This is a truly amazing collection of short stories that span time, setting, and speculative subgenres: horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, afrofuturism, and steampunk. What sets this book apart from other short story collections I have read are three things Maurice Broaddus does extremely well: 1. His characters are believable and interesting. 2. His writing is brilliantly vivid. I'm talking close to Ray Bradbury imagery. 3. His messages are deep and inspiring. These stories have things to say, and they say them with pride and reverence for those that have fallen trying to say similar things. Most of the characters are of African descent, so some of the things being said revolve around race and culture, but that is only part of this book's magic. I am whiter than rice on a paper plate, and these stories moved me and made me think in profound ways. What the voices of the martyrs spoke to me is all about the awesome responsibility of humanity and the intense power of storytelling. ( )

It took me far too long to read this book, mostly because short stories are just not my preferred format. I got drawn into this one anyway, because the cover is kind of hypnotizing, and because I'm wanting to read more from Rosarium Press.

My feelings remain mixed. The stories seem a bit uneven, the subject matter a bit dark (for my taste), and with lots of violence. They are arranged into Past, Present, and Future sections, and explore slavery, racism, lynching, murder, oppression, imprisonment. Of course, you wouldn't expect a happy book with a title like that, but it's part of why I didn't race through this collection.

It's hard to say which stories I liked best when most of the stories were so brutal. Maybe "Family Business," and "Warrior of the Sunrise." "Ah Been Buked" was difficult and tragic but particularly effecting.

I would probably be more likely to pick up a longer work by Broaddus in the future. ( )

One of the fun things about reviewing books is that you can be offered a book for review that you might never have noticed on your own. For me, this is one such book.

It's a collection of short stories with settings ranging from ancient Africa to the slave trade, to the Jim Crow era in the US to alternate histories and the far future. Some are clearly science fiction or fantasy, while others have the barest possible fantastic content. Even those with little to no fantastic content, though, are written from s background and viewpoint that is outside my cultural background or usual reading experience. It's as challenging as any "unknown world" in science fiction, the more so because of the knowledge that it reflects the experience and cultural background of someone really living in the same world I do, and living that alien life here.
The protagonists here are men and women, young and old. There's even one white viewpoint character--the captain of a slave ship, who expects to make his fortune on his one distasteful journey, and go back home to his wife and child. There's a woman cast out from her tribe, but determined to right one terrible wrong. A woman becomes a soldier in the service of a new imperialism, and a young man who thinks he's just out for his weekly night on the town, who discovers he's destined for something much more momentous, and so is the music he loves. The settings feel real and palpable, and if the characters are not people I know, they certainly feel like characters Broaddus knows.

This isn't a collection to be rushed through; it's best savored more slowly and thoughtfully. But read it you definitely should.

Highly recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )

Actually I didn't finish reading this but I did read four of the stories and I think that is enough to know that it's not for me. I very seldom read horror but this book was classified as science fiction so I thought I would give it a try. Broaddus writes very powerfully and the voice he gives to black people is necessary. Wish I could have liked the subject more. ( )

In these stories, Maurice Broaddus speaks with the voices of martyrs – past, present, and future. The anthology is divided accordingly into these sections. All or almost all of these stories involve some fantasy or science fiction element. Personally, I found I liked the future stories the best.

The collection begins with “Warrior of the Sunrise Rite of Passage,” the tale of a woman warrior in a long ago Africa, battling strange and ferocious monsters. From there, the collection moves to areas of the past that are more easily pinpointed in history books. “Rite of Passage” tells of the Atlantic Slave Trade. In “Ah Been Buked,” a young woman survives slavery in the American South. “A Solider’s Story” is narrated by a vampire who witnesses the unspeakable destruction of a town’s black community. And in “Shadow Boxing” an up and coming boxer fights against segregation. I’m not one hundred percent sure if “Rite of Passage” and “Shadow Boxing” had speculative elements, but they’re the outliers in that regard.

Some of the present stories also deal with racial justice, such as the prison industrial complex in “The Ave.” But this section also offers tales with many other focuses, such as a disintegrating marriage and a family curse in “Read Me Up.” “Cerulean Memories” deals with moving on from the deaths of loved ones. “The Volunteer” was perhaps the most confusing story in this collection – it’s clearly some form of alternate history but it took a while for me to understand the vampire elements. It didn’t help that part of it randomly appeared during another story, although this was likely a formatting error with my ARC. My favorite of this section was “Family Business,” where an American man travels to visit family in Jamaica and uncovers his own magical lineage.

As I’ve already said, the future section contained most of my favorite stories. “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” is perhaps the strangest story in the collection, and it’s delightful in its weirdness. I loved the creativity of the dystopic steampunk setting of “Pimp My Airship” and would definitely read any other stories set in this alternate history. I wish there were more! Likewise, I would totally read a novel set in the future of the last two stories, “The Valkyrie” and “The Voices of Martyrs.” These stories both center on The Order of Service, a cult like form of Christianity that is focused on dominating Earth and the planets beyond. “The Valkyrie” focuses on one of their soldiers, in the never ending battles waged on Earth’s surface. In “The Voices of Martyrs,” Broaddus explores colonialism and first contact stories.

The chronological ordering of the stories was interesting, but I think it led to the strongest stories coming near the end of the book instead of being more regularly spaced out. Oh, well. I’m just glad I stuck around for the end!

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review. ( )