You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
1.31k reviews by:
horrorbutch
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.
A time-loop story centered around October 31st, 2020, when atom bombs explode in America. I don’t want to recap more of the plot as the summary already reveals quite a lot and so I just want to share my opinion on this piece:
As an action (& gore) heavy time-loop story it is great. It follows a bunch of people through this day as they attempt to survive. While covid is mentioned (face masks come up a few times in the beginning), this quickly fades into the background as current survival becomes more and more important. Brandon is the only one who remembers what happened after each time loop resets and as hinted at in the summary he goes quite far in his quest for survival. He wasn’t my favorite character (that spots reserved for Yolanda and Denise), but I was always excited when his story came up as I knew he would be the only one that would find a way to fix their problems. I also liked that he found a way to be incredibly resourceful in order to ensure their survival.
I also really enjoy the ending of the novel and while it felt a bit slow during the middle, the story picked up again towards the end and became quite interesting. I also enjoy messed up apocalypse stories, so I was fine with the intense amounts of violence portrayed here, but I wish we had been given a little bit more information on how and why the white supremacist Christian groups knew as much as they did and how they managed to mobilize that fast. I would not advise this book to anybody who does not want to read about (threats of and off-page instances of) sexual violence, (on-page) graphic deaths and lots and lots of violence targeting minorities.
However, I have two main issues with this story as well: The first is the massive amounts of transphobia and slurs reproduced on the page towards Yolanda. While I love that from the main characters everybody treats her well, her role in the story is very minimal and so having to read not only about how she’s harassed at the pharmacy, but also her childhood trauma including the t-slur, was a bit much. If she had played a more important role in the story herself, I might have understood this as a character-building moment, but the way it was done instead just felt rather exploitative. However, I appreciate that the author reached out to me after my review where I addressed a lingustic issue that is often used to other trans women (by writing trans woman as one single word, which does imply they are not just a different type of women, but a different thing alltogether) and that this will be fixed in the released version. The second issue I had was that I didn’t think the chapter following the conversative Christian biker gang, who are using the chaos to purify the world, was necessary. I think it gave too much away that could have been shared through the other characters discovering it themselves and made me a lot less interested in the story. A personal annoyance moment was also mentioning Harry Potter in a story that features trans people in 2024. Not A Vibe tbh.
All in all, it is still an interesting story with a fascinating premise and intriguing characters, particularly interesting for its great diversity of characters (including a black trans woman, a black family and a child with Down Syndrome, although I would have liked her to have a bit more of a plot in the story). Since those are characters often forgotten in other apocalyptical stories, I liked that they were portrayed here. If you are looking for a new and interesting take on time loops and apocalypse stories and have a strong stomach, you might enjoy this story!
Trigger warnings include: car accident, cheating, coercion to stay pregnant, deadnaming, death, domestic abuse, injury, gore, gun violence, mention of harry potter, homophobia, homophobic slurs, misgendering, racism (mainly anti-black and anti-asian racism, but also instances of slurs against other minority groups), racist language & racist slurs, sexual violence, suicide, transmisogny, transphobic slurs, violence
A time-loop story centered around October 31st, 2020, when atom bombs explode in America. I don’t want to recap more of the plot as the summary already reveals quite a lot and so I just want to share my opinion on this piece:
As an action (& gore) heavy time-loop story it is great. It follows a bunch of people through this day as they attempt to survive. While covid is mentioned (face masks come up a few times in the beginning), this quickly fades into the background as current survival becomes more and more important. Brandon is the only one who remembers what happened after each time loop resets and as hinted at in the summary he goes quite far in his quest for survival. He wasn’t my favorite character (that spots reserved for Yolanda and Denise), but I was always excited when his story came up as I knew he would be the only one that would find a way to fix their problems. I also liked that he found a way to be incredibly resourceful in order to ensure their survival.
I also really enjoy the ending of the novel and while it felt a bit slow during the middle, the story picked up again towards the end and became quite interesting. I also enjoy messed up apocalypse stories, so I was fine with the intense amounts of violence portrayed here, but I wish we had been given a little bit more information on how and why the white supremacist Christian groups knew as much as they did and how they managed to mobilize that fast. I would not advise this book to anybody who does not want to read about (threats of and off-page instances of) sexual violence, (on-page) graphic deaths and lots and lots of violence targeting minorities.
However, I have two main issues with this story as well: The first is the massive amounts of transphobia and slurs reproduced on the page towards Yolanda. While I love that from the main characters everybody treats her well, her role in the story is very minimal and so having to read not only about how she’s harassed at the pharmacy, but also her childhood trauma including the t-slur, was a bit much. If she had played a more important role in the story herself, I might have understood this as a character-building moment, but the way it was done instead just felt rather exploitative. However, I appreciate that the author reached out to me after my review where I addressed a lingustic issue that is often used to other trans women (by writing trans woman as one single word, which does imply they are not just a different type of women, but a different thing alltogether) and that this will be fixed in the released version. The second issue I had was that I didn’t think the chapter following the conversative Christian biker gang, who are using the chaos to purify the world, was necessary. I think it gave too much away that could have been shared through the other characters discovering it themselves and made me a lot less interested in the story. A personal annoyance moment was also mentioning Harry Potter in a story that features trans people in 2024. Not A Vibe tbh.
All in all, it is still an interesting story with a fascinating premise and intriguing characters, particularly interesting for its great diversity of characters (including a black trans woman, a black family and a child with Down Syndrome, although I would have liked her to have a bit more of a plot in the story). Since those are characters often forgotten in other apocalyptical stories, I liked that they were portrayed here. If you are looking for a new and interesting take on time loops and apocalypse stories and have a strong stomach, you might enjoy this story!
Trigger warnings include: car accident, cheating, coercion to stay pregnant, deadnaming, death, domestic abuse, injury, gore, gun violence, mention of harry potter, homophobia, homophobic slurs, misgendering, racism (mainly anti-black and anti-asian racism, but also instances of slurs against other minority groups), racist language & racist slurs, sexual violence, suicide, transmisogny, transphobic slurs, violence
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.
A collection of biographies of queer Disabled people in history. My favorite part of this collection was the intro, which embodied Disabled Rage in a beautiful way by standing firm against othering terms such as “handicapable” or “disabled” and the way their patronizing use is harmful to Disabled communities. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the rest of the collection as much.
While I mostly enjoyed reading the biographies and I definitely learned something new about new queer Disabled people that I hadn’t known before, I was a bit disappointed at seeing who was missing (where are Eli Clare? Leslie Feinberg? Audre Lorde?) or at least a mention of acknowledgement of who is left out of this anthology. Furthermore, I found myself quite confused by the structure of this anthology. How (if at all) where the chapters sorted? As far as I could tell it was not structured in a temporal order or the place of origin or anything else and I feel like a clearer structure there could have made the story more interesting. Instead, it kind of felt like the author picked some queer Disabled people from history she liked and simply started writing, sorting it by whenever the research was done. Then most chapters include tangents to various ideas, either in Disability Studies or Queer Studies or an exploration of history and how things have changed. I feel like reading the chapters would have been more interesting if these ideas had been weaved into the chapters better, maybe by placing them at the front of each chapter and linking back to them in the actual biographies. Like this it would often throw me out of the stories of the people I was reading and unfortunately was not something I enjoyed. Finally, I also feel that the writing could have been edited better, leaving out personal comments by the author, as that really threw me outside of the biographies. I do think non-fiction writing can include an author voice, but here it felt too much to me.
My personal favorite chapters were the ones about Kitty Cone, as I knew parts about the ADA and how it came to be, but didn’t know about her involvement, Connie Panzariono, whose work I definitely want to check out now and Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson, a lesbian couple whose life changed after Sharon was disabled through a car accident and had her parents declared as her legal ward. Of the people featured in this anthology some are quite famous in queer circles (Frida Kahlo, Marsha P. Johnson, Lord Byron, Alan Turing and Michelangelo) and so I didn’t really get that much from their chapters as I knew most of what was presented here before, but if you are more interested in their lives you might get more out of there stories than I did.
All in all, I do think this book could be interesting to the right audience, which will be more you than me if you are a) not interested in academic historical writing and can handle snarky remarks by an author & b) are new to Disability studies and Queer Studies.
