| Title | : | Bloody Summer |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 28 |
| Publication | : | First published February 24, 2022 |
Tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forests of the night. In the town of Never-Again, Pennsylvania, this hand-game song contains a history—centuries of inexplicable tiger sightings. It also reveals a frightening prophecy, one that only a small circle of players envisions. After Never-Again becomes the scene of unimaginable violence, a researcher uncovers the truth about the game, right down to its final chilling verse.
Bloody Summer Reviews
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“Even if it meant being wild on soil never meant to bear me.”
This was harrowingly heartbreaking and carmen is really such a gifted author and can evoke so much pain and so much healing, even with so few pages. This short story is told under the guise of a research paper from the future, and moves forward with a new article or new interview, researching children’s hand clapping games that gives clues about how a small Pennsylvania town, named Never-Again, was massacred by tigers in 1999, where only one child did not disappear. With the last interview in this research project being from that sole survivor, now very much an adult. And this reading like a real piece of nonfiction really just added a whole other layer.
But carmen always weaves this unexplainable magic of breaking my heart and simultaneously healing it with each piece they craft, and this short story was no different. To find freedom and power from your trauma(s) is something i deeply wish for everyone.
trigger + content warnings: a lot of off page violence to children, off page rape and sexual assault, off page pedophilia, mention of suicide, mentions of colonization, death, blood depictions, drawing blood, animal death. (i know these are some heavy tws but truly all were done in a very nongraphic way for me, personally. But still use caution for your own self and mindset.)
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This was my first pick out of 6 Amazon Original Stories in the Trespass Collection. It's about a journalist or documentarian researching an urban legend known as "Bloody Summer" where all the children and teens in a small town disappear. The legend is that they turned into tigers and ravaged 80+ people. The tale is told in oral tradition through hand games (you know those clapping hand games kids sing) and the town is covered in graffiti depicting tigers.
I enjoyed this, goes by quickly. Like a fairytale. My notes & highlights are visible. -
Excellent short story! Machado takes this wild animal prompt and puts a paranormal horror spin on in. Bloody Summer is purportedly an academic research project into a town where a tiger massacre occurred years earlier and extant songs and hand games related to the incident exist among the children of the town. I might have liked this to be a little bit longer, but it was still great and I love Machado's writing.
Content warning for non-explicit references to child sex abuse. -
This was a wicked story about a small Pensylvanian town called Never Again and the startling events of one bloody summers day.
“TIGER, TIGER”
Tiger, tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the night.
In the night the children sleep, Wake to rhythms from the deep.
From what science, and what art, Speeds the timbre of the heart?
And when the heart begins to beat, Hands or claws? Paws or feet?
Beds are empty, bodies near, Children missing, tigers here.
This was a short but thoroughly enjoyable read. I don't want to leave any spoilers here, so I will leave things at this.
If you have a spare 30 minutes then maybe give this a read.
The final part of the Tresspass series on Amazon Originals.
'I am a child, and it is a forest; I know nothing beyond its trees.'
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I think part of why my enjoyment was not as high on this one as it has been with other short stories by Carmen Maria Machado was that I was extremely confused about when the story began since it is framed as a research article. I think that speaks to how well that framework was done that I thought it was a nonfiction introduction for so long. I do think on re-read this would probably be a low 4 star short story for me cause I could focus on the themes and ominous story and less on wondering if I was in the story yet.
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Tiger folklore in Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, childhood hand games, and a Bloody Summer where a bunch of locals are killed by tigers, who have mysteriously disappeared along with the town's children. I enjoyed the academic research narrative feel of the beginning. And I wanted the story to be longer, more fleshed out. Very, very good.
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Wie schafft es Machado eigentlich immer und immer wieder, mich zu überraschen, obwohl ich von ihr nur noch ungewöhnliches und überragend geniales erwarte?
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Horror Research Paper
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook released simultaneously with the Audible Original audiobook (February 24 2022).
