A Review of New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean

The Caribbean has a powerful, modern tradition of fantastic literature that’s on full display in this anthology of original fiction by writers from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Bermuda.  Some stories in New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean, edited by Karen Lord, are science fiction and some fantasy, but all are firmly rooted in the rich folk tradition of the islands. Among the best stories—and all of the included pieces are worth reading—are Tammi Browne-Bannister’s “Once in a Blood Moon,” a selkie tale with an unsettling Caribbean twist; Brandon O’Brien’s “Fallenangel.dll,” which begs for comparison with the underrated science fiction film Chappie; Richard B. Lynch’s “Water Under the Bridge,” the powerful story of a girl’s magical revenge against her abuser; Elizabeth J. Jones’ “The Ceremony,” in which a seemingly helpless woman revolts against her family’s generations-long magical tradition; and H. K. Williams’ “Cascadura,” a wonderful concatenation of Trinidadian folklore, cataclysmic disaster tale, and far-future science fiction. None of these writers is likely to be familiar to American audiences, but all are worth getting to know. Readers who love the writing of Nalo Hopkinson, Tobias S. Buckell and Lord herself will savour this volume. 

This review first appeared in Publishers Weekly November 7, 2016, at https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61775-526-2