A collection of biographies of queer Disabled people in history. My favorite part of this collection was the intro, which embodied Disabled Rage in a beautiful way by standing firm against othering terms such as “handicapable” or “disabled” and the way their patronizing use is harmful to Disabled communities. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the rest of the collection as much.
While I mostly enjoyed reading the biographies and I definitely learned something new about new queer Disabled people that I hadn’t known before, I was a bit disappointed at seeing who was missing (where are Eli Clare? Leslie Feinberg? Audre Lorde?) or at least a mention of acknowledgement of who is left out of this anthology. Furthermore, I found myself quite confused by the structure of this anthology. How (if at all) where the chapters sorted? As far as I could tell it was not structured in a temporal order or the place of origin or anything else and I feel like a clearer structure there could have made the story more interesting. Instead, it kind of felt like the author picked some queer Disabled people from history she liked and simply started writing, sorting it by whenever the research was done. Then most chapters include tangents to various ideas, either in Disability Studies or Queer Studies or an exploration of history and how things have changed. I feel like reading the chapters would have been more interesting if these ideas had been weaved into the chapters better, maybe by placing them at the front of each chapter and linking back to them in the actual biographies. Like this it would often throw me out of the stories of the people I was reading and unfortunately was not something I enjoyed. Finally, I also feel that the writing could have been edited better, leaving out personal comments by the author, as that really threw me outside of the biographies. I do think non-fiction writing can include an author voice, but here it felt too much to me.
My personal favorite chapters were the ones about Kitty Cone, as I knew parts about the ADA and how it came to be, but didn’t know about her involvement, Connie Panzariono, whose work I definitely want to check out now and Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson, a lesbian couple whose life changed after Sharon was disabled through a car accident and had her parents declared as her legal ward. Of the people featured in this anthology some are quite famous in queer circles (Frida Kahlo, Marsha P. Johnson, Lord Byron, Alan Turing and Michelangelo) and so I didn’t really get that much from their chapters as I knew most of what was presented here before, but if you are more interested in their lives you might get more out of there stories than I did.
All in all, I do think this book could be interesting to the right audience, which will be more you than me if you are a) not interested in academic historical writing and can handle snarky remarks by an author & b) are new to Disability studies and Queer Studies.
.jpeg)
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.
A short story collection featuring horror and dark fiction short stories, often with a feminist and woman-focused plot. Some topics are explored in multiple stories (particularly motherhood, grief and mental illness play a repeated role in the collection), but this collection manages to not get repetitive by exploring these same tropes (particularly the loss of a child is a topic that occurs a few times in this anthology) in a variety of settings and with very different approaches to it. The stories are very short, but there are only very few where I was left wishing for more, instead most of them worked really well considering the limited number of pages they had to work with. Similarly, there were no stories that I felt dragged or seemed too long, which is a great feat for an anthology like this.
While I didn’t enjoy every single story, there were only 3 short stories that didn’t work for me at all, some I just found okay, and quite a few I really enjoyed, such as “No Place Like Home”, “Circle”, “Neon Fly”, “I Started With Placental Encapsulation”, “The Cool Kids” and “Hag Stone”.
Most of the horror is of a dreamlike and surreal nature, encapsulating the feelings of dissociation and grief that often leaves us feel dreamlike and surreal ourselves. I also liked that the horror genres explored moved from haunted homes, contemporary feminist, sci-fi, lovely creature features and more. In general, I enjoyed the writing style a lot and even the stories I didn’t enjoy reading weren’t a slog to get through, but they just didn’t connect with me on the level I like my horror to connect with me.
I also adored that the author provided detailed trigger warnings in front of the anthology, allowing me to prepare for the dark topics explored here.
All in all, if you enjoy unconventional horror, feminist horror, dark weird fiction and are able to let yourself be sucked into surreal and strange places while reading, this is a short story collection I can recommend.
Numerically this rounds out to a 3.5 star rating, but I've rounded it up for the fact that there weren't really any stories in here that I absolutely did not enjoy and quite I few I enjoyed a lot.
I’ve also taken notes on all the short stories, writing short descriptions (mostly spoiler free) and including the trigger warnings that the author presented in the book.
Step Inside: A short story following the dangers of getting too absorbed in a story, when you are supposed to be doing other things. Scary, with an interesting narrator’s voice. tw suggested child abuse, suggested violence, child neglect
*FAV* No Place Like Home: A woman feels a pull urging her to return to her childhood home. But stepping inside that place will bring back dangers from her past. Really fun and tense and I enjoyed the exploration of a severely dysfunctional family portrayed here and the way it still influenced the daughter’s life even after both her parents had died. Also, it was incredibly heartbreaking in its portrayal of eating disorders and grief. And the end! Incredibly dark and really well written. tw eating disorders, vomiting, past child abuse, miscarriage, death, gore, blood
We Still Don’t use the Garage: A really interesting story told from the perspective of a formerly homeless man who has finally managed to find a home. I enjoyed the dialect chosen for this piece of work, definitely made it more interesting to read. tw death, alcoholism, homelessness
*FAV* Circle: A family struggling with the mother’s mental illness (bipolar), as she tries to cope with her ups and downs, protect her son and somehow also make art in between, but one evening, everything gets too much and she fails in the one thing she never wanted to fail in. Dark and sad and lyrical. Mental illness as a familial curse is always a lovely trope that I enjoy. tw suicide attempt, mental health (bipolar), blood, grief
A Piece Missing: A haunted woman is looking for a baby in a house that seems to have slipped out of time (or has only she slipped away?). Written in a wonderfully delirious way, this story is Weird with a capital W, incredibly strange and intriguing. Definitely not for every reader, but I enjoyed its feverish horror. tw suggested child murder, gore, death, postnatal depression, grief, existentialism
*FAV* Neon Fly: An apocalyptic eco-horror, where microplastic and the genetically engineered flies created to destroy plastic have taken over the world and a mother tries to escape to Mars with her daughter, gorey and gross and heartbreaking, tw gore, murder, death, blood
*FAV* It Started with Placental Encapsulation: A woman grieving for her mother and overworked by taking care of her baby turns to strange foods for comfort, heartbreaking, but really interesting! tw gore, blood, suggested domestic abuse, misogyny, death, violence, grief
The Dangers of Ill-Prepared Shellfish: A dark retelling of Venus and Mars’ story, centered around Venus trapped in the house Mars took her too after she stepped onto the shores, very dark and with a satisfying ending, tw domestic violence, gore, suggested rape, body horror, death, gaslighting, blood, forced marriage
Juliet, Juliet: A woman sinking ever deeper into her drug addiction after her girlfriend left her starts seeing a woman, who looks just like her, heavily focused on the deep dark drag of depression and drug addiction, this weaves a heartbreaking tale (and obviously the names Rommy and Juliet also work ;)) tw drug abuse, addiction, gore, death, blood, maggots, depression, grief, suicide
The Beauty Parlour: A world where due to mass-extinction the few rich survivors have decided to make the most of their limited time on Earth and go all in with weird body mods turning themselves into different kinds of animals, very hunger games-esque? I think I would have enjoyed this one more if it had just been focused on the body mods and the reasons for it and not so much the massive inequality of this failing planet, tw body mutilation, murder, gore, assault
Sick Girl: A weird short story about a young woman spending her free time in the hospital, trying to stay under everybody’s radar, not really developed enough for me, tw self-harm, gore, drug abuse, addiction, hypochondria, blood
*FAV* The Cool Kids: A man in his late thirties finds himself hosting a party for his old high school classmates and after being handed some drugs and some cajoling from his old classmates finds himself stripping down all the way, intriguing with a lovely body horror angle, I liked it! tw gore, murder, bullying, blood, self-mutilation
Cosmic Spin Class on Deck 112: A woman deep in depression after a big loss finds herself compelled to try out a new alien drug combined with sport therapy, which is supposed to help her recover. Very trippy, but heartbreaking and a good sci-fi horror, tw loss of a child, gore, depression, grief, existentialism
Labourers Wanted: A mother of two young children desperate for an escape from her increasingly violent home life finds a new place of employment. Her fragile peace threatens to be shattered when her husband follows her to work one morning. Satisfying end, but I would have enjoyed a bit more world building here. tw domestic violence, gore, mutilation, assault, suggested rape, misogyny, body horror, gaslighting, blood, eyes
