Second paragraph of third chapter:
We’re back at the harbor on Wild Things. Tomorrow, Knife Girl will meet us here to refuel the boat. Mom and I don’t have a plan yet. We haven’t spoken much at all, our energies depleted from the wild-ass turn of events. Mom lights incense for Sông, each smoky tendril a prayer. Cleaning Bà Oanh’s glasses, I remember the smile I thought I saw. Perhaps she’d foreseen what was coming and could not stop herself from mocking us, though she’d never been unkind. It’s a bad habit of mine, finding the worst in every situation, but no one has taught me to hope.
I somehow missed this in sequence – I should have blogged it three weeks ago; I finished it between Face to Face: The Classic Years and British Generals in Blair’s Wars. Anyway, no harm done.
It’s about Nhung / Noon, a young Vietnamese-American in Louisiana, whose father and brother have died in mysterious circumstances, and who is compelled by the local thug to go find the sea monster which may be behind the ‘orrible red algae bloom on the water. Lushly written, but a bit too much body horror for my sensitive soul (and yes, I realise that is part of the point). You can get They Bloom at Night here.
2026 Hugos: Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Professional Artist | Poem | Astounding Award
Best Novel: The Incandescent | Shroud | The Raven Scholar | The Everlasting | Death of the Author | A Drop of Corruption, and my votes
Best Graphic Story or Comic: The Invisible Parade | three more finalists | A Wizard of Earthsea, and my votes
Best Related Work: Colourfields | The Cuddled Little Vice | Inventing the Renaissance | Positive Obsession, and my votes
Lodestar: Holy Terrors | Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe | Among Ghosts | They Bloom at Night | Oathbound | Sunrise on the Reaping, and my votes
Where to get them | Goodreads/Librarything/StoryGraph stats
