Skin Folk. (fiction reviews).

Skin Folk
by Nalo Hopkinson
Aspect, December 2001, $12.95
ISBN 0-446-67803-1

Following her pioneering anthology of Caribbean short stories about the supernatural, Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root, Nalo Hopkinson, who also wrote Brown Girl in the Ring and Midnight Robber, weaves a different web of fabulist tales in Skin Folk.

In this collection of short stories of the fantastical, Hopkinson (see "Black Writers Bring a Different Perspective to Sci-Fi," page 28) shows the range of her storytelling talent. The 15 shorts span cultures from the Caribbean to Canada, with various themes that ask the question, "What lies beneath?"

Hopkinson herself provides "an apt metaphor to use for these stories collectively": "Throughout the Caribbean, under different names, you'll find stories about people who aren't what they seem. Skin gives these skin folk their human shape. When the skin comes off, their true selves emerge," she says. "And always, whatever the burden their skins bear, once they remove them--once they get under their own skins--they can fly."

Throughout her stories, Hopkinson deftly explores the twin themes of being bound and being free. In "Greedy Choke Puppy," three generations of soucouyants (clairvoyants) are haunted by both the ultimate freedom that comes from shedding their skin and flying off into the night, and their driving need for the life-breath of babies to sustain their own existence. "Something to Hitch Meat To" highlights the extent to which a person is perceived by outward appearance. In "Tan-Tan and Dry Bone," a young girl disregards warnings and tries to help a seemingly decrepit old man only to find that she has picked up a burden. In "Snake," a pedophile, who has mastered the art of being inconspicuous around his victims so that "mostly [people] didn't much notice him," is unmasked and brutally attacked in a scene reminiscent of the most gruesome in literary tradition.

Hopkinson's multilayered stories are enriched by her candid and informative introductions. With each stroke of her pen, she draws a thinner line between the natural and supernatural worlds. Skin Folk is a welcome addition to the genre of science/ speculative fiction.

--Denolyn Carroll is an editor at Essence.