All the Parts of a Mermaid that I Can Recall: A sailor wakes up in a hospital, desperate to get back to the mermaid he kidnapped. But why won’t they let him leave and why is there such an ugly tattoo on his arm? An interesting interweave of technology, misogyny and delusions. tw body horror, mutilation, misogyny, domestic violence, blood, gore
Every Cloud: This story follows a woman with the power to make it rain when she bleeds, starting with her in school and ending after a tragic loss. Intriguing concept and very heartbreaking. tw blood, self-harm, depression, miscarriage, existentialism, body horror, death
I Pull My Blanket Up Beneath my Chin: A child terrified of the dark. Unfortunately, this story didn’t work for me at all. A story from the perspective of a child needs to be very carefully constructed for a reader to fully immerse themselves in their horror and unfortunately this was just not the case here for me. tw suggested child abuse, gore, religion
One Lie for One Soul: A horrifying pregnancy horror based on Mary and Joseph, punishment for the lie they told. Fine? Maybe more interesting if you are interested in horror twists on Christian mythology (which I am not particularly). Cool body horror though. tw religion, blasphemy, murder, gore, blood, miscarriage, death
Black Metal in a White Room: A sci fi horror of a gruesome type of alien body snatchers this story follows a man haunted by invisible beings that provide housing and internet in exchange for blood donations. But their demands increase! Nice body horror and very trippy, I enjoyed this one. tw body horror, blood, gore, mutilation, eyes, tooth/mouth horror, surgical horror
In His Memory: A terrifying computer simulated world where people, who aren’t interesting enough, get turned back into random strings of code and the scramble of a couple trying to become interesting, very heartbreaking, tw dementia, grief, suggested violence against an animal, murder, body horror, death, existentialism
*FAV* Hag Stone: A story about a young man cleaning out his grandma’s old cabin in the woods and ignoring his mother’s and all other warnings that come his way. Gruesome and great body horror in the end. tw eyes, blood, gore, body horror, loss, death
Christingle Service: A young girl growing up under the oppressive religious beliefs of her mother and the fact that her mom blames her for the death of her twin during birth. Really dark and messy, I liked it. tw depression, drug abuse, suggested child abuse, loss of a child, miscarriage, religion, blasphemy, death, suggested suicide
How to Read a Woman: A serial killer on his search for his newest victim picks up the wrong girl on a night out. Interesting body horror. tw misogyny, eyes, body horror, death, suggested sexual assault, stalking, death
A short story collection featuring horror and dark fiction short stories, often with a feminist and woman-focused plot. Some topics are explored in multiple stories (particularly motherhood, grief and mental illness play a repeated role in the collection), but this collection manages to not get repetitive by exploring these same tropes (particularly the loss of a child is a topic that occurs a few times in this anthology) in a variety of settings and with very different approaches to it. The stories are very short, but there are only very few where I was left wishing for more, instead most of them worked really well considering the limited number of pages they had to work with. Similarly, there were no stories that I felt dragged or seemed too long, which is a great feat for an anthology like this.
While I didn’t enjoy every single story, there were only 3 short stories that didn’t work for me at all, some I just found okay, and quite a few I really enjoyed, such as “No Place Like Home”, “Circle”, “Neon Fly”, “I Started With Placental Encapsulation”, “The Cool Kids” and “Hag Stone”.
Most of the horror is of a dreamlike and surreal nature, encapsulating the feelings of dissociation and grief that often leaves us feel dreamlike and surreal ourselves. I also liked that the horror genres explored moved from haunted homes, contemporary feminist, sci-fi, lovely creature features and more. In general, I enjoyed the writing style a lot and even the stories I didn’t enjoy reading weren’t a slog to get through, but they just didn’t connect with me on the level I like my horror to connect with me.
I also adored that the author provided detailed trigger warnings in front of the anthology, allowing me to prepare for the dark topics explored here.
All in all, if you enjoy unconventional horror, feminist horror, dark weird fiction and are able to let yourself be sucked into surreal and strange places while reading, this is a short story collection I can recommend.
Numerically this rounds out to a 3.5 star rating, but I've rounded it up for the fact that there weren't really any stories in here that I absolutely did not enjoy and quite I few I enjoyed a lot.
I’ve also taken notes on all the short stories, writing short descriptions (mostly spoiler free) and including the trigger warnings that the author presented in the book.
Step Inside: A short story following the dangers of getting too absorbed in a story, when you are supposed to be doing other things. Scary, with an interesting narrator’s voice. tw suggested child abuse, suggested violence, child neglect
*FAV* No Place Like Home: A woman feels a pull urging her to return to her childhood home. But stepping inside that place will bring back dangers from her past. Really fun and tense and I enjoyed the exploration of a severely dysfunctional family portrayed here and the way it still influenced the daughter’s life even after both her parents had died. Also, it was incredibly heartbreaking in its portrayal of eating disorders and grief. And the end! Incredibly dark and really well written. tw eating disorders, vomiting, past child abuse, miscarriage, death, gore, blood
We Still Don’t use the Garage: A really interesting story told from the perspective of a formerly homeless man who has finally managed to find a home. I enjoyed the dialect chosen for this piece of work, definitely made it more interesting to read. tw death, alcoholism, homelessness
*FAV* Circle: A family struggling with the mother’s mental illness (bipolar), as she tries to cope with her ups and downs, protect her son and somehow also make art in between, but one evening, everything gets too much and she fails in the one thing she never wanted to fail in. Dark and sad and lyrical. Mental illness as a familial curse is always a lovely trope that I enjoy. tw suicide attempt, mental health (bipolar), blood, grief
A Piece Missing: A haunted woman is looking for a baby in a house that seems to have slipped out of time (or has only she slipped away?). Written in a wonderfully delirious way, this story is Weird with a capital W, incredibly strange and intriguing. Definitely not for every reader, but I enjoyed its feverish horror. tw suggested child murder, gore, death, postnatal depression, grief, existentialism
*FAV* Neon Fly: An apocalyptic eco-horror, where microplastic and the genetically engineered flies created to destroy plastic have taken over the world and a mother tries to escape to Mars with her daughter, gorey and gross and heartbreaking, tw gore, murder, death, blood
*FAV* It Started with Placental Encapsulation: A woman grieving for her mother and overworked by taking care of her baby turns to strange foods for comfort, heartbreaking, but really interesting! tw gore, blood, suggested domestic abuse, misogyny, death, violence, grief
The Dangers of Ill-Prepared Shellfish: A dark retelling of Venus and Mars’ story, centered around Venus trapped in the house Mars took her too after she stepped onto the shores, very dark and with a satisfying ending, tw domestic violence, gore, suggested rape, body horror, death, gaslighting, blood, forced marriage
Juliet, Juliet: A woman sinking ever deeper into her drug addiction after her girlfriend left her starts seeing a woman, who looks just like her, heavily focused on the deep dark drag of depression and drug addiction, this weaves a heartbreaking tale (and obviously the names Rommy and Juliet also work ;)) tw drug abuse, addiction, gore, death, blood, maggots, depression, grief, suicide
The Beauty Parlour: A world where due to mass-extinction the few rich survivors have decided to make the most of their limited time on Earth and go all in with weird body mods turning themselves into different kinds of animals, very hunger games-esque? I think I would have enjoyed this one more if it had just been focused on the body mods and the reasons for it and not so much the massive inequality of this failing planet, tw body mutilation, murder, gore, assault
Sick Girl: A weird short story about a young woman spending her free time in the hospital, trying to stay under everybody’s radar, not really developed enough for me, tw self-harm, gore, drug abuse, addiction, hypochondria, blood
*FAV* The Cool Kids: A man in his late thirties finds himself hosting a party for his old high school classmates and after being handed some drugs and some cajoling from his old classmates finds himself stripping down all the way, intriguing with a lovely body horror angle, I liked it! tw gore, murder, bullying, blood, self-mutilation
Cosmic Spin Class on Deck 112: A woman deep in depression after a big loss finds herself compelled to try out a new alien drug combined with sport therapy, which is supposed to help her recover. Very trippy, but heartbreaking and a good sci-fi horror, tw loss of a child, gore, depression, grief, existentialism
Labourers Wanted: A mother of two young children desperate for an escape from her increasingly violent home life finds a new place of employment. Her fragile peace threatens to be shattered when her husband follows her to work one morning. Satisfying end, but I would have enjoyed a bit more world building here. tw domestic violence, gore, mutilation, assault, suggested rape, misogyny, body horror, gaslighting, blood, eyes
