3.75

As with all short story collections I enjoyed some of these more than I did others but overall the vibes were spot on

Each story surrounds and underlying theme of grief, each story also has its own unique story style. The stories are haunting and weird, very dread inducing but so good.

This is a (very) short horror story collection that is definitely bingeable. However, I do think it would appeal more to people who like certain type of storytelling e.g. dreamy, ethereal, unreliable reality, unreliable narrator, etc. It is also a type of horror that is centred mostly around grief, existentialism, the darkest aspects of human experience, also feminism/femininity.

Some stories (at least two for me) worked really well and I think they were near perfect. For example “No place like home” was so cleverly constructed and nearly felt as a satisfying “whole” despite it being very short. Properly disturbing, visceral, very interesting ideas, vivid visuals, emotional depth, etc. Another memorable entry was “The cool kids”, again even thought it is short I feel like it achieved so much.

However, a lot of the other stories really didn’t work for me and very often I struggled (even upon reread) to understand what the message was. And there were some I just felt like I don’t even care what happens, didn’t feel invested in any way. Some stories had potential (e.g. “Juliette, Juliette” and “Sick Girl”) but there were just too many pages (in a very short story) of dreamy writing to then arrive at an open ending at the blink of an eye.

Finally, and this is probably my main concern - the cover - (although very good in its own) it doesn’t fit a single story from the collection. This is a cover for a young adult alternative sci-fi book rather than an existential horror story collection.

I am definitely keeping an eye on the author and will pick something else from them as they have definitely peaked my interest!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Brigids Gate Press for providing a copy to review! Really appreciate it!

'Sick Girl Screams' covers a myriad of different stories. A woman vomiting furniture from her childhood home. A man kidnapping a mermaid who saved him from drowning. A girl who can cause rainstorms by bleeding. At its core, though, it's a lot of stories about motherhood, which is a topic in which I have no interest. SJ Townend is a mother, and I am someone who has no desire for children, so keep that caveat in mind when reading my review.

Townend has an evocative writing style, and imagines some wonderfully weird scenarios in her stories. Unfortunately, I think this collection is marred by how similar some of the stories are. Within the first four stories, we get two characters with port-wine birthmarks and two stories about child death. I don't want to make assumptions about the author's life or about why themes are reoccurring, but I feel that the order of the short stories could have been changed to make the repeating symbols less glaring.

Another issue I had with Townend's stories were some unfortunate language usage that is, for lack of a better word, problematic. 'The Beauty Parlour' is the biggest offender--I liked the idea for the story, a post-apocalyptic setting where the elites show their status by getting extreme body modifications that are changed daily. It would be fun commentary on the fashion industry and fast fashion, but the language usage has shades of something else. 'Transitioned to kangaroo', 'I identify as Phillipine Cobra'... this reads more like your conservative uncle who's never met a trans person in their life. With the surgeries being depicted as painful body mutilations, I wish she would have kept the transgender parallels out of it, because it just mirrors bad, surface-level arguments that cisgender people try to make to stop trans people from existing. Maybe I'm overreacting to something that's supposed to be a funny quip, but I can't give the book a good review when it has such low punching down.

'Sick Girl Screams' is not filled with happy stories, so I won't comment about the representation in 'Juliet, Juliet', but overall I'll just say that this book isn't for me. The cover is incredible, though, and I hope to see more work by Daniella Batsheva in the future.

Sick Girl Screams by SJ Townend is like binge-watching Black Mirror while spiralling into an existential crisis, but in the best way possible. This collection of short stories wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was definitely a wild ride.

Packed with feminist undertones, dystopian dread, and a lot of death (seriously, so. much. death.), it’ll leave you contemplating life’s big questions through nihilistic-tinted glasses. The stories are sharp, dark, and oddly relatable, making it impossible to put down, even when you’re feeling thoroughly uncomfortable.

I loved this. I'm very quickly becoming a huge SJ Townend fan. The stories are rich, gory and leave the reader looking for more.

A collection of stories that mix reality, our worst nigthmares and a probable future. Beautiful prose.

I really liked the idea of the book, I love short story collections and they were all written by the same author... Great! That means if I enjoy the authors writing I'll enjoy all the stories.

Except it didn't really pan out that way. Sadly, I skipped about a third of the stories because the topic was triggering for me or I just started reading it and just couldn't get stuck in or enjoy it.

The ones I did read however were really good and I really enjoyed the variety within them. The author did really well to invoke chills and creeps whilst using topics that weren't necessarily scary as such.

On the whole, it was good, I just struggled with some of the stories within it.

I really enjoyed this horror collection. It is full of fresh takes on feminist horror. Several of the stories really nail a creeping sense of dread and atmosphere. Each of the stories is perfectly paced and fits the medium of short story. My one critique, is that the last few stories were some of the weaker ones in the story. The ending fell a little flat compared to how great the stories in the beginning of the collection are. Regardless, this is an interesting horror collection with a fresh voice and perspective. And the cover art is absolutely gorgeous.

A very well curated collection of horror stories that made me gasp on several occasions. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow what an incredible short story collection! Horror done right - it had a good mix of being excited for what was coming up, and having to put the book down to digest what I had just read. The atmosphere was really eerie and surreal

I think the Scifi stories were my personal favourite - and where Townend excels in their writing. The world building was really nice, and had me thinking about what else was happening in these universes! Would love to see more of these in a longer book.

The only thing that stopped this from being a 5 star read for me was that the stories felt a bit disjointed in the overall theme - would have loved the stories being related to a topic, as it took a bit away from the immersion while reading from one story to another. A few of the stories felt super rushed as well - and would have benefitted from a bit more world building.

