Skin Thief

by Suzan Palumbo

The stories in this collection of dark fantasy and horror short stories grapple with the complexities of identity, racism, homophobia, immigration, oppression and patriarchy through nature, gothic hauntings, Trinidadian folklore and shape shifting. At the heart of the collection lies the question: How do we live in our own skin?

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, LGBT, Anthologies, Queer, Fiction

186 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2023

About the author

I write tragedies...

Suzan Palumbo is a Trinidadian - Canadian, dark speculative fiction writer and editor. Her short stories have been nominated for the Nebula, Aurora, World Fantasy and Locus Awards.

Reviews

[Chantaal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skin Thief is that rare anthology that, despite the natural result of liking some stories more than others, is so strong in theme and tone that it earns a full five stars.

What Suzan Palumbo has done here is just wonderful. Each story is a speculative feast, various ideas toying with themes of love, bodily autonomy, connection, familial relationships, and much more. The strongest theme that I enjoyed was the theme of bodily autonomy, or our connections to our bodies as we are either stuck in place or go through great change.

Every story feels incredibly well crafted, doing exactly what Palumbo intends to show in exactly the right amount of page space needed. No story felt too short or too long. The lows in my reading of this entire collection only meant I liked a story instead of all out loving it, or being very moved by it.

Palumbo's author's note is also incredibly enlightening; I'd only just barely noticed the thematic movement on a superficial level, but didn't really think about it until I saw that it was intentional. Love it.

Skin Thief is a fantastic collection, and if you enjoy speculative short stories at all, then give it a try.

Many, many thanks to Neon Hemlock Press for giving the opportunity to read this. Skin Thief is now available on their website.

[Ladz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received a review copy from the publishers
General content warnings: death, misogyny, domestic abuse, body horror

Skin Thief is an upcoming collection of dark fantasy and horror fiction from award-winning master of the craft, Suzan Palumbo. Deftly wielding beauty and monstrosity, the stories here run the entire spectrum of horror mundane to horrors supernatural, centering themes of identity, self-acceptance, survival, and a love of women of all kinds. My favorites are still bouncing in my head like ping pong balls and haunting like specters.

An interview with the author will be going up on September 27, 2023.

My favorite aspect of all of Palumbo’s story is the tendency to follow a main character through an extended period of time. Instead of focusing on one incident, there are hauntings both literal and metaphorical that follow the main characters. Healing isn’t a discrete moment in time, and that sense of ongoing recovery permeates each story.

These stories also celebrate and love women. Mothers, daughters, aunties, women who fight back, women who cannot, there is a reverence for every type of female protagonist. Power doesn’t manifest in the same way in any work. Fighting back also takes on many forms, focused on individual survival that I found empowering in more ways than one.

Without further ado, here are my favorites:

“Personal Rakshasi”
* A girl goes to art school and is haunted by a creature that’s trying to manifest suffering for her art
* Facing your demons made literal
* CW: bullying

“Her Voice, Unmasked”
* A science fiction story about a robot learning to sing transcendantly
* Delicious, righteous revenge galore
* CW: body horror, violence, murder

“Of Claw and Bone”
* Second person
* About a mother and daughter in a culture that values animal parts and what they represent as a rite of passage and coming of age
* Most unsubtle piece in the collection and evocative in its presentation
* TW: domestic violence & abuse, blood, bodily injury (broken arm)

“Kill Jar”
* A mad biologist of a father forces his daughter to become his apprentice and the reasons behind it become more sinister with each page
* Loved the worldbuilding and the way Palumbo unravels the truth
* Cunning in how it bites leaving the reader with a satisfying conclusion
* CW: animal preservation, snakes, emotional abuse, poisoning, parental abuse (emotional and physical), body horror

“Tessellated”
* A vignette about a girl reflecting on her relationship with her mother who is made of literal wooden tiles
* Really clever in both its imagery and depiction of trying to do better by the next generation
* CW: domestic violence

“Laughter Among the Trees”
* Ana’s sister Sabrina goes missing in a prank gone wrong, but there might be more supernatural forces at play
* Love the depiction of thorny sisterhood and watching Ana grapple with the hole in her life left behind by that loss
* Eerie in its presentation of horrors both mundane and mythological
* TW: missing children, microaggressions, prejudice

“Douen”
* Samantha dies upon getting hit by her uncle’s car and comes back as a douen
* Not all of her family can see her
* Absolutely heartbreaking and, once again, an incredible blend of every day and supernatural horror
* Love the depiction of thorny sisterhood and watching Ana grapple with the hole in her life left behind by that loss
* TW: body horror, dead children

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neon Hemlock is probably one of my fav publishers now. Like, legit tied with Tor, and those are big, well established shoes to step into!
Also, I'm not a horror person so these were genuinely a lot for me. Low ratings are me being a baby, not a reflection of the story at all.

The Pull of the Herd: 4
Personal Raskhasi: 4
Her Voice, Unmasked: 4
Of Claw and Bone: 3.5
Kill Jar: 4
Propagating Peonies: 4
Tessellated: 3.5
Laughter Among the Trees: 1
Apolepisi: A De-scaling: 2
Tara's Mother's Skin: 3

[Michael Tichy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s early in 2024 but it’s very likely this will be my favorite collection of the year. Suzan writes with a polish and maturity that is frankly bewildering in a debut collection. I might envy her skill, but her words are so saturated with beauty and truth that I can only regard them with awe and the painful joy that comes in those rare moments when you truly feel seen.
Here are stories for the outsiders, for the people whose sense of being strange and of being forever a stranger is a stone in the gut that leaves us watching with agonal wonder the ease with which so many others seem to navigate the world.
I’m reminded of Gloria Anzaldua and her concept of La Llorona as an expression of the horror and violence implicit in giving up one culture in a desperate attempt to find connection in another and in the process only being rejected by both. And so, for anyone torn between worlds, these stories will fill you with sympathetic pain but also with the hope born of being a little less alone.
Palumbo writes with a keen sense of the animistic and her stories sing with magic that has one hand clawing rich and fecund soil and the other hand touching the stars. It is a special kind of magic that precious few writers can navigate and threads the needle of deep connection to the natural world and to something ineffable that permeates and transcends it. The narratives are often heartbreaking because that is the truth of those who live between worlds and try to thread that same needle, but there is hope there too, that sometimes healing is messy, even ugly, but that it’s possible to find meaning and peace-even joy- in the dark spaces. So step to the edge, stare into the void, and take the leap. You might find it’s not so lonely here as you feared.

[Christi Nogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and elegantly-written collection of horror and dark fantasy on themes of otherness, shapeshifting, and haunting. Some favorite stories were "Kill Jar," "Laughter Among the Trees," "The Bride," "Tara's Mother's Skin," and "Douen." Loved the collection and eagerly awaiting the author's next work!

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put off reading this for far too long. Really transcendent. I often find myself when reviewing short story collections picking out my favourite stories. Here, so many are so great I would have to pick my least fvaourites... and well, I'm not going to do that. Read this book! Revel in Palumbo's lesbian goth queendom.

[S.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how the arrangement of stories starts very Canadian/Western and steadily flows into more "Trinidadian settings and dialect." (<-- the author's words) I only vaguely noticed as I was reading but was delighted to find it was deliberate.

[Alex Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad and beautiful. Great book.

[Stephen Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to start with Skin Thief? For me, this is up there with Laird Barron’s Occultation as one of the best collections I’ve ever read. What they have in common is a wonderful sense of not being rushed, of allowing the reader to live in the stories, feel every beat, get to know each character. Each new story has depths to wade into and dive down through.

There are strong recurring themes of becoming, growing comfortable in your own skin, finding and loving yourself, throughout. These provide a thread to the stories, but never weigh them down or create a sense of repetitiveness. In fact, they are the richer for it.

The writing itself is wonderful. Use of the five senses is really strong here, especially taste and smell, which are often neglected. I think there’s a connection here to identity, which relates back to the recurring themes, in the usage of spices in particular, which further enriches the prose and stories.

I intend to expand this review for my website. So, for here, I will just end with a simple plea to read this book. It is absurdly good.