All the Parts of a Mermaid that I Can Recall: A sailor wakes up in a hospital, desperate to get back to the mermaid he kidnapped. But why won’t they let him leave and why is there such an ugly tattoo on his arm? An interesting interweave of technology, misogyny and delusions. tw body horror, mutilation, misogyny, domestic violence, blood, gore
Every Cloud: This story follows a woman with the power to make it rain when she bleeds, starting with her in school and ending after a tragic loss. Intriguing concept and very heartbreaking. tw blood, self-harm, depression, miscarriage, existentialism, body horror, death
I Pull My Blanket Up Beneath my Chin: A child terrified of the dark. Unfortunately, this story didn’t work for me at all. A story from the perspective of a child needs to be very carefully constructed for a reader to fully immerse themselves in their horror and unfortunately this was just not the case here for me. tw suggested child abuse, gore, religion
One Lie for One Soul: A horrifying pregnancy horror based on Mary and Joseph, punishment for the lie they told. Fine? Maybe more interesting if you are interested in horror twists on Christian mythology (which I am not particularly). Cool body horror though. tw religion, blasphemy, murder, gore, blood, miscarriage, death
Black Metal in a White Room: A sci fi horror of a gruesome type of alien body snatchers this story follows a man haunted by invisible beings that provide housing and internet in exchange for blood donations. But their demands increase! Nice body horror and very trippy, I enjoyed this one. tw body horror, blood, gore, mutilation, eyes, tooth/mouth horror, surgical horror
In His Memory: A terrifying computer simulated world where people, who aren’t interesting enough, get turned back into random strings of code and the scramble of a couple trying to become interesting, very heartbreaking, tw dementia, grief, suggested violence against an animal, murder, body horror, death, existentialism
*FAV* Hag Stone: A story about a young man cleaning out his grandma’s old cabin in the woods and ignoring his mother’s and all other warnings that come his way. Gruesome and great body horror in the end. tw eyes, blood, gore, body horror, loss, death
Christingle Service: A young girl growing up under the oppressive religious beliefs of her mother and the fact that her mom blames her for the death of her twin during birth. Really dark and messy, I liked it. tw depression, drug abuse, suggested child abuse, loss of a child, miscarriage, religion, blasphemy, death, suggested suicide
How to Read a Woman: A serial killer on his search for his newest victim picks up the wrong girl on a night out. Interesting body horror. tw misogyny, eyes, body horror, death, suggested sexual assault, stalking, death
A short and sweet sequel to Simon and Bruce's story. I really enjoyed how much more we are able to learn about Bruce's story and his connections with other people. Also the kid is adorable!
A very interesting (and horny & fun & dark) collection of short stories focusing on toxic lesbians. In regard to genre the stories vary (there’s mostly sci-fi and fantasy, but also some contemporary), as does the intensity and darkness of each story (some are enthusiastically consensual, others less so, others again completely blur the lines of possibilities here through some fun use of magic or sci-fi invention). The stories also vary in the level of world building as well as the ratio of story vs spicy scenes and so there is definitely something in here for everybody who enjoys toxic horny lesbian short stories.
My favorite aspects of these stories where the ones with more worldbuilding (I enjoy the kinky stuff too, but I always adore a convoluted world building to make a kink scenario make sense :D) and my favorite short stories where: “Endings”, “War’s Prize”, “Box”, “To Serve Her Rights”, “Her Monstrous Hound” and the titular “Tempting Poison”.
I also enjoy that trigger warnings are provided on the itch page where the short story collection is sold and in the book itself. That is always really nice to see.
Lastly, I really adore the many characters Jemma Topaz wrote for these stories, because they are all so different and yet it all manages to flow together quite well. Many of the characters are trans, some cis, some butch, some femme, some still have to figure it out and some do not get an identity. Some enjoy their role, some don’t, some learn to.
A transfem erotica that plays with the lines of gender through sci-fi means and depersonalization (Can you classify a woman as trans easily in a world where cis woman dommes can just get a penis for topping if they want to? Can you classify yourself as trans when you can’t even fully classify yourself as human?) was something I was hoping to find one of these days and I am so glad I found it here!
Very spicy, very dark, very fun, I can just recommend this collection to anybody who has 5 bucks to spare and wants to really dig into some of the cool trans erotica that is out there.
Endings:
A t4t femme/butch story, with a really hot butch, I am in loooove. I don't think I should be, but 🥴. When she just flashes her gun at a bunch of dickbags at the bar? Hot. Hired gun butch and the femme that manages to catch her attention at a bar. The story itself is really tense, really fun, really hot & the ending is heartbreaking, but also very fitting.
tw: t-slur, violence, murder
A Full-time Project:
A young CEO meets the lead negotiator of a company that's merging with his. When she rejects his first attempts at asking her out, he finds himself agreeing to just receiving a few slaps from her, which soon escalates into a lot more. Very fun and very messy force-fem stuff of the veeeery kinky variety. Broke my heart though when Candy wished to be transgender. Outch. All in all, this is an incredible short story exploring gender and kink and love and hate and having your gender realization kind of forced on you but being really into it. I really like this short story, it was sweet, sometimes depressing and incredibly hot with fascinating characters. In real life this would suck, but in fiction its adorable.
tw: humiliation, depersonalization, forced feminization
War’s Prize:
Interesting sci-fi erotica with some worldbuilding, but mainly it is nun & puppy play erotica. There is a fun twist revealed at the end, but mainly this is just veeeery kinky sex. It was fun. Women warriors hot.
tw: dubcon, mind control, torture
Circles and Crescent:
A dominant CEO has everything she could wish for: money, power, submissives. Then an e-mail arrives from her first love, who is back in town for a few days. Interesting urban fantasy setting and about two characters achieving different forms through surgery and magic with a surprising, but fun ending.
tw: dubcon, blood, mind control
A Clumsy Picklock:
The main character of this story finds himself captured by another court faction after a dangerous attempt at making allies out of them through deception fails. The interrogator tasked with getting confessions out of the courtesan decides to provide a bit more than sleeping draughts to our main character. Very intriguing writing style (Victorian) and despite the setting, sweet. Forcefem jail time where forcefem is the best thing to happen to the MC.
tw: imprisonment, forced feminization, threats of torture, threats of sexual violence, violence
Box:
Haunted bondage gear with a long ago past. Very kinky, very heavy on the dub-part of the dubcon. Fun though and I really enjoyed the mythological aspects a lot.
tw: dubcon, violence
To Serve Her Right:
Knight who promises all her loyalty to a princess and her lady-in-waiting without asking what new obligations her new role will entail. Delicious and fun. I love a good knight desperate to please very much <3
tw: dubcon
Best Practices in Personnel Management:
Hypno Office where Management knows best. Plays very well with the idea of becoming completely dependent on someone whether you think you want it at first or not. Fun and veeery spicy. Absolute girlboss moments TM :D
tw: dubcon, hypnosis
Her Monstrous Hound:
A vampire hunter in over her head finds herself trapped by the very vampires she sought to destroy. Now having been turned and desperate for blood she also finds her past and the mistakes she made haunting her. Fun story and the end was just delicious. We love a good revenge.
tw: dubcon, transphobia, bigotry, blood, threats of torture, humiliation, depersonalization
Whisky and Licorice:
A mecha pilot finds herself captured by the enemy faction, having lost her legal agency after being dead for a short time. Transfem mecha body-weirdness my beloved. A body is a tool to break and to train and to murder with and to uhh do other things with also sometimes. Also doctors with ethical quandaries are always fun. Intriguing story dealing with autonomy and evil (but not yet fully accepting of it) + eviler (and making the other eviler) dommes.
tw: dubcon, mind control, depersonalization, threat of torture, violence
The Human World:
A woman struggling to find a job and a rich woman with a solution to her problems. If only she will become her dog. Interesting exploration of escalating kink.
tw: dubcon, depersonalization
Tempting Poison:
The titular story! Sci-Fi sex club where the main character has only blurry memories of her days before. Interesting twist and very fun to read.
tw: dubcon, mind control, human sex toys, threat of torture
Spite:
Stealing from a rich woman and her evil scientist is never a good idea. Especially when you get caught and they decide you make a perfect specimen for unethical experiments. Medical Malpractice, yippieehhhh! Interesting finish to the story and if you like latex: enjoy!
tw: noncon, dubcon, threat of torture, breath play, violence, use of the t-slur
My favorite aspects of these stories where the ones with more worldbuilding (I enjoy the kinky stuff too, but I always adore a convoluted world building to make a kink scenario make sense :D) and my favorite short stories where: “Endings”, “War’s Prize”, “Box”, “To Serve Her Rights”, “Her Monstrous Hound” and the titular “Tempting Poison”.
