At the beginning of the year, I noticed that Cat Eye Press was soliciting stories for a new collection. The theme was “modern mummies” and I have to admit that I was skeptical until I read the guidelines for authors. No racism, no colonial-tropes, no mindlessly rampaging villainous ancient Egyptian mummies.
After that, I was still skeptical, but I was also cautiously optimistic.
Fast-forward to summer and I’m sitting here with an advanced copy courtesy of Frankie the Cat, who is also the cover-model. I received this review copy without any real or promised compensation in this life or the next, nor in exchange for any promise or expectation of promotion or review.
I was extremely happy to discover that the collection stayed true to that original vision, with nary a white savior archaeologist nor expendable superstitious native guide in sight. These 13 original stories are gruesome, sad, hilarious, rotting, rollicking fun. But not always all at the same time, because that would get weird.
Authors Meg Candelaria, Mia Dalia, Kristin Dearborn, Ray DeChant, Christopher La Vigna, Carter Lappin, Jennifer Lesh Fleck, Stewart Moore, Ute Orgassa, J.R. Santos, Zach Shephard, B.F. Vega, and Morgan West-Burnham each bring their unique styles and sensibilities to the project, but the collection feels cohesive and compelling beyond the unifying presence of mummies. Having read a lot of thematic collections over this last year, I can say with confidence this is not always the case.
I appreciate the care with which editor A.C. Bauer put together this collection. Even at their most outlandish, these are stories that never lose sight of the fact that making sense of mortality is messy and painful, whether it’s our own, our loved ones, our pets, or that aromatic and flamboyantly bandaged DJ spinning the greatest hits of yesterday, today, and the Second Dynasty down at the club.
If you’re on BlueSky, Cat Eye Press has posted author spotlights for each story in the collection.
Modern Mummies is available for pre-order and will be released sometime this month.
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