Dehiscent

by Ashley Deng, Ivy Teas (Illustrator)

As the world’s climate swings rapidly between oppressively hot and freezing cold, the remnants of civilization huddle in small communities to scrape together what they can to survive. All except the Zhu family. Yi has lived in her ancestral house her entire life, sheltered and safe from the scarcity that plagues her community. Her family enjoys a secret life of running water, electricity, and an abundance of food. But as Yi seeks a way to share their fortune, she learns the terrible secret of the Zhu house. DEHISCENT is an Eco-Horror tale of a future that has practically arrived, and the humanity that lurks in the most inhuman of places. Cover art and illustrations by Ivy Teas About the Ashley Deng is a Canadian-born Chinese-Jamaican writer with a love of fantasy and all things Gothic. She studied biochemistry with a particular interest in making accessible the often-cryptic world of science and medicine. When not writing, she spends her spare time overthinking society, culture and genre fiction. Her work has appeared at Nightmare, Fireside, Augur and others.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Adult, Science Fiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2023

About the author

Ashley Deng is a Canadian-born Chinese-Jamaican author of dark fantasy and horror. She holds a BSc in biochemistry, specializing her studies toward making accessible the often-cryptic world of science and medicine. When not writing, she is a hobbyist medical/scientific illustrator and spends her spare time overthinking society and culture. Her work has appeared at Nightmare Magazine, Fireside Magazine, Augur Magazine, and others. Her climate horror novella, DEHISCENT, is available August 2023 from Tenebrous Press. You can find her at ashedeng.ca or on various social media as @ashesandmochi and @baroqueintentions.

Reviews

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dehiscent is a quiet, ominous tale of climate catastrophe. It’s likely not too far off in our own future too unless the people with power grow some empathy and wake the eff up.

Yi is twelve and has lived her entire life in a world ravaged by waves of extreme heat and cold. Her family lives in a home that provides them everything they need and she’s never questioned any of it. It’s just how it is. Lately, she’s struggling to understand it and longs to share some of their bounty with her classmates even though it’s strictly forbidden. Her family refuses to tell her why or the how of it. As she starts to notice more of the devastation that surrounds them, and stumbles across something horrific, the more she begins to question why they don’t struggle for scraps the way her classmates and their families do and she starts to play at the edges of rebellion.

This is a beautiful slow burn of a horror story with some gorgeous illustrations. It’s written at a leisurely pace as Yi goes about her day-to-day life showing the reader more of her world and glimpses of how terrible things are for others and how much of an absolute ruin the world has become. The description of her home, in all its weird glory, paints a picture of cozy warmth. It’s an abyss in an otherwise cruel world. But what is the cost? Because there is always a cost.

Yi is a compassionate, sensitive soul growing up in a world filled with devastation and death. She fears death at every corner and her fear is justified. This sounds incredibly depressing but there are seeds of hope here too. The world needs more Yi’s in it and more weird little stories like this one.

4 1/2 stars

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Dehiscent” was beauty mixed with decay, tradition mixed with eco apocalypse. I just found the words took their time, they let the reader absorb them and become engrossed in the atmosphere of the tale.

I tried to picture every room, nook , and cranny of the Zhu house: moss and lotus plants in the bathroom, secrets in the attic, mushrooms and bamboo growing around the mahjong table. The descriptions and the characters swept me away and into the heart of the story.

In a dystopian world of unpredictable and harsh weather patterns, one family on the outskirts of what used to be Shanghai never seem to go without. Their generational house is a mystery, and one the Zhu family protects at all costs.

Just an excellent, wonderful read from a new-to-me author!

[Vivian Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true horror in Dehiscent, a mournful story about struggling to survive in the face of ecological collapse, isn’t the secret lurking in the Zhu house’s attic. It isn’t even the look at the sacrifices one might make to survive. It’s the glimpse at the sort of world that is coming, only none of the children will have a house that provides.

Haunting with hints of hope, Dehiscent is a fantastic bit of weird fiction.

I received an ARC and am leaving an honest review.

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a post-apocalyptic Shanghai lives a little girl. She walks the dusty climate-ravaged streets on her way to school. Scarcity defines the community's life: food, power, warmth; but not for the little girl. Her house provides her with everything she needs. But why?

Deng weaves a lush oasis for her protagonist's shelter. The novella brims with nature and delicious food. I felt wrapped up in a cosy family home, which made the portions set outside the home so striking.
The premise of the story is simple, but enjoyable even if you know what's coming. The writing isn't anything special, but the story was well plotted, enjoyable, and didn't overstay its welcome. I hope the writer does more of this natural/creepy material in the future.

[Erica Robyn Metcalf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dehiscent by Ashley Deng is an unsettling ecological horror tale that centers around a young girl who lives in a house that provides. 