I also enjoy that trigger warnings are provided on the itch page where the short story collection is sold and in the book itself. That is always really nice to see.
Lastly, I really adore the many characters Jemma Topaz wrote for these stories, because they are all so different and yet it all manages to flow together quite well. Many of the characters are trans, some cis, some butch, some femme, some still have to figure it out and some do not get an identity. Some enjoy their role, some don’t, some learn to.
A transfem erotica that plays with the lines of gender through sci-fi means and depersonalization (Can you classify a woman as trans easily in a world where cis woman dommes can just get a penis for topping if they want to? Can you classify yourself as trans when you can’t even fully classify yourself as human?) was something I was hoping to find one of these days and I am so glad I found it here!
Very spicy, very dark, very fun, I can just recommend this collection to anybody who has 5 bucks to spare and wants to really dig into some of the cool trans erotica that is out there.
Endings:
A t4t femme/butch story, with a really hot butch, I am in loooove. I don't think I should be, but 🥴. When she just flashes her gun at a bunch of dickbags at the bar? Hot. Hired gun butch and the femme that manages to catch her attention at a bar. The story itself is really tense, really fun, really hot & the ending is heartbreaking, but also very fitting.
tw: t-slur, violence, murder
A Full-time Project:
A young CEO meets the lead negotiator of a company that's merging with his. When she rejects his first attempts at asking her out, he finds himself agreeing to just receiving a few slaps from her, which soon escalates into a lot more. Very fun and very messy force-fem stuff of the veeeery kinky variety. Broke my heart though when Candy wished to be transgender. Outch. All in all, this is an incredible short story exploring gender and kink and love and hate and having your gender realization kind of forced on you but being really into it. I really like this short story, it was sweet, sometimes depressing and incredibly hot with fascinating characters. In real life this would suck, but in fiction its adorable.
tw: humiliation, depersonalization, forced feminization
War’s Prize:
Interesting sci-fi erotica with some worldbuilding, but mainly it is nun & puppy play erotica. There is a fun twist revealed at the end, but mainly this is just veeeery kinky sex. It was fun. Women warriors hot.
tw: dubcon, mind control, torture
Circles and Crescent:
A dominant CEO has everything she could wish for: money, power, submissives. Then an e-mail arrives from her first love, who is back in town for a few days. Interesting urban fantasy setting and about two characters achieving different forms through surgery and magic with a surprising, but fun ending.
tw: dubcon, blood, mind control
A Clumsy Picklock:
The main character of this story finds himself captured by another court faction after a dangerous attempt at making allies out of them through deception fails. The interrogator tasked with getting confessions out of the courtesan decides to provide a bit more than sleeping draughts to our main character. Very intriguing writing style (Victorian) and despite the setting, sweet. Forcefem jail time where forcefem is the best thing to happen to the MC.
tw: imprisonment, forced feminization, threats of torture, threats of sexual violence, violence
Box:
Haunted bondage gear with a long ago past. Very kinky, very heavy on the dub-part of the dubcon. Fun though and I really enjoyed the mythological aspects a lot.
tw: dubcon, violence
To Serve Her Right:
Knight who promises all her loyalty to a princess and her lady-in-waiting without asking what new obligations her new role will entail. Delicious and fun. I love a good knight desperate to please very much <3
tw: dubcon
Best Practices in Personnel Management:
Hypno Office where Management knows best. Plays very well with the idea of becoming completely dependent on someone whether you think you want it at first or not. Fun and veeery spicy. Absolute girlboss moments TM :D
tw: dubcon, hypnosis
Her Monstrous Hound:
A vampire hunter in over her head finds herself trapped by the very vampires she sought to destroy. Now having been turned and desperate for blood she also finds her past and the mistakes she made haunting her. Fun story and the end was just delicious. We love a good revenge.
tw: dubcon, transphobia, bigotry, blood, threats of torture, humiliation, depersonalization
Whisky and Licorice:
A mecha pilot finds herself captured by the enemy faction, having lost her legal agency after being dead for a short time. Transfem mecha body-weirdness my beloved. A body is a tool to break and to train and to murder with and to uhh do other things with also sometimes. Also doctors with ethical quandaries are always fun. Intriguing story dealing with autonomy and evil (but not yet fully accepting of it) + eviler (and making the other eviler) dommes.
tw: dubcon, mind control, depersonalization, threat of torture, violence
The Human World:
A woman struggling to find a job and a rich woman with a solution to her problems. If only she will become her dog. Interesting exploration of escalating kink.
tw: dubcon, depersonalization
Tempting Poison:
The titular story! Sci-Fi sex club where the main character has only blurry memories of her days before. Interesting twist and very fun to read.
tw: dubcon, mind control, human sex toys, threat of torture
Spite:
Stealing from a rich woman and her evil scientist is never a good idea. Especially when you get caught and they decide you make a perfect specimen for unethical experiments. Medical Malpractice, yippieehhhh! Interesting finish to the story and if you like latex: enjoy!
tw: noncon, dubcon, threat of torture, breath play, violence, use of the t-slur
Body horror, many fluids, Ender taking some desperate initiative ❤️ this short is fun & hot & I enjoyed it.
I also loved the little word definitions at the beginning, really set the tone
I also loved the little word definitions at the beginning, really set the tone
The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction (2023)
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Chinaza Eziaghighalaby
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.
This collection features a few carefully selected morsels of African speculative literature, and I really enjoyed reading it. As is the case with anthologies, some short stories were better than others (or a better fit for me than others), but there was not a single story in this anthology that I did not enjoy. There is only one story that I rated with 3 stars and that was only because I thought it could have been more interesting if it had been longer. All other stories were at the least very enjoyable, well written and with fascinating characters and quite a few of them are definite standouts in the genre (such as Lost in the Echoes by Xan van Rooyen, A Name Is a Plea and a Prophecy by Gabrielle Emem Harry, How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark, Saturday’s Song by Wole Talabi, Nairuko by Dennis Mugaa & Thin Ice by Kemi Ashing-Giwa). I also enjoyed that a variety of writing styles and subgenres of spec-fic were featured, which made this anthology very interesting and fun to read, without ever drifting off into feeling repetitive or boring. From sci-fi to Gods, fairytales to monster horror, urban magic to hauntings and even just a slightly more dystopian future, there’s certainly a short story here for everybody who enjoys speculative fiction. I also really enjoyed that the main characters varied widely, there are fascinating female MCs, one trans man MC, one lesbian MC and some non-human MCs (such as Androids, Gods) and even one story told in second person does not define the protagonist at all. Sometimes the main characters race plays a role (such as in Tanarive Due’s southern horror or P. Djèlí Clark’s anti-colonialist steampunk horror), sometimes it’s family and tribe that define the character (seen in Amanda Ilozumba’s small town haunting, or Adelehin Iljasan’s space odyssey), but most stories managed to build a very dense and intriguing world in the few pages they had and were a joy to read.
If you enjoy short stories, the speculative genre of fiction and want to read literature that doesn’t just focus on a western Us-American or European point of view, I can just recommend you check this anthology out.
I’ve written down some more thoughts on each specific story, including trigger warnings and a quick summary down below:
The Hollowed People by T.L. Huchu: A sci-fi story following a bunch of desperate people wanting to find a cure to their recurring nightmares, including one android. The story includes fantastical elements, a haunting, a long-ago injustice and revenge, which made it very interesting to read. While it was a bit tough to get into the plot at first (there is a reason for the plot to jump around a bit), but once that is resolved I was really interested and enjoyed this story a lot. The ending was also really good!
