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Managing and Other Lies: A Queer Horror Collection
An unsettling collection of queer horror stories that takes readers on a dark journey down desolate country roads, through the vacant halls of Gothic homes, and into the dark heart of modern-day Britain. These are Kafkaesque tales of loneliness, brutality, and paranoia.
In a labyrinthine house at the edge of a quiet English village, a hollowed-out and anxious housekeeper works to keep the place tidy while writing religiously in their diary. After settling into a routine, they meet a secretive and seductive woman living in a room upstairs who promises them a better life. All she asks for in return are a few parts and pieces.
Faye is a YouTuber who enjoys reviewing movies. When she takes pity on a lonely and obsessive fan, she finds herself falling into something dark and deeply distressing.
Cassandra only has one person left to come out her mother, and she has decided to do so during a weekend visit. But her mother offers Cassandra no love or understanding, and making matters worse is the threatening ghost of a man that only Cassandra can see.
Trans teen runaway Mel is hitchhiking, hoping to reach London, when she is picked up by a woman who seems at first to be a kindred spirit, but there is something gnarled and twisted hidden beneath the surface.
A young couple recently had a baby together, but the baby is very sick; its body is changing—mutating—and they need to find out why before it's too late.
After the death of her husband, an abused woman is suddenly liberated and makes plans to start her life anew, but she may not get to experience the freedom she hopes for.
In a labyrinthine house at the edge of a quiet English village, a hollowed-out and anxious housekeeper works to keep the place tidy while writing religiously in their diary. After settling into a routine, they meet a secretive and seductive woman living in a room upstairs who promises them a better life. All she asks for in return are a few parts and pieces.
Faye is a YouTuber who enjoys reviewing movies. When she takes pity on a lonely and obsessive fan, she finds herself falling into something dark and deeply distressing.
Cassandra only has one person left to come out her mother, and she has decided to do so during a weekend visit. But her mother offers Cassandra no love or understanding, and making matters worse is the threatening ghost of a man that only Cassandra can see.
Trans teen runaway Mel is hitchhiking, hoping to reach London, when she is picked up by a woman who seems at first to be a kindred spirit, but there is something gnarled and twisted hidden beneath the surface.
A young couple recently had a baby together, but the baby is very sick; its body is changing—mutating—and they need to find out why before it's too late.
After the death of her husband, an abused woman is suddenly liberated and makes plans to start her life anew, but she may not get to experience the freedom she hopes for.
184 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2024
50 people are currently reading
864 people want to read
About the author
Willow Heath
1 book2,276 followersWillow Heath is a Glasgow-based author, critic, and editor. She is a co-founder of the literature and culture site Books and Bao, and host of the YouTube channel Willow Talks Books.
In 2023 she narrated the audiobook for The LGBTQ+ History Book, and in 2024 she was shortlisted for The Poetry Lighthouse Prize. Her collection of queer horror stories, Managing And Other Lies, was published in 2024.
In 2023 she narrated the audiobook for The LGBTQ+ History Book, and in 2024 she was shortlisted for The Poetry Lighthouse Prize. Her collection of queer horror stories, Managing And Other Lies, was published in 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 13, 2024
Well, okay. I didn’t think this was going to be a new favorite by any means, but as an occasional viewer of Willow’s channel, I was intrigued.
The titular story, “Managing,” is by far the strongest, and longest, in this collection, clocking in at an even 50% of the book. An outcast narrator in the wake of an earth-shattering breakup takes a job in an unfamiliar village caring for an empty, mysterious house. Cue the ghosts, naturally. Two to be exact: a man and a woman. They behave almost as parents, a mother and father. The woman domineering, oppressive, protective, the man distant, aloof, and condescending. They both antagonize or outright abuse the narrator, continually deny the narrator’s gender, and at times attempt something like seduction. The way the narrator receives this treatment and reacts is interesting, and conveys a clear representation of a common queer experience—the defiant impulse to stand your ground, the feeling that to turn away, to try to protect yourself from hate, is to show fear, to let them win. However, I was a bit stumped by the trajectory of the story, the favor shown to the woman ghost in particular. There’s something here about surrendering to your tormenters, to pain, to sexuality. About the necessity of giving parts of yourself away to satisfy the world. Something also about the allure of powerful women, of a mother figure, maybe. I just can’t quite put my finger on what’s being said, though I give points to the story for being engaging and thoughtful, and providing these opportunities for deeper analysis.
