This Is My Body, Given for You

by Heather Parry

A girl suffering a bizarre menstrual aberration is exploited by those around her, including her father. A boy expresses his love for a nonhuman man by making himself animalistic. A girl abandoned by her community discovers the possibility of transmutation through cannibalism. A man struggles with his wife’s choices around her existence, and considers whether he should leave her alone in her semi-oblivion, or join her.

In This Is My Body, Given For You, Heather Parry places in our hands fifteen stories in which the body is something that can be changed, altered, and escaped from. With dripping blood, bruised tentacles, and seamed skin, Heather Parry’s debut short story collection will consume you.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Queer, Fantasy, Horror Thriller, Short Story Collection

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2023

About the author

Heather Parry is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year award and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize.

She is also the author of a short story collection, This Is My Body, Given For You, and a short nonfiction book, Electric Dreams: On Sex Robots and the Failed Promises of Capitalism, and writes the Substack general observations on eggs. Her latest novel, Carrion Crow, was released in Feb 2025.

She was raised in Rotherham and lives in Glasgow with her partner and their cats, Fidel and Ernesto. 

Reviews

[Florence Salmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

CARDIFF MENTIONED!! WHAT THE FUCK IS VOWEL?!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Is My Body, Given For You is a collection of short stories that explore body horror and ways in which the body can be changed. The stories combine gothic and gruesome elements, exploring various depths of humanity and finding sources of power from within, sometimes in a monstrous way. The collection opens with a tale about a girl whose menstruation goes awry and ends with a choose your own adventure story about a man and his wife's choices, and in between that, there's a real range of topics, but a focus on outsiders, bodies that won't behave, and bodies that change when people need them to.

I really liked the way this collection is structured, with sections containing one or more stories that have wry summaries of the themes of that section in a way that feels like you are being guided through the book. It also gives a sense of being offered something by the writer, which unnervingly echoes the title. The stories themselves explore a range of bodily transformation and alteration, some of which will make people wince, and a lot of them are very playful, even when they are dark. I particularly enjoyed 'Husband into Hen', about a wife's reaction to her husband waking up as a hen, which tells a great story in a small space and has the kind of surprise final moments that can really make a short story memorable.

This is a great collection for people who enjoy weird stories that play with body horror. I like how it purposefully shifts tone and style, as signalled by the different sections, and sets up reader expectations as you move through the stories, and the final interactive story really embeds the reader as complicit in the spectacle that is the characters' bodies and selves.

[Lyndsey Croal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed both Heather’s writing and Haunt’s books for a while, so this really was the perfect match to read! And it didn’t disappoint – this collection of weird and wonderful horror tales blew me away, with tales that explore bodily autonomy, identity, revenge, and transformations, among other themes. Every story felt expertly woven, some of them written with dark humour, while others delved more into the visceral and disturbing. This is a collection you don’t want to miss, especially if you’re a horror fan!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

bizarre and creepy collection of incredibly well written short stories - probably one of my weirder reads but I thoroughly enjoyed it

[Rio Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t know what to expect with this book but wow. This has to be the weirdest book I have read. I absolutely loved it. Fifteen short stories relating to the body. The stories really keep you thinking and some stayed with me.
My favourite story was probably the small island or human mummy confection (I loved the representation of disabilities) I don’t want to give too much away as if you decide to read this book I want you to experience it the way I have. Bizzare, beautiful and visceral. Body horror and the transformation will definitely be reaching for more of Parry’s work.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really interesting short story collection—reminds me a little of yukiko motoya and julia armfield

[abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

a brilliant collection of raw and weird short stories. all so unique and executed beautifully. a new favorite

[Steph Mckenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy smokes.

[Sam Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

heather good at writing about bodies

[Edna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually with short story collections some fall flat and aren’t as good, but when I say I’ve thought about every story after I finished reading it, I’m not joking. It was so good and so we’ll written

[Andrew Ayres · Rating 4 out of 5]

If someone could pass this along to David Cronenberg that would be grand, should keep him busy for a while.

[g · Rating 5 out of 5]

all the stories were super freaky n dark & i loved them

[Em Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird, unsettling, lyrical and beautiful, unexpectedly heart-wrenching moments, and some absolutely insane wtf moments - everything I love and more.

[Amy Moo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was weird af but I absolutely loved it! The stories were weird but weird enough to keep you engaged. Can't wait to read more by Heather :)

[Kieran Lee-Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loooooved this book. Some amazing, memorable short stories in here.

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of body horror and weird queer will love Heather Parry's new short story collection This Is My Body, Given For You. Just as beautifully written and delightfully disturbing as her debut novel Orpheus Builds A Girl, this collection explores similar themes of the body's limitations, bodily transformations, and control and objectification of the body.

My favourite stories included those about transmutation through cannibalism, a body taking revenge against sexual assault, and a love story about symbiotic parasites. There were also a couple of stories that were brilliant but stomach-churning, weirdly I found the one about a sex doll (the least actually gory story in the collection) the hardest to read!

[Caitlin Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply underrated little gem of weird and wonderful short stories. Would absolutely recommend- I loved this collection.