No One Will Come Back For Us

I'm very impressed by Premee Mohamed's 2023 collection of short stories, which is my first foray into her work and definitely won't be the last. She explores numerous genres in No One Will Come Back for Us (and sometimes all of them at once), including fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and dystopia, but all of them are rooted in speculative fiction. Mohamed's short story concepts are largely brilliant, mostly executed with deep research, remarkable sensitivity, and truly gorgeous prose and structure. Some of these are five-star tales (especially 'Four Hours of a Revolution', 'No One Will Come Back For Us', and 'Willing') and only a few struck me as lacking, but all of them I feel are worth reading. As I think I've outgrown my Lovecraftian show more interests, Mohamed lingers with the Old Gods a bit much for me, but her repeated encounters with 'new gods of the hill and the green' add some freshness to the well-trodden cosmic horror genre. Yet she displays her mastery of the human condition by knowing not to tell us too much, sitting comfortably with the unknown to convey enormous discomfort throughout. Overall, I think this is a rich and undulating volume of bite-sized spec-fiction stories and a great place to start delving into Premee Mohamed's work. show less

No One Will Come Back For Us is an anthology that another review described as postcolonial Lovecraft, and that is apt but incomplete. This is a collection of stark and often understated fears, of confrontations between humanity and the unknown.

Mohamed shuffles her themes like cards. There is rational narrator, perhaps some kind of professional rational observer (literally in "The Evaluator" and "No One Will Come Back For Us" to pick two stories at random), sometimes a concerned parent or uncanny child, who is confronted with a situation of cosmic horror. The unknown threat balances between the Old Gods of the Land, spirits who demand respect, offering, and the occasional sacrifice, but who are basically beneficent, and Elder Things, show more extradimensional monsters entirely anathema to sanity and human existence. And of course, rationality and professionalism are thin shields against the true nature of the universe, and end up broken. Fortunately not in the histrionic prolixity of a Lovecraft protagonist, but more in the soft snap of despair and acceptance.

The collection suffers due to its format. If this had been about half the length, eight stories instead of seventeen, I would have had no hesitation rating it five stars. At a certain point, however, I started feeling like I was returning to The Complete Short Stories of J.G. Ballard, and its thematic repitition. "Okay, I get it. Let's move along." This is unfair, Mohamed is a much less nihilistic and hateful author than Ballard, and is on average a better storyteller, but the collection is a lot to take in. The good news is that I only disliked one story, which is a great hit rate.

To pick my eight: Instructions, The Evaluator, The General's Turn, Fortunato, Four Hours of a Revolution, No One Will Come Back For Us, Willing, and For Each of These Miseries. show less

Undertow Publications has put together a very nice anthology. I first read a Premee Mohamed story in the excellent Martian Migraine Press anthology, 'A Breath From the Sky.' I loved her story there, 'The Evaluator', and it makes a reappearance here as well. In fact, while not necessarily a theme as not all the stories here seem related, there are a number of excellent stories here set in the same world where older gods of nature are real and somewhat fickle, but are also at odds with newer more polluted gods partially of our creation. I was hoping for more in that world, and this certainly satisfied in that way.
Of over-arching themes, we're looking at gods (of course) and children, which figure in a large number of the stories, and the show more weirdness of children. I think there's a fair bit of sacrifice, and what purpose it serves, stirred into the mix as well. There's a few stories with journalists or that feel journalistic which also worked really well.
Stories that don't feel necessarily part of the Evaluator world, and/or were additional standouts for me...'Instructions' was a lot of fun, playing with those military guides of what to and not to do on deployment. 'At the Hand of Every Beast' didn't really work for me, but also didn't seem to fit the overall feel of the collection (beyond sacrifice) so perhaps that's why. 'Sixteen Minutes' similarly didn't work great for me, as an unreliable narrator survivor story. 'The Adventurer's Wife' is more of a direct Lovecraft spinoff, and falls into the journalism camp and punches along. 'Fortunato' and everything moving forward from and including the titular story were probably my favorites, and include some Evaluator tie-ins.
Overall, a great collection and I look forward to reading more! show less

I'm finding one of my favorite "genres" is a good underappreciated Speculative Short Story Collection. I just love the bite sizes of weird. This is one of those and I'm happy to have found it! It's a mix of horror and sci-fi, with slight hints of fantasy elements. All good stuff. It definitely is influenced by Lovecraft at times. The author describes some of these stories as "kids vs. Eldritch monsters". I haven't watched it, but if your thing is the show Stranger Things, these stories are probably for you. Otherwise, the stories seem to mostly feature journalists and the ethics of scientific research, when a story isn't about children battling Eldritch. The scientist angle is fun though, as Mohamed's bio says she is also a scientist. show more Occasionally, I would feel like part of a story was too jumpy, as if I lost my place on the page or skipped a few sentences. But overall, this is a very solid collection of stories! Then the stories also remind me of Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, Jeff VanderMeer and many sci-fi films. It's hard to pick favorites in this collection. I was going to try, but I would end up listing most of the stories. I love when that happens. And that cover! I already have a few books with 'tiny astronaut' covers in mind to be reading quite soon. show less

Below the Kirk, Below the Hill - this is probably my least favorite one that I read in the collection. A dead girl washes up on shore, and they have to turn her spirit back over to the ocean so she can find peace

The Evaluator - I feel like this is a critique of harming the environment and not caring about the people it affects the most, but I'll be honest, I didn't get the end of this story.

At the Hand of Every Beast - this reminded me a little of Mortal Engines simply because of the moving cathedral. It has a great opening and is very imaginative

Sixteen Minutes - A prepper goes crazy in his bunker. He didn't have time to save his family, and now it haunts him and rats taunt him.

No One Will Come Back for Us - the titular story is show more definitely my favorite and the one that has stayed with me the longest. A journalist goes to a remote village where there is a disease outbreak. He is unprepared for what he finds, but the way of life there and the very mysterious events that might be the cause of the disease show less

3/5 Below The Kirk, Below The Hill
4/5 Instructions
4/5 The Evaluator
2/5 At The Hand Of Every Beast
2/5 The Adventures Wife
4/5 The Generals Turn
5/5 Sixteen Minutes
4/5 Fortunato
4/5 The Honeymakers
5/5 Four Hours of A Revolution
4/5 For Each Of These Miseries - Fun spin-off sort of of lovecraft's the temple in a sci-fi setting complete with unfathomable horrors. Might have been a fun one in first person a la Lovecraft.
3/5 Everything As Part Of Its Infinite Place - I was honestly a little disappointed by this one. Cosmic horror by way of quantum suicide? Yes please. It just didn't land.
3/5 No One Will Come Back For Us - First person cosmic horror, with a vaguely sci-fi twist. Main character is a journalist on assignment in a town in Africa show more where a strange new illness is ravaging the people, animals and landscape. Pretty good but an (unfortunately) unsatisfying ending.
4/5 Willing
3/5 Us and Ours
2/5 The Redoubtables
4/5 Quietus

Average 3.52 stars, rounds up to 4 show less