The Night Alphabet

There are books in a person’s life that helps to define their taste in genres. I was lucky enough in my teenage years to work my way through some of the classics of science fiction instilling a lifelong love of the genre. One novel that stands out among the best was Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, a collection of ethereal feeling science fiction stories based around the body of a tattooed man. Joelle Taylor has their take on this concept in The Night Alphabet, an anthology of stories that may be considered even more eclectic than Bradbury’s originals. 

Almost two centuries from now a woman walks into a tattoo parlour in London. She knows the artist and their assistant, but they do not know the tattooed woman. She has a simple ask of them, connect all the tattoos on her body with a simple line. As the tattoo artist moves from design to design, the woman tells a story about the origins of the tattoo. You see, these are not just images, but representations of past and future lives, lives that the woman has lived many times over. 

Taylor is a poet, and this is their first work of full fiction. Science Fiction is a great genre for a poet to start in, as it lends itself to a style that take a reader out of themselves. This book may be prose, but it certainly has the heart of a poet. The descriptions alone force the reader to turn them around in their mind, it can take 50 pages or so to get used to the style. The closest I have come across before is a lyrical poetic take on a Phillip Marlowe style noir. 

The ethereal prose is reflected in the narrative. This is a set of connected short stories, with the tattooed woman at the centre. Their story is progressed after each short story is completed. The concept is not simply a group of random lives, but a thread that connects them all, the woman’s ability to drop into the lives of others both past and present.  

Some of the narrative voices are too similar across stories. The tattooed woman is meant to fully immerse themselves in their new life, so why do so many of the character appear to think in the same way? It is only in a couple of tales that the voice is obviously different, usually because Taylor wants the character to be less sympathetic. In a set of disconnect stories this would not have been an issue, but the core concept begs for each new life to have its own dominion. 

The concept allows for stories of all types, some are science fiction, whilst others are historic. As all are narrated from a form of time traveller, they are inherently Sci Fi but take them out of context and place them in another anthology and they would just be fiction. For instance, a powerful tale about 19th century miners. This story is about the woman left behind when the husband dies, how they are treated and what they are forced to do. It is heartfelt, tragic, and thought provoking. 

These are the touch words for most of the stories in Night Alphabet, that and that they are all powerful tales about woman. The tales are unforgiving and cover subjects such as sex workers, a tale of ownership of one’s womb in the future, online trolls. The tales may be set 100 years in the future or the past, but they cover topics that are relevant today. 

The impactful subject matter and prose style means that the book is not an easy read, but it is one that will stay with you. Illustrated Man was a tricky read and Night Alphabet follows that trend, and in both cases, it is certainly worth the effort. Night Alphabet is the type of book that will speak to readers on various levels. There are those that will take the tales personally, whilst other will feel distant, but be forced to reflect on themselves and society. If you like you books to have depth and to trigger thoughts, both good and bad, then this book is for you.