ART

CO-EDITORS KAY SABERTON & CHLOE SHAWCROSS

Small Steps

BY CHLOE SHAWCROSS

It’s the small steps The silent steps The ones no one sees you take That mean the most It’s all the little things That add up The things that make you go from Why today why To you know what, I can’t wait for tomorrow Sometimes it’s eating in a public place again Sometimes it’s letting someone physically near you Sometimes it’s you know what I have to be here so I can see who wins this show It’s looking in the mirror and not glaring or tearing at your reflection It’s answering a question in class that you know instead of being silent It’s looking up and seeing a beautiful world saying I can’t wait to see the flowers bloom It’s saying I can’t control what happened or how I was born But saying I deserve happiness no matter what anyone says It’s saying it’s OK to not be OK Saying that steps are steps no matter their size

Ways to Diversify Your Reading

BY ROSIE WEDGE

One of my main goals for 2020 was to diversify my reading. Instead of just reading high fantasy after high fantasy after high fantasy (you get the picture), I wanted to try other genres. Not only this, but I made a conscious effort to diversify my books based on their representation, their authors, and their format. As you will see, I have really branched out, and I think it’s important for other people to as well. So, here are five ways you can diversify your reading, and a few of my favourite recommendations to get you started! 1. READ BOOKS BY AUTHORS OF COLOUR AND/OR WITH BAME REPRESENTATION Now more than ever, we should be striving to educate ourselves on racial equality. In turn, this helps us understand what we can do to make change. Some of my favourite reads, particularly YA books, feature people of colour as the leading protagonists. These types of own-voices novels allow me to read some fantastic stories whilst also learning a lot and reforming the way I think. White authors are also increasingly more privileged than authors of colour in the publishing industry in terms of their pay and marketing amongst other things, so if we can strive to support authors of colour by reading their books and sharing them on our social medias, we can start pushing towards equality in the publishing industry. RECOMMENDATIONS: Clap When You Land, A Song Below Water, You Should See Me in A Crown, A River of Royal Blood.

2. READ BOOKS WITH LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION In previous articles, I have often spoken about books that include LGBTQ+ representation, and the importance of showing stories other than those of cis white heterosexual characters. These stories do not have to be romance either; any book that strives to normalise and include queer representation is a fantastic one to read and support. It’s important that we try to allow everyone to see themselves and their experiences represented in literature, and again, to educate others on how to be more supportive and understanding, which goes a long way to help normalise a natural, normal thing. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Priory of the Orange Tree, Girl, Serpent Thorn, All Boys Aren’t Blue, The Black Flamingo, Felix Ever After. 4. READ NON-FICTION AND OWN-VOICES BOOKS As well as reading books with BAME and LGBTQ+ representation, one of my favourite ways to educate myself on the problems the world still faces is by reading biographies and informational books. Whether they have focused on gender equality, racism, immigration, or other issues, I have read a lot of books this year that really changed my perspective of the world, and opened my eyes to so many injustices that deserve attention but just don’t get the appropriate action they deserve. RECOMMENDATIONS: In the Country We Love, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Not That Bad.

3. READ TRANSLATED WORK I feel like one of the most overlooked areas of reading diversely is reading translated works. It’s so easy to forget that there are thousands of other stories being told out there that are very likely inspired by unique and interesting cultures, that we don’t think to touch upon. I gave myself a goal of reading at least one translated work a month, and so far, I’ve been surpassing it. One of them was the first four instalments of The Witcher, a Polish high fantasy series, that is 100% going to end up as my new favourite series if it carries on as fantastically as it has been so far!

RECOMMENDATIONS: The Witcher, Les Miserables, The Vegetarian, The Count of Monte Cristo. 5. READ GRAPHIC NOVELS, COMICS AND MANGA Instead of just changing the content of the stories you digest, why not try to change the format you consume them in? Graphic novels and manga have overtaken my reading this year, and I am yet to read one I didn’t like. These are especially great if you want to try and read more, but struggle to focus on lots of heavily-worded stories; the beautiful artwork really takes the strain off!

RECOMMENDATIONS: Tokyo Ghoul, Heartstopper, Through the Woods, Saga, Fence, Nimona, Voices in the Dark.

