All the Hidden Places
by Cadwell Turnbull
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted August 16, 2026
Buy from Bookshop or Amazon. A purchase through our links may earn us a commission.
This story collection will publish September 1, but I received an advance copy direct from the author in PDF form. That file included the front and back covers of the upcoming hardcover, but changes have been made to the final book. The back cover in the PDF mentions 18 stories, the final copy says 14, but that does not mean any were eliminated. Two different stories are actually triptychs, combining three related stories under one title. In addition to the PDF, at a later time Net Galley offered it in .epub format, which is what I read for the most part after the first couple of stories. Turnbull was born in Maryland, but shortly after his birth his parents moved to the Virgin Islands, and he grew up on St. Thomas, which is featured in several of his stories, along with the political and socio-economic effects of colonialism. In that way some have a similar vibe, and if I'm not mistaken the second triptych is connected to the concluding volume of his Convergence Saga. More on that later.
There is no acknowledgement page in the file, but through ISFDb I found information on previous publication of most of the stories, but not all, so those few may be original to this book. I think the first three are set in contemporary times, not past or future or alternate worlds. "Wandering Devil" first appeared in the 2023 original anthology Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams, the latter also being responsible for quite a few others in anthologies, or appearances in Lightspeed or Nightmare magazines. Just a hint about "Wandering Devil." The ending reminded me a bit of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell. "Mediation" is from 2020's Entanglements, edited by Sheila Williams, which has the subtitle "Tomorrow's Lovers, Families, and Friends." It concerns a family who have been using an A.I. therapist known as Ally to deal with the trauma of the father's death. Not all of them think it has been helpful. "Jump" is from the September 2018 Lightspeed. A man discovered he could sometimes teleport, although it doesn't work all of the time, and his girlfriend did not want to try again after the first time it worked for them.
"The Letters Triptych" appeared separately in the Dystopia Triptych anthologies edited by Adams, all published in 2020. "Glass Houses" is a letter, or letters, written by a man to his younger brother who is in prison. "Sand Castles" is written by the younger in reply to his brother, and "Dresses" is written by their sister to her daughter. All speak of the political and social turmoil that has affected their lives, beginning with their father's incarceration, along with a scientific breakthrough in cryogenics, originally intended for use by NASA in deep space probes, but co-opted by the government to deal with over-crowding in prisons, hospitals, and mental institutions. The title story, from the March 2019 issue of Nightmare, shows Turnbull's ability to be subtle in revealing details for most of the story, only to shock you at the end. I couldn't find previous publication information for "Monsters Come Howling in Their Season," which is set on St. Thomas, and which reminded me of Turnbull's first novel, The Lesson. I need to re-read that one of these days, see if Dr. Stevens or any other character appeared in it. The next story is quite a bit different from any of the others. "There, She Didn't Need Air to Fill Her Lungs" appeared in another Adams anthology, 2020's Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms. Set in Nepal, it is reminiscent of Shangri-La in Hilton's Lost Horizon, but we don't see that magical place, only sense its effect on those who get near it.
"When the Rains Came Back" (Asimov's May/June 2018) is set in the future, somewhere in the Caribbean, but island names are different. It is somewhat a cross between a post-apocalyptic dystopia and a (possible) utopia, with some political features similar to Malka Older's Infomocracy. The islands have been suffering through droughts, able to maintain their own crops but limited in selling to others or having the means to import other goods. The main character is a bright girl hopeful of one day going to the moon to be a part of that colony. "Loneliness Is In Your Blood" (Nightmare, January 2017) shifts back to horror mode, featuring a type of creature seen in the Convergence Saga, a soucouyant, which Nalo Hopkinson also wrote of in Skin Folk. "Shock of Birth" (Asimov's Sep/Oct 2020) is about a man convinced he has awakened in the wrong body. His theories involve either reincarnation or perhaps multiple universes. The next three I'll mention may be original to this collection. "A Tech Mage Comes To Visit" is set in either an alternate world, or sometime in the future, and might be fantasy, or some people may be able to manipulate tech, or manipulate any matter, through thought alone. The beginning of "Soul Jars, Singing in the Night" made me think one of the characters was trans, but instead it is in a world where all, or maybe just the majority, have different souls inhabiting their body, each of which can manifest at different times. Not all the souls are compatible with each other. Skipping to the last story, "If Only Time Permits" postulates a world in which a person's life span can be accurately predicted, which allows them to know how much time from their own life they can spare when someone else needs a little more.
