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watch the whole goddamned thing burn
From the Nightscape Press Charitable Chapbooks line. One third of all sales of this chapbook will go to support Trans Lifeline!
Blood may be thicker than water, but fire destroys all.
Sammi Hayes is a Thai-American from a damaged family with a seriously ill mother, a naïve immigrant cousin, and a possessive ex-boyfriend. When her cousin meets an avoidably horrific fate and the person responsible gets off easy, Sammi embarks on a personal odyssey to set things straight. But getting justice might just bring a world of chaos beyond what she ever could have imagined.
From the author of glass slipper dreams, shattered comes a tale of identity, revenge, and the dark red hope of redemption in the face of horror and trauma.
Blood may be thicker than water, but fire destroys all.
Sammi Hayes is a Thai-American from a damaged family with a seriously ill mother, a naïve immigrant cousin, and a possessive ex-boyfriend. When her cousin meets an avoidably horrific fate and the person responsible gets off easy, Sammi embarks on a personal odyssey to set things straight. But getting justice might just bring a world of chaos beyond what she ever could have imagined.
From the author of glass slipper dreams, shattered comes a tale of identity, revenge, and the dark red hope of redemption in the face of horror and trauma.
- GenresHorror
40 pages, Paperback
Published May 28, 2019
142 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 2, 2020
My review of watch the whole goddamned thing burn can be found at High Fever Books.
It begins with an act of arson and the murder of her ex-boyfriend. What follows is an exploration of grief and the unraveling of all that came before, leading to this extreme act borne out of frustration, anger, trauma, and guilt.
watch the whole goddamned thing burn by doungjai gam is a powerful read, and its explorations of loss and revenge make for a riveting narrative. At only fifty pages, and featuring a handful of wonderful illustrations by Luke Spooner, it flies by quick. It’s short and punchy, and a wonderfully captivating character study.
I found gam’s central character, Sammi, a young Thai-American woman, to be richly complex, and her struggles deeply layered. Despite being raised in the US and completely Americanized by her mother, she’s still an outsider on multiple levels. Unlike her mother, Sammi doesn’t speak Thai, making conversation with her extended family difficult, and navigating a white, male dominated America as a young woman are further knocks against her.
Sammi never quite fits in, and gam tackles this sense of otherness with exceptional clarity. She’s a stranger in a strange land, despite being fully integrated, one that doesn’t fit in with either half of her own legacy as a Thai or as an American. watch the whole goddamned thing burn is empathetically rich, and presents an equally rich point-of-view. gam herself is also one hell of an author, and you can’t help but sense that she’s put a lot of herself on to the page with her emotionally layered prose. Sammi may make some extreme choices, but she’s never less than utterly sympathetic. You root for her, even as gam delivers a few solid blows to your core, and by the end of this chapbook I was deeply shaken. Like I said earlier, it’s powerful stuff, and gam is clearly an author to watch out for. She’s cunning and, when she needs to be, brutal as hell, and this slim book sneaks up on you with its knives out. You won’t notice how deeply it’s cut you until you’re already bleeding.
watch the whole goddamned thing burn is among the latest batch of entries in Nightscape Press’s line of signed, limited charitable chapbooks, with a third of the money raised from its sales being donated to an author-selected charity. Although she is not a trans author herself, gam writes in her message to the reader that at least one of her friends was helped during a moment of crisis by the Trans Lifeline organization, and that she supports her “brothers and sisters in their journey to be recognized for the beautiful loving human being that they are.” Once all 100 copies of watch the whole goddamned thing burn have sold, a total of $1000 will be donated to Trans Lifeline, with additional proceeds to be made from the sale of each ebook, which will be released once the limited number of chapbooks have been exhausted. The print edition of this chapbook is available for purchase now, direct from Nightscape Press.
