BOOK REVIEW: ​SHE'S LOST CONTROL: THE FEMALE VOICE IS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED EDITED BY ELIZABETH JENIKE

​She's Lost Control is an all-female horror and dark fiction anthology from Post Mortem Press.

The pieces in this anthology deal with various themes:
death, violence, love, rape, motherhood, childhood, family,
failure, victory. They are all poignant, emotional, and
important. They are all human. 

The female voice is strong, and will not be controlled

She’s Lost Control is a beautiful collection of short stories, poems and a play written by women.  The cast of characters range from the deeply heartbroken, to the deliciously grotesque, to the stealthily vengeful - but the theme of pain and resilience is strong throughout the book.  I walked away from this collection feeling like the book covers several tastes of horror.  There are stories that start in one direction but end in shocking twist; there are stories filled with grotesque body horror that made me squirm; and then there are other stories that made me feel sorry for the main character and stuck with me for days.

I loved how this collection had more than just short stories.  There were some poems mixed in and one play.  It’s been awhile since I’ve read anything in the form of a play, and it reminded me of happy times in college watching plays at the school’s theater.  Now I want to get back into reading plays!

There are 28 pieces in this collection altogether.  I won’t summarize them all, but I do want to highlight some of my favorites.

Below the Dripstone by L. L. Madrid - Heidi and her brother have experienced shared nightmares since they were kids.  The dreams seem to center around children who have been kidnapped and are consumed by monsters or demons (or perhaps the monsters are the dream’s manifestation of the cruel people who kidnap kids, who are monsters in their own rights).  Her latest dream may actually help her save a child, but at what cost?  The issue of missing kids is a big one for me, so this one tugged at my heartstrings a bit more than the others.

Bake Sale by Sydney J. Watson - This story is told by Eve’s point of view as she deals with a condition that gives her massive panic attacks and audio/visual hallucinations about bugs and a creature posing to be her husband, Richard.  It is an interesting glimpse into what it could be like to live with such mental health issues, and also leaves you wondering which is real and which are just hallucinations.

The Black Wallpaper by Cynthia Pelayo - This story centers around a very driven woman who is feeling the mental and physical pressure of always trying to move up in the world.  Her phone constantly rings, she can never fully disconnect from work and she barely sleeps.  The story takes place in a hotel in Chicago with a haunting past.  I don’t want to give anything away, but the story took an amazingly dark turn.  It actually bothered me a bit, so well done.

The Vault by Hannah Litvin - Very interesting concept!  The main character is lacking in friends and connections as she is always on the move.  Has a kind of “be careful what you wish for” scenario.  I wanted to mention this story because as I was reading it, I kept thinking about Bush’s music video for “The Way Out.”
 
Foley by Katy McCarthy - I loved the way this one was written.  Mona is a foley artist who creates sounds films.  She is tasked to work on an experimental indie suspense film shot as YouTube videos edited together to make a film.  Most of the story describes this horror film as Mona watches it, and it sounds really cool.  I love horror movies like The Blair Witch and Creep, with the “found footage” vibe so this story was right up my alley.  Plus it had an ending that I thought about for the next few days.

Thread by Emma Hines - This is another one that stuck with me.  The main character has always had this path of red thread that traced her future steps.  Eventually the thread leads her to the marriage of a tyrannical king who killed her mother.  A beautiful, creative story about pain and revenge.

Peach Cobbler by Rachel Graf Evans - This is the play I was talking about.  It is a phenomenal piece about two sisters who keep their mother’s corpse in a freezer in the kitchen.  This was performed in 2017 in the Dangerous Women Immersive Horror Experience Showcase in Atlanta, GA. I wish I would have seen the performance!

I Was A Fox by Laura Beth Johnson - This is my favorite poem in the collection.  In each line the author describes herself as a different animal.  The poem paints a symbolic story about a woman who first experiences the snare of entrapment and then finds inner strength to overcome her aggressor and recognizes what she truly is - a strong woman in all things.

So there you have it - my personal favorites of this collection.  There were some pieces in the collection that just didn’t resonate with me or where I didn’t understand at all what the author was trying to convey.  But I don’t feel like any of them were poorly written.  And I don’t think this collection would be enjoyed only by women because there is a refreshing variety of moods, themes and formats in the book.  

This is a very well curated collection, and it demonstrates through very creative lenses the ways women conjure up the strength to see them through tough - or grotesque - situations.

5 out of 5 stars

​SHE'S LOST CONTROL: THE FEMALE VOICE IS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED 

SHE'S LOST CONTROL is an all-female horror and dark fiction & poetry anthology from Post Mortem Press.The pieces in this anthology deal with various themes: death, violence, love, rape, motherhood, childhood, family, failure, victory. The voices of women rise up, refusing to be quieted. A secretary is haunted by her boss’s laughter. A young woman dreams of a lost little boy. A woman dances, and dances, and dances until little is left.One thing is certain, and it shows again and again throughout these works: She’s lost control. And no one knows quite what will happen.INCLUDES WORKS FROM AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS CYNTHIA PELAYO, STEPHANIE M. WYTOVICH, AND LUCY A. SNYDERThis book, by its very nature, is doing important work: giving women writers a platform and prioritizing their voices over the cacophony of men that have dominated the field for so long. This is not meant to start an argument over whose voice is more important or stronger or holds more weight—this book is only meant to continue the conversation of why we need diverse mindsets and points of view in the literary community. And as the global conversation continues to both widen and deepen in regards to diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our lives, I hope we can maintain that dialogue. This is a good place to start. The pieces in this anthology deal with various themes: death, violence, love, rape, motherhood, childhood, family, failure, victory. They are all poignant, emotional, and important. They are all human. I am proud and grateful that these women have entrusted me with their words. I hope you read them and hear what they are saying—what they are screaming. The female voice is strong, and will not be controlled.

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