Unfortunately, the journal entry structure of this story seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me; the writing only has to be as good as the character would realistically make it. As a result, sloppy writing becomes permissible. The vast majority of the story is mundane and repetitive, but lacking any real detail that would make the mundane interesting or at the very least develop the mysteries apparent at the beginning (whose house is this? who are these ghosts?). So much is left unnecessarily vague; details of interest are introduced too late; ultimately unimportant details are introduced too early, and emphasized too much. For example, early in “Managing,” the narrator spends some time sifting through and organizing mounds of scattered papers found in one of the house’s many rooms—but doesn’t describe the contents in any more detail than containing “thick text… diagrams and charts and tables filled with numbers… documents and papers made up of jargon and digits and symbols.” No mention of the subject matter, what kind of jargon. Surely this would be of note to someone interested in the house’s past? Instead the papers are just vaguely indecipherable and the narrator “decided that none of it interested or concerned me” and sets them aside. The papers are mentioned briefly once more shortly after, and then promptly forgotten about. A metaphor for how others view the narrator and their gender, sure. But an underwhelming one, and an unnecessary, perhaps unintentional, red herring for the true plot, given the importance it’s given so early on.
Willow’s choice to write in somewhat untraditional formats seems to me a way to wiggle out of the short story’s necessity for strong prose. This is a problem I have with nearly all of the stories in this collection. We get journal entries, YouTube comments, a play, and two stories composed almost entirely of dialogue. The final story is the only one with what I’d call a true 1st person narrative. It doesn’t surprise me that I wasn’t particularly impressed with the prose when we do actually get it. The form almost always supersedes the content. Once you look closely, there just isn’t much substance.
While “Managing” had engaging (albeit puzzling) themes, I struggled to find a point in the other stories. Of course they all examine aspects of queerness—coming out, passing, being confronted with bigotry, self-acceptance—and hard topics like domestic violence, political violence, sexual assault. But to what end? The plots of these shorter stories are quite straightforward and shallow: a fan develops a parasocial attachment to a YouTube creator; a trans woman officially comes out to her unaccepting mother; a hitchhiking trans girl unsuspectingly gets into the car of a dangerous, hateful woman; a wife gets her revenge after years of domestic violence. But they go no further, and the various supernatural elements do little to add anything other than atmosphere. (“Baby” is the only story I truly do not know what to make of—and I’m wary of writers using disability as a plot device.)
My final main criticism of the collection is a wild inconsistency in tone, within the individual stories and with the collection as a whole. Is it mystery? Is it horror? Is it satire? Was I supposed to be laughing that hard during “Chloe.Claire1” and “A Mother’s Love”? (I fear not).
Admittedly, short stories are hard—I certainly couldn’t write one well. Barring a few truly exceptional writers, a debut short story collection is bound to be a little rocky. Unfortunately, this one was just a little bit too rocky for my taste.
The titular story, “Managing,” is by far the strongest, and longest, in this collection, clocking in at an even 50% of the book. An outcast narrator in the wake of an earth-shattering breakup takes a job in an unfamiliar village caring for an empty, mysterious house. Cue the ghosts, naturally. Two to be exact: a man and a woman. They behave almost as parents, a mother and father. The woman domineering, oppressive, protective, the man distant, aloof, and condescending. They both antagonize or outright abuse the narrator, continually deny the narrator’s gender, and at times attempt something like seduction. The way the narrator receives this treatment and reacts is interesting, and conveys a clear representation of a common queer experience—the defiant impulse to stand your ground, the feeling that to turn away, to try to protect yourself from hate, is to show fear, to let them win. However, I was a bit stumped by the trajectory of the story, the favor shown to the woman ghost in particular. There’s something here about surrendering to your tormenters, to pain, to sexuality. About the necessity of giving parts of yourself away to satisfy the world. Something also about the allure of powerful women, of a mother figure, maybe. I just can’t quite put my finger on what’s being said, though I give points to the story for being engaging and thoughtful, and providing these opportunities for deeper analysis.