The pacing of this tale is wonderful. It’s such a smooth and slow story that focuses on everyday survival and the calmness of being at home safe with family.

Ecological and apocalyptic fans, you gotta check out this quick read. It will totally draw you in and chill you with the atmosphere that the author has created. I really enjoyed this quiet little horror tale!

Check out my full review here:
https://www.ericarobynreads.com/dehis...

[Mother Suspiria]

DEHISCENT is a tale that defies easy categorization and is utterly, wonderfully unique. This vivid, striking debut from Ashley Deng (with charming illustrations from Ivy Teas) is filled with haunted things: a house, a planet, a society, a little girl. It's delicate; sweetly horrific- an earthy, enthralling, eerie read.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautiful dystopian novella is unlike anything I've read before. It's lush in prose and imagery, full in story, and led on by a brilliant main character. The art throughout was beautiful. It's one I want to add to my physical book collection someday. I'll be reading more from Ashley Deng!

[c · Rating 4 out of 5]

short, beautiful, ominous. i really like deng's writing style. outside of that, i don't have much to say.

[Leo Otherland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special thanks to Tenebrous Press for the ARC copy they provided.

I picked up Dehiscent on a Wednesday, and by Thursday night, I was done reading it, staring at my Kindle and wondering where the BLEEP the rest of my story was. If that isn’t enough of a compliment, I don’t know how to write a better one. For me there have always been two kinds of books: the ones that you wish would end, so you can move on to something more interesting, and the ones you can’t get enough of. Dehiscent is definitely one of the latter.

“The house provides.” It’s funny how those simple words take on such intricate and varied meanings throughout this book of subtle climate horror. I don’t think once during my read I was horrified, or felt the creeping crawl of the usual expectant dread I associate with reading a well done horror novel. No, Dehiscent’s horror is much subtler and more intuitive. If you’re not looking for it in the cracks between words and the breaks separating paragraphs, you won’t find it.

But if you’re patient and persistent and allow Ashley Deng’s words to swallow you whole, you’ll see the horror waiting there for you in the open mind and generous heart of Dehiscent’s young protagonist.

I am a fan of subtle horror, the kind you almost miss, only to go back and read a passage over, to be sure you did just read what you thought you just read, and this book provides that brand of horror. “The house provides. It just needs some care and maintenance.” Those lines are a repeated refrain throughout Dehiscent, and the chill that resonates through them, by the end of this book, is real and delicious.

Dehiscent is set in a future where humanity has taken from the world until the world fell out of balance, and society collapsed under the wait of its unbalanced world. Life is scarce, and death encroaches from all sides, threatening to swallow what life remains.

Except in the house of Zhu.

In the Zhu house, the cycle works in reverse, and death feeds into life in a disturbing, yet not utterly unnatural way. Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness, to release its contents. This process is common in fruit, and is one way a plant releases its seeds in effort to repopulate.

The Zhu house feeds on death in a dying world, but the house is not dead. It, and those it nurtures, are bits of life, clinging to a decaying world in need of resurgence. The house, and the family of Zhu, are like a seed pod. Whether that pod experiences dehiscence is up to Yi Zhu, the book’s main character.

And the question of if death or life is fed is not answered at the end of Dehiscent. The book seems to cut off with so much more story to be told, but ends exactly where it means to and precisely where it should. Ashley Deng leaves the ultimate decision of outcome to the reader, and that is also something I admire in a work of horror.

Or any work.

All around, Dehiscent is a fine book, and I look forward to having a physical copy in my hands after its release. Tenebrous Press has found its own dedicated section on my bookshelf, and Dehiscent definitely has a place waiting for it in my new weird horror collection.

[Paul Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible and weird tale. An ecological "what if?" with an odd quirkiness that does its best to come off as normal. You're just going to have to read it to figure out what I'm talking about because I think you should go into this blind. Dehiscent is a lyrically beautiful story of a desolate future. Where 12 year old Yi tries to understand her place in what is left of the world, but more importantly, how is her family so well taken care of in a land with little left in it. The innocence of Yi's heart is comforting as she struggles with morality while dealing with death and scarcity in this post apocalyptic world.
Dappled with Chinese culture and heritage, the story reads like a Studio Ghibli movie, it is quiet, haunting, and enthralling. Please forgive my mixing of cultures but that style is what I saw as this story played out in my head.
This comfy eco horror tale has some brief tension and a few shocking scenes but it was the writing style and way Ashley painted out these scenes that made me fall in love with this story

[Ceinwen Langley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet, beautifully written take on dystopia with slow-burn, creeping elements of gothic and environmental horror. Only child Yi lives in a magical house in relative luxury while her classmates suffer and struggle to survive... but at least they do so together. It makes lonely Yi wonder if her comfort is worth it.