[caro_cactus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing short story collection which looks unflinchingly at hauntings and sibling rivalry (among many many other things). My favorite stories were The Pull of the Herd and Apolépisi: A Descaling - possibly because they queered and inverted European fairy tales I'm familiar with, but the Trinidanian folklore in the other stories was also really interesting. Oh, and Of Claw and Bone, because it was just so goth. But really I didn't dislike a single story, and the arc they form really is interesting, on top of the great writing.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first discovered Palumbo’s work with the short story, “The Pull of the Herd,” first published in Anathema Magazine. After reading it, I immediately tried to find more from this writer, and I knew that Suzan Palumbo was someone to watch: that this was a writer with an extraordinary talent, and one who would go far. I’m delighted to say that I was right, that she has published banger after banger since, and that her best stories are now gathered in this beautiful collection.

Skin Thief opens with “The Pull of the Herd,” a story about a shape-shifting deer-woman, torn between the herd of her birth and her love for a human woman. The narrator’s deer-skin has never felt quite right on her; it’s too tight, it doesn’t fit, she doesn’t want to be a deer. But when she leaves her herd to be with a human woman, her deer-skin calls to her each day. There’s a sense of gorgeous yearning in this piece; the narrator is truly stranded between worlds. In the end, even when she’s living a life she freely chose, she’s keenly aware of loss. It’s a sense of loss and yearning that haunts many of these stories, and “The Pull of the Herd” sings with themes that recur throughout this collection: themes of otherness, of feeling like an outsider; the pull between family obligations and expectations and living the life you want for yourself; shape-shifting, transformation, love, and loss.

Some of the strongest stories draw on the author’s Indo-Trinidadian heritage and Trinidadian folklore to explore these themes. In “Laughter Among the Trees,” one of my personal favorites, the theme of “otherness,” of not fitting in, is told through a diaspora lens. The narrator, Ana, doesn’t quite fit in, but her little sister, Sabrina does. Sabrina was born in Canada, unlike Ana and their immigrant Indo-Caribbean parents. Sabrina seems at ease in the world a way that Ana isn’t and in a way that Ana resents—“as if the city had been fashioned for her, unlike my parents and I who’d been transplanted too late.” Sabrina is charming, adorable, beloved, and able to make friends everywhere she goes. And then one night, on a family camping trip, Sabrina disappears. . . This is a dark and gripping story, powerful and ultimately devastating. It’s about grief and guilt and jealousy and loss, about migration and assimilation and pretending that you are what you’re not. As Ana grows up without a sister, she tries to live the life she imagines that her sister would have lived. . . until one day she can’t.

There’s delicate magic in some of these stories, like the lovely “Propagating Peonies” and “Tesselation.” There’s fairy-tale magic, as in the yearning mermaid-with-a-twist story, “Apolepisi: A De-Scaling." And there’s outright horror, as in “Laughter Among the Trees” and other unsettling tales with sinister spirits and monsters of Trinidadian folklore: the deliciously creepy “Tara’s Mother’s Skin” and heartbreaking “Douen.” “Kill Jar,” the novelette which is original to this collection, manages both delicacy and horror in a tale that draws on the setting and tropes of Gothic horror: a secluded mansion, an isolated heroine, dark family secrets. But this is also Gothic horror with a twist, as the author adds some of her own signature details: a heroine of South Asian heritage, a queer love story, and themes of shape-shifting and transformation. There’s a sense of bittersweetness in the ending of this one, as in many of Palumbo’s stories: a protagonist’s insistence on living as true to herself as she can, even as this entails sacrifice and loss.

All in all, “Skin Thief” is a gorgeous collection. The stories are by turns delicate and raw, dark and magical, filled with horror and heartache and deep emotion. The ending story, “Douen,” is particularly heartrending—a shriek of pain, as conveyed by the ghost of a little girl who just wants to be with her mother. While I had read many of these stories previously online, I’m glad to have them all gathered in one place. These are stories that are worth reading again and again. These are stories that dig and slide under the skin. A beautiful collection by a major talent.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzan's fiction is just... sublime. There's nothing like it. I could express things like her voice being unique, and her ability to code switch, or her descriptions, or how much I love the queerness that is suffused in so much of her work, but I feel like no matter what words I come up with, they won't possibly begin to do justice to how profoundly good Suzan's work is. Her Trinidadian culture, with its South East Asian Indian aspects particular to her, and background are also woven into many of her oeuvres, taking readers on journeys that they've definitely not been on before. These are not just the same old, same old that we've seen time and time again in fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Suzan's work is in a galaxy of its own. Suzan explores themes that are often like "Oh, you mustn't go there" and she forages forward into them, plumbing the depths, especially with mother figures.

