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Brief, Horrible Moments: A collection of one sentence horror stories
My Review: I couldn’t resist a unique idea when I stumbled on this little book, a collection of one-sentence horror stories that are meant to leave the reader wondering what happens next. I didn’t have very high expectations given the concept, but I figured it’d be an amusing short read and it was at first. Some of the earlier stories were not bad, and could easily work as a writing prompt. The vast majority unfortunately were utterly forgettable. There were many connecting words, I can’t count the number of times I saw sentences broken up with the same words and phrases that gave it a repetitive quality. Despite grand leaps…
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A Certain Hunger
My Review: When we have sex, we ravish our lovers, nibble their ears, lick their vulvas, or swallow their cocks. Gleeful, we banquet on flesh.What a deliciously devious book, a gorgeously written horror satire about a murderess and food critic. Dorothy Daniels has undoubtedly become one of my favorite literary killers; she is unapologetically sexy, terrifyingly tall, she has fine taste in food and a devilish desire to consume. If Lady Dimitrescu was a literary character, she would be Dorothy Daniels. The story is straightforward, it recounts the life of Dorothy, a notoriously famous food critic, and her gradual descent into cannibalism. The story explores the rise of culinary criticism…
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Shimmer and Burn
Warnings: Violence My Thoughts Shimmer and Burn was much much darker than I expected and I LOVED it. A locked away kingdom ruled by a ruthless king, forbidden blood magic that is both beautiful and deadly, a power-hungry princess, a dying world infested with diseased cannibals–this book had it all. That is, except for the main character, Faris. This book was almost perfect for me, but I just wish that Faris wasn’t so bland. The book is carried by an extremely strong plot and well-developed side characters but.. well the story just sort of happens to Faris. She is constantly made out to be a fighter but she ends up…
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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
My Review: My Thoughts I fell in love with Mariana Enriquez’s stories after reading Things We Lost in the Fire and I was so hungry to read more of her work. When I saw The Dangers of Smoking in Bed was finally being translated to English I was overjoyed and so excited to dive back into Enriquez’s world of macabre characters and supernatural frights. I didn’t think it was possible, but I ended up loving this new collection so much more than the first. The stories in The Dangers of Smoking in Bed are bold, sexy, and push boundaries at every turn. The stories portrayed people or places that seemed…
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The Road
My Thoughts Where to start with this book. Well, first I can say that The Road is my first Cormac McCarthy book and I’m deeply conflicted about it. I was immediately surprised and rather frustrated by his writing style. There is a part of me that wants to read his other books to see what the fuss is about, but the other part of me is honestly hesitant because of how miserable my reading experience was with The Road. It is one of the most horrifying books I’ve ever read, both for its content and for the blatant disregard of anything that makes a book great but especially syntax. The…
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Tender Is the Flesh
My Review: Many people have normalized what the media insist on calling the ‘Transition.’ But he hasn’t because he knows that transition is a word that doesn’t convey how quick and ruthless the process was. One word to sum up and classify the unfathomable. An empty word.What would happen to the meat industry if animals were suddenly inedible? Wiped out by a terrifying virus that makes animals toxic to humans. Tender is the Flesh answers that question in the coldest, cruelest way possible: cannibalism. To avoid the collapse of multiple industries and to satiate humanity’s “need” for meat, the world moves toward state-sanctioned cannibalism, a world where humans are bred…