Going back to the penultimate story, which is the way I read it too, mainly because is the longest in the book. In my opinion it is also the best. The first two parts of "The World Above, a Triptych" had been previously published in different issues of Lightspeed, March and September 2025, but the September story comes first here. I am not sure if the letter at the begining was published with either, but it is what leads me to believe they relate to the Convergence Saga, which contains multiple universes, multiple gods, some capable of creating other gods. The letter is addressed to Reina, a character in the third Convergence novel, and they are an alternate version of another named Raina. The letter is signed, With Love, Cal. Calvin was the overall narrator of the trilogy, but there were multiple Calvin's from different universes too. Published later but appearing here first is "Apeiron," in which we meet two "people" in a cabin in a very remote location. Asha may or may not be the god worshipped by The Order of Asha in the Convergence books. Also in the cabin, but usually in his basement workshop, is the Maker. Asha was normally not allowed in the workshop, but one day she does descend the stairs, where she sees Maker working on his diorama models, a town and surrounding valley, with a mountain in the distance. Very realistic, including people and animals that are either animatronic, or given life by Maker. Later, Asha goes out into the snow and walks into the woods, all the way to a cave she had not seen before. I won't tell you what she finds there, but she later learns it relates to Maker's work.
The second part of the triptych, "Dekar Druid and the Infinite Library," is set in another remote location, with a tower which contains a massive library on many floors, both above and below ground. It is surrounded by forest, with mountains in the distance. Dekar is never able to go very far from the tower without becoming disoriented, so he stays in the tower reading books. While he reads he sometimes gets lost within the narrative, psychically, if not physically entering that different landscape, able to interact with the characters, even some characters outside of the text. He later learns he may have been the author of all the books in the library. The triptych ends with "Ibamwe and the Mountain Box." Ibamwe is a god who thinks there is no other above him, but he begins to think he may be wrong about that. He meets another, Xhemol-Unu, the Sightless Mother, who originally says she was Ibamwe's creator, but then isn't really sure. Ibamwe sets out to discover his provenance, leaving his heaven in a flyer he constructed, which crashed after he broke through the ceiling of the highest heaven. It is said multiple parts of his tale could be told, including him meeting the Keeper of the Infinite Library, but it skips the others for the story of the mountain box. After his flyer crashes he is found by Maker, who takes him to his cabin and shows him his model town. Ibamwe is able to see the intricacy, the vast depth of the model, which is actually another world itself. He descends into the town, then down into the valley, then up the mountain. He eventually meets a guide who will take him to the top of the mountain, where there is a cave, and within the cave is a box which contains a knife which will allow him to cut through the multiple realities so he can finally understand the universes. The downside to that is he may also destroy all the universes.
I have enjoyed everything I've read by Turnbull, his earlier novels as well as these stories, and there are others listed at ISFDb that are not included here, but maybe will be in a future collection. I also need to catch up with his work in collaboration with four other writers, under the pseudonym Darkly Lem. I've read the first book of the Formation Saga, but not the second which published this March, and the third in that series is due next March. Since every reader has different tastes, I can't guarantee all the stories in this collection will appeal to everyone, but there is enough variety that you are sure to find several that will satisfy. I recommend it highly, and can't wait to read more from Cadwell.
We would appreciate your support for this site with your purchases from Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, and ReAnimusPress.