One of my absolute favourite stories is "Her Voice, Unmasked" which I also studied in a writing workshop to pay attention to how Suzan uses so few words to build this world and to signify so much. I love the world of opera and anything that's like a Gothic carnival ride that goes down this path. And this story is powerfully told. Additionally, the story speaks to themes of automation and is a clear rallying cry against the insidiousness of AI and all the damage that specific humans like the Maestro in this story are determined to let it keep doing. The story speaks to the value of human artistry, and through its automaton factors, speaks brilliantly to the frustration so many artists face.

"Of Claw and Bone" reminded me of my own father, and the way Suzan described how he heaped his abuses onto the protagonist's mother made me feel so hard.

The crowning piece is "Douen," so much of it still so powerful as I re-read it. And mainly, the entire collection is a testament to rage, and urging readers to allow ourselves to feel it.

Bravissima!

[Sam Hirst · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a phenomenal read. It actually blew me away. I read a lot of short stories and collections and I can honestly say this is one of the best (if not the best) that I've ever read. The order is thought out but, as the introduction and author's note mention, the stories can be read in any order. You'll still find connections and communications between them, themes which intertwine and build on each other, motifs and meanings which expand over the collection.

This is some great horror writing. Often discomfiting, it rarely takes you where you expect, and never leaves you with easy answers. These are stories of fragmentation and painfully finding your place in your own story. The final story 'Douen' is a shattering way to end and brought me to tears just as I was thinking I'd survived the collection tear ducts intact. Other favourites included Apolépisi (devastatingly beautiful), Propagating Peonies (a fantastic and resonating exploration of 'lovers over many lives whose ending is a breaking free), and Kill Jar (the story 'Rappacini's Daughter' only wishes it could be)

Honestly, I can't recommend this enough. I like Suzan's work so I knew I was going to enjoy this but I wasn't aware of how much. I'm also a real sucker for a well put together story collection (an art form in itself) so this really hit all the buttons for me.

Amazing! Go read it.

[Saul Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short story collections the presence of the author often looms over each individual piece. In Skin Thief, though, it feels more that Suzan Palumbo, and the reality of her layered, multi-dimensional identity, seeps through the whole book like a shadow.

Whether a story leans towards fantasy or horror; towards Canada, Trinidad, or South Asia; towards family or queer love, each and every one of them is deeply emotional, deeply evocative, deeply gothic, and deeply Suzan Palumbo.

Writing emotions as physical sensation is a technique often employed by writers, and it can at times fail to make an impact. Not so with Palumbo. She consistently moulds emotions into visceral, animal things that tear at her protagonists, and by extension the reader. This is all the more effective due to the skill with which Palumbo renders her characters, with a masterful weaving of frankness and tender empathy.

There is a strong vein of specifity in these stories. A reflection of the fact that for those people pushed to the cultural margins, identity is inescapable. At the same time, the raw emotion of the collection is universally familiar; the writing filled with pain, yearning, and love.

Alone, each story in Skin Thief captures a vivid sense of place and personhood. Together they paint a portrait that is profoundly human.

[Jelena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first discovered Suzan Palumbo when I read "Laughter Among the Trees" in The Dark. I was immediately hooked - the story is a fabulous blend of disrupted family dynamic, immigrant guilt and slow-burning, uncanny horror. It made me yearn for more - I read most of these stories as soon as they were published. However, this collection is more than the sum of its parts - it's carefully arranged to follow its own inner logic and display the rich palette of Suzan's talent.
There are several themes that connect the stories in this collection - family and trauma, thorny relationships between mothers and daughters or sisters, metamorphosis as a result of suffering and pressure. The horror is rarely gory or visceral. On the contrary, it is often placed in the everyday surroundings, the supernatural seamlessly blended with the mundane, but that makes it even more horrific and heartbreaking. And heartbreak is what Palumbo does masterfully - shattered dreams, domestic violence, suffering and loss. But even in the most traumatic stories - such as Douen, an absolute masterpiece which deals with a little girl's death - there is a poignant beauty that draws you in and doesn't let go.
This is a collection of great stories by a very talented author whose work I'm always excited to read.