Mexican Gothic

BY JAMES WILLIAMS

Mexican Gothic is a gothic horror novel that follows Noemí Taboada. After she receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin, Catalina, filled with talk of ghostly visions and claims that her husband is poisoning her, Noemí goes to investigate and heads for High Place; a remote mansion in the Mexican countryside which soon invades Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom, and as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

Even though Mexican Gothic is only 301 pages long, do not be fooled into thinking this is just a quick, somewhat light read you can breeze through. The story is saturated in a dark and creepy atmosphere that keeps tension throughout. I’m not one that gets scared by books often, but this one got me to the point I avoided reading it at night with how freaked out some of the scenes had me. For some other readers, I know they’ve not found it as horrific since they focused more on the classic horror tropes that appear (e.g. gore, violence, ghosts etc.) but the prevalence that racism and eugenics have within this story are what elevates the level of horror within this novel for me with how unsettling it was to read about especially with my perspective of someone who is of mixed race. However, Silvia has done a great job at using that within this story and genre to make a wider commentary on the racist treatment the Latinx community has had to endure.

If you want a horror that follows a badass Latina that wields her intelligence and femininity as weapons, kicks down the doors on gender expectations, and embraces her culture with pride in the face of racism, then you will no doubt love Noemí! When I first started the book, I was wondering whether Noemí would be someone I’d love or hate; at the start it felt as if she could have gone either way for me, but fortunately she soon proved me wrong in doubting her likability. Despite the confidence she shows to the world you get the insight of seeing how shaken she becomes at times and the toll her time at High Place has come to affect her mentally, yet she still faces things head on. Her resilience was amazing throughout and every step of the way you’re rooting for her.

In horror films and tv shows you can have those moments where reality and fantasy start to meld into one another and leave you disorientated, not knowing what’s real and what isn’t. This isn’t a feature I’ve seen that many times in books I’ve read, let alone successfully, however, Silvia’s writing manages to do it brilliantly! I never knew where things stood, what happened and what didn’t, who to trust and who not to trust. The confusion not only had me sat clutching my head muttering ‘what the heck?!?’ repeatedly as I tried to get my head around things, but left me in awe of how well Silvia had managed to blur the lines between what was meant to be real and what wasn’t. Not only did she manage to do that on a scene level, Silvia managed to blur those lines of realism and supernatural with the entire story.

Review

It may sound confusing with the way I’m describing it, and although it may be at first, things level out again and become clearer as the story goes on.

Overall, I ended up loving this even more than I expected to! If you’re a lover of the Gothic/horror genre, love beautifully crafted writing, and a more diverse take on a well-loved genre and a story that also has its own unique spin on things, this is definitely one I would highly recommend you pick up! TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR MEXICAN GOTHIC:

Anxiety, Alcohol, Violence, Depictions of Blood/gore, Being buried alive, Colonialism, Cannibalism, Mention of crib deaths, Mentioned death of a parent, Domestic abuse, Drowning, Drug use, Drug overdose, On page death, Death by fire, Mention of divorce, Mention of epilepsy, Eugenics, Gaslighting, Forced Marriages, Incest, Murder, Mass murder, Mass shooting, Mental abuse, Miscarriages, Misogyny, Mental illness, Nightmares, Objectification, Poverty, Implied physical abuse (parental), Paedophilia, Racism, Mention of rape and attempted rape, Suicide and attempted suicide, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, On page seizure, Self-harm, Suffocation, Mention of stillbirth.

Interview with SNAP WINNER: Bradley Garnham

‘The Student New Angle Prize is a competition partnered with the New Angle Prize for Literature, a national book award for published authors. SNAP is an annual event and offers all students of the University of Suffolk the chance to enter by submitting 500 words of original writing as prose or poetry. Like the New Angle Prize, all entries must either be set in or clearly influenced by our East Anglian region.

The SNAP competition offers a chance to hear new voices in the region and encourages students to add to the literary representations of the region which continue to make East Anglia such an important place for art and literature and poetry. Every year a different judge is invited to join the panel. For this year the judge was honorary graduate, novelist and actress Esther Freud.’

SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF SUFFOLK’S WEBSITE

1. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE WINNER OF THE 2021 SNAP AWARD? I think I would best describe the feeling as satisfying. Not necessarily because I was fortunate enough to win, but more regarding the progression of my SNAP entries, given that I was shortlisted my first year, runner up my second, and the winner in my final year at university. It’s a nice little progression.

2. WAS THERE A PARTICULAR LOCATION OR MEMORY THAT INSPIRED YOUR STORY? I chose to focus on the town of Dunwich, just north of Sizewell, that was progressively washed into the sea, with the ghost story surrounding it saying that you can sometimes hear the bells of the ruined churches. While I certainly dramatized it a bit, the story itself was entirely true – I did hear the bells at Dunwich many years ago, when I was walking with my Grandma along the shore.

INTERVIEW

4. ARE YOU INSPIRED BY ANYONE IN PARTICULAR IN YOUR WRITING? (WRITER OR OTHERWISE) No. I wish I could give you a more substantial answer than that but… no, I am not. I write simply because I enjoy it. Being good at it is just a happy coincidence.

5. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO FUTURE ENTRANTS OF SNAP? Listen to music that suits the tone of your piece as you write it. If I could have a certain track play in people’s heads as they read, I absolutely would. Seeing as I can’t, writing it with the music in the background is the next best thing.

3. WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS LIKE? (DO YOU PLAN YOUR STORIES OR JUST WRITE FREELY?) It depends entirely on what I’m writing. Short stories like this are best done freely, and ironed out once you’ve hit a reasonable ending. Longer work or anything with a substantial plot is much easier to build upon when you know where it has to go, so I always plan that ahead of time. That is, when I’m not procrastinating like I am right now (I’ll get one of my novels finished eventually).

INTERVIEWED BY ROSE GANT, ENGLISH UNDERGRADUATE AND LIFE AT SUFFOLK STUDENT BLOGGER.

HTTPS://WWW.UOS.AC.UK/ CONTENT/STUDENT-NEWANGLE-PRIZE

BY BRADLEY GARNHAM THE SINGING TIDES

My grandmother once led me along a winding coastal path, one windy winter’s morning many years ago. There was a cold and quiet mist about us as we trudged along the beach, accompanied by a biting wind which nipped our necks and hands. I watched in quiet envy as her dog bounced across the surf and shore, oblivious to the chill which had me burrowed in my coat. Perhaps through spite or boredom, as we shuffled on our way, I occasionally grabbed a rock or stone and tossed it to the water, listening as it splashed into the frigid sea. I was unaware of what this broken coast had lost already. Unaware that murky waters sometimes throw things back.

I didn’t notice it at first, in fact I hardly noticed it at all. A soft and subtle song that rose up from the depths, sailing inwards with the waves and onwards past the hills, before it faded gently into the marshy fields beyond. The tune was faint and distant, like the memory of a memory. Some dark and ancient sound that had long since been forgot. A chorus of discordant bells, unlike anything I’d heard before, who sang with many voices, some who whispered, some who roared. It froze me in an instant and forced my gaze towards the water, staring out into the haze to find its unseen source. The mists began to thicken as their ghostly chiming grew. Bong… tolled the bells, rising quickly from the sea. Bong… they came again, growing louder than before. Bong… those voices cried, from their graves beneath the shore.

I felt the world grow cold and dim, as shadows smothered light, guided by the music to some dark and wretched place. A torrent thundered from above as the waves began to roil, jagged bolts of lightning giving form to the figures in the gloom. Suddenly there stood a town, where nothing stood before, laid bare beneath the rolling storm and helpless in its wake. The bells were screaming through the night, as people fled their homes, only to be caught and dragged into the raging sea. I watched as houses splintered and as mighty buildings fell, as towers built to honour god were taken in his wrath. This is what they sang of, this calamity that came. Of the greed and hunger of this beast that swallowed everything it found; their memories of all they’d lost, and would never see again.

I felt my grandma tug my hand, and I snapped back to her side, awoken from a trance I never noticed I was in. I never spoke of what I heard, or thought I had that day. Even now it frightens me to wonder what it was. Because, I know that I heard something, on that quiet, forlorn shore. Some sad, forgotten music, made by sad, forgotten things. The distant chime of ancient bells, that called out from the depths. A mournful dirge for those long past, who’ll ring them nevermore.