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Backwaters
Dare swim these waters?
Welcome to Tallapoochee, a Southern backwater plagued by an experimental toxin that’s turning townsfolk into genetically modified freaks. Follow a puzzling trail of atrocities committed by an enigmatic river cult. Delve into thrilling and funny tales of body horror, bizarro, and the weird. Read the unthinkable testimonies of the living and the dead.
This “water-breaking” collection of twelve intertwined tales combines body horror and Southern Gothic humor in a clash between a cabal of dark scientists and gospel-preaching wrestlers with a secret past. In turns terrifying and bizarre, Lee Rozelle’s new fiction is a shocking journey into murky medicine, conspiracy, and the horrors of watershed destruction.
Welcome to Tallapoochee, a Southern backwater plagued by an experimental toxin that’s turning townsfolk into genetically modified freaks. Follow a puzzling trail of atrocities committed by an enigmatic river cult. Delve into thrilling and funny tales of body horror, bizarro, and the weird. Read the unthinkable testimonies of the living and the dead.
This “water-breaking” collection of twelve intertwined tales combines body horror and Southern Gothic humor in a clash between a cabal of dark scientists and gospel-preaching wrestlers with a secret past. In turns terrifying and bizarre, Lee Rozelle’s new fiction is a shocking journey into murky medicine, conspiracy, and the horrors of watershed destruction.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2024
16 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Lee Rozelle
11 books13 followersLee Rozelle is the author of Backwaters: 12 Murky Tales, the novel Ballad of Jasmine Wills, and nonfiction books Zombiescapes & Phantom Zones and Ecosublime. He's published short stories in Cosmic Horror Monthly, Southern Humanities Review, HellBound Books' Anthology of Bizarro, Shadowy Natures by Dark Ink Books, If I Die Before I Wake Volume 3, and the Scare You to Sleep podcast. Learn more at https://leerozelle.com/.
Recommendations on must-read horror, weird, and bizarro short stories from the past and today can be found on my blog, THE STORY.
Recommendations on must-read horror, weird, and bizarro short stories from the past and today can be found on my blog, THE STORY.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 7, 2024
"Sitting at the back booth of Three Amigos, an unlikely group of misfits shoots tequila and concocts wild theories. A doctor, a lawyer, a creep... and now a fish man."
It's easily one of the most Bizarre groups of tales I have come across. Told from the perspective of various characters in the town, we get an insider view of the insanity. Some things are downright gross, many are hilarious, and others are completely batshit crazy. It's been a fun ride, but I know one thing for sure.... I wouldn't want to live here.
You won't catch this ass anywhere near those Tallapoochee waters. No, sir, no way!
I'll be back with my full review soon.
It's easily one of the most Bizarre groups of tales I have come across. Told from the perspective of various characters in the town, we get an insider view of the insanity. Some things are downright gross, many are hilarious, and others are completely batshit crazy. It's been a fun ride, but I know one thing for sure.... I wouldn't want to live here.
You won't catch this ass anywhere near those Tallapoochee waters. No, sir, no way!
I'll be back with my full review soon.
May 21, 2024
A Bibliophilia Templum Review
https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2024/05/21/backwaters/
I don’t know how many times this book made me exclaim out loud, but it was a lot. Backwaters by Lee Rozelle is comprised of 12 grisly, twisted, and uncomfortably riveting interconnected tales of the bizarre things going down in the backwater of Tallapoochee. And it’s just so wonderfully messed up.
The fun and brilliant thing about this collection is with how it is put together, it reads like one story with separate perspective chapters. The final novella is even set up like an epilogue. So you really get a whole story. I loved that.
The chapter stories range from gruesome to bizarro, interspersed with irreverently dark humor, evocative horrors, and several WTF-did-I-just-read moments. And just when you think it can’t get any more shocking and bizarre, it all comes together brilliantly. Yes, there is a payoff! A good one.
I cannot recommend Backwaters enough, it’s an excellent read, but fans of Bizarro and Extreme Horror only, please.
https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2024/05/21/backwaters/
I don’t know how many times this book made me exclaim out loud, but it was a lot. Backwaters by Lee Rozelle is comprised of 12 grisly, twisted, and uncomfortably riveting interconnected tales of the bizarre things going down in the backwater of Tallapoochee. And it’s just so wonderfully messed up.
The fun and brilliant thing about this collection is with how it is put together, it reads like one story with separate perspective chapters. The final novella is even set up like an epilogue. So you really get a whole story. I loved that.
The chapter stories range from gruesome to bizarro, interspersed with irreverently dark humor, evocative horrors, and several WTF-did-I-just-read moments. And just when you think it can’t get any more shocking and bizarre, it all comes together brilliantly. Yes, there is a payoff! A good one.
I cannot recommend Backwaters enough, it’s an excellent read, but fans of Bizarro and Extreme Horror only, please.
May 23, 2024
Wading into these interconnected stories, it wasn't at all clear at first what was going on. There were bizarre tales, evangelical wrestlers, disturbing orthodontic procedures, hints of conspiracies, weird scientific experiments, and squirming bucketloads of body horror - the sense of it all made even more opaque by the hallucinatory fugues experienced by some of the POV protagonists.
But turning the pages was like swirling those dark Tallapoochee waters, the disturbed sediments shifting and offering murky glimpses of the wider story. Characters and events became more familiar (and even more disturbing) as the stories mingled and flowed towards the novella that serves as a satisfying and enjoyable conclusion to this collection of Southern Gothic.
But turning the pages was like swirling those dark Tallapoochee waters, the disturbed sediments shifting and offering murky glimpses of the wider story. Characters and events became more familiar (and even more disturbing) as the stories mingled and flowed towards the novella that serves as a satisfying and enjoyable conclusion to this collection of Southern Gothic.
May 25, 2024
This set of short stories is…gross lol. But quite well written. The prose is so good that there were times I felt like I was one of the MCs.
The idea of scientists using micro-plastics and forming a cult to create new humanoid creatures is a new fear that I hadn’t had previously. So, thanks for that.
The idea of scientists using micro-plastics and forming a cult to create new humanoid creatures is a new fear that I hadn’t had previously. So, thanks for that.
June 2, 2024
A collection of truly weird, bizarre, and wonderful horror stories.
September 14, 2025
Trippy, darkly-comedic collection of short stories that tie into a larger story. Think Cajun Lovecraft, and you've got the right vibe. I enjoyed this immensely
May 27, 2024
Backwaters is a deliciously fun collection of all things Southern and gory that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Reading more like a loose novella than a series of short stories, this collection shares a dozen tales set in a fictional rural Alabama town where it seems the weird and zany are the substance of everyday life. Each story was unique, yet interconnected, and all of them showed Rozelle’s ability to keep on his promise to deliver all things “terrifying and bizarre.”
As a rural Alabama gal myself, one of the biggest strengths of this collection was just how much is captured southern life. This town is full of CHARACTERS whose sensibilities, actions, and dialogue felt pulled straight from my own life – they were familiar and uncomfortable at the same time. And while there were a few moments that it felt as if Rozelle were leaning too far into Southern stereotypes (perhaps to appeal to some non-Southern audiences), overall, reading through the eyes of such familiar faces was one of my favorite experiences throughout the book. Rozelle also did an incredible job of capturing Southern culture through his descriptions of the town, its spaces and nature. These stories are full of some really incredible scene setting, that captures both the beauty of the rural South, but also all the little horrors that lie within it too.
And speaking of horror…I loved so many of the horror elements throughout this work. There’s no shyness when it comes to gruesome descriptions throughout these tales, and I especially appreciated the straightforward tone that many of them presented the gore. Additionally, there’s a great sense of unease throughout the collection, and I often found myself surprised at the unpredictability of these stories. I read A LOT of horror and am the type of reader who can often guess at the twists and turns that horror stories will take, but I very rarely was able to guess at what would happen next in these stories. In most cases, I loved the unexpected turns that these stories took me on, though I will admit there were a few times where these turns felt a little anticlimactic, and there were several stories where I had expected further escalation within the story, but instead we were left with what felt like some unfinished threads. However, perhaps that is part of the charm of this collection and its ability to string the reader along, if you will.
