Take a photo of a barcode or cover
638 reviews by:
reads_vicariously
Not posting a rating or review because I edited this collection and don't want to seem biased...let's just say I think you should read this!
“Stale Air” by Jo Quenell - a young man visits his absent father to work out some resentments, and discovers something both horrifying and miraculous. Excellent dialogue and tension-building, plus a creepy twist and some gross out horror!
“I Know Not the Names of the Gods to Whom I Pray” by @sammytotep - a man struggling to deal with grief and heartache over the loss of a loved one. It’s graphically violent, poetic, and achingly beautiful.
“Apate’s Children” by @brendanvidito - a man must deal over and over with shame of infidelity, his guilt manifesting in a series of increasingly bizarre and brutal horrors. To say more would be too much, but it’s genuinely weird and frightening. Possibly my favorite of the collection.
“Start Today” by @loseyourghost - a man who struggles with self-esteem joins a support group for guys who want to become better versions of themselves. This one holds its cards close in the first half, then turns to grimace-inducing body horror in the second half. Loved it.
All four of these stories are 5 ⭐️ reads, making this a collection that’s easy to recommend. It’s a tiny-but-powerful book. Loved the variety of ideas and writing styles, and these stories are ripe for further readings.
“I Know Not the Names of the Gods to Whom I Pray” by @sammytotep - a man struggling to deal with grief and heartache over the loss of a loved one. It’s graphically violent, poetic, and achingly beautiful.
“Apate’s Children” by @brendanvidito - a man must deal over and over with shame of infidelity, his guilt manifesting in a series of increasingly bizarre and brutal horrors. To say more would be too much, but it’s genuinely weird and frightening. Possibly my favorite of the collection.
“Start Today” by @loseyourghost - a man who struggles with self-esteem joins a support group for guys who want to become better versions of themselves. This one holds its cards close in the first half, then turns to grimace-inducing body horror in the second half. Loved it.
All four of these stories are 5 ⭐️ reads, making this a collection that’s easy to recommend. It’s a tiny-but-powerful book. Loved the variety of ideas and writing styles, and these stories are ripe for further readings.
This novella is a quick read, and I flew through it. Part of that is because of the short page count, but it’s also thanks to the author’s engaging writing and excellent pacing. It’s essentially a stripped down domestic horror/thriller with two characters and strong Misery vibes. I kind of knew where it was going, but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the ride, and there where still a few moments that elicited genuine gasps of surprise. The two characters are very well written, and even though the plot grows more outrageous as the story goes on it still feels very believable.
Overall this is a short, disturbing, and tense novella that I absolutely recommend!! Thanks to the author for sending a copy in exchange for an honest review
Overall this is a short, disturbing, and tense novella that I absolutely recommend!! Thanks to the author for sending a copy in exchange for an honest review
**Review originally published in SCREAM Magazine**
I Breathed a Body, a thrilling new graphic novel from AfterShock Comics, opens with America’s most popular social media influencer, Mylo Caliban, making an “apology” video for a stunt that severely injured someone. His PR team, hungry for engagement and traffic, decides to lean into the bad press, and suddenly their company is reaping massive profits from societal rage and ad revenue. In just the first few pages the comic is already unsettlingly accurate in its portrayal of influencer culture, big tech priorities, and social media’s vice grip on humanity – and the story only gets more disturbing from there.
Mylo is the face of a generation and the avatar for his father’s tech company, MyCee, which essentially owns the internet in this not-too-distant future. His father enables Mylo’s behavior as his passion is purely for profits, no matter the cost to decency and civility. Mylo’s quest for viral infamy leads to him creating increasingly sensational and outrageous content, and it’s up to his PR team, led by social media manager Anne Stewart, to fan the flames of indignation and reap the monetary side of shock value.
But, there’s a dark secret underlying the technology that society is plugged into; a living, breathing horror has been tapped into and tampered with, and now it’s growing and spreading. The story quickly goes off the rails in the best possible way, blending in a healthy dose of body horror and supernatural terror. Every few pages there’s a new twist, a new splash of grotesque imagery, a new level of insanity in an increasingly bizarre storyline. This is easily one of the goriest graphic novels I’ve ever read, and there were more than a few audible gasps during certain scenes, such as when someone’s body is drained and disemboweled on a livestream, or when viewers began injecting themselves with a formula that causes them to explode into nightmarish human fungi.
Writer Zac Thompson weaves a variety of social critiques into a highly original narrative brimming with beauty and brutality. The illustrations by Andy MacDonald are striking and captivating, and they bring the story to life with startling detail. I don’t fully understand everything I read in I Breathed a Body, but it demanded my attention from its surprising beginning to its cosmos-altering ending, and I certainly won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.
I Breathed a Body, a thrilling new graphic novel from AfterShock Comics, opens with America’s most popular social media influencer, Mylo Caliban, making an “apology” video for a stunt that severely injured someone. His PR team, hungry for engagement and traffic, decides to lean into the bad press, and suddenly their company is reaping massive profits from societal rage and ad revenue. In just the first few pages the comic is already unsettlingly accurate in its portrayal of influencer culture, big tech priorities, and social media’s vice grip on humanity – and the story only gets more disturbing from there.
Mylo is the face of a generation and the avatar for his father’s tech company, MyCee, which essentially owns the internet in this not-too-distant future. His father enables Mylo’s behavior as his passion is purely for profits, no matter the cost to decency and civility. Mylo’s quest for viral infamy leads to him creating increasingly sensational and outrageous content, and it’s up to his PR team, led by social media manager Anne Stewart, to fan the flames of indignation and reap the monetary side of shock value.
But, there’s a dark secret underlying the technology that society is plugged into; a living, breathing horror has been tapped into and tampered with, and now it’s growing and spreading. The story quickly goes off the rails in the best possible way, blending in a healthy dose of body horror and supernatural terror. Every few pages there’s a new twist, a new splash of grotesque imagery, a new level of insanity in an increasingly bizarre storyline. This is easily one of the goriest graphic novels I’ve ever read, and there were more than a few audible gasps during certain scenes, such as when someone’s body is drained and disemboweled on a livestream, or when viewers began injecting themselves with a formula that causes them to explode into nightmarish human fungi.
Writer Zac Thompson weaves a variety of social critiques into a highly original narrative brimming with beauty and brutality. The illustrations by Andy MacDonald are striking and captivating, and they bring the story to life with startling detail. I don’t fully understand everything I read in I Breathed a Body, but it demanded my attention from its surprising beginning to its cosmos-altering ending, and I certainly won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.