I'm not sure whether this falls into middle grade or YA, but this novella for and about youths examines some fascinating themes of community vs individualism and the true cost of lavish comfort in a mature, subtle way.

A very small book from a very small indie publisher that is worth adding to your end-of-days or spooky season TBR. On the horror scale, I'd put this at no scares, just vibes and concepts.

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every year, I notice more and more climate fiction titles being published. For obvious reasons, of course. With every passing day, climate change grows only more apparent, and its effects continue to worsen for the vast majority of the planet. Only a select few can afford to either mitigate or nullify those effects. Often, that privileged minority only escapes those effects by harming other people or hoarding their resources.

And that unfortunate truth forms the thematic backbone of Ashley Deng’s new novella, Dehiscent.

Read the rest of my review here.

[Emily Chinberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the imagery techniques used in this book. The whimsical house setting that contrasted with the gray, drabness of the ecosystem setting felt very well-described and easily imaginable. The idea of a climate crisis becoming a living reality was indeed eerie to envision, but not at all impossible to predict in the future. The thought-processing of the main character did feel very authentic, innocent enough to capture an appropriate response to the trauma of finding out a dark family secret in the midst of dangerous natural events, but matter-of-fact enough to keep the story building effectively. Her humble attitude added a strong sense of acceptance with the environmental conditions in her setting, and also acknowledgement of the guilt she felt for having more than her peers. This helped to further convey the idea of a family living in a house that mysteriously provided an exception to an apocalyptic-like lifestyle. The vocabulary was also well-diversified and fitting to the tone of the book. I did however feel the climax and the ending left me with lots of questions. It feels intentional and well-thought out from the author, but I just personally wanted to learn more. I found no explanation as to why the house needs the system it has in place, or why her family were the ones to live there all those generations. Yi, as well as the reader, seemingly have no other choice than to accept her family and their shocking, dark means of existence. In “Dehiscent,” Ashley Deng does a solid job of storytelling the idea of survival after a climate catastrophe, and how the innocence of childhood is bombarded with a moral dilemma when Yi learns of her family’s questionable means of privileged living. Do you choose what you’ve always known with a new, tainted understanding of your ancestral way of life, or do you go against your family, and share your questionably obtained abundance with the people who are struggling around you?

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a house that provides for those who live there and take care of it, even as the climate catastrophe ravages the Earth (vicinity of Shanghai, in this case). However, nothing can come of nothing - the house requires base materials, so to say...
A neat story of a difficult childhood, of civilization struggling to survive, if reduced and simplified, of communities bigger and smaller, and of horror.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 The characters felt alive and well thought out. I especially liked the main character, Yi. I also really loved the description of the house and its mysteries. The plot itself left me wanting for more; the reveal could have been punchier and the ending more clear. I left with more questions than answers, unfortunately.

[Saloni · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
Novellaween II: Day 21
I really wanted to love this more than I did, the writing was good but the story dragged at points, and that ending felt very unfinished. The idea was pretty creative but I wanted a bit more spooky. I'll still be interested in trying some other works by the author 👀

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid novella from Tenebrous Press. Definitely worth following their stuff if you like trippy books you can complete in the time it takes to watch a movie.

[H.V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful details and world-building in this coming-of-age story set during a bleak (and all too possible) future.

[Jade Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encanto meets horror

[Carina Stopenski · Rating 4 out of 5]

eerie, atmospheric eco-horror. this one is less for the story and more for the vibes, so if that’s your thing you’ll enjoy this one.

[Rich Tate · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its core, this is a story about life, death, and rebirth in the middle of a climate change apocalypse. There are secrets lurking in the attic.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella is eco-horror mixed with supernatural elements. It's devastating when Yi learns how her family's home is able to provide what they need, while people from the village just barely manage to survive.

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

Dehiscent is a weird novella, written by Ashley Deng, and published by Tenebrous Press. At this point, I shouldn't be surprised that I'm having problems fitting a novella from Tenebrous into a genre; it has been a tendency during the year. I guess we could call it eco-horror or cozy horror, as it shares some elements that are part of those genres; a unique novella almost deserves its own genre.

In a not so far future, the world climate swings rapidly between oppressive hot and extreme cold, with the remains of humanity living in small communities that survive scrapping what they can to survive.
All of them, except the family Zhu, whose ancestral house just provides what the Zhu needs. In a world of scarcity and privations, Yi has lived all her life in an environment with an abundance of food, water, and electricity.

Yi goes to a small settlement to have classes with the rest of the children of the community, starting to understand that their situation is exceptional in comparison with the rest. Moved by her good heart, she decides to try sharing some of the resources the house gives the family.
But those good intentions will lead her to finally discover the secret behind the house, and how those resources are produced; the price is not low and must be kept in secret.

