Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women

Edited by Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn

Omnium Gatherum

Almond-eyed celestial, the filial daughter, the perfect wife. Quiet, submissive, demure. In Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Southeast Asian writers of horror both embrace and reject these traditional roles in a unique collection of stories which dissect their experiences of ‘otherness’, be it in the colour of their skin, the angle of their cheekbones, the things they dare to write, or the places they have made for themselves in the world.

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women is a dark and intimate exploration of what it is to be a perpetual outsider.

Featuring 14 stories by Nadia Bulkin, Grace Chan, Rin Chupeco, Elaine Cuyegkeng, Geneve Flynn, Gabriela Lee, Rena Mason, Lee Murray, Angela Yuriko Smith, and Christina Sng, and a foreword by Alma Katsu (The Deep). Includes Grace Chan’s Aurealis-nominated story ‘The Mark,’ shortlisted for Australia’s Norma K. Hemming Award which recognises excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in a published speculative fiction work.

228 pages, cover art by Greg Chapman

ISBN-13: 9781949054279

Shirley Jackson Award WINNER
Aurealis Award Finalist
Australian Shadows award Finalist
British Fantasy Award Finalist
Locus Award Recommended
Eugie Foster Award for Elaine Cuyegkeng's Story "The Genetic Alchemist's Daughter"

Praise for Black Cranes

“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.

“A bloody-toothed smile hidden behind the hand of propriety and social expectation.” —Pseudopod

“Lyrical and haunting prose... This is dark, reflective fiction at its best.” —Tomes and Tales

“Resonates with bold originality throughout.” —Space & Time Magazine

“Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women was a first-rate, totally arresting ride.” —Horror Bound

“The anthology breathes fresh life into the genre, and the book delivers from cover to cover.” —Probing the Depths

“The beauty of this collection is in the diversity of the voices and the individuality and uniqueness of each story coming together in one book.” —Tor Nightfire

“The preconceived notions of both the authors’ identities and of the limitations of the horror genre itself will be smashed to pieces, to the delight of readers.” —Becky Spratford for the Library Journal

“There’s a little something for everyone in this collection. Most of all, there’s strangeness, fierceness, emotion, catharsis, and even some moments of wonder and beauty amid the darkness. This is a brilliant collection, one of the best books I’ve read this year—and one of the strongest anthologies I’ve ever seen. A must-read for horror fans.” —Vanessa Fogg

“This anthology is a roller-coaster of emotions....Murray and Flynn did a remarkable job curating this spectacular collection.” —Amanda Headlee for The Horror Tree

“The general tone of the book made my heart ache, and I mean that as high praise. There was a melancholy to it that came out of a very strongly represented notion of ‘otherness’. I want to feel for the characters when I read, especially when I read horror, and I felt for every one of the characters living in these pages. The unique anxieties experienced by Asian women were so masterfully penned here that reading it really was an eye-opening experience. The themes were seamlessly woven in to the narratives in a way that both tugged at my heartstrings and filled me with dread.” —Gingernuts of Horror

“A genre all to itself.” —HorrorFuel

“...storytelling that leads us to believe that the horrors of the past are real, have not died, and are waiting to be reborn in the present. Recommended..” —Monster Librarian

“Black Cranes 100% delivers both in pure entertainment, and on the promises made. Each of the fourteen stories in the anthology contains the three major elements; women of horror, the concept of ‘otherness’, and reaching into the cultures, mythos, and voices of Southeast Asia to create disturbing, immersive, and technically fantastic stories.” —Coffee & Ink