Ghost Summer (2015) by Tananarive Due

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Ghost Summer (2015)

by Tananarive Due

Gracetown, Florida

Florida: 5/21

   I'm elated to be out of the deep, deep south, which is BY ALL ACCOUNTS, an absolutely miserable place.   I'm not talking about Georgia, with it's beacon of African American culture, and Louisiana with the French and Spanish and Cajun mélange.  I'm talking about Alabama and Mississippi, which are dark spots on the American psyche. I think nearly every volume from either place manifestly grapples with issues of racial injustice.  I'm happy to read about the subject- non-fiction as well as fiction, but the emphasis on covering the American map produces a kind of repetitiveness inside and between different states.

Thus, this volume of independently published (Akakish Press) horror short stories by an African American woman are a welcome departure from the heavy material out of the deep south. Only some of the stories are set in Gracetown (central) Florida- but she sure knows how to evoke the swamp.  This Florida swamp ecosystem is the most interesting geography I've crossed since I tackled the wilds of New England early on. Reading novels set in the Florida swamps makes me want to visit.