Okay, let’s talk genre convention here for a sec…
So, horror is horror, but not all horror is for everyone.
This one’s a prime example of that.
Now, splatterpunk, extreme/hardcore, gross out, and transgressive fiction tend to get lumped together, as they all teeter precariously over that threshold that forewarns, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.
This is an exceptional selection of stories, curated by our favourite gore cherub, Judith Sonnet, and just like Jack Bantry’s Splatterpunk’s Basement of Horror that dropped a couple of month back, it definitely explores the diversity of the subgenre (maybe with a touch more nihilism than the aforementioned…)
As an added bonus, Judith takes a very unique-to-genre, pseudo-meta approach to introducing each story, reminiscent of campfire tales, which I found really added to its charm.
While we’re on the topic of bonus features:
Included as a post-anthology is Judith Sonnet’s novella Fetal Backwash, dubbed “The One Amazon Had to Draw the Line For”, which incorporates aspects of another favourite “extreme” umbrella’d subgenre of mind: Bizarro! (Which I will be reviewing separately, as it is also available as a standalone via Godless, but ONLY available on paperback by buying this anthology)
Okay, I’m gonna start going off on tangents, so time to call it.
If you choose to read this, just remember: you, and you alone, are responsible for your triggers. This is an EXTREME anthology. That’s is the only content warning you’re going to get from me.
Well done, team. This was exceptional!