Unfortunately, the journal entry structure of this story seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me; the writing only has to be as good as the character would realistically make it. As a result, sloppy writing becomes permissible. The vast majority of the story is mundane and repetitive, but lacking any real detail that would make the mundane interesting or at the very least develop the mysteries apparent at the beginning (whose house is this? who are these ghosts?). So much is left unnecessarily vague; details of interest are introduced too late; ultimately unimportant details are introduced too early, and emphasized too much. For example, early in “Managing,” the narrator spends some time sifting through and organizing mounds of scattered papers found in one of the house’s many rooms—but doesn’t describe the contents in any more detail than containing “thick text… diagrams and charts and tables filled with numbers… documents and papers made up of jargon and digits and symbols.” No mention of the subject matter, what kind of jargon. Surely this would be of note to someone interested in the house’s past? Instead the papers are just vaguely indecipherable and the narrator “decided that none of it interested or concerned me” and sets them aside. The papers are mentioned briefly once more shortly after, and then promptly forgotten about. A metaphor for how others view the narrator and their gender, sure. But an underwhelming one, and an unnecessary, perhaps unintentional, red herring for the true plot, given the importance it’s given so early on.
Willow’s choice to write in somewhat untraditional formats seems to me a way to wiggle out of the short story’s necessity for strong prose. This is a problem I have with nearly all of the stories in this collection. We get journal entries, YouTube comments, a play, and two stories composed almost entirely of dialogue. The final story is the only one with what I’d call a true 1st person narrative. It doesn’t surprise me that I wasn’t particularly impressed with the prose when we do actually get it. The form almost always supersedes the content. Once you look closely, there just isn’t much substance.
While “Managing” had engaging (albeit puzzling) themes, I struggled to find a point in the other stories. Of course they all examine aspects of queerness—coming out, passing, being confronted with bigotry, self-acceptance—and hard topics like domestic violence, political violence, sexual assault. But to what end? The plots of these shorter stories are quite straightforward and shallow: a fan develops a parasocial attachment to a YouTube creator; a trans woman officially comes out to her unaccepting mother; a hitchhiking trans girl unsuspectingly gets into the car of a dangerous, hateful woman; a wife gets her revenge after years of domestic violence. But they go no further, and the various supernatural elements do little to add anything other than atmosphere. (“Baby” is the only story I truly do not know what to make of—and I’m wary of writers using disability as a plot device.)
My final main criticism of the collection is a wild inconsistency in tone, within the individual stories and with the collection as a whole. Is it mystery? Is it horror? Is it satire? Was I supposed to be laughing that hard during “Chloe.Claire1” and “A Mother’s Love”? (I fear not).
Admittedly, short stories are hard—I certainly couldn’t write one well. Barring a few truly exceptional writers, a debut short story collection is bound to be a little rocky. Unfortunately, this one was just a little bit too rocky for my taste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
January 7, 2026why?!
I don't like horror. At all. So me wanting to read this is very unusual. BUT the person who wrote it is such a lovely human***addressing comments below
I follow her reviews on YouTube and even though her taste are in books aren't always the same of mine, the way she talks about horror books shows me how those kind of stories can be... beautiful? Such a weird thing to say but it is how I feel.
No idea how she is as a writer but I'm curious in finding that out.
Plus it is a short story collection so that will help with the scariness. I hope.
Sidenote: that cover is gorgeous. The colours sucked me in but the longer I look at it, the more I see...
who sucked me in?
Willow of Willow Talks Books on YouTube in their 'I did something huge.' -video published on maandag 8 juli 2024.
SHE WROTE A BOOK!
***Very long tangent regarding the comments have left under my 'review':
This is a very long way to explain why I called someone 'a lovely human'. I know I did not do a very good job of being concise. Hopefully people can somewhat understand where I came from.
I will not change my wording. It is how I felt at the time. Maybe I will regret that in the future.
At this point in my life, I believe removing shit does not work, explaining why something is not relevant today, works better in my opinion. That way people can actually see the change and do not have to rely on just your word.
For all the commenters who left a message I assume you did that because you had good intentions. You wanted me to know something you thought was important and I am grateful for that. You spend your time and energy on me. Someone you did not know and I truly appreciate that.
I don't like horror. At all. So me wanting to read this is very unusual. BUT the person who wrote it is such a lovely human***addressing comments below
I follow her reviews on YouTube and even though her taste are in books aren't always the same of mine, the way she talks about horror books shows me how those kind of stories can be... beautiful? Such a weird thing to say but it is how I feel.
No idea how she is as a writer but I'm curious in finding that out.
Plus it is a short story collection so that will help with the scariness. I hope.
Sidenote: that cover is gorgeous. The colours sucked me in but the longer I look at it, the more I see...
who sucked me in?
Willow of Willow Talks Books on YouTube in their 'I did something huge.' -video published on maandag 8 juli 2024.
SHE WROTE A BOOK!
***Very long tangent regarding the comments have left under my 'review':
This is a very long way to explain why I called someone 'a lovely human'. I know I did not do a very good job of being concise. Hopefully people can somewhat understand where I came from.
I will not change my wording. It is how I felt at the time. Maybe I will regret that in the future.
At this point in my life, I believe removing shit does not work, explaining why something is not relevant today, works better in my opinion. That way people can actually see the change and do not have to rely on just your word.
For all the commenters who left a message I assume you did that because you had good intentions. You wanted me to know something you thought was important and I am grateful for that. You spend your time and energy on me. Someone you did not know and I truly appreciate that.
July 12, 2024
visceral, powerfully sensual
yet delicate in choosing words:
willow's elusive characters have
such captivating voices it feels
hard to breathe while reading. ♡
yet delicate in choosing words:
willow's elusive characters have
such captivating voices it feels
hard to breathe while reading. ♡
August 12, 2024
I think it’s great to bring to the table stories about the LGBTQ+ community.
I also think that the different formats of the stories was very creative.
That being said I found this book boring. Non of the stories hooked me. Non of the stories spooked me. There was actually one (the first one) where I had to skip some paragraphs that were completely useless and mind blowing boring.
Would I recommend it? No.
For me it’s a .5 star.
I also think that the different formats of the stories was very creative.
That being said I found this book boring. Non of the stories hooked me. Non of the stories spooked me. There was actually one (the first one) where I had to skip some paragraphs that were completely useless and mind blowing boring.
Would I recommend it? No.
For me it’s a .5 star.
July 12, 2024
Full disclosure; I am a fan and patreon of Willow. So although I have lots of conscious bias I will try and review fairly.
Firstly as a 50+ white CIS female I do not have the knowledge or experience to comment on the main themes however what I can say is that I read it in one sitting, did not want to put it down, it made me extremely uncomfortable often which is a good thing!
Like with any short story collection there were stories I enjoyed more than others which is why I have not been a ‘Chloe’ and gone all 5 stars.
Well done Willow, I look forward to more. Good on yer girl 💜💜💜💜💜
Firstly as a 50+ white CIS female I do not have the knowledge or experience to comment on the main themes however what I can say is that I read it in one sitting, did not want to put it down, it made me extremely uncomfortable often which is a good thing!
Like with any short story collection there were stories I enjoyed more than others which is why I have not been a ‘Chloe’ and gone all 5 stars.
Well done Willow, I look forward to more. Good on yer girl 💜💜💜💜💜
July 31, 2024
Big CNs. For Queerphobia, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Abusive Parent, Domestic Abuse, Body Horror, Blood, Biting, Nightmare Babies, TERFs, and Massive, Massive Gender Feels!
Right up top, I'm going to say I'm a fan of Willow's YouTube channel, though I don't watch as often as I should, and I bought this book and joined their Patreon when I first saw this come out, and I will absolutely be bumping up my membership to get the chapters of her novel as they come out based on just how much I absolutely loved this, just as soon as I make a dent in my library books and charity shop addiction. I always knew I would get a kick out of this and would absolutely be polite and supportive, but I never expected to be so viscerally effected and adore these stories the way I do!
