A collection of 18 modern horror short stories from around the world.

I actually read this back in October last year, but somehow gathering my thoughts and putting them to paper (even digital paper) has taken an inordinately long time, and I’m not entirely sure why. I’m sure there’s an element of the fact that short story collections often feel harder to review, reflect on or summarise because they’re not one single story or narrative, despite the presence of a theme or common thread.

This collection contains a lot of body horror and psychological horror, with themes of abuse, domestic abuse, racism, oppression, fatphobia, ableism, and more so please do be mindful and double check trigger warnings before diving in.

As is often the case with short story collections, the quality felt a little inconsistent. While there were some standouts, there were also plenty that I couldn’t recall even five days after finishing, let alone five months later. (Yes, I really should have taken notes while reading, but we live and learn.)

For me, the standouts were:

“Fight, Flight, Freeze” (Susan Barker): A revenge tale. A woman is punished by the wife of the man she had an affair with, while that wife was dying of cancer.

“The Fruiting Body” (Bridget Collins): Follows a patch of dry rot growing in a house mid-renovation. As the rot spreads, so does the rot in the couple’s relationship.

“Apples” (Emilia Hart): Consuming fruit from a particular tree grants the ability to hear men’s thoughts. A mother bakes an apple crumble and feeds it to her daughter (and the daughter’s boyfriend), hoping to enlighten her after seeing what he was thinking.

“Carcinisation” (Lucy Rose): A fisherman’s wife swallows a crab, kept from her husband's catch, and begins a strange symbiotic relationship. The body horror here is unsettling, but the writing is fantastic, especially a clever narrative shift from plural to singular as the crab further assimilates.

I also love that I somehow didn’t clock that both Apples and Carcinisation were by authors I was already excited about (and having more recently read and loved The Lamb it makes an awful lot of sense why I enjoyed ‘Carcinisation’ so much!) - but I’m really glad I enjoyed them totally on merit and not just because I recognised the author names.

All in all, this is a broad, all-encompassing collection. There's definitely something here for everyone, though not every story will work for any one reader. It’s a great mix of styles and genres, ranging from vengeful ghost stories and paranormal entities to chilling social commentary, dystopian sci-fi, and psychological unraveling.

For me personally, I can’t give this more than a 3 overall, simply because of how widely my enjoyment varied between stories. But I’d still absolutely recommend giving it a go if you’re even a little bit curious.

This is a collection of short horror stories by various authors.

There were some stories I really enjoyed.and others not so much. The ebook format didn't work for the comic book story which was disappointing. A lot of the stories I found to be confusing or end very abruptly. I enjoy short stories when they feel like a complete short story however some of these felt like they ended in the middle and I was confused as to what the point of it was.

There are some good, stomach churning ones though. A lot of body horror and gross images which I liked.

My favourite stories were:

The Smiling African Uncle
Apples
Waffle Thomas
Going Large
Bob a job
Mouse

There were others I enjoyed until the abrupt ending. I'm glad I read this book but not sure I'd recommend it.

Plenty of things to love in this book: well plotted and horrifying stories, excellent author both new and already known.
Loved it
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

What a great collection of horror stories, super varied in concept and horror type so I think there’s something for every horror reader within! I love short story collections for their versatility and this one was great!

A chilling and entertaining short story collection from an ensemble of writers, such as Emilia Hart, Mariana Enríquez and Ainslie Hogarth, to name a few! This was perfect to pick up in the evenings and delve into a story or two! This was my first collection where so many authors contributed, I found it to be a feat that such an atmosphere was created in just a few pages! Some of these will be staying with me, and one or two even had me reaching for all of the lights!

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Collins and The Borough Press for this copy!

For me, this was an average collection of horror short stories— there were some hits, some misses, all of which I expect when it comes to short story anthologies but still a worthwhile nighttime read.
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There were a couple stories I really liked but there were also quite a few that didn't seem very memorable to me or that I just didn't quite vibe with while reading, however I could still appreciate the writing itself in all of them. I do think there's at least one story for most horror fans in this so I'd still say it's worth picking up; there were a few that included fairly gory scenes (that damn crab story specifically) so I'd recommend looking up specific content warnings if you are planning on reading this. I liked that there was a mixture of different subgenres of horror in this; social horror, body horror, supernatural, psychological etc.
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Overall, I think this collection is a decent way of discovering new horror writers so I'd still recommend it even just for that.

Thank you Borough Press & Netgalley for the free eARC!

A brilliant selection of horrifying reads, perfect for picking up every now and again when you feel the urge for something eerie. Overall a great read!

A great selection of horror short stories, emphasising body horror. I enjoyed quite a lot of these stories, and have a couple that have stuck with me since reading. I will be checking out a lot of these authors other work.

A collection of short horror stories that evoke visceral emotions. As with anthologies, there will be hits and misses. Personally, the story that I enjoyed the most (I enjoyed a number of them) had to have been Flight 2212 by J K Chukwu.

An eerie collection. Some chilling, some predictable and some downright horrifying. Overall a great read, thanks to netgalley for an ARC!

I was drawn to this horror anthology because of the variety of the featured authors, and the fact that most of them have a “literary” following beyond the circle of horror enthusiasts. A case in point is Mariana Enríquez, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2021, who contributes a somewhat comedic story about a young man who discovers that a cult is growing around his dead mother and her “incorruptible body”. It is not the only featured work to revolve around “bodies”, usually in the context of critiques of misogyny and capitalism. Indeed, most of the items have a contemporary, social edge to them and veer more towards the weird/speculative end of the horror spectrum than towards the more traditional supernatural horror of ghosts, monsters and haunted houses. This is an intriguing mix of tales, which could draw readers who do not usually follow horror. Here’s the full list of authors and stories:

· Susan Barker – Fight, Flight, Freeze

· J K Chukwu - Flight 2212

· The Fruiting Body - Bridget Collins

· Mariana Enríquez (translated by Megan McDowell) – Daisies

· Michel Faber - The Broccoli Eel

· Lewis Hancox – Sketchy

· Emilia Hart - Apples

· Ainslie Hogarth –Waffle Thomas

· Robert Lautner – Shade

· Adorah Nworah - The Smiling African Uncle

· Irenosen Okojie – Rosheen

· Lucy Rose – Carcinization

· Lionel Shriver – Going Large

· James Smythe – BobAJob

· Lavie Tidhar – Fairies

· Francine Toon – Ghost Kitchen

· Evie Wyld – The Old Lion

· Louisa Young – Mouse

3.5*

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2024/12/of-flesh-18-stories-of-modern-horror.html

An almost comically disgusting collection of stories — full of defecation, blood, raw meat, decrepit bath houses, body hair and fluids, cannibalism. Don’t let the beautiful cover fool you, this collection contains the most repulsive stories I’ve ever read.

This anthology has a collection of short stories. With anthologies I feel like there's something for everyone but I sadly couldn't gel with these stories, I felt that some were disjointed.

A quirky and thought provoking anthology. Susan's Barkers Fight, Flight, Freeze, Rosheen by Irenosen Okojie and Shade 140 by Robert Lautner were particular favourites.

I really struggled with this one. I couldn’t get into the flow of the short stories and they didn’t jump out at he either. Some were great, some not so much but none were memorable.

I don't have it in me to write a detailed review but I read this collection of modern horror short stories last month and loved it!
Such an amazing selection of stories which were wonderfully weird.
I remember particularly enjoying Apples by Emilia Hart a super clever, creepy feminist tale.
Highly highly recommend!
4 eyeballs out of 5!

As always, I will begin by thanking the authors, all 18 of them, as well as the team at The Borough Press for an advanced reading copy, in exchange for an honest review.

This collection immediately caught my eye, both the cover and the title, and I am always looking for new horror authors to enjoy and recommend, so what better way than a book of short stories? I have to say though, overall I was disappointed. There are some authors who I will go on to read but why are we still supporting the likes of Bridget Collins and Lionel Shriver?

I read one a day or two a day, and have compiled my thoughts on each below, so this will be a slightly longer review than usual:

1. ‘Fight, Flight, Freeze’ by Susan Barker – 2/5 Stars

• Hadn’t read anything by this author before, but knew of some of their titles.
• My dad is currently struggling with Cancer, so this was super triggering for me.
• Not a huge reader of ‘cheating spouses’ tropes. I don’t think this will change.
• I am not in on the whole, lack of speech marks, thing. Grammar is good.

2. ‘Flight 2212’ by J.K. Chukwu – 4/5 Stars

• A new author to me, but I really enjoyed this. I have added ‘The Unfortunates’ to my TBR.
• Such a big impact in such a few short pages.
• Matters like class, race and wealth commentaries all expertly woven into the story
• The setting was super claustrophobic, and one I have never experienced before: the inside of a plane that’s not taken off yet.


3. ‘The Fruiting Body’ by Bridget Collins – 1/5 Stars

• ‘The Binding’ is my all-time favourite book, to the point that I have a tattoo for the book, but I have not enjoyed anything else she has written.
• I still did not enjoy this story – it reads like poor FanFiction.
• I couldn’t tell if the repetition of words and phrases was done for emphasis or was just poor editing.
• Colleen Hoover writes better domestic violence stories.