It begins with an act of arson and the murder of her ex-boyfriend. What follows is an exploration of grief and the unraveling of all that came before, leading to this extreme act borne out of frustration, anger, trauma, and guilt.
watch the whole goddamned thing burn by doungjai gam is a powerful read, and its explorations of loss and revenge make for a riveting narrative. At only fifty pages, and featuring a handful of wonderful illustrations by Luke Spooner, it flies by quick. It’s short and punchy, and a wonderfully captivating character study.
I found gam’s central character, Sammi, a young Thai-American woman, to be richly complex, and her struggles deeply layered. Despite being raised in the US and completely Americanized by her mother, she’s still an outsider on multiple levels. Unlike her mother, Sammi doesn’t speak Thai, making conversation with her extended family difficult, and navigating a white, male dominated America as a young woman are further knocks against her.
Sammi never quite fits in, and gam tackles this sense of otherness with exceptional clarity. She’s a stranger in a strange land, despite being fully integrated, one that doesn’t fit in with either half of her own legacy as a Thai or as an American. watch the whole goddamned thing burn is empathetically rich, and presents an equally rich point-of-view. gam herself is also one hell of an author, and you can’t help but sense that she’s put a lot of herself on to the page with her emotionally layered prose. Sammi may make some extreme choices, but she’s never less than utterly sympathetic. You root for her, even as gam delivers a few solid blows to your core, and by the end of this chapbook I was deeply shaken. Like I said earlier, it’s powerful stuff, and gam is clearly an author to watch out for. She’s cunning and, when she needs to be, brutal as hell, and this slim book sneaks up on you with its knives out. You won’t notice how deeply it’s cut you until you’re already bleeding.
watch the whole goddamned thing burn is among the latest batch of entries in Nightscape Press’s line of signed, limited charitable chapbooks, with a third of the money raised from its sales being donated to an author-selected charity. Although she is not a trans author herself, gam writes in her message to the reader that at least one of her friends was helped during a moment of crisis by the Trans Lifeline organization, and that she supports her “brothers and sisters in their journey to be recognized for the beautiful loving human being that they are.” Once all 100 copies of watch the whole goddamned thing burn have sold, a total of $1000 will be donated to Trans Lifeline, with additional proceeds to be made from the sale of each ebook, which will be released once the limited number of chapbooks have been exhausted. The print edition of this chapbook is available for purchase now, direct from Nightscape Press.
April 21, 2022
“Her brain could lecture her all it wanted, but the heart would have to heal in its own fractured manner.”
How much can one girl handle? Sammi deals with the looks and derogatory comments made about her mother who was from Thailand and couldn’t speak very good English. She grieves over her cousins death. Now her abusive boyfriend is out of juvenile detention and demanding her to come back to him.
She takes action into her own hands things spiral out of control.
This poor kid. All I wanted was for something to go right for her.
How much can one girl handle? Sammi deals with the looks and derogatory comments made about her mother who was from Thailand and couldn’t speak very good English. She grieves over her cousins death. Now her abusive boyfriend is out of juvenile detention and demanding her to come back to him.
She takes action into her own hands things spiral out of control.
This poor kid. All I wanted was for something to go right for her.
Read
March 2, 2020A short, heart-wrenching story of grief that pulls you in.
April 5, 2020
Intense and emotionally brutal. Full review soon on CDOnline.
January 25, 2020
"This is a dream that ends in nothingness. Let me have this last thought"
I had been looking forward to reading this since I first heard of its pending publication. My need to read it intensified after hearing Gam read a portion at the Wyrd: A Horror Reading Event back in June of 2019 (Koto, Salem MA). I remember clearly how passionately she read, each word increasingly nuanced. I also remember the look of pride in the eyes of her fiance as she appeared to shed the shyness so many amazing writers seem to have when speaking in front of a crowd.
The protagonist is a completely believable character, one you cannot help but feel for - who embarks on a short but swift journey of revenge without fully contemplating the consequences of her actions, no matter how justified those actions may have been.
The cover, and interior illustrations are superb, adding incredible depth to this story.
Watch the whole goddamned thing burn will move you, as it did me...and this bleak, quick read (it is a chap book) was a gut-punch, and will stay with me for a long time.
Be sure to read Doungjai's other amazing collection - Glass slipper dreams, shattered (Apokrupha, August 2018), readily available in e-book and paperback format via Amazon (or even better, but a copy direct!)
I had been looking forward to reading this since I first heard of its pending publication. My need to read it intensified after hearing Gam read a portion at the Wyrd: A Horror Reading Event back in June of 2019 (Koto, Salem MA). I remember clearly how passionately she read, each word increasingly nuanced. I also remember the look of pride in the eyes of her fiance as she appeared to shed the shyness so many amazing writers seem to have when speaking in front of a crowd.
The protagonist is a completely believable character, one you cannot help but feel for - who embarks on a short but swift journey of revenge without fully contemplating the consequences of her actions, no matter how justified those actions may have been.
The cover, and interior illustrations are superb, adding incredible depth to this story.
Watch the whole goddamned thing burn will move you, as it did me...and this bleak, quick read (it is a chap book) was a gut-punch, and will stay with me for a long time.
Be sure to read Doungjai's other amazing collection - Glass slipper dreams, shattered (Apokrupha, August 2018), readily available in e-book and paperback format via Amazon (or even better, but a copy direct!)
August 28, 2020
This was a tragic, heart-wrenching, and all around beautiful read.
Every word moved along this little tale of loss, and hurt a bit more than the last.
Every word moved along this little tale of loss, and hurt a bit more than the last.
September 30, 2025
Damn, that was tight, sad, tense and just so good.
November 17, 2021
I heard that doungjai gam was an emotional, passionate writer of characters with raw emotions and I had been looking to read some of her work. This one has proceeds to a good cause.
I love supporting diverse women authors and what better way than when Nightscape Press announced she’d have a chapbook coming out in their charity series! I’d get to buy a good story, support her, AND support her cause that proceeds of this book would go to - to help trans people. Win-win.
Well, I more than won purchasing this because I got to read a fabulous story. With lovely illustrations by Luke Spooner to offer visuals, this story rocks you from the start with her character’s pain. It starts in the “after” events, turns to the past so that we see what happened, then comes full force back to the end. The rage and anger on the page is palpable. The hurt from her Thai main character is one that many teens of immigrant families must feel in America. It’s a heartbreaking look into inadequate mother and daughter relationships. It’s a look into life struggles in which people just see no other way out sometimes and go up in flames.
This was a fast read and worth it! It’s hard to say you enjoy reads Iike this, and I know how that is as I write a bit as she does, but I found it heartbreaking, harrowing, and poignant. That’s what we can ask from a good read sometimes - to feel. I also found the look into Thai culture/vocabulary compelling.
I highly recommend it!! Definitely put it on your list. I was meant to finish two other books before this, but I felt it calling to me! So it was also one of my #ladiesfirst21 choice (a challenge to read women first in 2021).
I love supporting diverse women authors and what better way than when Nightscape Press announced she’d have a chapbook coming out in their charity series! I’d get to buy a good story, support her, AND support her cause that proceeds of this book would go to - to help trans people. Win-win.
Well, I more than won purchasing this because I got to read a fabulous story. With lovely illustrations by Luke Spooner to offer visuals, this story rocks you from the start with her character’s pain. It starts in the “after” events, turns to the past so that we see what happened, then comes full force back to the end. The rage and anger on the page is palpable. The hurt from her Thai main character is one that many teens of immigrant families must feel in America. It’s a heartbreaking look into inadequate mother and daughter relationships. It’s a look into life struggles in which people just see no other way out sometimes and go up in flames.
This was a fast read and worth it! It’s hard to say you enjoy reads Iike this, and I know how that is as I write a bit as she does, but I found it heartbreaking, harrowing, and poignant. That’s what we can ask from a good read sometimes - to feel. I also found the look into Thai culture/vocabulary compelling.
I highly recommend it!! Definitely put it on your list. I was meant to finish two other books before this, but I felt it calling to me! So it was also one of my #ladiesfirst21 choice (a challenge to read women first in 2021).
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews