Evergreen: Grim Tales & Verses from the Gloomy Northwest

by Sharma Shields (Editor), Maya Jewell Zeller (Editor), Keely Honeywell (Designer)

In this rich, shadowy, glittering anthology edited by Sharma Shields and Maya Jewell Zeller, 56 Northwest writers share their singular stories, essays, and poems that center what Shields calls "the literature of despair." These pages confront what is difficult in life with extraordinary precision and grace: In Beth Piatote's story "Secondary Infection," a Yakama auntie narrates the undoing of a lonely woman; in the essay "There Is No Story Until It Happens to You," Richard Fifield writes about a devastating car crash in the remote Montana northlands of his youth; in his series of poems, "During the Pandemic," Rick Barot reflects on fear, isolation, and hope as quarantine descends; in her visual poem, "The Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit: An Auto-Elegy," artist Mita Mahato mourns the decline of a fragile species and the terrors of human impact on the environment. In works that span themes from colonialism to environmentalism, from toxic masculinity to a loss of faith, the writers here unflinchingly address what makes us vulnerable, what makes us complex, what cleaves us and what connects us. As Zeller writes in the book's introduction, this ambitious anthology pushes us to "learn, memorize, and recite the songs sung by these regional voices, mapping us into a communal root system of evergreen selves."

Genres: Fiction, Poetry

377 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2021

About the author

Sharma Shields is the author of a short story collection, Favorite Monster, and two novels, The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac and The Cassandra. Sharma’s short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Electric Lit, Catapult, Slice, Slate, Fairy Tale Review, Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Fugue, and elsewhere and have garnered such prizes as the 2020 PNBA Award, 2016 Washington State Book Award, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a Grant for Artist Projects from Artist Trust, and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Washington (2000) and her MFA from the University of Montana (2004). Sharma runs a small press, Scablands Books, and is a contributing editor for Moss. A current employee of Wishing Tree Books in Spokane, Sharma has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington State. She lives with her husband (writer and graphic novelist Simeon Mills) and their two children.

Reviews

[Emily Migliazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is incredible, but I expect nothing less from Sharma Shields and Maya Jewel Zeller.

My favorite book this year, I think. I've already read "Coyote Story" to my kids and plan to have them read "A Mixtape on the Substance of Matter" to prepare for our Identity 'zine.

[Taylor Napolsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot of good material here, and I love the cover art and overall design of the book as a whole.

A standout piece was the one about the woman’s relationship with her mother who doesn’t believe in climate change—I forgot who wrote it and don’t have the book on hand at the moment I’m writing this review….

It’s also great the way there’s visual art mixed in with the poetry and prose.

Nice job, Scablands.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

These sort of theme anthologies can be a mixed bag, where some contributors follow the game plan, and others simply present a random piece from their pile of rejected submissions. To their great credit, editors Sharma Shields and Maya Jewell Zeller have defied the odds, and have published a collection that really steps up and delivers "Grim Tales & Verses from the Gloomy Northwest." Evergreen is consistently good throughout, and features several pieces that are quite a bit more than just good.

Having read the entire volume, the story that continues to haunt me is Alexis M. Smith's "Wormholes", a melancholy rumination on the female power of reproduction. But there are many other wonderful pieces in these pages, including several that feature strong indigenous voices and viewpoints. The mix of poetry and prose is very effective, such that each piece ends up reflecting and commenting on those that bookend it, gradually constructing an authentic portrait of the grim and gloomy Northwest. All of this is enhancend by the sparing yet magical graphic design work of Keely Honeywell.

Such a great collection overall, and one must give the last word to Tess Gallagher, who manages to hit the nail on the head in her "Instructions to the Double":

Go
To the temple of the poets, not
the one like a run-down country club
but the one on fire
with so much it wants
to be done with.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I read this book. It's a wonderfully varied look at the Northwest, sometimes spooky and fantastic, sometimes poignant, almost always interesting. Filled with poems, stories and essays, it's worth sharing with writers and non-writers alike, anyone who's interested in the Northwest.

[rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

some stories were interesting and enthralling, others were just meh. all fit into the theme very well, but at the same time, certain parts felt to similar and it took away the feelings of uniqueness between each author, style, and perspective

[Ann Ornie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best anthology I've ever read!

[J. Kropla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and gloomy collection that I will take with me and hold closely as I move out of the PNW.