I especially appreciated how the horror in each story seemed to build on each other, with each story offering a further glimpse into just how wild things in this town seem to be – and it was this build that really felt this collection feel like an interconnected novella rather than a series of short stories. However, there was a bit of a schism in the final story “Hydromaniacs,” which is significantly longer than the other tales and presented as novelette that happens a one year later, following the events of all the previous stories. There was a big tonal shift here, coming across more as sci-fi than horror. This novelette felt both connected and unconnected from the other works: it connected some of the unfinished/loose threads I mentioned above but in other ways, it unraveled some of the mysterious elements I had appreciated in other stories. On its own, I absolutely loved “Hydromaniacs” and it was one of my favorite reads of the entire collection, but it also made my reading experience a little jarring because of the shift away from the previous stories. In other words, I think Rozelle took a risk presenting a novelette at the end of what is supposed to be a short story collection – in some ways that risk paid off but in other ways, it weakens the overall cohesion of this collection in other ways.
But overall, this was a fun collection and a great read (and good enough that I couldn’t put it down and read it all in one reading). It’s a great reflection of what happens when you push the bizarre nature of small Southern towns to their absolute fantastical limits and would be a great read for anyone looking to explore those possibilities.
P.S.
Some of my favorites in this collection included the “Foundling” – perhaps because I’m an academic myself, and this captured some of the most horrific elements of academia alongside actual horror. And as I said, I LOVED “Hydromaniacs” on its own – it’s a great sci-fi romp that does an incredible job feeding off collective (and maybe not so out-there) fears. And the descriptions in “Mandibular Fixation” really set my teeth on edge, haha.
As a rural Alabama gal myself, one of the biggest strengths of this collection was just how much is captured southern life. This town is full of CHARACTERS whose sensibilities, actions, and dialogue felt pulled straight from my own life – they were familiar and uncomfortable at the same time. And while there were a few moments that it felt as if Rozelle were leaning too far into Southern stereotypes (perhaps to appeal to some non-Southern audiences), overall, reading through the eyes of such familiar faces was one of my favorite experiences throughout the book. Rozelle also did an incredible job of capturing Southern culture through his descriptions of the town, its spaces and nature. These stories are full of some really incredible scene setting, that captures both the beauty of the rural South, but also all the little horrors that lie within it too.
And speaking of horror…I loved so many of the horror elements throughout this work. There’s no shyness when it comes to gruesome descriptions throughout these tales, and I especially appreciated the straightforward tone that many of them presented the gore. Additionally, there’s a great sense of unease throughout the collection, and I often found myself surprised at the unpredictability of these stories. I read A LOT of horror and am the type of reader who can often guess at the twists and turns that horror stories will take, but I very rarely was able to guess at what would happen next in these stories. In most cases, I loved the unexpected turns that these stories took me on, though I will admit there were a few times where these turns felt a little anticlimactic, and there were several stories where I had expected further escalation within the story, but instead we were left with what felt like some unfinished threads. However, perhaps that is part of the charm of this collection and its ability to string the reader along, if you will.
I especially appreciated how the horror in each story seemed to build on each other, with each story offering a further glimpse into just how wild things in this town seem to be – and it was this build that really felt this collection feel like an interconnected novella rather than a series of short stories. However, there was a bit of a schism in the final story “Hydromaniacs,” which is significantly longer than the other tales and presented as novelette that happens a one year later, following the events of all the previous stories. There was a big tonal shift here, coming across more as sci-fi than horror. This novelette felt both connected and unconnected from the other works: it connected some of the unfinished/loose threads I mentioned above but in other ways, it unraveled some of the mysterious elements I had appreciated in other stories. On its own, I absolutely loved “Hydromaniacs” and it was one of my favorite reads of the entire collection, but it also made my reading experience a little jarring because of the shift away from the previous stories. In other words, I think Rozelle took a risk presenting a novelette at the end of what is supposed to be a short story collection – in some ways that risk paid off but in other ways, it weakens the overall cohesion of this collection in other ways.
But overall, this was a fun collection and a great read (and good enough that I couldn’t put it down and read it all in one reading). It’s a great reflection of what happens when you push the bizarre nature of small Southern towns to their absolute fantastical limits and would be a great read for anyone looking to explore those possibilities.
P.S.
Some of my favorites in this collection included the “Foundling” – perhaps because I’m an academic myself, and this captured some of the most horrific elements of academia alongside actual horror. And as I said, I LOVED “Hydromaniacs” on its own – it’s a great sci-fi romp that does an incredible job feeding off collective (and maybe not so out-there) fears. And the descriptions in “Mandibular Fixation” really set my teeth on edge, haha.
May 18, 2024
Hope you've got a strong stomach.