4. ‘Daisies’ by Mariana Enriquez (translated by Megan McDowell) - 4/5 Stars

• Knew of the author from the popularity of ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’ which has been on my TBR forever and since reading this, has jumped to the top.
• Very clever, a very close family with a dark past is always something I will enjoy.
• Had to Google some of the worshipped characters but man – what an interesting topic!
• The sun-baked setting gives an intense, close feel on top of the impending horror – one of the best of the bunch.

5. ‘The Broccoli Eel’ by Michael Faber – 5/5 Stars

• I will never eat broccoli again. Or anything green for that matter. I might just stop eating altogether. Thank you for the nightmares.
• Not much is given away and the brain finds the darkest places to fill in the gaps, I love an author who can do that!
• I come from a background in childcare and education so understood the view of the child’s imagination from the start.
• Have added some of his backlist to my TBR. Would read anything of his.

6. ‘Sketchy’ by Lewis Hancox – 4/5 Stars

• I have read Lewis’ autobiographical novels and knew his comedy sketches from The Internets, so was excited to see something new and very different!
• Even the style of illustration had changed, adding a new edge to his work. More grungy, Junji Ito-style sketches. Nowhere near as much gore but less polished that Hancox’s usual style – if this is making any sense?
• Liked the premise, was a nice change of pace for the collection – more graphic novels in story collections, please!

7. ‘Apples’ by Emilia Hart – 3/5 Stars

• Knew of this author from the popularity of ‘Weyward’ and the upcoming ‘The Sirens’
• Storyline quite predictable but fun nonetheless.
• I grew up with an apple tree in my garden too, so this took me way back and got me thinking about what lay under it…
• I think I would like to read some of her other stuff, I feel like she may be better at a fuller story?


8. ‘Waffle Thomas’ by Ainslie Hogarth – 2/5 Stars

• Amazing title for a story. No notes. Became a new nickname for my partner, who is a Thomas. He was unimpressed.
• Loved the premise, was hooked on the ‘camping in the woods to find myself’ vibes. Yes, go to the woods. We love a good slasher-in-the-woods story...
• I thought I knew where this was going: I did not.
• Ruined by the Tarantino-esque twist - I think I missed something.

9. ‘Shade’ by Robert Lautner – 4/5 Stars

• Another South American setting and I loved this one, it was slightly longer than others
• Like Liz Hyder’s ‘Bearmouth’, really close setting being in the mines makes you feel super claustrophobic
• Written from a child’s perspective again, but very different from ‘The Broccoli Eel’ in that this child is a miner and also friends with Satan.

10. ‘The Smiling African Uncle’ by Adorah Nworah

• Written in 2nd person – which took some getting used to but very original and different
• Makes you uncomfortable but in a more real-world way – in terms of race and class
• The use of the word ‘alien’ made me cringe, which is what I think they were going for
• Felt a little like the ‘Smile’ films, which I wasn’t mad at


11. ‘Rosheen’ by Irenosen Okojie – 3/5 Stars

• Beautifully written and genuinely evokes Norfolk, where I grew up so it was nostalgic for me
• Loved being suspended in time, it was never pinpointed at an exact time or date, just ‘post-war’ and with telephones but it works so well.
• A little slow in the middle, could have done with a little more in the way of action. Found I was skipping over sentences to get on with the book, which ruined it for me a little.

12. ‘Carcinisation’ by Lucy Rose – 4/5 Stars

• I was excited to get stuck into a new author and have since been gifted an ARC of ‘The Lamb’ which I am very excited for!
• This was fun, ‘The Mercies’ meets the Goddess Calypso from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
• Enjoyed the shift from singular to plural as the two creatures became one
• Not a fan of tooth-related horror but that was all that brought it down for me


13. ‘Going Large’ by Lionel Schriver - DNF

• Another author I have an issue with, as she is a massive transphobe, but I’d never tried any of her stuff. I won’t be in future, either.
• In this day and age, there is no need for such fat-shaming. As someone who is plus-sized and identifies as non-binary, this story had nothing positive about it for me.
• The author truly shows her colours in this – I genuinely have nothing nice to say.