TW: death, suicide mention, past medical experimentation, past mass murder, past torture
*FAV* Lost in the Echoes by Xan van Rooyen: Set in a world where some people have magical abilities to manipulate the aura of others, a trans man finds himself struggling with his innate abilities and the fact that he used his magic for selfish gains. After running from his tribe out of shame, he now finds himself at a crossroad as the matriarch of said tribe offers him a choice: Use his magic again for her and live comfortable ever after. Or die. Really interesting world building and use of sign language. Plus, I loved the idea of an innate magic pattern that can be changed also in regard to gender. The ending was really, really good!
TW: death, loss of bodily autonomy
Ncheta by Chisom Umeh: Virtual realty is bridging the gap between the human and the spirit world, causing disturbances for the spirits. The Gods too, are suffering from now that people turn away from them and soon the spirit real faces a dangerous event. The story is quite interesting and I liked the inclusion of modern technology. It was fun to read and if you enjoy stories about spirts and Gods you might like this one a lot!
TW: death, grief
Suppertime by Tananarive Due: A young teenager follows the bobcat she rescued as a baby into the swamp and meets the monsters that live there. Very tense, but also with a high focus on friendship. I really enjoyed the family interactions portrayed in this story is well, it felt very well thought out. And who doesn’t love a good swamp monster horror?
TW: children in peril
*FAV* A Name Is a Plea and a Prophecy by Gabrielle Emem Harry: An orphan accepted only by a God of outcasts, grows up followed by death, wherever she goes. Now that she’s an adult, she has to seek out death. The depictions of mythology are really well done and there’s a scene of body horror in here that was just really great. I really enjoyed the end as well.
TW: body horror, gore, suicide
The Haunting of Kambili by Amanda Ilozumba: A young woman returns to the small town her mother ran from when she herself was just an infant and uncovers the towns dark secret. Fueled with anger (and with the help of an equally angry ghost), she decides to stop the dark rituals carried out in this town and the pain they inflict on young children. Really scary and with a heartbreaking look at fgm and the pain and harm it causes.
TW: female genital mutilation, death
Parody of the Sower by Michelle Enehiwealu Iruobe: A world where people plant seedlings to reproduce, but it has to be approved by the government first. Interesting, but with a very abrupt ending. The writing is very vivid though and really drew me into the story!
TW: child death
*FAV* How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark: Set in a steampunk world a young man wants to raise a Kraken to become famous. Incredible examination of the racism and colonialism of London and with a really, really great twist! I was expecting good writing (it is P. Djèlí Clark after all), but this was really, really fun to read and I enjoyed it a lot.
TW: racism, ableism, sexism, The British
In the Forest of Talking Animals by Makena Onjerika: A heartbreaking fairytale about a young child, who encounters a trickster and in an attempt to get away from her ends up in a cursed forest. Well written and heartbreaking as well.
TW: cheating, eye trauma, depression, disassociation
*FAV* Saturday’s Song by Wole Talabi: A mother’s homophobia causes her to do horrible things to her daughter, told here through a framing device of seven storytellers. I really enjoyed hearing this story told with short interruptions by the storytellers to deal with their own story, it was really interesting. The story itself was heartbreaking, showing the deep and terrible hurt that homophobia causes.
TW: homophobia, murder, torture
*FAV* Nairuko by Dennis Mugaa: A young woman, who has just been assigned her first mission as her tribe’s laibon, struggles with the responsibilities of her new position and the people, she meets during it. Heartbreaking and really, really good.
TW: genocide, mass murder, war, death, mention of past suicide
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman Of The World by Nalo Hopkinson: A young girl seeks revenge from a water demon for the death of her family. Very haunting and interesting and with a heartbreaking end.
TW: death, injury
The Rafting of Jorge Santa Cruz by Adelehin Ijasan: A Spanish father stuck in a space mine finds his request for leave to celebrate his daughter’s birthday denied as his debt has grown. During his desperate attempt to find a way home to her, he finds himself on the wrong ship. Heartbreaking, but very well written.
TW: capitalism, death by cancer
By Throat and Void by Tobias S. Buckell: A desperate voyage between worlds undertaken by refugees. Heartbreaking and very tense, but I enjoyed reading it a lot.
TW: child death, mass death, slavery,
*FAV* Thin Ice by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: A really scary story about an artificially created being set loose on a community to collect and retell their stories and the sole person kept awake as it slowly devours their clan. Manages to build up incredibly tension through only a few pages.
TW: mass murder, cannibalism-ish (?)
Blood and Ballots by Vuyokazi Ngemntu: A story of a world filled with racism we follow a young man during a protest against a racist politician, that soon threatens to escalate. Set in 2028 this story paints a far too realistic future, but the ending gives it an uplifting twist. I liked it and found it well written and very tense, but I wish the fatphobia used against the racists in the story hadn’t been in there.
TW: racism, police brutality, eugenics, fatphobia
The Rainbow Bank by Uchechukwo Nwaka: A post-alien-invasion story, where people nightmares were made manifest, we follow a young man and a woman with magic powers trying to find a magic pot that promises unlimited gold. I enjoyed their journey but found myself not really taken in by the world building. I think this one could have been a lot more interesting if it was longer.
TW: death
This collection features a few carefully selected morsels of African speculative literature, and I really enjoyed reading it. As is the case with anthologies, some short stories were better than others (or a better fit for me than others), but there was not a single story in this anthology that I did not enjoy. There is only one story that I rated with 3 stars and that was only because I thought it could have been more interesting if it had been longer. All other stories were at the least very enjoyable, well written and with fascinating characters and quite a few of them are definite standouts in the genre (such as Lost in the Echoes by Xan van Rooyen, A Name Is a Plea and a Prophecy by Gabrielle Emem Harry, How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark, Saturday’s Song by Wole Talabi, Nairuko by Dennis Mugaa & Thin Ice by Kemi Ashing-Giwa). I also enjoyed that a variety of writing styles and subgenres of spec-fic were featured, which made this anthology very interesting and fun to read, without ever drifting off into feeling repetitive or boring. From sci-fi to Gods, fairytales to monster horror, urban magic to hauntings and even just a slightly more dystopian future, there’s certainly a short story here for everybody who enjoys speculative fiction. I also really enjoyed that the main characters varied widely, there are fascinating female MCs, one trans man MC, one lesbian MC and some non-human MCs (such as Androids, Gods) and even one story told in second person does not define the protagonist at all. Sometimes the main characters race plays a role (such as in Tanarive Due’s southern horror or P. Djèlí Clark’s anti-colonialist steampunk horror), sometimes it’s family and tribe that define the character (seen in Amanda Ilozumba’s small town haunting, or Adelehin Iljasan’s space odyssey), but most stories managed to build a very dense and intriguing world in the few pages they had and were a joy to read.
If you enjoy short stories, the speculative genre of fiction and want to read literature that doesn’t just focus on a western Us-American or European point of view, I can just recommend you check this anthology out.
I’ve written down some more thoughts on each specific story, including trigger warnings and a quick summary down below:
The Hollowed People by T.L. Huchu: A sci-fi story following a bunch of desperate people wanting to find a cure to their recurring nightmares, including one android. The story includes fantastical elements, a haunting, a long-ago injustice and revenge, which made it very interesting to read. While it was a bit tough to get into the plot at first (there is a reason for the plot to jump around a bit), but once that is resolved I was really interested and enjoyed this story a lot. The ending was also really good!
TW: death, suicide mention, past medical experimentation, past mass murder, past torture
*FAV* Lost in the Echoes by Xan van Rooyen: Set in a world where some people have magical abilities to manipulate the aura of others, a trans man finds himself struggling with his innate abilities and the fact that he used his magic for selfish gains. After running from his tribe out of shame, he now finds himself at a crossroad as the matriarch of said tribe offers him a choice: Use his magic again for her and live comfortable ever after. Or die. Really interesting world building and use of sign language. Plus, I loved the idea of an innate magic pattern that can be changed also in regard to gender. The ending was really, really good!
TW: death, loss of bodily autonomy
Ncheta by Chisom Umeh: Virtual realty is bridging the gap between the human and the spirit world, causing disturbances for the spirits. The Gods too, are suffering from now that people turn away from them and soon the spirit real faces a dangerous event. The story is quite interesting and I liked the inclusion of modern technology. It was fun to read and if you enjoy stories about spirts and Gods you might like this one a lot!