Deng has managed to create a great setting, which is horrifying by itself with how close humanity is coming to this kind of scenario with extreme weather; ecohorror is a literary tendency that should grow in the next years.
The family atmosphere is really nailed, taking into account the differences between the traditional Chinese family and the West ones. We are all the time conscious there's something wrong with the house, something subtle, but that we cannot really name it until Yi makes the discovery.

A thought-provoking novella, a great piece of horror; Deng has written something unique but excellent. If you are looking for that, Dehiscent will be the perfect book for you. Preorder it!

[Helen Whistberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a claustrophobic and unsettling read, set in a perhaps not-so-distant future where climate change has led to catastrophic consequences that have brought the surviving humans back to a basic level of living, barely surviving while trying to rebuild some semblance of normality. The only ones seemingly unaffected by the struggle are the Zhu family, who live in an ancestral house that is determined to take care of them in unique and often disturbing ways. I wouldn't classify this one as out and out horror. It is more of a restrained character study as we follow Yi, the young daughter of the family, and her daily routines, such as they are in such abnormal circumstances. I found the descriptions of the life-threatening weather from day to day the most disturbing as it is all too easy to imagine a time within our own lifespans when we will be fighting these same challenges. One of those stories where not so much happens exactly, but a gut-wrenching and melancholy mood is expertly established. For fans of quieter, more emotional dystopian novellas.

[Robin Knabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my full spoiler free review:
https://robinknabel.squarespace.com/r...

The story is told from Yi Zhu’s point of view, a 12-year-old girl navigating a new environment full of ecological horrors that have changed everyone’s lives - except for the Zhu family. Summers last nearly a year. Winters are shorter but more intense. Cities are vacated, and the world is a dusty, humid wasteland.

The Zhu family is an anomaly, though. They live outside of the city and don’t interact with anyone unless necessary, for fear of having to share too much information about their home and the secrets that lie within. Yi struggles with the isolation and having to keep her family’s legacy contained. She attends school when weather permits, walking to the village and sitting amongst the other children like an outsider. She makes a discovery on the way to class one day that will change her view of the world and of her family forever.

[Timmi Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I don't know why it says Kindle, I got the preorder hardcopy, but I'm too technologically illiterate to change it)

This book does a fabulous job of making you a part of Yi's (the main character's) life.

Her slow dread become your slow dread, her small comforts become your small comforts, and her attachment to her home becomes your attachment. With the climate crisis both in our world and hers, this can be pretty harrowing, but both Yi and the reader are insulated by the four walls of the house and the vivid prose of its contents.

Also, the difficult questions she has to grapple with are ones that I find myself still grappling with even after I put the book down.

I won't post any spoilers because of the eco-horror-mystery bent of the book, but this is a very worthy use of a couple of hours.

[Horror DNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power and privilege collide in Ashley Deng’s sterling debut. Dehiscent is a cli-fi book, set in a world of oppressive climate. From agonizingly hot to painfully cold, remnants of civilization hunker down and await the inevitable endings. But the Zhu family are different. Living in their ancestral home, the Zhus are seemingly insulated from the terror that others experience. Our heroine Yi has lived her entire life there and uncovers the secrets that make her prosperity possible.

You can read Zachary Rosenberg's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Sam Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsettling. Family. Bodies.
What is this??? Cozy horror? Quiet horror? It’s New Weird Horror and it’s delicious. At this point, you really can’t trust any review of mine about a Tenebrous Press release because they are all so good. I recommend reading House of Rot and Dehiscent (in any order) and they offer two different takes on house horror. Ashley Deng created a haunting atmosphere of a climate-ravished environment with a story focused on family, coming of age, and bodies. The house itself is a looming character that is mysterious and ever-present. I almost gave this 4 stars instead of 5, only because I wanted more of it. I’ll be checking out Ashley’s past and future writings.

I received an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Steven Patchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story follows Yi, a young girl living in the future of extreme climate change, where civilisation is on the brink of collapse. Her world outside is a baking, polluted landscape, with brief freezing storms. Even in this, the mundane life of having to go to school still exists, as the small nearby community struggle to survive, while inside the Zhu House, her world is one of plenty. The old house that has been in her family for generations providing everything they need to survive and thrive, but at a terrible cost.
I recommend Dehiscent. It’s a strange, beautiful work that deserves your attention.

[Ai Jiang · Rating 5 out of 5]

DEHISCENT by Ashley Deng is decadent, textured, and atmospheric. It is a story of peril and privilege, of the desire of stability and the fear of change. The story centres on the sacrifice for abundance and the chasm between those who have and those who do not with everything unfolding within a strange living house.

A big thank you to the author for an ARC of the novella!