Customer Reviews

Mojo: Conjure Stories

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The introduction of Mojo: Conjure Stories warns the reader to beware, to adorn their protective beads, to pocket their jujubags and sets the stage for the mystical anthology contained therein. The novel, edited by Nalo Hopkinson, is comprised of nineteen short stories from noteworthy authors such as Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, and Barbara Hambly. All tales are colorful, creative, and rooted in "mojo" - a tricky, powerful, and dangerous magic with a West African flavor.

This is a diverse collection in that it traverses time to provide stories from the slave ships, the antebellum South, the Jim Crow era, the 1960's and even present day. Some stories are rooted in folklore, e.g. Andy Duncan's "Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull", while others address moral and societal issues such as incest, revenge, love, lust, and greed. One of my favorites is Barbara Hambly's "The Horsemen and The Morning Star" in which plantation slaves garner strength and call upon their ancestor's gods to ride their weary backs to fight the master's resurrection of the devil to save one of their own. Jarla Tangh's "The Skinned" references the recent Rowandan tragedy and delivers a powerful message against the backdrop of the modern American inner city. Another noteworthy mention is Jenise Aminoff's "Fate" in which a mother with the gift of sight tries desperately to alter her son's destiny and pays a high price in the end.

This reviewer found some stories a bit more challenging to follow than others, but believes there is enough variety in subject matter and writing style to satisfy even the most critical reader. This book covered multiple dimensions of conjuring: from using black magic to control spirits, outwitting the tricksters, initiating curses, belief in shape-shifting to the making and manipulation of zombies. It was an engaging and interesting read about a mystical and magical heritage. One can surely gain hours of reading pleasure with this book.

Phyllis
APOOO BookClub

I read Nalo Hopkinson's first novel, Brown in the Ring a while ago and have been a fan ever since. I like the way she reinvents Afro-Caribbean rhythms and traditions to her storytelling, especially in her short stories, but her anthology is good, too. There are wild stories in here that made me rethink my stance on 'mojo' and conjure. There are too many good stories to name, and I'm still reading, but I really like the Neil Gaiman story, the "Fate" story by Jenise Aminoff, Nisi Shawl's "Tawny B---," Marcia Douglas, and Sheree Renee Thomas. The only thing missing so far is a story from Nalo herself. Maybe next time!

Okay, everyone has heard it before about wicca, voodo, satanic rituals, all of that. Juju is the type of magic that takes very experienced people to do, and unlike most spell magic, like wicca's three fold rule (every spell you commit will come back to you 3times) Juju however has spells where you dont have to worry about coming back at ya. This book has sum excellent, chillin stories and makes you get goosbumps. Especially the story called "The Skinned" by Jarla Tangh, i see she is one worth watching her descriptions, use of worlds, and over all theme (won't spoil it, gotta read it to "feel" it) puts the reader in such a state to understand, and also get slightly jumpy at that. I tried seeing if Jarla wrote other novels, but i believe that this is her first publication, but from the story among the others, i can expect a awesome future nover coming from her. This is a great book if you are curious about Juju folklore, exploring the possibilty of praticing it or just learning, and if you want a good scary bone chilling story, please read I promise,you won't be disappointed.

Hopkins tastefully begins this consortium of tales by defining and distinguishing between religion and magic. She explains that "religion is an institutionalized system of spiritual beliefs...magic is the practice of altering the fated progression of events to suit one's desires." She then reminds us that magic is dangerous, and the ensuing stories support her statement.

From the Plateye, mischievous ghost who roam the earth changing shape and identity for deadly self-serving purposes, to the mysterious Udu pots that preserve, and don't forget Uncle Monday who steals souls...or Anansi, a trickster god disguised as an eight legged, wrinkled face spider, these conjured anomalies float through the pages of Mojo to form exquisite stories of characters performing self-serving magic. This anthology mixes modern fantasy with magic folklore and voodoo curses, the result being eerie and mysterious tales that spread your imagination and prickle the back of your neck.

Hopkins assembled an impressive reticulation of great writers. Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Barbara Hambly, and Marcia Douglas are just a few of the talented contributors. Barth Anderson's "Lark Till Dawn Princess" was the most intriguing to me. It was more mystery than mojo, and told of singing & performances in the alternative drag queen world. You'll love the point of view. Gregory Frost's "The Prowl" was among the cleverest because it is an explosive snatch of black history spun on vengeance. Denise Aminoff had the most daring and disturbing story. It reminded me of an early episode of the X-files.

If you enjoy the unknown, the far-reaching, and don't mind stretching beyond the familiar parameters of belief, you'll enjoy these conjure stories.

Reviewed by KaTrina Love (MissLove)
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

This book is really cool! I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaimen, so I'll buy anything with him in it. Tananarive Due's story rocked! And so did Barbara Hambly's! Asuquo, the story by a lesser known author named Nnedima Okorafor was very strange, but in a really good way. A very odd story. I'm glad to see that there are African writers writing about this sort of thing, too.

Rare are the anthologies and collections which do not depend on strong stories to carry a few weaker selections. MOJO: CONJURE STORIES is most certainly a rarity. Every story casts its own kind of spell on the reader, drawing in like sweetly scented smoke and making your head spin.

Look at just some of the Big Names Nalo Hopkinson has snared for this extraordinary volume: Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly. The other names you might not recognise yet, but their stories are going to send you scurrying off, trying to unearth more of their work.

Destined to place high on many top ten lists for 2003!

Canadian science fiction is hot, and Nalo Hopkinson is one of the hottest names. Here she has collected a number of tales dealing with voodoo, all the way from its African roots to modern day. Slavery and racism are all too obvious in these stories, but also resistance and hope. However brilliant they are as horror stories, and many of them are, they are also highly political. Behind the fictional horrors of duppies and plateyes lurks the very real horrors of slavery, poverty, ignorance, bigotry, and racism.
Another book that succeeds in combining fiction and fact.

A few of these fell kind of flat for me, but overall I found this to be a great collection. Oddly, my favorite of the bunch was Lark Till Dawn, Princess - the one about the drag queen. I say "oddly" because it was probably the least creepy out of a group of stories that generally seemed to be going for hella creepy. Instead it was campy, hilarious, and sweetly poignant.

The delightful nineteen contributions will widen the horizons of fans of magic, fantasy and horror with a prime focus on West African or African-American stories. The anthology covers a wide gamut within the genres and contains different methods to entertain the audience such as humor, satire, or suspense, etc. All the stories are well written, though adjustment to dialect can slow down some of the contributions albeit adding extra realism to the tale. A few stories are terrific. The author has an attention grabbing introduction starting with "Reader, Be Aware!" and if that Mojo don't hook you, Ms. Hopkinson needs stronger spells if any exist. Luisah Teish introduces the collection with an insightful look at MOJO so that along with entertaining short stories, the audience receives powerful magic.

Harriet Klausner