TW: death, grief
Suppertime by Tananarive Due: A young teenager follows the bobcat she rescued as a baby into the swamp and meets the monsters that live there. Very tense, but also with a high focus on friendship. I really enjoyed the family interactions portrayed in this story is well, it felt very well thought out. And who doesn’t love a good swamp monster horror?
TW: children in peril
*FAV* A Name Is a Plea and a Prophecy by Gabrielle Emem Harry: An orphan accepted only by a God of outcasts, grows up followed by death, wherever she goes. Now that she’s an adult, she has to seek out death. The depictions of mythology are really well done and there’s a scene of body horror in here that was just really great. I really enjoyed the end as well.
TW: body horror, gore, suicide
The Haunting of Kambili by Amanda Ilozumba: A young woman returns to the small town her mother ran from when she herself was just an infant and uncovers the towns dark secret. Fueled with anger (and with the help of an equally angry ghost), she decides to stop the dark rituals carried out in this town and the pain they inflict on young children. Really scary and with a heartbreaking look at fgm and the pain and harm it causes.
TW: female genital mutilation, death
Parody of the Sower by Michelle Enehiwealu Iruobe: A world where people plant seedlings to reproduce, but it has to be approved by the government first. Interesting, but with a very abrupt ending. The writing is very vivid though and really drew me into the story!
TW: child death
*FAV* How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark: Set in a steampunk world a young man wants to raise a Kraken to become famous. Incredible examination of the racism and colonialism of London and with a really, really great twist! I was expecting good writing (it is P. Djèlí Clark after all), but this was really, really fun to read and I enjoyed it a lot.
TW: racism, ableism, sexism, The British
In the Forest of Talking Animals by Makena Onjerika: A heartbreaking fairytale about a young child, who encounters a trickster and in an attempt to get away from her ends up in a cursed forest. Well written and heartbreaking as well.
TW: cheating, eye trauma, depression, disassociation
*FAV* Saturday’s Song by Wole Talabi: A mother’s homophobia causes her to do horrible things to her daughter, told here through a framing device of seven storytellers. I really enjoyed hearing this story told with short interruptions by the storytellers to deal with their own story, it was really interesting. The story itself was heartbreaking, showing the deep and terrible hurt that homophobia causes.
TW: homophobia, murder, torture
*FAV* Nairuko by Dennis Mugaa: A young woman, who has just been assigned her first mission as her tribe’s laibon, struggles with the responsibilities of her new position and the people, she meets during it. Heartbreaking and really, really good.
TW: genocide, mass murder, war, death, mention of past suicide
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman Of The World by Nalo Hopkinson: A young girl seeks revenge from a water demon for the death of her family. Very haunting and interesting and with a heartbreaking end.
TW: death, injury
The Rafting of Jorge Santa Cruz by Adelehin Ijasan: A Spanish father stuck in a space mine finds his request for leave to celebrate his daughter’s birthday denied as his debt has grown. During his desperate attempt to find a way home to her, he finds himself on the wrong ship. Heartbreaking, but very well written.
TW: capitalism, death by cancer
By Throat and Void by Tobias S. Buckell: A desperate voyage between worlds undertaken by refugees. Heartbreaking and very tense, but I enjoyed reading it a lot.
TW: child death, mass death, slavery,
*FAV* Thin Ice by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: A really scary story about an artificially created being set loose on a community to collect and retell their stories and the sole person kept awake as it slowly devours their clan. Manages to build up incredibly tension through only a few pages.
TW: mass murder, cannibalism-ish (?)
Blood and Ballots by Vuyokazi Ngemntu: A story of a world filled with racism we follow a young man during a protest against a racist politician, that soon threatens to escalate. Set in 2028 this story paints a far too realistic future, but the ending gives it an uplifting twist. I liked it and found it well written and very tense, but I wish the fatphobia used against the racists in the story hadn’t been in there.
TW: racism, police brutality, eugenics, fatphobia
The Rainbow Bank by Uchechukwo Nwaka: A post-alien-invasion story, where people nightmares were made manifest, we follow a young man and a woman with magic powers trying to find a magic pot that promises unlimited gold. I enjoyed their journey but found myself not really taken in by the world building. I think this one could have been a lot more interesting if it was longer.
TW: death
Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy by the publisher in exchange for a review.
Trigger warnings for this review for discussions of gore!
This is a short story collection with a focus on the gorey, the messy, the dark things. If you like horror and gore, I don’t think you will need a lot of convincing after enjoying the gorgeous cover to pick this book up. But if you need some more convincing, let me tell you that this is an incredibly well written and very intriguing collection of horror short stories (& it features some great art inside as well!). It includes multiple genres of horror and from cosmic horror to deep sea horror to gruesome body horror, there’s something here for everybody who enjoys the macabre. Most stories feature gore or other forms of body horror, but some focus on more interpersonal horror and for that I just want to mention that I loved the way this book handled trigger warnings. They are provided at the end of the book, but mentioned in the beginning. This makes them easy to check out, without running into the risk of accidentally spoilering yourself, if you choose to skip them.
Besides the cover setting the mood for the stories included here, there’s another cool aspect that I enjoyed at the beginning of the book: It includes a word definition for the title and if you’re a gorehound like me, I think you can understand the giddy joy I felt when reading “to cut something purely for the enjoyment of cutting; generally understood to be enacted upon something living or once living”. Just lovely!
While not every short story was perfectly suited to me, I really enjoyed most of them and felt that most managed to really work with the genre of short story well. Only one story was too short for me to fully enjoy it and I still adored all the concepts presented here and found them to be explored in interesting ways and with some great detailed and gruesome imagery. There’s a roommate with a dangerous curse, deep-sea scientists, self-inflicted amputations, women with weird fixations on corpses and more. My personal favorite stories were “Eusect” (the self-amputation story), “Aurozoa Sleep” (the deep-sea scientist horror), “In Miriam’s Arms” (the corpse-obsessed woman), “We, the Water, the Stars” (a scholar of the cosmic embarks on a sea voyage, but his plans there are sinister) and “Tender Writhing” (a man wrecked by grief over the loss of his partner cannot let him go). As I already mentioned the stories tend to be intimate, exploring character’s reactions to facing the horrors or their descent into depravity or desperation. Despite being very short, these stories managed to provide great character (and world) building and I found myself deeply intrigued by most of them.
All in all, this is an incredible short story collection and if you enjoy your horror gorey, queer and with a variety of bodily fluids, check it out. For myself I definitely have found a new author whose work I will be keeping an eye on!
My Roommate’s Locks: Living with roommates can be tough in the best of times. Living with a roommate, whose name you cannot remember and who keeps losing things, is worse. Really tense, but intriguing story and I really liked the ending. It’s short, but very unsettling.
Tw: violence, suicide
*FAV* Eusect: The main character of this story decides that today they will cut off their leg. We follow through a gruesome but methodical depiction of the process using a variety of knives and this story absolutely deserves the title it got. Very gorey, very enjoyable and I really liked the end.
Tw: dismemberment, self-mutilation, violence towards animals
*FAV* Aurozoa Sleep: Deep Sea Horror my most beloved! Science Horror my also very beloved! This story follows two women as they investigate the life cycle of the lion mane’s jellyfish, when one of them begins to sleepwalk. Haunting and filled with despair, this is an incredible story that I adored!
Tw: animal death, hypnotism, ocean/deep water, gore, body horror
Doors and Dead Men: A horror short about a haunting, interesting, but not as intriguing as the rest of the stories so far. A bit too short to reveal its full terrifying potential to me, but still a cool concept.
Tw: death
An Account of Five Hundred and Nine, or Sower’s Descent: A short story about a really fucked up prison and a person with the ability to grant an immortality of the worst kind called in to get some information out of people, deeply unsettling and one of the stories I would love to have more of!
Tw: body horror, death, mention of suicide
Ximena’s Fall: A story investigating the unsolved case of a woman’s corpses appearing all across the globe with her face beaten to a bloody pulp. Very interesting and I liked it quite a lot and especially the end was unsettling!