[Dawn Vogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skin Thief by Suzan Palumbo is a collection of dark and atmospheric stories, the majority of which have been previously published in major speculative fiction magazines. The stories contain a variety of themes including family (particularly sisters, but also mothers and daughters) and Trinidadian culture.

Stories I really loved in this collection included “The Pull of the Herd,” in which a shapeshifter who has left her people tries to help them. I found “Her Voice, Unmasked” a gorgeous steampunk story that felt to me like a retelling of or inspired by The Phantom of the Opera. The novella, “Kill Jar,” was a lovely take on a not-quite-human daughter and her very human father. Though one of the darker stories in the book, “Laughter Among the Trees” had such a wonderfully realistic relationship between sisters that I thoroughly enjoyed it, even when I reached the inevitable ending. Finally, “The Bride” wove urban legend and longing together in a perfect way, and again had a great sister relationship that I could relate to.

If you’re looking for a collection of dark fiction, most of which takes place in a world not all that different from our own, check out Skin Thief for these and so many other wonderful stories!

[Kylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this fucking rocks. there were definitely some standouts but overall all the stories were really good and cohesive! i feel like i need to give each of my faves its own little review so...

personal rakshasi: to me this one was a really unique way of comparing depression or illness to a monster, especially as something you're afraid to tell your parents about in case they tell you you're making it up. just really well done.

her voice, unmasked: this was So beautiful. also talk about female rage girl FUCK your creators. men don't own anything about you even if they were a teacher/father/whatever. also just love the message that art is beautiful no matter what the "institutions" think.

apolépisi: a descaling: this was also so beautiful. a beautiful setting and beautiful story :( just wow. you could feel the love and heartbreak.

the bride: this was crazy. like this is wlw horror... a genre i didn't know i needed... who is gonna match my freak like alice matched the la jablesse?

honorable mention goes to tara's mother's skin because what the goddamn fuck... this was the one that really felt like horror to me.

but yeah. definitely affected by reading this. felt things. absolutely crazy.

[Nora Suntken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this faster than I usually read short story collections, which I think is creating a detrimental effect on my ability to write a coherent review. The stories have all slightly blurred together (maybe a good thing? it shows the book was cohesive), but I will say I liked all of them at least a little bit. The overarching themes of womanhood and queerness percolated into every aspect of the story. My personal favorite was the haunting yet lovely “Her Voice, Unmasked.” Something about it just worked so well and felt cathartic to read—I wish the song was real. “Kill Jar” was another I felt drawn to with its gothic feel and deeply satisfying story. Generally, I also really appreciated the way Trinidadian culture and myths were woven into the story. It made it incredibly clear that this collection could have been written by none other than Suzan Palumbo. I think I’ll visit some of her other works in the future since there was such consistent quality between stories even if they all couldn’t be my favorite.

[Tya C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖤 Beautiful & engrossing writing
🖤 Trinidadian folklore
🖤 Shapeshifters
🖤 Gothic settings
🖤 Creepy atmosphere
🖤 Characters you care about
🖤 Themes of bodily autonomy & finding your voice
🖤 Incredibly sapphic (literally every story except for maybe one was gay, we love it)

Story ratings:

📚 The Pull of the Herd: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Personal Rakshasi: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Her Voice, Unmasked: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Of Claw and Bone: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (TW: domestic violence)
📚 Kill Jar: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (Tw: suicidal ideation, child abuse)
📚 Propagating Peonies: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
📚 Tessellated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Tw: domestic abuse)
📚 Laughter Among The Trees: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Apolèpsie: A Descaling: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 The Bride: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Tara’s Mother’s Skin: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 Douen: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (TW: death of a child, animal death)

Average rating: 3.8 ⭐️s
Overall rating: 5 ⭐️s!

