Mysterion, July 2023
“The Cockatrice Den” by Joanna Michal Holt
“The Church of the UPC” by Jeff Hewitt
Reviewed by Seraph
The timeliness of both these stories was impossible to ignore, and neither author shied away from presenting things that, in certain parts of the modern world could easily land them in prison or worse. Much is said in the West about speaking truth to power, but it takes far more courage to do so when there is a very real threat of retaliation.
“The Cockatrice Den” by Joanna Michal Hoyt
Hoyt takes aim at the very human cost of war, and at one current war quite specifically. The war is not named, but the setting is modern and I do not believe that anyone who is familiar with current events would mistake the countries involved. Kazimir was a soldier in this war, one who survived to make it home at great cost to himself and others. There is a fantasy element to the story drawn from medieval Polish myth, but it reads almost like a trauma-induced fever-dream than a reality. There is a pain like an open wound that courses throughout the writing, begging for you to stop and listen. There are few words to convey the horrors of war, nor the price that is paid by those who survive it, so it is a daunting task to begin with and a harder one to review. Authenticity is certainly one metric, and in that sense this falls short… it feels more the imagining of someone who has never seen war. But by that different metric it is quite successful, enough so that my own experiences with the military came to the surface and gave me much to contemplate. This is a great credit to a writer.
“The Church of the UPC” by Jeff Hewitt
Reverend Ruby Paige is an android living in the (possibly near) future who has every cause to hate humans. She was designed as a pleasure doll, but subjected to the very worst impulses of those she was made to serve. In her lowest moment, she found the faith that she now preaches, and for that she and her church are hated and eventually burned to the ground. Being an android, she survives what few if any in the real world do not, but that does not in any way diminish the power of the writing nor of the triumph at the end. This story unapologetically speaks to the plight of Christians, Muslims, and people of other faiths alike across the world who are being persecuted in a very real way for believing something other than what their governments and even neighbors demand of them. Even beyond that, though… it speaks of those who have found mercy and peace after a life of being used and discarded by those who fail the very basic test of humanity: to treat others not as lesser, but as fellow souls.