Fleshed Out

Editing my review because this book turns a year old today and while I read it 11 months and over 500 titles ago I still think about some of these stories on the regular (Roe and Carnage in particular) and therefore I think it's criminal that it's not getting more attention!

Some of the stories don't take themselves too seriously, others are heartbreaking and surprisingly deep for a collection about body horror.

There are 12 stories in this book but most of them feel connected and for me there was an undercurrent of “eat the rich” morale which might not have been intended by the author but that I found most delightful. There is a good variety in characters but a lot of them carry family trauma with them which I found interesting and dare I say perhaps a little cathartic.

On their own I was especially fond of: Crystalline for its cosmic horror vibe, Carnage for the romance gone all the way wrong and all the way inescapable, Circle a short and visceral perfect read if you have strong feelings about prisons and Roe an unexpected twist on fish horror.

For the ace/sex repulsed in the room: there's one story (Doug) with sex it's not super graphic but there's a lot about bodily fluid in that story.