call and response

A style found in almost all types of music, from tribal to classical to folk to jazz to rock to rap. The melody is split between two different instruments or sections, each playing a brief snippet, so that it seems like one instrument is echoing or responding to the other.

A good example is found in the chorus of the Rap song O.P.P.:

Lead Singer:You down with O.P.P?
Backup singersYeah, you know me!!

American Black Gospel music had/has a lot of this. In the development of Jazz from various influences, (including this), call and response became a major characteristic. Louis Armstrong and the King Oliver Creole Band in the 1920s really brought this out in the interplay between soloist and band. In Swing music this became a major feature. Brought almost to parody by the Glen Miller Orchestra.

"Call and Response" is an American collection of short stories, written by Christopher Caldwell (better known to us Everythingians as the glorious Evil Catullus) and published by Neon Hemlock Press in 2025. The book's subtitle is a straightforward "Stories of the Fantastic."

The book is arranged into two halves -- first is the Call, which includes five stories with a variety of characters, plots, and settings, followed by the Response, with another five stories that are related in some way to the first five. Some follow the same characters years later, some are focused on the same settings in the distant future, and one has neither the same characters or settings, but looks at a similar premise from a different point of view.

In the "Call" section, the stories include:

• "Femme and Sundance" - Davion and Tommy are two outlaws in love. After they use supernatural disguises to rob a bank, they're ready to live the good life -- but they end up with a bunch of magical cops on their trail.
• "The Lonesome Sea" - Phillippian is a young slave who's being taught by his master how to sail a ship. But when he learns his family is to be broken up and sold away, can the gods of the sea offer any aid?
• "The Beekeeper's Garden" - Cleo is a little girl who's been abducted by Mother Bea, who tells her that her name is Sarah and she only wants what's good for her and she just needs to get her hair combed straight and she shouldn't listen to the lies and stories of the flowers. Can Cleo escape from this magical imprisonment?
• "Serving Fish" - Eric grows up as a young gay kid in a world fairly hostile to young gay kids. But he has a powerful ally -- a magical fish that grants wishes when he really, really needs them...
• "If Salt Lose Its Flavor" - Dion harvests salt from the sea -- magical salt that can empower Beaucourt and the other leaders of the land. But are the leaders worthy of such power? And what can be done if they are not?

In the "Response" section, our tales are:

• "The Calcified Heart of Saint Ignace Battiste" - In the far distant future of "If Salt Lose Its Flavor," an acolyte of the Grand Cathedral of Saint Ignace Battiste sets out to discover the secrets of why the Church's most ancient and despised enemy pays periodic visits to the grave of the Most Holy Martyr.
• "Deep Like the Rivers" - A woman whose beloved but rebellious son has gone missing in the ocean takes a desperate gamble to find him and learns there are more important things to children than simple safety.
• "Counting Her Petals" - Years later, Cleo is grown up, and her trans girlfriend, Aster, fearful of the threats around her, retreats to a virtual reality paradise. Hoping to save Aster, Cleo must use her connections to the spirit realm to enter Aster's world.
• "Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan" - We return to Phillippian, now called Pip, aboard a whaling vessel, but our lead is John Wood, the ship's carpenter, and a former slave. When he learns the ship is doomed for destruction, can he save himself and the man he loves?
• "Miz Boudreaux's Last Ride" - Davion and Tommy are back, a few decades older, as they are called to run one more errand for the recently deceased Miz Boudreaux.

So how is the book? It would absolutely be accurate to say there isn't a bad story in the entire collection, but that would also be damning with faint praise. In fact, there isn't a single story in this book that isn't absolutely spectacular.

The characters in these stories are wonderful. Davion and Tommy are the types of characters you could anchor a long-running novel series around, Phillippian and John Wood are outstanding protagonists, simultaneously heroic and tragic. Cleo's ability to bridge fantasy and science fiction, and her dedication to freeing both herself and Aster from danger, make her an incredibly appealing heroine.

My personal favorite characters were Eric from "Serving Fish," whose journey from nervous club kid to the mesmerizing drag queen Mahogany Eternique to something beyond human is inspiring and sad all at once, and Mrs. Baptiste from "Deep Like the Rivers," whose desperate sorrow over her missing son is intensely heartbreaking.

The plots of all these stories are excellent, and I love that they're all about the ways people can embrace the world's many mysteries -- always an excellent theme for fantasy stories -- and about people who value love above everything else. The stories aren't simple and straightforward, but no matter how complex they may get, they always lead to something wonderful.

It's also exciting to read stories that center queer and Black excellence, tragedy, struggle, and triumph without sacrificing characters, plotlines, or themes.

If you're looking for short fantasy fiction created with absolutely magnificent writing skill and artistry, you're definitely going to want to pick this up.