As mentioned, I liked “Owen.” I feel “Triggered” is fine, even though it’s not my cup of tea. Both are worth a read, but I think they’d have been more enjoyable if I’d gone into them expecting contemporary rather than more weird fantastical spec-fic set up by everything surrounding them. Good stories, just not sure why they’re featured in a collection described as “literary-fantastical hybrid fiction,” y’know?

If you want a short story collection that features weird Black girls, I’d point you elsewhere (for example, to All These Sunken Souls, which has a lot of fantastic short stories about weird Black girls and young women). Despite being titled Weird Black Girls, I’d argue the collection has a far heavier focus on Black men, with Black girls and women almost always being secondary characters.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This collection is certainly worth picking up, purely for “Things I Never Learned in Caitlin Clarke’s Intro to Acting Class” and “Tournament Arc.” If you like not-very-short short stories, “Weird Black Girls,” the titular and final story, is almost 100 pages, while “Triggered,” the second-longest, is 50 pages. While some are indeed on the shorter end (“Reunion” at 23 pages, “Owen” at 21 pages), most of these are the long kind of short story. I look forward to reading more Cotman in the future!

Thank you to Scribner for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley.

Not for me. The stories felt disjointed and forced at times. The writing was not bad but the stories just couldn’t get to me.

Dive into the Weird with Elwin Cotman's "Weird Black Girls"
Mark your calendars, genre fans! Award-winning author Elwin Cotman's highly anticipated collection, "Weird Black Girls," is set to hit shelves on April 16th, 2024. But what can you expect from this cryptic title?

"Weird Black Girls" isn't your typical short story collection. Cotman weaves fantastical elements with the Black experience, resulting in a unique and thought-provoking exploration. Here's a sneak peek at some of the characters and plots that will have you on the edge of your seat:

A town held hostage by a tyrannical tree: Imagine a seemingly idyllic rural community where a powerful tree dictates the lives of its residents, especially the children. This unsettling story promises to explore themes of control and rebellion.

A reunion gone wrong: Two old friends with a complicated past find themselves at a Mexican restaurant where strange occurrences blur the lines between reality and memory. This encounter hints at unresolved conflicts and the complexities of long-term friendships.

Narcissistic troublemakers: In the activist world, two self-absorbed friends wreak havoc with their disruptive personalities. This satirical story could be a hilarious exploration of performative activism and the importance of genuine action.

Living through memories: A detached young man finds himself experiencing the memories of his lover. This mind-bending plot delves into the depths of intimacy and the power of connection.

LARPing with a cosmic twist: Live Action Role Playing takes a fantastical turn as a seemingly ordinary LARPing session takes an unexpected turn towards the extraordinary. This story promises a thrilling blend of fantasy and the unexpected.

These are just a few glimpses into the weird and wonderful world Elwin Cotman creates in "Weird Black Girls." With its blend of social commentary, speculative fiction, and humor, this collection promises to be a must-read for fans of innovative storytelling.

So, get ready to be surprised, unsettled, and entertained when "Weird Black Girls" arrives on April 16th!

Agh, I got so lost in this one.
I really wanted to like it but I have to DNF for my sanity. I am still really thankful to Scribner, Elwin Cotman, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access, but it just wasn't for me.

Lots of potential here, but felt like it needed one or two really solid edits -- some stories seemed to shift style, others went on too long, others felt anti-climatical, others didn't make sense. I only really like to review stuff I like or love, and this fell short of both for me, sadly. I'll still read Cotman's next work, as there's an interesting voice here -- it's just a bit buried beneath a chaotic tone I didn't connect to.

This is an eclectic blend of short stories that dabble in what seemed to be random, bizarre scenarios. I found the collection to be a bit uneven and clunky: Some stories were stronger and (much) longer than others, some had open, unsatisfying endings (my opinion only), and even more puzzling, there were only a couple that featured Black girls – hence the collection’s title is somewhat misleading.

I “enjoyed” (the term is used lightly as the story is quite disturbing, but engaging) the first story well enough. This story (the Switchin’ Tree) as well as a few others were laced with content or references via character dialogue/scenarios to varying degrees of black pathology, racial stereotypes, brutality against black bodies. For example, The Switchin’ Tree leverages the legacy of whippings to keep a town's black residents in line. These whippings are invoked by an evil confederate spirit that inhibits and possesses the minds of the Black adults to use its branches to issue brutal, flesh--tearing punishments to their children under the guise of “corrective action” to instill obedience. The violence is hard to read and may trigger some readers who may have been reared in households that leveraged severe corporal punishment.

The other stories simply fell short for me – I felt compelled to push through them to give a fair review. The author’s creativity was evident, but I thought too many were overly written to arrive at open endings; others I just could engage well enough to appreciate what the author intended with the story. Granted, a myriad of topics was presented and the stories were buoyed by heavy doses of magical realism and altered realities, etc. No doubt, others will appreciate and celebrate this collection more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

One of the great skills in life, I have found as an adult, is knowing when you're not part of a conversation. Sometimes you're allowed to sit in on the conversation while your friend and their sibling talk about family stuff, but that doesn't mean you're part of the family, it just means you're here for it. A lot of the stories in Weird Black Girls are very much in that category: am I actually part of the conversation about the use of violent punishment in Black American families as an attempt to ward off white violence from Black children and/or a reflection of white violence through the parents, refracted through a fantastical lens? I sure am not. That is someone else's conversation I am sitting here listening to. And while these stories are not all that specifically, a lot of them touch on themes that are not really mine to dig into. It's not "I'm not the target audience for this" in the sense of "I don't appreciate this work," because I did appreciate this work. It's "I'm not the target audience for this" in the sense of "I am literally not the person being addressed here." But I can still stand by and find it interesting.