Reading these stories feels like an incredible insight to Heath's heart and anxieties, as she explores themes of the transgender experience, from dysphoria, transphobia, and the ever-present fear of violence to self-hatred, rejection from those who should love us unconditionally, and a truly disturbing realisation of just what kind of Lovercraftian monsters TERFs make us out to be; the uniquely strange pedestal and sense of responsibility that can be thrust upon indie creators with no real support or safety net to deal with extremity, the self-delusional violence and hatred of bigots and the insanity of their lies, and the tragic, haunting echo of trauma.
I'm also trans femme and a big fan of horror, so a lot of these stories got their filthy, fabulous claws into the depths of my being and ripped me a new one in so many refreshingly new and intimately awful (complimentary) ways.
Nearly every story is told in a non-traditional, or at least in a format other than straight prose, with diary entries, video comments and social media DMs, text messages and phone calls, and a play script with figurative and literal meta-commentary, to mention a few. This and the Queer horror and emotion of it all reminded me of Carmen Maria Machado's glorious collection, Her Body and Other Parties, which is not a comparison I make lightly, and only just realised the title, Managing and Other Lies, may be alluding to? Regardless, both are exquisite anthologies that push the boundaries of story structure and lance a variety of Queer, feminine fury and agony.
The entire collection is sensational and I cannot recommend you picking it up and taking a chance on a self-published trans femme stuck on TERF island, but I will review each other stories here too.
Managing
Wow.
My AuDHD often makes the beginning of stories, particularly those in different formats, difficult, so I took a minute to warm up to this tale told through diary entries, but once I did the slowburn gothic-dysphoric horror crept up on me, slipped under my skin, and took my by the throat!
The conscious and unconscious explorations of gender and transition rang so true with my own experiences and neuroses. The imagery of the protagonist suffering, wrestling with dysphoria; giving up bloody parts of themself to womanhood and facing the anger and violence of man, as well as the house that requires so much work they haunt and echo through (if only weedkiller would work on my face!), skewered me deeply.
The story made my skin crawl and heart thump for all the right reasons. It also meant the world to me as a trans femme fan of horror, to see the trans experience not played for laughs or the very nature of who and what we are being presented as horrific and degenerate, while at the same time not being being a saccharine or sanitised exploration and realising of the horrors we experience inside and out, not because of who we are, but due to how we are perceived and treated in society.
Chloe.Claire1
Told in the form of video comments, replies, and social media DMs, this story uses the parasocial distance and weight of responsibility having an audience can have, especially when tragic fans fixate and elevate a creator to be their light in the dark. The way Heath conveys the ability of saccharine support and praise when taken the nth degree can become something intensely sinister and suffocating is incredible.
As an autistic person with C-PTSD who doesn't always know where the line between social, parasocial, oversharing, and trauma dumping, I felt like this story was coming for me!
My own neurotic dread, coupled with some disturbing similarities of experience with a very difficult mother and distant sisters, only fueled the bittersweet build up to a dramatic and all too real ending that wasn't what I expected.
A Mother's Love
This is a short play of a trans woman going to stay with her transphobic mother. It is also so very much more than this with director's notes that serve as a meta-commentary, mansplaining and criticising the writer of the script (whether this is Heath the author of the anthology or the script author within the anthology) that serves as another note in the emotional chord whose root note is the mother, with the drama mask-wearing 'wanking clown' who occupies another superposition in the play, seen only by Cassandra and the Director, but physically effecting the piece with his blocking*, being the third. Together they create a heartbreaking tone.
I am flummoxed by how innovative and brilliant this is and would be fascinated to see a cast bring it to life.
*You have no idea how smug and accomplished this double entendre made me.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly
It was at this point I truly came to appreciate Heath's devastating power of foreboding and unsettling. I truly can't put my finger on exactly why and what made me feel so uncomfortable from the get go, but I truly was not expecting this hitchhiking runaway story to end up where it did. Bloody. Hell!
I was reading this sat in the back of an Oxfam Books on my first day volunteering, unable to get on the computer, waiting to get inducted, and left with nothing to do but wait and amuse myself. My eyes were like dinner plates and I was absolutely freaking out. I think the charity shop backroom ambiance really added to this wild experience.
Without giving too much away, I want to say how absolutely shocked I was by the ending. It was truly unique and indescribable 'Did she really write that?' 'Is she allowed to do that?!' absurd moments that genuinely feels like a line of demarkation in my life. Of fucking course you can! But you have to have some serious big girl knickers to fucking do it. The catharsis and empowerment I feel to write whatever the fuck I want or need I felt reading this I cannot accurately convey.
