One of the things to come about as a result of 2009′s RaceFail arguments was the establishment of Verb Noire, a new publisher dedicated to publishing stories by members of under-represented groups. I thought it was a grand idea, and so I bought their first published story (River’s Daughter) last summer. However, an anthology they published in October ran into contract issues. Since then, Verb Noire’s web site and LiveJournal community have been quiet.
There exist numerous stories that follow the same basic outline as River’s Daughter: member of of magical race (e.g., fairies) is raised by humans, not knowing her or his heritage. The key plot point for Campbell’s story is that the human form for the magical race is black, and the human family raising her lives in a 1800s version of the American frontier. In other words, a highly racist society.
While the premise is good and I enjoyed the overall plot, the story lacks polish, having major plot flaws that kept me from really enjoying it. Certain plot points just didn’t hold together too well. For instance, the protagonist’s mother abandons her daughter to return to the land of magical beings. The explanation for why her mother didn’t return for her didn’t hold water. And the story lacks any kind of subtlety whatsoever. All the characters conduct themselves in a confrontational manner. The river of the title and washing in general is inexplicably considered bad by all the evil characters.
I was disappointed. I expected better.
Title: River’s Daughter
Author: Tasha Campbell
Imprint / publisher: Verb Noire
Format: PDF ebook
Length: 76 p.
Publication date: June 2009
This looks like a short book but you are on point – even short books need to be cohesive in plot. Thanks for the thoughtful review.