Machado's Bloody Summer is more of a supernatural horror than the 'terror of nature' stories which are the overall theme of the Trespass collection. In a future year of 2064, the researcher is examining the tragic events of July 13, 1999 in the town of Never-Again, Pennsylvania. The adults of the town had been massacred by what was thought to be escaped tigers from a local wildlife farm. All of the town's children disappeared. There is a lone survivor who is interviewed who may hold the key to the mystery.
The tale is structured as a faux research paper, initially examining clues to the events by recording the lyrics of the local children's hand and clapping games which allude to the tragedy. There are copious footnotes (irritatingly not appearing on the same kindle e-page as they refer to). References to actual research such as
History of the Lackawanna Valley by Horace Hollister and the fairy tale related works of
Kate Bernheimer are effectively mixed in with fake research papers such as those by a Dr. Lucinda Oren.
Machado builds effective suspense and a dawning realization of horror in this rather uniquely structured short story.
I previously enjoyed Machado's short story collection
Her Body and Other Parties (2018).
Bloody Summer is one of six Amazon Kindle eBooks released February 24, 2022 as part of their Amazon Original
Trespass collection of short stories which "Take a walk on the wild side. When nature gets up close and personal, it isn’t always pretty. A fallen tree sparks a poisonous feud between neighbors. A child searches the darkness for the gleam of a tiger’s teeth. A woman holds off a colony of oddly relentless prairie dogs. In unsettling stories that range from horror to magical realism, award-winning authors lay bare the secrets hidden in the land." -
I SO BADLY WISH THIS WERE A FULL LEMGTH NOVEL!!! A FILM!! A LIMITED SERIES! PLEASE!!!!!
Fascinatingly written from a journalist’s perspective, we explore the history and build up to a town’s bizarre tiger massacre that left hundreds of adults dead and dozens of children missing without a trace.
I am left with a million questions and desperately need to know more about this town, the true explanation behind the tigers, backgrounds on all the missing children, and (most of all) the story of Anna.
It’s not a want, it’s a need.
CW: recurring focus on and mentions of mass murder, brief implication of childhood sexual abuse -
i will read anything carmen maria machado writes until the end of time
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This one was creepy and good. I'm holding back from giving it a full five stars because, like many in this collection, I'm not exactly sure what just happened here. But Machado, unlike Vandermeer, clearly knows the answer, and provided enough pieces so that you can be sure you're making an educated guess. And the rest of the story was strong enough that any confusion didn't end up mattering very much.
This one is actually written in the form of an ethnography by a researcher who is never named, who is interested in the prevalence of childhood hand games/playground games specific to the region of Never-Again, PA, and the historical predominance of tigers in that area, all leading up to the Bloody Summer (which I won't explain here bc spoilers).
I really liked the angle that Machado approached this story from. The scholarly framework she gave it lends the frankly very strange story she created credence, and makes it seem all the more bizarre at the same time. I would honestly have liked this to be much longer.
[4.5 stars] -
Hello I would like to request another carmen maria machado short story collection pls for my health
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CW: rape/sexual assault, child abuse, suicide. all referenced/alluded to, but nothing explicitly/graphically/fully on page. violence, blood
this was outstanding. I'm amazed something so short could have such a heart punch. I love the writing style, the story laid out like a nonfictional one. like a paper, an interview. it's all so so good. -
For what is a child but a caged tiger, something that should have never been trapped in the first place?
Never knew that a story about hand games based on Tigers could be this good. But of course, it’s by Carmen Maria Machado, so it’s going to be super entertaining and feel so real.
⭐️ 4 STARS ⭐️ -
Carmen Maria Machado, like Shirley Jackson before her, writes a tale in which the reader thinks the story is heading one way, when, all of a sudden, one word, or in this case, one year, tips the reader that this story is heading in a completely different direction. Once the reader realizes the tale is fiction, it’s eye-opening in the best possible way.
Carmen Maria Machado’s twisty horror tale traces the appearance of the wild tigers roaming in a small town in Pennsylvania, from the lines of hand-clapping game rhymes. The lines from the hand-clapping games provide clues to the origins of the tigers AND the horrible crimes the tigers commit in the town. The town is cleverly named, “Never-Again,” because the tigers eat almost all the children in this community, except the one who many years later tells the story of what happened. One hopes it “Never-Again” happens. Brilliant short story by the remarkably gifted writer, Carmen Maria Machado. Highly recommend. -
Wow! I can't say that I was shocked by my enjoyment of this story because I've given 5 stars to EVERY piece of writing I've read by Carmen Maria Machado; however, this story really impressed me because of its length. This story is only 28 pages long, yet it makes the reader feel like it is based on true events. The style, the descriptions, the writing is all reminiscent of a non-fiction piece, and it adds such an air of dread to the story. It was incredibly interesting to read, and the deeper meanings of the text are some that you could dissect for long after you finish the story. I highly recommend this short story, and I think it is a strong "starting point" for reading Carmen Maria Machado because it is a fictionalized account that reflects the style she writes in her non-fiction works: In the Dream House and "Both Ways."
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Trespass ("Take a walk on the wild side") is Amazon's new themed short story collection by popular authors. They're free to borrow for prime members, and the ebooks come with audio.
I think these Amazon collections are meant to give you a taste of an author's style so that you'll find ones you vibe with and check out more of their work. I love that idea. It's why I was so excited about their sci-fi collection, Forward ("Tomorrow is sooner than you think"), even though I only ended up reading two stories from that one (one of which is by Jemisin, who's already my favorite author, so I guess I didn't play the game correctly last time).
I've always been interested in Carmen Maria Machado, and I think I still am. I don't think this was a good intro for me though. I've heard her popular short story collection described as feminist horror, which peaked my interest, but this Trespass short story wasn't to my tastes, and now I'm on the fence about reading her other work.
I don't know how to rate this because it's well written and I love the format of researcher/interviewer, but something was missing for me. Were my expectations off because I thought I was getting a weird horror story that would grip and shake me? Is this really horror? Maybe the subject scares some people more than others, or it's only meant to evoke a sense of unease rather than fear, but it just didn't do anything for me in that area. Maybe I missed the point. It was obvious to me that a lot of effort and research went into some parts, which is why the other parts felt lazy, specifically the implied speculative bits.
The speculative element was a disappointment. I won't spoil it, but personally, I was inwardly groaning towards the end of the story. It was a slow build up to a lackluster conclusion. It felt muted and cut-off to me. I don't know how to describe the style, but maybe the word folksy ("having the characteristics of traditional culture and customs in a contrived or artificial way") works, because I tend to only like that type of story when it's original or a classic for that culture, with a heavy emphasis the speculative elements. If that makes sense. It's partly why I avoid most Russian-style modern retellings, because in my reading experience, those are the most blandly derivative and repetitive of all the folklore type books. (The masses love them, so this is definitely a me-problem). Most people will feel differently about this criticism of "Bloody Summer", I'm sure. This is definitely a personal taste thing.
I wrote way too much for a short story review, this is ridiculous. I'm sorry to anyone who read this far. I didn't even dislike this story, despite the negative vibe of this review. I'm glad to have read "Bloody Summer", and I enjoyed parts of the whole. It was a short introduction to an author I'm curious about, and I think if she'd turned this into a book with... well, MORE of everything, it might've worked better for me. And it could've been that I listened to the audio version. My expectations were probably way too high too. -
The format was not the jam.
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4.5. Definitely the best horror story in the collection and one of my favourite short stories that I’ve read.
I keep thinking about this and clapping games since. I was really impressed with this book -
Bloody Summer is a really good story but engages the intellect (intentionally so) more than the emotions. I don't think I've read too many research paper framed stories... I can think of only one other one... and it is extremely effective here, not only giving the events here a more believable slant, but also just... the research... it felt real and was interesting in and of itself.
