Horror Fuel
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Lee Murray

3 stories
Horror Fuel

‘Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women’ Is A Book For Everyone

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a perfectly mixed recipe of cultural expectations, racial stereotypes, gender roles, and their own versions of terror. The mix of everything in this collection of short stories almost creates a genre all to itself in the best of ways. First of all, the title…this title is not “Loud Women” or “Women Speaking Out.” Using the word “Unquiet” fully emphasizes the breaking from the norm that these authors and their stories show. I struggled with how to review this book, to be honest. It feel like it covers so many things and with so many different authors…whatever you are looking for in this book, you will find it. It is a beautiful collection of Asian women authors who have gathered their stories together to celebrate, critique, honor and share their cultures, trials and successes through mythology, traditions and horror. Editors Lee Murray (interviewed here) and Geneve Flynn have truly struck gold with this collection.

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Jan 8, 2021
Horror Fuel

Interview With Author/Editor Lee Murray: Her Upcoming Book, Feeling Like An Outsider, And Her Love Of Horror

I reviewed a collection of short stories by author Lee Murray a while ago. It is a collection of stories that has stayed with me and so I was thrilled to hear from Murray again recently. This time, Murray, along with Geneve Flynn, is the editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women which comes out on September 26. This book promises to be an incredible collection of stories focused on racial traditions and roles, being an “outsider” and — of course — horror! “As haunting and versatile as the Chinese erhu, the stories in Black Cranes pluck and bow the strings of the Southeast Asian experience with insightful depth and resonance.” —Tori Eldridge, author of the acclaimed Lily Wong novels, The Ninja Daughter and The Ninja’s Blade. “This anthology has a power to it. An instant classic.” —Nightmare Feed. Almond-eyed celestial, the filial daughter, the perfect wife. Quiet, submissive, demure. In Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Southeast Asian

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Sep 9, 2020
Horror Fuel

Book Review: Lee Murray’s ‘Grotesque’

According to the afterword in Lee Murray’s short story collection Grotesque, she “steals” ideas for her stories. Murray describes how she listens to conversations, “frankensteins” people’s appearances and personalities together to create characters and uses old legends to twist into her own words and world. I am so happy that I took the time to read the afterword because throughout the entire collection I kept asking myself “how can someone write with such diversity in language, characters, and plot?” If I didn’t know better and without the Maori theme that ties through many of Murray’s stories, I truly would have expected each of these stories to be written by different authors And let me be clear: That is an exceptionally good thing! It is difficult to review collections like this. I am going to be very careful not to give any plot spoilers and I am going to shy away from focusing too heavily on any particular story (although I

Continue reading →
Jul 27, 2020

More from Lee Murray

Horror Fuel

‘Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women’ Is A Book For Everyone

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a perfectly mixed recipe of cultural expectations, racial stereotypes, gender roles, and their own versions of terror. The mix of everything in this collection of short stories almost creates a genre all to itself in the best of ways. First of all, the title…this title is not “Loud Women” or “Women Speaking Out.” Using the word “Unquiet” fully emphasizes the breaking from the norm that these authors and their stories show. I struggled with how to review this book, to be honest. It feel like it covers so many things and with so many different authors…whatever you are looking for in this book, you will find it. It is a beautiful collection of Asian women authors who have gathered their stories together to celebrate, critique, honor and share their cultures, trials and successes through mythology, traditions and horror. Editors Lee Murray (interviewed here) and Geneve Flynn have truly struck gold with this collection.

Continue reading →
Jan 8, 2021
Horror Fuel

Interview With Author/Editor Lee Murray: Her Upcoming Book, Feeling Like An Outsider, And Her Love Of Horror

I reviewed a collection of short stories by author Lee Murray a while ago. It is a collection of stories that has stayed with me and so I was thrilled to hear from Murray again recently. This time, Murray, along with Geneve Flynn, is the editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women which comes out on September 26. This book promises to be an incredible collection of stories focused on racial traditions and roles, being an “outsider” and — of course — horror! “As haunting and versatile as the Chinese erhu, the stories in Black Cranes pluck and bow the strings of the Southeast Asian experience with insightful depth and resonance.” —Tori Eldridge, author of the acclaimed Lily Wong novels, The Ninja Daughter and The Ninja’s Blade. “This anthology has a power to it. An instant classic.” —Nightmare Feed. Almond-eyed celestial, the filial daughter, the perfect wife. Quiet, submissive, demure. In Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Southeast Asian

Continue reading →
Sep 9, 2020
Horror Fuel

Book Review: Lee Murray’s ‘Grotesque’

According to the afterword in Lee Murray’s short story collection Grotesque, she “steals” ideas for her stories. Murray describes how she listens to conversations, “frankensteins” people’s appearances and personalities together to create characters and uses old legends to twist into her own words and world. I am so happy that I took the time to read the afterword because throughout the entire collection I kept asking myself “how can someone write with such diversity in language, characters, and plot?” If I didn’t know better and without the Maori theme that ties through many of Murray’s stories, I truly would have expected each of these stories to be written by different authors And let me be clear: That is an exceptionally good thing! It is difficult to review collections like this. I am going to be very careful not to give any plot spoilers and I am going to shy away from focusing too heavily on any particular story (although I

Continue reading →
Jul 27, 2020