Baby
This is an absolute fucking nightmare.
This thoroughly heebied my jeebies and creeped me out beyond belief.
The way this story harnesses the insidious power of internalised transphobia and self-hatred, and the shakes it up with the heinous surrealism of the lies bigots tell creates one hell of a short, punchy eldritch horror cocktail.
Gods. Damn!
Little Blue Sticky Notes
The final story is also the most traditional of Heath's hamper of horror, but that doesn't mean it is any less powerful.
This is a wonderful work of modern gothic horror that grapples with domestic abuse, trauma, and how their ghosts echo through our lives even when we try to purge ourself of memories and mementos.
This is a truly remarkable collection that has horrified and inspired me beyond belief. I cannot wait to see more from Heath!
Right up top, I'm going to say I'm a fan of Willow's YouTube channel, though I don't watch as often as I should, and I bought this book and joined their Patreon when I first saw this come out, and I will absolutely be bumping up my membership to get the chapters of her novel as they come out based on just how much I absolutely loved this, just as soon as I make a dent in my library books and charity shop addiction. I always knew I would get a kick out of this and would absolutely be polite and supportive, but I never expected to be so viscerally effected and adore these stories the way I do!
Reading these stories feels like an incredible insight to Heath's heart and anxieties, as she explores themes of the transgender experience, from dysphoria, transphobia, and the ever-present fear of violence to self-hatred, rejection from those who should love us unconditionally, and a truly disturbing realisation of just what kind of Lovercraftian monsters TERFs make us out to be; the uniquely strange pedestal and sense of responsibility that can be thrust upon indie creators with no real support or safety net to deal with extremity, the self-delusional violence and hatred of bigots and the insanity of their lies, and the tragic, haunting echo of trauma.
I'm also trans femme and a big fan of horror, so a lot of these stories got their filthy, fabulous claws into the depths of my being and ripped me a new one in so many refreshingly new and intimately awful (complimentary) ways.
Nearly every story is told in a non-traditional, or at least in a format other than straight prose, with diary entries, video comments and social media DMs, text messages and phone calls, and a play script with figurative and literal meta-commentary, to mention a few. This and the Queer horror and emotion of it all reminded me of Carmen Maria Machado's glorious collection, Her Body and Other Parties, which is not a comparison I make lightly, and only just realised the title, Managing and Other Lies, may be alluding to? Regardless, both are exquisite anthologies that push the boundaries of story structure and lance a variety of Queer, feminine fury and agony.
The entire collection is sensational and I cannot recommend you picking it up and taking a chance on a self-published trans femme stuck on TERF island, but I will review each other stories here too.
Managing
Wow.
My AuDHD often makes the beginning of stories, particularly those in different formats, difficult, so I took a minute to warm up to this tale told through diary entries, but once I did the slowburn gothic-dysphoric horror crept up on me, slipped under my skin, and took my by the throat!
The conscious and unconscious explorations of gender and transition rang so true with my own experiences and neuroses. The imagery of the protagonist suffering, wrestling with dysphoria; giving up bloody parts of themself to womanhood and facing the anger and violence of man, as well as the house that requires so much work they haunt and echo through (if only weedkiller would work on my face!), skewered me deeply.
The story made my skin crawl and heart thump for all the right reasons. It also meant the world to me as a trans femme fan of horror, to see the trans experience not played for laughs or the very nature of who and what we are being presented as horrific and degenerate, while at the same time not being being a saccharine or sanitised exploration and realising of the horrors we experience inside and out, not because of who we are, but due to how we are perceived and treated in society.
Chloe.Claire1
Told in the form of video comments, replies, and social media DMs, this story uses the parasocial distance and weight of responsibility having an audience can have, especially when tragic fans fixate and elevate a creator to be their light in the dark. The way Heath conveys the ability of saccharine support and praise when taken the nth degree can become something intensely sinister and suffocating is incredible.
As an autistic person with C-PTSD who doesn't always know where the line between social, parasocial, oversharing, and trauma dumping, I felt like this story was coming for me!
