Review of Born Under A Bad Sign by Sharo Velasco
I’ll start this review by saying I haven’t Arya book review since college, which (to preserve my mystique) I shall simply say was more than some years ago. I wasn’t particularly good at writing them then, either. It was simply required as part of my English degree. My brain tends to shut off when asked to engage critically with art, and wants to confine itself to comments such as “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it”. However, I am particularly proud of my 9th grade literary analysis of The Scarlet Letter, in which I opined that the Puritans disliked the forest because it was where The Foe, aka The Devil, rests. I know I can’t top such insight with this review, but hopefully you’ll at least be swayed to purchase this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed Born Under A Bad Sign by Sharo Velasco. It’s a collection of short stories with accompanying illustrations. I first encountered Sharo through their Twitter account @eldritchcircus, where they share art, especially their OC Grim the clown. Some of the stories in this collection are set in the same universe as Grim. According to a tweet from Sharo, there are three of them, but I could only suss out one so far (“An Artist’s Correspondence”). However, three of the stories in particular stood out to me, and I’d like to discuss those.
The first is “the universe wants you dead”, which happens to be the first story in the collection, and has a strong opening:
“It starts with the elevators. The ones in your building are first, and that makes sense. They’ve had a long time to get to know and hate you.”
The story then relays the increasing hostility directed at the protagonist by the world at large. If you’ve ever suffered from mental illness, as I have, this story will sting. Although in real life, we usually can convince ourselves the universe isn’t out to get us, the protagonist doesn’t have that luxury in the face of unrelenting bad luck.
“An Artist’s Correspondence” is an epistolary story between two artists. What begins as a simple request for help attaining grant money turns into a theory of art connecting not only human cultures, but also unearthly ones. It’s reminiscent in the best ways of Lovecraft and Margaret Murray’s The Witch Cult in Western Europe. It left me itching for more world building in this universe.
“NEW HIRE HANDBOOK” made me laugh so loudly as I read it clandestinely in my cubicle that it drew the concern of my coworkers. Personally, I love anything with sinister corporations trying to cover their misdeeds with ominous positivity. It reminded me of StrexCorp from Welcome to Night Vale, and the Krusty Krab training video from SpongeBob SquarePants. And I mean that as the highest compliment. Also, I really want the “Mondays Are Monderful!” artwork that goes with the story to hang up in my own cubicle.
I loved this book. I have the attention span of a goldfish nowadays, and this held my interest. It’s a quick read, but still feels satisfying. I hope to read more from this author in the future, and I’d love to see a print version of this book someday.
Follow Sharo Velasco on Twitter @eldritchcircus and @SharoArtist.