Thank you Neon Hemlock for this review copy! All opinions are my own.

[C.M. Rosens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection. It's got such a great voice and all the stories have their strengths, but I especially appreciated the way it was structured. It moves from a very Canadian flavour to more Trinidadian as you go through, with such great folklore and depth to the journey. I really love 'Laughter Among the Trees' and 'Douen' especially, and it was great to nerd out over references to other Gothic stories like Rapaccini's Daughter (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1844) in 'Kill Jar', and how that story especially plays with and goes beyond its influences and material.

I really love the twisted relationships and depictions of exploration and self-discovery, the growth of some characters and the devastating losses of others. It's a powerful collection that I'm going to enjoy reading again.

[Carlie St. George · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a dark and gorgeous collection of stories. About—well, many things, of course, but what most struck me—transformation and becoming, about leaving behind people that try to own you, deceive you, shape you, people who won't accept you unless you hide yourself and mirror their face, their morality. I'm a huge fan of Suzan Palumbo's work. "Of Claw and Bone" might still be my personal favorite, but I was happy for the chance to reread other stories I love (like "Douen" and "Laughter Among the Trees"), as well as find other wonderful and new (to me) stories (like "The Pull of the Herd," "Kill Jar," and "Tessellated.") Truly, a lovely collection.

[Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this collection. Palumbo’s prose is stunning and sure of its step; it takes you by the hand and draws you into the woods. Each story has some unique and spooky idea to explore. Want stories with singing robots but also stories with skin changers and vengeful ghosts? Look no further.

But the thing I loved most was that the whole collection seems to revolve around asking the same two questions in different ways: What am I? and How do I live with what I am? For me, the greatest strength of this collection lies in its ability to probe those questions and see what comes up, creating something beautiful and frightening that lingers under the skin.

[Lyndsey Croal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read the author's short fiction before, and this collection included some familiar ones but also introduced me to more fantastic stories. Each tale was so well crafted and beautifully written, exploring complex themes, like bodily autonomy, power and who wields it, and identity, through the surreal, weird, and uncanny. My favourite was the novelette Kill Jar, but there were so many standout stories in different genres, like Tesselated and Her Voice, Unmasked, that made the whole book an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. One of the best collections I've read!

[Hailey Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enthralling collection, full of mesmerizing transformation and beautiful heartache. From the opening story "The Pull of the Herd," you're caught in narratives traversing the edges of worlds, with characters both uncertain and endearing in both their perfect inhumanness and flawed humanity. Favorites are the aforementioned opening story, the novelette "Kill Jar," "Of Claw and Bone," and "Laughter Among the Trees," but every story is a marvel.

[Paula Lindo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology showcased soooooo many Trini folklore characters, I loved it! 😍 I could identify with the feelings of the characters, their isolation, their rebellion, their frustration, their queerness! I loved Kill Jar, the one with the robot, and the La Diablesse story especially, and there was that one story with Sab that grabbed me by the throat like the first time I read it. I hope to read more from Suzan, look out for her!

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skin Thief was a collection of excellently written and compelling short stories. Thoroughly enjoyed each one, but my favorite was probably Kill Jar. The author notes at the end that she begins with stories that are more western in dialect and presentation and shifts to stories with more Trinidadian influence as the book progresses. This was an interesting approach that I appreciated and I enjoyed.

[David Thirteen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a classic album, this short story collection contains hit after hit. Every one of these tales feel immensely personal and filled with layers of emotion. Palumbo demonstrates a rare talent for creating myths to delve into the core of human existence. Exceptionally well written, this sits alongside my favourite single-author collections of all time.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of these stories quite a bit, but several of them were too similar in voice and cadence that you would ask yourself “did I read this one already?” At times the language felt very forced. The later stories in Trini dialect were more visually clear and those familiar with Guyanese folklore will enjoy.

[2TReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great collection of stories. I can't remember reading and feeling an ache of longing and connection with the main characters as I did with this collection. I can't wait for Suzan to give us more stories.

[F.M. Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzan Palumbo writes with an appetite for the dark, seething, sensual worlds she navigates. Her monsters, regardless of shape, kidnap the psyche as if to find out where we stand.

A captivating new voice!