I love translated horror. I enjoy learning what evokes fear in other cultures, and opening my imagination to new things to keep me awake at night. Through the Night Like a Snake, a new collection of Latin American horror from Two Lines Press’s Calico series, introduced me to exciting new writers and translators. With not a traditional haunting in sight, this is an anthology of innovative terror.
All these stories are fantastic, and I’m going to give each the attention they deserve:
“Bone Animals” by Tomás Downey (Argentina), translated by Sarah Moses – The opening story is very unsettling. A family retreats to a strange, abandoned house for some unknown reason. Strange carvings of animals begin to appear, made from a disturbing material.
“That Summer in the Dark” by Mariana Enriquez (Argentina), translated by Megan McDowell – A new Mariana Enriquez story?! Yes please. Told against the rolling blackouts of 1989 Argentina, our teen narrator and her friend become obsessed with serial killers. And then, the unthinkable happens in their building.
“Soroche”, by Mónica Ojeda (Ecuador), translated by Sarah Booker and Noelle de la Paz – I loved the multiple, unreliable perspectives of this story. After a woman is humiliated by a particularly graphic sex tape, her friends take her on a hike. A fantastic commentary on shame and embarrassment.
“In the Mountains”, by Lina Munar Guevara (Colombia), translated by Ellen Jones – A brief and terrifying story of a girl driving in the mountains. Completely disorienting in the best way.
“The Third Transformation”, by Maximiliano Barrientos (Bolivia), translated by Tim Gutteridge – One of the strangest stories in the collection. A man visits a childhood friend who is in a coma. Murders, death metal, and some very disturbing images.
“Visitor”, by Julián Isaza (Colombia), translated by Joel Streicker – The last paragraph of this story made my blood run cold. An old woman receives a Kermit-like alien visitor, which leeches energy from her.
“The Man with the Leg”, by Giovanna Rivero (Bolivia), translated by Joaquín Gavilano – This was moving and unnerving. A couple take a New York vacation, trying to get pregnant after many failed attempts. They encounter hope in a very unlikely character.
“Rabbits”, by Antonio Díaz Oliva (Chile), translated by Lisa Dillman – A weird, vague little tale about a commune, and the questionable behavior therein.
“Lazarus the Vulture”, by Claudia Hernández (El Salvador), translated by Julia Sanches and Johanna Warren – A short one about a weird vulture man. Narrator doesn’t like him because he ate his wife’s dog and clearly wants to eat his daughter.
“The House of Compassion”, by Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina), translated by Kit Maude – I let the storyteller guide me along with this one, not entirely sure where we were going. But it unfolds remarkably. A trans woman unexpectedly finds herself in the care of nuns.
Two Lines Press have gathered a fantastic collection here, and I would love to see more. Horror fans will not be disappointed.
If you are able, please buy a copy of Through the Night Like a Snake directly from the publisher.
Thank you so much to Two Lines Press for allowing me to read this amazing collection prior to publication.
California Reading 