Rozelle's Backwaters is a series of disturbing and quirky tales that firmly plant mutated tongue in Pelagic cheek. The first eleven short stories are loosely related explorations of body horror and obscura, the format typically being a selection of some 'ordinary' activity, e.g. false teeth, braces, yoga and Rozelle finding some way to absolutely gross you out with some sort of horrific twist.
In some regards this tome felt like it was in competition with itself - each story aimed to be a little (or a lot) more disturbing than the prior. Which I did feel diminished much chance of taking much else from the stories than the gross-out factor and I'm not sure that story mechanism carried or justified the longer novella at the end - it did allow for a bit more plot - however more plot did kind of draw attention to the extreme levels of wormy yuk factor going on!
Not sad that I read this piece but it definitely is what it is - if you don't want to be disturbed, if you don't like body horror, and don't find humour in juxtaposing mundane oddities alongside completely over the top supernatural ick then I wouldn't recommend this one. However if you ARE interested then this is most definitely the one for YOU.
Rozelle's Backwaters is a series of disturbing and quirky tales that firmly plant mutated tongue in Pelagic cheek. The first eleven short stories are loosely related explorations of body horror and obscura, the format typically being a selection of some 'ordinary' activity, e.g. false teeth, braces, yoga and Rozelle finding some way to absolutely gross you out with some sort of horrific twist.
In some regards this tome felt like it was in competition with itself - each story aimed to be a little (or a lot) more disturbing than the prior. Which I did feel diminished much chance of taking much else from the stories than the gross-out factor and I'm not sure that story mechanism carried or justified the longer novella at the end - it did allow for a bit more plot - however more plot did kind of draw attention to the extreme levels of wormy yuk factor going on!
Not sad that I read this piece but it definitely is what it is - if you don't want to be disturbed, if you don't like body horror, and don't find humour in juxtaposing mundane oddities alongside completely over the top supernatural ick then I wouldn't recommend this one. However if you ARE interested then this is most definitely the one for YOU.
May 5, 2024
Body horror, bugs, and bizarre.
This is a horror that will cover subjects that may make some uneasy and queasy- read at your own risk!
This is a collection of fun, dark, weird, and gross short stories. So gross… There are 12 short stories based in Southern Alabama that can be read alone but benefit from being read together. The last story, Hydromaniacs: A Novelette, ties in the loose ends of the combination of these stories.
This work really combines horror genres by touching on real cultural and environmental issues while creating an eerie, disgusting, and aquatic monsters. Oh yeah, and there's a cult!
I think you're going to really enjoy this if you love creature features, sci-fi horror, comedic horror, southern gothic and weird writes. I found myself needing more story after reading one while also not wanting to read much more because .... well, read it and you will find out!
This is a horror that will cover subjects that may make some uneasy and queasy- read at your own risk!
This is a collection of fun, dark, weird, and gross short stories. So gross… There are 12 short stories based in Southern Alabama that can be read alone but benefit from being read together. The last story, Hydromaniacs: A Novelette, ties in the loose ends of the combination of these stories.
This work really combines horror genres by touching on real cultural and environmental issues while creating an eerie, disgusting, and aquatic monsters. Oh yeah, and there's a cult!
I think you're going to really enjoy this if you love creature features, sci-fi horror, comedic horror, southern gothic and weird writes. I found myself needing more story after reading one while also not wanting to read much more because .... well, read it and you will find out!
August 2, 2024
Rozelle knows the South. These stories are weird and funny. It’s an amazing synthesis of his specialties in eco criticism & horror— although, I’d say it borders more on sci-fi than true horror. The implications of what he’s dreamt up in his “Supernova” are, at least, spooky. The scenes that are written in Alabama College are elevated above the rest. They make me wish I was back at Grad School, having a $1.50 beer on the porch of Eclipse. Stories like this make me feel increasingly uncertain about the edges of reality. Nice.
May 10, 2024
I had so much fun reading this book about the backwaters of Alabama. Grisly, gory horror stories with creatures, mutants and mutations, and gross outs galore. It's my first time reading anything by Lee Rozelle and I was surprised and impressed. Will definitely be looking to read more in the future! I also love the pulpy old school horror comic style cover.
August 27, 2024
Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/08/1...
One of the weirdest collection I've ever read (meant as a compliment, of course!).
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/08/1...
One of the weirdest collection I've ever read (meant as a compliment, of course!).
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews