Fear never dies...
These stories from eighteen master storytellers will curdle your blood, haunt your dreams and redefine terror.
An exploited child worker in the silver mines of Bolivia finds an ally - but at what cost? A young woman's workplace affair has terrifying repercussions when her lover's wife dies. A sailor's wife takes her communion with Nature a little too far...
From a hungry young woman who is not what she seems, to a boy who has taken his mother's advice a little too seriously; from disfigured girls willing to pay any price to fit in, to an immigrant who cannot escape his tormentor; from a new home with a sinister secret, to the discovery that a long-dead parent's corpse is perfectly preserved decades later; this collection plumbs the depths of the psyche and dredges up some very modern horrors. Featuring stories by: Susan Barker, J K Chukwu, Bridget Collins, Mariana Enriquez, Michel Faber, Lewis Hancox, Emilia Hart, Ainslie Hogarth, Robert Lautner, Adorah Nworah, Irenosen Okojie, Lucy Rose, Lionel Shriver, James Smythe, Lavie Tidhar, Francine Toon, Evie Wyld and Louisa Young
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No moon tonight and the sea's as black and vast as the starless sky. (FIGHT, FLIGHT, FREEZE BY SUSAN BAKER)
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(@BoroughPress, 10 October 2024, e-galley, 384 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley)
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Overall, I enjoyed Of The Flesh. This is a mixed bag of an anthology with some stories far superior than others. Some of the authors are known to me including Michael Faber, Lavie Tidhar, Evie Wyld and Lionel Shriver so this encouraged me to give this anthology a shot. The stories, for the most were enjoyable if not quite good enough to make me seek out other works by the authors. Three stories stood out and made this anthology worth reading; Adorah Nworah's 'The Smiling African Uncle', Irenosen Okojie's 'Rosheen' and Lucy Rose's 'Carcinisation'. For these startling stories alone I'd recommend this book. I also really loved Fruiting Bodies by Bridget Collins. I'd recommend this anthology.