Here in the Dark by Meagan Lucas

Meagan Lucas’s collection of short stories, Here in the Dark, features the power of women: to face abusive partners, to prove their strength against certain male archetypes, to fight addiction. Many of the stories depict the power of poverty. Their focus on female characters, often protagonists in surprising ways, shows how women grasp for a sense of agency. It is not a light nor easy read.

Lucas draws us to these strong women and girls. They are all of us. We’ve all lost someone to suicide or overdose. We’ve all felt fear when alone because of men. These stories show that there isn’t always a happy ending, but that strength is always there. Some of the women make it out of terrible situations, others have to live with the consequences of using what little power they have.

The stories are beautifully crafted and thoroughly engaging. I was especially drawn to those with a touch of folklore, so unexpected, that even while dark, were delightful. “The Monster Beneath” subversively stars Mishipeshu, a mythical sea creature of Lake Superior. Minna is sheriff of the small lakeside village where her father once held the same position before. He died when she was a child. After a body washes up on shore, Minna discovers the truth of her father’s death and it leads her to question everything she thought she understood about her family and the lake itself.

There is little levity in these stories. However, some of the protagonists do find a way out of their circumstances, even if through unexpected ways. Here in the Dark is not about redemption. There’s rarely a feeling of resolve for the reader. But good fiction doesn’t have to rely on tropes to be successful. The proof in the power of these stories is that they never leave you. They haunt you because any one of these characters could have been you. 

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Dr. Beth Nardella is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at West Virginia University. She has been teaching discipline-specific science writing for nearly twenty years in the Division of Exercise Physiology. Her research focuses on power and resistance dynamics in Appalachia. Her most recent project investigated why people stay in West Virginia. Beth’s passion in teaching is study abroad and its intersection with rural health.