A Review of Tananarive Due's The Wishing Pool and Other Stories
By Ezekiel Greenwood

For many readers, horror is at once an escape from reality and an attempt to come to terms with it. Horror has historically been a genre in which social and political critique abound, revealing truths about society and humanity that perhaps we would rather keep secret. Tananarive Due’s most recent short story collection The Wishing Pool and Other Stories continues this tradition in earnest. Wishing Pool is Due’s second collection of short stories, offering fresh additions to her catalogue. Through sixteen stories, Due takes the reader on a journey through worlds both real and imagined, exploring themes of racism, isolation, grief, and familial trauma.
Wishing Pool is divided into four parts: “Wishes,” “The Gracetown Stories,” “The Nayima Stories,” and “Future Shock.” Wishes includes the titular story “The Wishing Pool,” which mirrors Due’s own experiences with her aging father. The Gracetown Stories includes a selection of stories that take place in the fictional Gracetown, also the setting of her acclaimed novel The Reformatory. The first two parts share many themes common to Southern Gothic horror. The second two are grounded in science fiction and Afrofuturism. The Nayima Stories imagines a pandemic that wipes out a significant portion of the population and ushers in a new era rife with new dangers. Future Shock includes the haunting stories “Ghost Ship” and “The Biographer,” which will leave readers nervous about a future full of disease and shady organizations.
Due constructs these stories to give readers just enough detail to conjure feelings of dread and despair, leaving out just enough for readers to feel thoroughly unsettled in their own imaginations. “Lord Jesus what’s wrong with me?” thinks one of Due’s characters, as her body refuses to let her stop dancing. Due withholds a direct answer. She leads the reader to the conclusion without forcing it upon them, allowing readers to envision any number of chilling possibilities on their own. Many of the stories effectively build tension to an ultimately unsatisfying ending, giving the collection a colloquial quality similar to any number of common campfire tales.
The folktale quality of Due’s work in Wishing Pool provides ground for grappling with the reality of police brutality, utilizing marginalized genres and styles as a lens for magnifying the ever-present perils of life in the United States. “Haint in the Window” is both heart-pounding and heartbreaking. Intertwined with bits of dry, dark humor and visions of ghostly haints, this story is relevant and impactful. Struggling to maintain the original character of his bookstore, Sankofa Books and Gifts, while still stocking books the increasingly white customer base will buy, Darryl’s problems only multiply when two police officers stop him, saying, “We’re keeping an eye out for a Black male.”
In part, Due’s stories have such depth because of her incorporation of details that draw from her and her family’s experiences as civil rights activists. Numerous stories grapple with themes of racism and police and civilian violence. Her father, Johnathan Dorsey Due, her mother, Patricia Stephens Due and her aunt, Priscilla Stephens Kruize were each heroes of the civil rights movement in Tallahassee. In all of Due’s work, there are numerous references to their (and her) experiences as activists. For readers interested in this side of Due, Freedom in the Family is coauthored by her and her mother and Due’s short story “The Rider” in Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele, are excellent selections. Of course, John Due makes a significant appearance in The Reformatory as well.
Family is a theme to which Due constantly returns. “The Wishing Pool” forces readers to grapple with the same emotions Due experienced before visiting her father, unsure of his mental state after his dementia diagnosis. This story is a stand-out, offering a fresh twist on a classic theme (similar to The Good House, her quintessential haunted house novel). Again, Due’s colloquial voice lends depth and texture to the story. Easy prose and natural dialogue make each character feel fully fleshed out and real. Her ability to make readers care for and relate to numerous characters showcases the effectiveness of horror for social and personal commentary, once again proving Due a master of the genre. For those who have not previously read from Due’s body of work, this collection offers an introduction to her style and character-creating ability.
“Ghost Ship,” “Attachment Disorder,” and “Shopping Day” all explore how future humans might care for each other in times of immense trauma and isolation. In these stories, the isolation stems from disease. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fear is all the more palpable. Although Due utilizes her prose to highlight various injustices, she also offers us a. reprieve as human connection allows her various characters to make it through the unthinkable. While fighting to survive a pandemic or fighting to survive in its aftermath; being left for dead on a ship full of disease—whether it is parents, children, siblings, or romantic partners—relationships offer solace and comfort in times of great adversity. As the unnamed Mom in “Shopping Day” says, “We’re together now. . .Let’s see what’s next.”
Through this collection, Due further cements her own place as a giant of the genre. While still adhering to much folkloric horror tradition, Due’s life and family experience in activism and organizing provide needed texture in the landscape of the horror genre. Through this, although The Wishing Pool certainly presents the darkest possible scenario at times, Due gives us a light at the end of the tunnel in these seemingly aphotic times—community and family.
TANANARIVE DUE is an award-winning author of numerous works. She has produced and written for the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She also teaches courses on Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA.
EZEKIEL GREENWOOD (he/they) is a first-year MA student in FSU’s Literature, Media, and Culture program.
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