Allen, whose writings seem to reach us from the darker side of the moon ...In Allen’s fashioning, Black experience is never subject to conventional parameters of time and space, and his magic realism, instead of being performatively exuberant or purposefully provocative, is plainly unsettling and disturbing ... These are difficult, inventive stories that, at their best, occupy a range of frequencies and otherworldly places.
An absorbing, genre-blending collection of stories ... There is an expansiveness to this gathering of short fiction as alongside these inventively fictionalized histories are quieter but no less impactful stories that examine grief, community, and the inextricable link between the past and the present. For fans of John Edgar Wideman.
A collection of wildly inventive and intensely realized stories ... Allen is both a poet and novelist whose prose reverberates with colorful imagery and crystalline lyricism ... The whole collection hums and throbs with such startling craft. A potentially transformative exhibition of visionary storytelling.
An arresting collections ... Though some entries stumble, the author provokes with riveting images, dark humor, and a chilling sense of desperation. When Allen is on, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
