#body horror books

[bekah-reading]

94

4/5

This is a horror anthology that has a focus on body horror.

I grabbed it up because it’s body horror, and because of Tananarive Due, Seanen McGuire, and of course Carmen Maria Machado being among the names featured.

This was okay; it had a few ones that stick with me. I really enjoyed A Positive, Subsumption, It Was the Heat, Welcome to Mengele’s, and The Old Women Who We’re Skinned.

For something that has Extreme Body Horror in the title I feel like this was mostly speculative body horror that never really got dark or descriptive. I enjoyed it all the same; but I had more reactions to stuff from Grady Hendrix, Nick Cutter, and even the manga Parasyte.

It had a very nice and well thought planning and pacing of the how the stories flowed into each other. The transitions are a short paragraph that introduce each author and that was a nice touch. I liked Ellen Datlow’s introduction. I do have to say I enjoyed this anthology of Datlow’s more than her Lovecraft Unbound.

If you want a nice body horror centered, speculative horror short story collection, this one is one to pick up.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

.

[19-1-20-25-18]

TW: blood, violence.

[peaceloverobbie]

[aimasup]

Liar-monster-snappy-dresser Drawing Pile

[torpublishinggroup]

Though it might be tempting, don’t venture into hedge mazes…no matter what

Be mindful of triggering the wrath of revenge ghosts lest you become a ghost yourself

Beware the dangers of underestimating “docile girls”—it could be a killer mistake

Summoning an ancient evil demon is NEVER a good idea. Seriously. 

Trying to steal someone’s home might cost you your soul. It’s never worth it. 

Understand that haunted houses have feelings too—the problem is sometimes they’re evil.

Tips provided by Terry J. Benton-Walker, editor and contributor of The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

A museum curator who despises “diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever....

These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first.

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about…if you survive it.

[valtsv]

Underused psychological/body horror concept: Character who knows their body was changed without their knowledge or permission, but also realizes their mind was affected because the change itself doesnt bother them at all. They're in a form unrecognizable to how they've been the whole rest of their life, and the most upsetting part is the realization that they're unable to be upset about it.

oh fuck yeah. i'm definitely projecting here, but there is something so satisfyingly horrifying about being able to rationally recognise that you should feel a certain way, but being physically and psychologically incapable of it, because the part of you that would enable you to access those emotions has been cut away, torn up by the roots and cauterised shut before you could feel the pain of the wound it left behind. the added insult to injury of not only having something stolen from you, but taking all of the rage and pain you might have felt at its loss with it. the body-mind entanglement; phantom limbs and phantom grief.

[antonymziie]

i cannot stop. i needed to make this

[eliotbaum]

I've participated in an art/lorebook about Gods, Paladins and Clerics aimed to inspire and use for TTRPG games! Its campaign is live until June 13th (2024).

Book of Devotion is a collaborative volume that showcases the work of 49 artists and writers to create new and innovative deities and devotees, each of them with their own story.

[anris-resurrection]

Aren't you a sight for sore EYE

[its-not-a-pen]

Cover illustrations for TTOU by @derinthescarletpescatarian

original designs for volume 1 & 2: i thought it would be cool if the illustrations mirror each other when viewed side by side. volume 1: Big Aspen, whose head is filled with spaceship guts, stares in dispair at Mini Aspen on a spacewalk, contemplating the existential horror of being a tiny human on a broken spaceship at the mercy of the vast, uncaring universe.

volume 2: Big Aspen, damaged but not defeated, is cradling a tiny colonist in stasis. the colonist is in the same pose as Big Aspen, it's symbolic of them trying to preserve their own humanity.

first drafts:

[19-1-20-25-18]

I have missed you. But my aim is getting better.

[bernard-the-rabbit]

Mihi vindicta: ego retribuam, dicit Dominus.

[aliendeity]

‘best friends’ - shintaro kago

[tapeworrmart]

"The scars formed a mould waiting for my fingers"

[torpublishinggroup]

“Changing the horror game one short story at a time.” —Cosmopolitan on The White Guy Dies First

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

The White Guy Dies First includes thirteen scary stories by all-star contributors and this time, the white guy dies first.

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

A museum curator who despises “diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever....

These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first.

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about…if you survive it.