A Feast of Flesh

by Aaron Polson

Tales of undead fiends, bloodthirsty monsters, and hideous nightmare-ghouls waiting to rend and tear human flesh... Several stories were previously published in venues such as Necrotic Tissue, Nossa Morte, Blade Red: Dark Pages, and more.

A Feast of Flesh includes:

"Cargo" - in a post apocalyptic wasteland, one little girl reaches out in friendship*

"Tesoro's Magic Bullet" - they shot Tesoro in Iraq, but this Marine did not die

"The Way of Things in Fly-Over Country" - in a zombie littered wasteland, the undead are not the only ones to fear

"Former Vocations" - a poem of the dead and their past lives

"The Distillery" - Tommy must get past the grey men if he wants his baby girl to live

"In the Primal Library" - little boys' imaginations give birth to hungry, lustful things

"Familiar Faces" - two survivors, one hotel room, and a host of zombies

"Sea of Green, Sea of Gold" - where even the prairie grass hungers

"Bona Fide King of His Realm" - Uncle Rego is a monster

"Down There" - in a town with rich history, the dead outnumber the living

*received an honorable mention in The Best Horror of the Year 2010

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Ebooks

81 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2011

About the author

Aaron Polson currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, two sons, and a tattooed rabbit. His stories have featured magic goldfish, monstrous beetles, and a book of lullabies for baby vampires. His work has seen print in Shock Totem, Blood Lite II, and Monstrous with several new stories forthcoming in Shimmer, Space and Time, and other publications. The Saints are Dead, a collection of weird fiction, magical realism, and the kitchen sink, is due from Aqueous Press in 2011. "

Reviews

[Doskoi_panda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short(60 pages), short horror story collection with a main focus on zombies (though there are other horrors as well.) Though all ten stories are good, I would call these four the best and most polished: Tesoro's Magic; The Distillery; Sea of Green, Sea of Gold; and Down There. They remind me of some of Stephen King's early short stories in that they are well paced, tightly written and allow an eerie sense of dread to seep into your bones.

In Cargo, we see a glimpse of the life of a man who hauls the corpses of the "ruined ones" to a pit for his keep in a settlement;
Tesoro's Magic depicts a soldier home after surviving what should have been a fatal shooting; The Way of Things in Fly Over Country is a coming of age tale in a post-zombie agricultural community; Former Vocations is a poem examining the relationship between career in life and... after; The Distillery recounts a live child born in a "grey man" over-run slum tenement; In the Primal Library shows why imaginative boys should be supervised when reading National Geographic; Familiar Faces a zombie tale of the ever-hungry dead; Sea of Green, Sea of Gold is a tale like the Irish féar gortach with a twist; Bona Fide King of His Realm is a creeping horror featuring that nightcrawling favourite of fisherman; and Down There is an excellent dreadful about the desire to be whole again.

All in all a great, collection of horror that doesn't veer to the extraneous gore or unsubtle shock tactics of lesser writers.

Review copy supplied to me by the author as part of LibraryThing's Member Giveaway program.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always I love Aaron Polson's work. From the first set of short stories I had the privilege of reading to this collection as well. They are all well written and thought out even the poetry was good and gets your imagination going as you finish the stories within your mind. It's the time of year that we all look for a good scary story to share and to enjoy. This was by far no let down.

From Cargo to the very last page of Down There. I kept turning the page and feeling those eerie creepy feelings when it's late at night and your the only one up in your house even the feeling that your not alone. It was wonderful fear tempting read and I think on a rainy night or a good campfire these tails would be some of the best to share with family and friends if you want a nice fright.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short-story anthology is full of some of the best dark horror I've read in a long time - the descriptions are lush and just amazingly wrought, and the stories sent shivers up my spine. Polson is indeed a master of flash fiction, and a master of the horror genre as well. Highly recommended for fans of horror and dark fiction.

[Nancy Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little collection of 10 short horror stories. Each uniquely entertaining in its own way. Most with abrupt endings , so as to stimulate the reader' imagination. I would read this collection again and would also recommend to all lovers of horror shorts. All were eerie and creepy and an easy read.

[Deb Novack · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like stories of Zombies and stories of horror and undead this is the short story collection for you. Although there are only 10 stories they are well written and they did not take the blood and gore over the top. So curl up on the sofa on a cold rainy night and have a good read. ( )

[Jenn Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed all the stories in this collection, I would have to say my favorite is "The Distillery". This, however, was also the saddest story in the book. Would recommend to any zombie lover to read.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful anthology. Every story is very readable and should give you a good case of the willies if read after dark. A great way to spend an hour or two in front of the fire.

[Jimmy Uldbjerg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved half the stories hated the others