Tw: suicide, domestic abuse, gore, body horror
Need Only Be Closer: A concert ends up with two friends getting separated in the crowd. As a not that tall person this takes a fear I have and just makes it so much scarier. Really well done and with some quite fun body horror, fans of the Lonely from TMA will love this one! Loved the very hopeless end.
*FAV* In Miriam’s Arms: An elderly woman rediscovers her younger self’s passion when she accidentally hits and kills a dog on her way home from work. Incredible depictions of gore, embracing the intimacy of getting to touch something’s insides in the best way. Loved it!
Tw: gore, murder, animal death, child death, disembowelment
Mouths: A woman returns from her shopping trip with lots of meat to feed the many hungry mouths in her home. Kind off sweet, despite the weirdness. Very short, but I like the concept!
Tw: mention of possible future suicide
*FAV* We, the Water, the Stars: A scholar of stars convinces a captain to let him set out to sea with him. Shortly before their voyage starts an unfortunate accident causes two more sailors to join their little crew. Thankfully the scholar has means to deal with that unfortunate distraction. Very fun, I love cosmic horror, and as I already mentioned I love oceanic horror and this combines these two in wonderful ways. If you enjoy this one, I would also definitely recommend “From the Belly” by Emmett Nahil to you.
Tw: murder, gore, dissociation, ocean
*FAV* Tender Writhing: A man arrives home to find his boyfriend dead on the floor. Unable to let go and knowing that reporting his death would mean his boyfriend’s family cutting him out from any funeral proceedings, he simply leaves him there. And that’s when things really start to spiral out of control. Very messy, very gross, very good, I loved it. Queer horror and bugs my beloved!
Tw: death, homophobia, necrophilia, bugs, insects, suicide
The Firetender: A person finds a little fire and takes it home, soon watching their life become devoured by the flames. Interesting analogy for domestic abuse.
Tw: domestic abuse, fire
A Stagnant Song: A father struggling with his child that stopped aging as it turned one year old tries to find a solution to his problem. Messy, but interesting.
Tw: infanticide, death due pregnancy complications, abusive father
Stay: A mom unable to deal with her son leaving for college tries to find a way to make him stay. Really fucked up and again, with some incredibly great gore! Enjoyable, in a heartbreaking way.
Tw: abusive parents, poisoning, violence, murder
Trigger warnings for this review for discussions of gore!
This is a short story collection with a focus on the gorey, the messy, the dark things. If you like horror and gore, I don’t think you will need a lot of convincing after enjoying the gorgeous cover to pick this book up. But if you need some more convincing, let me tell you that this is an incredibly well written and very intriguing collection of horror short stories (& it features some great art inside as well!). It includes multiple genres of horror and from cosmic horror to deep sea horror to gruesome body horror, there’s something here for everybody who enjoys the macabre. Most stories feature gore or other forms of body horror, but some focus on more interpersonal horror and for that I just want to mention that I loved the way this book handled trigger warnings. They are provided at the end of the book, but mentioned in the beginning. This makes them easy to check out, without running into the risk of accidentally spoilering yourself, if you choose to skip them.
Besides the cover setting the mood for the stories included here, there’s another cool aspect that I enjoyed at the beginning of the book: It includes a word definition for the title and if you’re a gorehound like me, I think you can understand the giddy joy I felt when reading “to cut something purely for the enjoyment of cutting; generally understood to be enacted upon something living or once living”. Just lovely!
While not every short story was perfectly suited to me, I really enjoyed most of them and felt that most managed to really work with the genre of short story well. Only one story was too short for me to fully enjoy it and I still adored all the concepts presented here and found them to be explored in interesting ways and with some great detailed and gruesome imagery. There’s a roommate with a dangerous curse, deep-sea scientists, self-inflicted amputations, women with weird fixations on corpses and more. My personal favorite stories were “Eusect” (the self-amputation story), “Aurozoa Sleep” (the deep-sea scientist horror), “In Miriam’s Arms” (the corpse-obsessed woman), “We, the Water, the Stars” (a scholar of the cosmic embarks on a sea voyage, but his plans there are sinister) and “Tender Writhing” (a man wrecked by grief over the loss of his partner cannot let him go). As I already mentioned the stories tend to be intimate, exploring character’s reactions to facing the horrors or their descent into depravity or desperation. Despite being very short, these stories managed to provide great character (and world) building and I found myself deeply intrigued by most of them.
All in all, this is an incredible short story collection and if you enjoy your horror gorey, queer and with a variety of bodily fluids, check it out. For myself I definitely have found a new author whose work I will be keeping an eye on!
My Roommate’s Locks: Living with roommates can be tough in the best of times. Living with a roommate, whose name you cannot remember and who keeps losing things, is worse. Really tense, but intriguing story and I really liked the ending. It’s short, but very unsettling.
Tw: violence, suicide
*FAV* Eusect: The main character of this story decides that today they will cut off their leg. We follow through a gruesome but methodical depiction of the process using a variety of knives and this story absolutely deserves the title it got. Very gorey, very enjoyable and I really liked the end.
Tw: dismemberment, self-mutilation, violence towards animals
*FAV* Aurozoa Sleep: Deep Sea Horror my most beloved! Science Horror my also very beloved! This story follows two women as they investigate the life cycle of the lion mane’s jellyfish, when one of them begins to sleepwalk. Haunting and filled with despair, this is an incredible story that I adored!
Tw: animal death, hypnotism, ocean/deep water, gore, body horror
Doors and Dead Men: A horror short about a haunting, interesting, but not as intriguing as the rest of the stories so far. A bit too short to reveal its full terrifying potential to me, but still a cool concept.
Tw: death
An Account of Five Hundred and Nine, or Sower’s Descent: A short story about a really fucked up prison and a person with the ability to grant an immortality of the worst kind called in to get some information out of people, deeply unsettling and one of the stories I would love to have more of!
Tw: body horror, death, mention of suicide
Ximena’s Fall: A story investigating the unsolved case of a woman’s corpses appearing all across the globe with her face beaten to a bloody pulp. Very interesting and I liked it quite a lot and especially the end was unsettling!
Tw: suicide, domestic abuse, gore, body horror
Need Only Be Closer: A concert ends up with two friends getting separated in the crowd. As a not that tall person this takes a fear I have and just makes it so much scarier. Really well done and with some quite fun body horror, fans of the Lonely from TMA will love this one! Loved the very hopeless end.
*FAV* In Miriam’s Arms: An elderly woman rediscovers her younger self’s passion when she accidentally hits and kills a dog on her way home from work. Incredible depictions of gore, embracing the intimacy of getting to touch something’s insides in the best way. Loved it!
Tw: gore, murder, animal death, child death, disembowelment
Mouths: A woman returns from her shopping trip with lots of meat to feed the many hungry mouths in her home. Kind off sweet, despite the weirdness. Very short, but I like the concept!
Tw: mention of possible future suicide
*FAV* We, the Water, the Stars: A scholar of stars convinces a captain to let him set out to sea with him. Shortly before their voyage starts an unfortunate accident causes two more sailors to join their little crew. Thankfully the scholar has means to deal with that unfortunate distraction. Very fun, I love cosmic horror, and as I already mentioned I love oceanic horror and this combines these two in wonderful ways. If you enjoy this one, I would also definitely recommend “From the Belly” by Emmett Nahil to you.
Tw: murder, gore, dissociation, ocean
*FAV* Tender Writhing: A man arrives home to find his boyfriend dead on the floor. Unable to let go and knowing that reporting his death would mean his boyfriend’s family cutting him out from any funeral proceedings, he simply leaves him there. And that’s when things really start to spiral out of control. Very messy, very gross, very good, I loved it. Queer horror and bugs my beloved!
Tw: death, homophobia, necrophilia, bugs, insects, suicide
The Firetender: A person finds a little fire and takes it home, soon watching their life become devoured by the flames. Interesting analogy for domestic abuse.
Tw: domestic abuse, fire
A Stagnant Song: A father struggling with his child that stopped aging as it turned one year old tries to find a solution to his problem. Messy, but interesting.
Tw: infanticide, death due pregnancy complications, abusive father
Stay: A mom unable to deal with her son leaving for college tries to find a way to make him stay. Really fucked up and again, with some incredibly great gore! Enjoyable, in a heartbreaking way.
Tw: abusive parents, poisoning, violence, murder