My own neurotic dread, coupled with some disturbing similarities of experience with a very difficult mother and distant sisters, only fueled the bittersweet build up to a dramatic and all too real ending that wasn't what I expected.
A Mother's Love
This is a short play of a trans woman going to stay with her transphobic mother. It is also so very much more than this with director's notes that serve as a meta-commentary, mansplaining and criticising the writer of the script (whether this is Heath the author of the anthology or the script author within the anthology) that serves as another note in the emotional chord whose root note is the mother, with the drama mask-wearing 'wanking clown' who occupies another superposition in the play, seen only by Cassandra and the Director, but physically effecting the piece with his blocking*, being the third. Together they create a heartbreaking tone.
I am flummoxed by how innovative and brilliant this is and would be fascinated to see a cast bring it to life.
*You have no idea how smug and accomplished this double entendre made me.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly
It was at this point I truly came to appreciate Heath's devastating power of foreboding and unsettling. I truly can't put my finger on exactly why and what made me feel so uncomfortable from the get go, but I truly was not expecting this hitchhiking runaway story to end up where it did. Bloody. Hell!
I was reading this sat in the back of an Oxfam Books on my first day volunteering, unable to get on the computer, waiting to get inducted, and left with nothing to do but wait and amuse myself. My eyes were like dinner plates and I was absolutely freaking out. I think the charity shop backroom ambiance really added to this wild experience.
Without giving too much away, I want to say how absolutely shocked I was by the ending. It was truly unique and indescribable 'Did she really write that?' 'Is she allowed to do that?!' absurd moments that genuinely feels like a line of demarkation in my life. Of fucking course you can! But you have to have some serious big girl knickers to fucking do it. The catharsis and empowerment I feel to write whatever the fuck I want or need I felt reading this I cannot accurately convey.
Baby
This is an absolute fucking nightmare.
This thoroughly heebied my jeebies and creeped me out beyond belief.
The way this story harnesses the insidious power of internalised transphobia and self-hatred, and the shakes it up with the heinous surrealism of the lies bigots tell creates one hell of a short, punchy eldritch horror cocktail.
Gods. Damn!
Little Blue Sticky Notes
The final story is also the most traditional of Heath's hamper of horror, but that doesn't mean it is any less powerful.
This is a wonderful work of modern gothic horror that grapples with domestic abuse, trauma, and how their ghosts echo through our lives even when we try to purge ourself of memories and mementos.
This is a truly remarkable collection that has horrified and inspired me beyond belief. I cannot wait to see more from Heath!
July 24, 2024
(Tried to keep it spoiler free, but short stories are hard to review without getting into a little detail.)
Managing 5/5 ✨
The Gothic and The Queer *chef's kiss*.
Chloe.Claire1 4/5
Loved the format. Reminded me of Eric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
Very creepy and interesting. Chloe's character definitely rubbed me the wrong way (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
A Mother's Love 4.5/5
Another format I enjoyed very much. The Director getting in the way was a really cool resource, breaking the fourth wall like that.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly 5/5
Reads like a slasher movie. So much fun.
Baby 5/5
Yesss pleaseeee. Body horror at it's best!! (Or worst? I don't know, just brutally disgusting and creepy. Literal chills. Loved it).
Little Blue Sticky Notes 4.5/5
Maybe the most predictable? of the stories in this collection.
I don't know what to say without getting into too many spoilers, so yeah, read it. You won't regret it.
Any story rated less than 5 stars just means that I loved Managing so much and it was hard to top. The whole collection is brutal, horrifically piercing, refreshing yet familiar.
Managing 5/5 ✨
The Gothic and The Queer *chef's kiss*.
Chloe.Claire1 4/5
Loved the format. Reminded me of Eric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
Very creepy and interesting. Chloe's character definitely rubbed me the wrong way (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
A Mother's Love 4.5/5
Another format I enjoyed very much. The Director getting in the way was a really cool resource, breaking the fourth wall like that.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly 5/5
Reads like a slasher movie. So much fun.
Baby 5/5
Yesss pleaseeee. Body horror at it's best!! (Or worst? I don't know, just brutally disgusting and creepy. Literal chills. Loved it).
