Not to be confused with my previously reviewed title, The Language of Liars, The Language of Knives by Haralambi Markov is a short story collection forthcoming from Mythic Delirium Books, which will be out in early July. The publisher was kind enough to send me a copy.
Themes of mythology, traditional stories, and fairy tales resonate across the collection, as do complex family relationships and the idea of wrestling with history and legacy. The collection opens with “Nine Tongues Tell of” in which a woman meets a hala, a destructive, crop-stealing creature from traditional Bulgarian stories, befriending it and feeding it her grief. The story does a nice job setting the tone for the collection, and introducing the ideas and tropes that will be revisited and explored throughout.
“The Town the Forest Ate” is one of several stories looking at the current generation dealing with the actions of their parents, grandparents, and even more distant ancestors. The story also explores one of the other recurring themes in the collection, which is humanity’s relationship to the natural world, as the narrator must return pieces of a forest goddess to herself in order to be free of a curse. “When Raspberries Bloom in August” also looks at humanity’s relationship to the natural world, while providing a lovely meditation on aging and rebirth, with just a touch of body horror. Another story that effectively wrestles with family legacy and brings more of a horror vibe is “The Drowning Line” wherein a man whose family members are cursed to drown by one of their ancestors tries to protect his daughter.
“Holding Hands With Monsters” shares some similarities with “The Drowning Line”, looking at the intersection between fear and desire as a man develops a relationship with a monster who has visited him all his life, moving from under his bed to sharing his bed. There are some nice nods to the myth of Cupid and Psyche, and the story works well as straightforward speculative fiction, or as a metaphor for coping with Depression and self-acceptance. In a similar vein, “The Mall on the Hill by the Horizon” is a nicely surreal piece about a man determined to reach a mall that lures people in almost like a siren, which again can be read as a straightforward encounter with the uncanny, or a metaphor for rampant consumerism.
The title story, “The Language of Knives”, is a tender look at grief and honoring the dead as a man and his daughter bake their respective husband and father into a cake to honor him and feed the gods. It makes for nice pairing with many of the other stories in the collection where men grapple with their ancestors, as here we see a man trying to come to terms with the rift between him and his daughter, seeking to better understand her and bridge the divide between them. The collection also includes an original piece, “Baba Yaga Helps Build a House” as Baba Yaga’s grandson who is down on his luck, moves in with her, and contends with her abusive treatment and his own uncertain relationship with magic.
Markov uses the tropes of legends, fairy tales, and speculative fiction to good effect throughout, showing how they can act as lenses to better understand ourselves and the human condition. Overall, it’s a lovely collection full of striking imagery and stories that will linger in readers’ minds.
