Book review: Mayhem and metaphor combine for twisted tales in Never Whistle at Night Part II: Back for Blood

Never Whistle at Night Part 2: Back for Blood - Courtesy of Vintage

Native and First Nations horror exists because Native and First Nations reality exists.

Summer is a season of many traditions; barbecues, road trips, swimming, campfires. Who would argue that one of the best pastimes when sitting around the campfire is telling scary stories?

Tales of the macabre, of the old spirits, even of humankind. All such tales are told around the massive campfire that is Never Whistle at Night: Back for Blood, a collection of indigenous short horror stories written by indigenous authors.

Compiled and edited by Shane Hawk and Ted Van Alst Jr., Back for Blood is the anticipated second edition to Never Whistle at Night. Released in September of 2023, Never Whistle at Night featured 26 different indigenous authors.

Back for Blood features 21 authors, including Stephen Graham Jones (who wrote the forward for the first edition) and the editors themselves; Hawk and Van Alst Jr. Like the first edition, the authors were selected through both an open call process and invitation.

The result of 21 talented authors telling stories of supernatural and societal horrors is a gruesome campfire collection of unrestrained and unapologetic terror that casts light on rising voices. But as enthralling as these stories are, they are not mine to tell. They are ones that I was fortunate enough to read, and even more fortunate to talk about.

Back for Blood journeys through multiple realms; supernatural horror, grounded horror, even science-fiction horror. But the most frequented realm is body horror. Indeed, the most gnarly and unforgiving descriptions of flesh-feasting, bone-cracking transformations, and mangled animals span the over-330 pages.

"It felt weird to scrape out my eyes. But it didn’t hurt.” comes from the first story; “Miss Cherokee Princess 1996” by Jessica Doe. Without giving too much away, this entry combines body horror with themes of identity, centering on a with grotesquely absurd expressions of these themes. But, as I said, this collection is terrifically unforgiving.

Through graphic language akin to Brett Easton Ellis' in American Psycho, Doe explores obsession and mutilation in a graphic depiction that left, as was the case for me, a lasting impression.

One of my favorite aspects of Back for Blood is its use of gore and body horror without being gratuitous. Disturbing bodily descriptions at times even make for an integral part. Such is the case in Sonia Marie Barry’s “Foot Prints,” in which the main character Maries undergoes a hysterectomy. Barry uses the action of “gutting open” salmon--an action performed earlier in the story—as a clever analogy.

She had been gutted, emptied, altered by strangers in a hospital far from home.

It goes without saying that the language in the book is superb.

While the analogies and comments are made quite clear in Back for Blood, we should acknowledge that many of these works are rooted in real-life horror. As fantastic as the gore and creatures are, what may have been the most unnerving—and most grounded—story was “Summer Vacation.” Billy Ray Belcourt, who crafts suspense well, tells a story of terror that echoes real life terrors read more commonly in newspapers than fiction collections. It centers on a narrator and his partner Johannes staying at an Airbnb in the woods near the narrator’s ancestral land during a heat wave.

But, as is also stated in the introduction, the editors of this collection are horror fans first and foremost. That interest, which is clearly shared amongst the authors, is paid tribute to throughout. The P.G. Verrone story “Animal Dumb”—another LGBTQ story—contains several references to old school horror films, namely The Howling.

It’s the last full month of summer, but the campfires are not over yet. Whether you’re on the beach, home in bed, or reclining in a chair you can sit around an awesome campfire surrounded by 21 talented story tellers. If you like tales of macabre, and the downright raw, that you can’t wait to tell your friends about, pick up this collection. After you finish it, if you want to keep feeling scared, just go back to the beginning of the book and start at the first sentence;

So you’re back for blood, hey?

 Never Whistle at Night Part II: Back for Blood will be available from Vintage August 18, 2026.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUX4r5SyUVs