Really looking forward to reading more from this author! Incredible debut.

3.5⭐️
Sick Girl Screams is a collection of short stories. Most of the stories are very abstract and surreal feeling. A few stories didn't really hit for me, but most were very good. I'll post my ratings for each individual story below.

Step Inside: 3.5
No Place Like Home: 4
We Still Don't Use The Garage: 3
Circle: 4
A Piece Missing: 2.5
Neon Fly: 4
It Started With Placental Encapsulation: 4
The Dangers of Ill-Prepared Shellfish: 3.5
Juliet, Juliet: 4.5
The Beauty Parlour: 5
Sick Girl: 2
The Cool Kids: 2.5
Cosmic Spin Class on Deck 112: 3
Labourers Wanted: 4.5
All The Parts Of A Mermaid That I Can Recall: 4
Every Cloud: 3
I Pull My Blanket Up Tight Beneath My Chin: 4
One Lie For One Soul: 4
Ack Metal In A White Room: 3
In His Memory: 3
Hag Stone: 3
Christingle Service: 3.5
How To Read A Woman: 4

I really, really enjoyed this book!! All short stories have a balance of being truly terrifying but still being able to sleep at night.
Sick Girl Screams is like a feminist, dystopian, religious cult culture, and haunted childhood novel, all in one.
Its like you can almost see it in the future because of the pollution and AI, but it's not quite. Or maybe it is?

“Sick Girl Screams” is a fragmented, ephemeral, and dreamlike narrative that often leaves the reader unsure of what’s real or imagined. While the book offers some compelling twists and memorable vignettes, it struggles to hold attention due to its fleeting character focus and lack of emotional depth. The high fantasy elements require a significant suspension of disbelief, which may not resonate with all readers. Overall, it’s an ambitious but polarizing read that might appeal more to fans of surreal, abstract storytelling than those seeking grounded narratives.

Really interesting and unique stories. Would recommend if you like weird fiction. Definitely had a good time reading this one.

Okay HEAR ME OUT. I DNF at 24%, but it's a very 'it's not you, it's me' situation. I can assure you it's beautifully written and the stories have so much depth, beyond what usual short stories do. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it's just not for me. But I would still recommend you give this a chance!

SICK GIRL SCREAMS is truly a surreal and sickening collection of short stories and I greatly enjoyed all of them. Townend takes metaphors of grief. fear, mental illness, impending mortality, and gives them teeth and claws. Not for those who shy away from the grotesque but definitely well worth a read and reread!

Sick girl screams is a A weird, strange, entertaining, intriguing, heartbreaking at times, gorie, blood soaked horror book. With 23 short stories featuring horror, dark fiction, and feminist woman focused plot for many. Tales of anxiety, dysfunctional family, eating disorders, alcoholism, mental illness, homelessness, loss, death, murder, childhood ghosts and much more

Step Inside - 3
No Placement Like Home - 2.5
We Still Don't Use The Garage - 2
Circle - 4
A piece missing - 3
Neon Fly - 3
It started with placental encapsulation - 3.5
The dangers of ill-prepared shellfish - 4
Juliet, Juliet - 3.5
The beauty parlour - 2
Sick Girl - 2.5
The cool kids - 4
Cosmic Spin Class on Deck 112 - 3
Labourers wanted - 3
All the parts of a mermaid I can recall - 2
Every cloud - 3
I pull my blanket up tight beneath my chin - 4
One lie for one soul - 3
Black metal in a white room - 4
In his memory - 3
Hag stone - 3.5
Christingle service - 3
How to read a woman - 4

The opening story, a short four pages in length, sets the tone for the full collection. Focusing on a scenario addressing the reader themselves, SJ Townend proposes a truly upsetting scenario of getting so involved in what you're reading that you lose yourself entirely, forgetting family, loved ones, and leaving them to an upsetting end. It's bold, and it's horrifying, but more than anything, it's effective. It's also deeply personal, and makes the book itself deeply personal for the reader by addressing them as a character in the narrative.

The second story equally introduces horrifying concepts surrounding binging/purging alongside grief, and from there I knew as a reader that I was in for a really disturbing and macabre whirlwind of stories. I was not disappointed by the quality and content of each short story within this collection!

I do think, however, the stories felt unfinished at times or were just short enough to feel underdeveloped, with stilted descriptions and phrases that felt at times mechanical or clinical, or that the collection was put together in a random order without a theme. This led to the overall collection feeling a little muddled together regarding the flow between short stories. Another thing I was surprised by was that a large portion of the stories fell further into science fiction rather than just horror, which wasn't in the marketing for this anthology. I do think it should be sold as a crossover between science fiction and horror!

Aside from those few complaints, I thought this collection was equal parts fascinating and thrilling, and several concepts that SJ Townend wrote about left me feeling particularly unsettled and uncomfortable. SJ Townend has a great way of writing stories that feel personal, and the ideas that she has regarding speculative fiction are deeply upsetting to read about and envision. Her science fiction short stories in particular left me feeling uncomfortable enough to need to take breaks between each one, and because of that, I feel like her writing is particularly effective in invoking fear, discomfort, and overall unease. I would love to see more of her science fiction works in particular, and I cannot wait to read more from her as an author.


Thank you NetGalley, SJ Townend, and Brigids Gate Press, LLC for this advanced copy!

I really didn’t think I was going to like this, but I was pleasantly surprised. The book tackled some heavy subjects like eating disorders, abuse, and self harm, and although the book was horror, it still handled these subjects well. I didn’t enjoy every story, but I did enjoy most of them. I feel some stories needed more development, but overall this was great.