14. ‘Bob-a-Job’ by James Smythe – 4/5 Stars

• Another cracking title!
• One of my favourites – super cinematic and another that lets your mind wander.
• Think ‘1984’ meets ‘Tender is the Flesh’ – both of which I loved for different reasons.
• Creepy and an overall sense of unease makes this a great story – have added more by this author onto my TBR

15. ‘Fairies’ by Lavie Tidhar – 3/5 Stars

• I was hoping for so much more from this – it started great, another from the child’s POV but it fell flat compared to some of the others in this collections
• I feel bad in saying that it wasn’t all that tense and was quite predictable

16. ‘Ghost Kitchen’ by Francine Toon – 3/5 Stars

• I think I missed something… I wasn’t too sure what was happening and then it ended.
• Another short story written in 2nd person, which I enjoyed previously in this collection but I just got lost.
• ‘Pine’ was such a hit that I was super excited to read more but this was nothing like that.

17. ‘The Old Lion’ by Evie Wyld – 2/5 Stars

• I need an adult to tell me what happened at the end of this? Again, I feel like this title went nowhere – what does the bottle of blond mean? Did she do it? Was it a ghost?
• I loved the start but the end was a flop for me, as I genuinely didn’t get the ending.
• I might try other stuff by the same author to see if they do better in a longer format?

18. ‘Mouse’ by Louisa Young – 3/5 Stars

• The last book in the collection is always a tricky spot, as you expect them to end it with a bang – which was not the case for this one.
• It was, for want of a better term, mousy, but not in the cute way – it was meek and forgettable.
• I found I was comparing it to ‘The Graveyard Shift’ by M.L. Rio which I just finished and found way better for filling the rodent-hole in my horror.

All in all I was a little disappointed by this collection, I am sorry to say. I had my favourites but a lot of the others were just… Middle of the road or downright terrible.

As with all short story collections this was definitely a mixed bag but I feel like I enjoyed more of the stories than I didn't.

One thing I do have to point out is that one of the stories is a comic/graphic novel. I am a reader of comics/graphic novels and the one included in this book was good but it just really threw me off suddenly switching formats unexpectedly, it felt really out of place.

Of the Flesh is an extremely accessible collection of horror stories, which contains just about something for everybody.
The stories within cover a huge range of themes, from the opening story being a tale of creeping retribution, then on to themes such as dystopian worlds where people switch bodies and then on to what we would call more conventional horror. There is even a short graphic novel/comic within the varied pages.
The only drawback with this publication is that the quality can highly differ from story to story, this seems quite common when reading collections such as this, this alone is my reason for downgrading the rating from four to three stars.
Overall a thouroughly enjoyable read from cover to cover.

Review: Of the Flesh, 18 Stories of Modern Horror {ad-gifted}
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Want to get into horror, but don’t know where to start?

This is where I’m at, and this collection features 18 different authors who are referred to as “masters of the craft” so you can see what vibe you like and go from there! There’s definitely something for everyone in here - there’s even a short graphic novel story (which was also one of my favorites).

This is honestly such a good mix of different types of genres within horror - whether it’s murder-y, occult, paranormal or gore all exploring of identity, desire, relationships and the human condition. It was really enjoyable to read! I will absolutely be checking out some of the other books by these authors.

Also we need to take a moment for this cover because i LOVE it.

As with all collections there are stories you love more than others so here are my favorites:
🎨 Sketchy (graphic novel style) by Lewis Hancox
A girl inherits her mums old sketchbook and one day her boss and the customers in the bar frustrate her to the point that she draws them disfigured, or having heart problems and school bullies with skin problems. These drawings become a horrifying reality. Can she erase what she has done?

🍎 Apples by Emilia Hart
A newly divorced mum moves into a new house which has a garden. One of these trees grows apples which when consumed allow you to read the thoughts of men (and it’s terrifying). She invites her daughter and her new bf over for a welcome dinner and after hearing what he is thinking bakes an apple crumble to serve as dessert to try and show the truth.

🥦 The Broccoli Eel by Michael Faber
A story started by a child’s mother to get him to eat more vegetables bites back. The eel becomes real and it is hungry.

😳 Shade by Robert Lautner
Children work in the mines. Upon entering they meet El Tio - a devil like thing that is to be worshipped when underground. Offerings of cigarettes must be left, but when one boy starts working there he starts to talk to El Tio, telling him about life above ground which he was warned not to do, with disastrous consequences - but for who?

. 🧚🏼‍♀️ Fairies by Lavie Tidhar
Fairies can make bargains and can make wishes come true. Maya loved reading about fairies. She hated school. One day at playtime she leaves offerings under a stone, and starts to hear fluttering wings outside her bedroom window. Another day her school bully takes it too far. Will Maya end up asking for the fairies help? and get revenge?

Also notable chapters include those written by Mariana Enriquez and Lucy Rose.

Will you be picking this up?

Thank you so much harperfiction for sending this over! {ad-gifted}