Book Review: And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel
Title: And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel
Edited by: Patrick Barb
Release date: January 14th, 2025
*Huge thanks to Patrick Barb for a digital ARC of this one!*
As long as I can remember, music has been an integral part of my life. I’m not ashamed to say that there’s been times music has literally saved my life and when I’ve been at my lowest of low moments, I’ve turned to music. When a song can take me somewhere, whether the lyrics relate specifically to that moment – and at times they’re not even in English – it forever sticks with me. When I was traveling to Lac La Biche, Alberta to say my goodbyes to my aunt, CCR ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’ played literally everywhere. I can still hear it playing in the Kelowna Airport, on the airplane when we landed in Calgary to transfer planes, in the van driving to my aunt and uncles house and again in the hospital when we were visiting my aunt. And wouldn’t you know it, the song was playing a million times on the trip home.
I had a similar experience a few years ago when I took our believed American Bulldog OJ to the vet for the final time. On the drive there, Rod Stewart’s ‘Forever Young’ was playing. It was on again at the vet’s. And when I left without him, I was trying to keep it together, so I changed the radio channel, not wanting to listen to anything else while driving. And sure enough, the scheduled show on the sports talk channel used ‘Forever Young’ as it’s intro music. SERIOUSLY!
Music is the lifeblood of our emotions, our memories and brings people together like nothing else.
Saying all of that, before I read this anthology, I’d heard of Neutral Milk Hotel, but had never really listened to them. After reading this, I popped onto Youtube and listened through a dozen songs, recognizing a bunch of them. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan, but I can absolutely see why they’ve created the cult following they have and why it was that Patrick Barb got together over a dozen authors for this anthology based on the band’s songs.
What I liked: The level of talent on display here is world class, but it was also refreshing to see a lot of newer names to me and up-and-coming names as well. It wasn’t the standard TOC that everybody always sees when a new anthology is announced and you can practically guess the first twelve authors announced every single time.
There were a lot of very solid stories, but there were a few that really stood out.
The opening story, ‘Untitled’ by Lilah Lawson was easily the perfect choice to open the anthology. It’s not only the most eerie story, but in this readers mind, the best story within. It follows a woman who decides that she’s going to become a ghost and goes about remembering her life, why she decides being a ghost is the best way forward. The ending to this story showcases what each story is going to deliver, but none of them do it as pristinely as Lawson did. Haunting and atmospheric, which is exactly what I want in a well crafted song.
‘The Clown King in Yellow’ by Joe Koch is another perfect example of why you should be reading Joe’s work. Joe’s work is always powerful and pushes the boundaries of where a story can go. It’s like the first time you see a comic book artist draw part of the image outside of the frame. The story follows a family that changes their memorial celebration into a Halloween party of sorts and as the night goes on, things grower tenser and tenser. It works so very well and if it wasn’t for Lawson’s phenomenal piece, this would’ve been my favorite.
‘The Garden Head’ by Brian Evenson. Good friggin’ lord. Is there nothing that Evenson can’t make creepy? This story had me tucking the blankets around my feet and making sure the closet doors remained closed. A person finds a path. They follow it. They find some gates and a transcendental event occurs. That’s about all I can say without really spoiling it, but holy wow was this unnerving.
Throughout, the stories weave and work there ways into the readers brain and I can really see fans of the band absolutely raving about this anthology for years to come.
What I didn’t like: If you know my reading tastes, you’ll know I struggle with epistolary storytelling, and there were a number of those stories within that I just couldn’t connect with.
As well, though I think you can really enjoy and experience this batch of stories without being familiar with the band, there are definitely Easter eggs and song lyrics within that fans of the band will embrace and enjoy that much more.
Why you should buy this: Fans of the band will definitely eat this up and hold these stories high within their reading lives. Those who’re not familiar with the music but are familiar with the authors will be very, very happy with what is delivered here. And those readers, who simply enjoy anthologies and anthologies around music will most likely find their new favorite short story within.
Solid, balanced and (as evidenced by the amazing foreword) respectful of the source material, Barb has done an amazing job with this anthology.
5/5