What I can say is that this is a short story collection with a great deal of range. The voices of the characters are distinct, and their settings and speculative elements vary extremely. Whether they're exploring a Boston that jutted suddenly into the sky in an alternate history or running a convention LARP tournament that's suddenly populated by fantastical figures from anime, each character has their own voice, their own yearnings and grudges and firmly situated milieu that are totally absorbing. There's big thematic stuff here, but there's also the tiny finely drawn characterization that keeps me around for the theme to have a chance to sink in. The shape of the speculative conceits is never "oh, another one of those" but always firmly his own. Highly recommended.

This is a collection of short stories focusing on the black experience, which is why I thought it would be interesting. Some of the stories were interesting, and the writer is talented, but it felt as though I was only reading parts of stories. People who enjoy reading "slice of life" stories will enjoy this. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I love a good weird story! Here are several weird stories in one collection. The stories were very entertaining and the writing is brilliant.

With a powerful voice comes powerful stories. I could not put this book down. This is a voice of today that must be heard!

3. 5 Stars.

This is a hard one to review. This is a collection of stories, several I really liked and a few I lost all interest in and felt forced to read.

Let's start with the good. This collection of stories ranges in emotion from educational, emotional, reflective, to funny, and fascinating. There were stand out stories like The Switching Tree, Reunion, Caitlin Clarke, and Owen that gave me Black Mirror vibes. I would love to see them adapted.

Then there was Triggered and Weird Black Girl. They seemed to drag and centered on liberal activism and race. But the tone was obnoxious vs insightful.

What drew me to this book was the cover and the title. Weird Black Girls: Stories. However, a majority of the stories didn't feature black women as MCs or at all. The first story The Switching Tree did have a black POC and the story was enjoyable and weird. But that was the only one that matched the title.

I'm not suggesting that the lack of Black FMCs in the collection was an issue, it just didn't fit and left me a little confused by the title choice.

Reading this was an experience. Each story is unique, layered and sheds thought-provoking insight into various facets of the Black experience in the States. I thoroughly enjoyed each story, though some were stronger than others. I highly recommend this book and will be purchasing a copy when it's released.

A collection of somewhat disturbing yet fantasmic stories that explore the realities and anxieties of living while Black.

Each story has some sort of magical realism to it that I wasn’t initially ready for. I found myself sucked into the premise and then walloped alongside the head as some out-of-this-world detail popped into the story like an everyday occurrence. At that point, I knew I was reading something unique and special.

I feel as if the first story captured the book's overall theme and was the one that really stuck with me.

Overall, it is a fantastic read with an enjoyably odd twist of fantasy and darkness. The cast of characters was memorable and added depth to the stories.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The individual stories in short story collections are usually a hit or miss for me, and this was no exception. Based on the title and premise, I thought I'd find a bunch of unique, captivating, and well, weird stories, but unfortunately I was bored by half of these and some of them felt much too long. I think "Owen" was my favorite despite it not being fantastical, and things kind of just went downhill from there. However, while these stories might not have been my favorite, I do think the author does a good job discussing race and politics throughout the collection, so if that's something you're interested in, it might be worth picking up.

The stories in this collection were each so different and fascinating - I loved Cotman's prose and fantastical settings.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

I am not usually one for short stories. I find that one or two stories are incredibly strong and the others fall short. I had the same problem here. The stories here invoke a lot of emotions in such a little time. Not every story hits the mark for me, but those that do really hit it. In my opinion, the first story was the strongest. I was hoping for more stories like that one.

Sept nouvelles. Tout était dans le titre, en insistant sur le mot Weird. C’est la même chose que pour le livre précédent. J’ai choisi ce livre sur NetGalley à cause du titre (moins à cause de la couverture). Sans vérifier le genre. Weird Black Girls, tout un programme. En effet, c’était tout un programme. Un programme pas du tout mon genre. Après vérification, je m’aperçois qu’il s’agit de nouvelles fantastiques. J’ai donc souffert pour rien. Des nouvelles fantastiques, si j’avais su (et simplement vérifié), c’est sûr que je n’aurais pas demandé ce livre.

Tout n’est pas à jeter non plus. Entre des tonnes de phrases incompréhensibles, j’en ai de temps en temps trouvé une drôle qui m’a bien fait rire. Sur les sept, j’ai apprécié 2 ou 3 nouvelles. La première nouvelle (The Switchin’ Tree) était intéressante, même si elle était un peu trop violente à mon goût. La deuxième (Reunion) et la troisième (Owen) étaient meilleures selon moi. Things I Never Learned in Caitlin Clarke’s Intro to Acting Class et Tournament Arc (nouvelles 5 et 6) étaient les plus réussies et celles que j’ai préférées (ce sont aussi celles qui m’ont fait rire). Je n’ai aimé ni la quatrième nouvelle (Triggered) ni la dernière (qui donne son titre au recueil). Je n’ai rien compris du tout.

J’ai terminé parce qu’il y avait quand même de bonnes choses, mais le fantastique n’est vraiment pas mon genre.

Thank you to netgalley and Scribner for allowing me to read this amazing book. I loved this anthology so much. I loved how it centered around black girls and it made me feel seen and heard.

I loved this anthology. Loved that it was centered around blackness and all the the different ways that’s is expressed in the world. Will definitely read more from this author.

I think that people will like this, but I couldn't get through the first story. I have seen reviews on Goodreads already about this that matched my feelings on the book, and they gave the book one and two stars, so to avoid finishing this and giving it a bad rating even though I should have just DNFd it, I am going to DNF it now.