Machado is a great writer. All her other works I've read (which isn't much, I'll admit, but soon to be corrected) have been very solid.
This straddles the fantastical realism and epistolary gothic line so perfectly as to almost become a genre of its own. Good stuff. -
reads like a nonfiction but quickly morphs into something else. i honestly just love carmen’s works, such an ingenious writer.
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I liked this short stoy more than the one Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote for this collection, but it didn't do much for me either.
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This was actually a rather cool concept. You read through interviews, notes made by a historian and children's rhymes to unravel what maybe happened that day years ago when all those tigers escaped, killed a bunch of people and the children in town disappeared! And are there still tigers in the woods?
But honestly, for me this needed to be a novel. This was underdeveloped, and I rarely wish for shorter fiction to be longer and did I ever say a short story should have been a full length novel? But here I am. I think it would have been an awesome mixed media novel, letting you really dive into the vibes and the situation. As it is, I think of it as a fun idea that didn't do anything yet, after reading it I literally feel as if someone had told me the outline for their novel!
I mean, take the rhymes. For me it was more tedious to read through them, I understood what Machado was trying to do but for me it didn't work in this short format. It's 28 pages and the mixed media jumping and the footnotes killed any flow, in a longer piece I don't think that would be the same case. Also, you could sprinkle the rhymes throughout the novel.
I liked the ending and the revelations, it reads like modern folklore, the vibes are so interesting and very much up my alley channeling "Lord of the Flies", or even more so "A Luminous Republic" which I read recently. Then there are the tigers: The concept of going wild vs. being abused and suppressed as a child. Man, this story is so fascinating but the way it is it only works so-so for me. I feel like I appreciate it more being done than while reading it, and that is because I think the idea is great but the execution is not where it should be.
2.5* -
Beware of Tiger-Themed Hand Games
This is a fanciful tale. There are many books with stories based around children’s games and nursery rhymes or urban legends, and I found this to be a fresh take in the vein of those stories, with a dose of mysticism. It interestingly conjoins the abuse wildlife suffers at the hand of man with the natural tensions between adults and children.
This is ultimately a story about freedom and revenge, and perhaps using supernatural means to achieve both. And I have to admit, this reader did not feel too bad about the fate suffered by some of the townspeople when the various tigers roamed freely during a time known as the Bloody Summer.
I enjoyed listening to this book on audio because there are singsong verses of children’s songs read aloud that go along with descriptions of a variety of hand games. In addition, the Conclusion of the book is mostly an interview, so it feels like you’re listening to a recording of the interview. The narrator did a good job representing the interviewer and the subtle emotions of the person being interviewed. -
5 stars
I am so impressed. The last story in the Trespass collection is the absolute best in the bunch and that's saying something because the first one was amazing. However, Carmen Maria Machado outdoes herself with writing a short story that masquerades as a nonfiction essay into folklore surrounding the hand-games played in a place called Never-Again. A place marked by tragedy when all the children went missing and tigers massacred half of a town. I was totally convinced this was a real place and was confused when I looked up the text that kept being referenced. Gosh, this was such an impressive feat of narration and storytelling. Masterfully and the ending was superb. One of my new favorite short stories and I will be shouting about this one for quite some time.
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I waited until I finished the series to write my review. These were all short stories that focused on man versus nature scenarios. All with their own twists. I had read books by three of the six authors previous, and will be looking into a fourth. Earned the value of the monthly fee for my KU this time.
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4.5⭐️
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Short and perfect
I loved this short story. I could also easily gobble up a whole novel of this. Definitely can't wait to read more of Machado's work. Her writing is stellar. -
Does a disorienting, paranormal horror short story sound appealing to you? Then try this!
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no one blends academia, folklore, and horror like carmen maria machado
