Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of Gianni Washington’s Flowers of the Void! This is a deliciously dark collection of short stories in the horror and sci-fi/fantasy realm. I’m always impressed when authors of short stories can build a fantastical world or develop an otherworldly concept in just a few short pages. Some of these stories are stronger than others, but I wouldn’t say any are bad at all, just less developed or less creative than others.

In these stories, alien creatures roam the countryside developing a macabre obsession with human eyeballs; real-life predators are delivered supernatural justice for their crimes; a shadow-less girl meets a body-less shadow and together they wreak havoc. One of my favourites was Take It From Me, a melancholy story where emotional and mental tolls manifest as physical symptoms - bad dreams make your eyebrows fall out, a bad break up sees you lose an arm. In another, a teenage boy who’s always felt invisible makes friends with another boy who’s been 14 longer than he cares to admit.

Washington uses the supernatural and a creeping unease to explore very human concepts such as friendship, loneliness, heartbreak, fear of death, and finding a place to call your own. Very solid collection, the atmosphere gets under your skin and the writing and world-building both are assured.