Little Blue Sticky Notes 4.5/5
Maybe the most predictable? of the stories in this collection.
I don't know what to say without getting into too many spoilers, so yeah, read it. You won't regret it.
Any story rated less than 5 stars just means that I loved Managing so much and it was hard to top. The whole collection is brutal, horrifically piercing, refreshing yet familiar.
July 12, 2024
I love Willow’s YouTube channel so I was really excited to read this short story collection and I definitely wasn’t disappointed!
I think the first two stories, ‘Managing’ and ‘Chloe.Claire1’ were my favourites, leaving me impressed by how effectively the dread and unease was built up, but the whole collection overall was really great.
Managing - 4.5 / 5
- I could write a whole essay on this short story it was so good the buildup of tension with the man and the woman coupled with the moments of total body horror was so effective and left me thinking about it a lot
Chloe.Claire1 - 4.5/5
- I already feel uneasy talking to strangers on the internet so this story got me🤣
A Mother’s Love - 4.25/5
- the story of the play itself was interesting and frustrating and upsetting in the best way but what got me was the use of the ‘director’ and his stupid little comments that added to the overall theme of the story (and collection) perfectly
We Understand Each Other Perfectly - 4/5
- made me angry at the world and people
Baby 2.5(???)/5
- I’m scared and confused and I think that might be the point?🤣
Little Blue Sticky Notes - 3.5/5
- liked the twist at the end but didn’t leave as big an impact on me as the other stories
I think the first two stories, ‘Managing’ and ‘Chloe.Claire1’ were my favourites, leaving me impressed by how effectively the dread and unease was built up, but the whole collection overall was really great.
Managing - 4.5 / 5
- I could write a whole essay on this short story it was so good the buildup of tension with the man and the woman coupled with the moments of total body horror was so effective and left me thinking about it a lot
Chloe.Claire1 - 4.5/5
- I already feel uneasy talking to strangers on the internet so this story got me🤣
A Mother’s Love - 4.25/5
- the story of the play itself was interesting and frustrating and upsetting in the best way but what got me was the use of the ‘director’ and his stupid little comments that added to the overall theme of the story (and collection) perfectly
We Understand Each Other Perfectly - 4/5
- made me angry at the world and people
Baby 2.5(???)/5
- I’m scared and confused and I think that might be the point?🤣
Little Blue Sticky Notes - 3.5/5
- liked the twist at the end but didn’t leave as big an impact on me as the other stories
July 18, 2025
One of a kind! I couldn't put it down at every chance I got to read it!
July 14, 2024
A great short story is incredibly hard to write. You don't have a lot of room for error. Some authors absolutely excel at them, but I find many fall short. This collection fell very short of showcasing horror in particular, and then when a story did actually have horror elements, they weren't very well executed. I did appreciate that the author had so many stories focusing on the experience of trans individuals. The two stars is more of an estimated average of how I'd rate each story.
First story: It struck me as an allegory for transitioning or otherwise coping with your sexual identity, which was interesting. I think the body horror was well executed, but there was an attempt to make it be more Gothic and add suspense that just didn't work. Sure, you have an unreliable narrator, but then when the character does things that just don't make much sense compared to a person who isn't in a horror story, it becomes frustrating to read. The characters were stilted, and that made for a rough read.
Second story: This isn't a horror story. I don't think the ending suddenly turns it into a horror story, either. The characterization was better in this, which is good since all it had to offer was messages between individuals.
The play: I have no idea what that was supposed to be, and frankly, I don't care enough to try to dissect it. I hated the play formatting with director notes.
Fourth story: This is probably my favorite out of the lot because it was well paced and easy to follow. I kind of wished for more when it ended. You get the tension build-up that you'd expect to see in a horror story.
Fifth story: I wish it wasn't just characters talking. It was an okay story, but it could use some fleshing out with actual settings and descriptions. This felt more like an idea than a completed story. It did have some build-up as well, but I think limiting it to speech hindered it.
Sixth story: Perfectly decent horror story. It's very predictable, but it's still fine for a story collection.
First story: It struck me as an allegory for transitioning or otherwise coping with your sexual identity, which was interesting. I think the body horror was well executed, but there was an attempt to make it be more Gothic and add suspense that just didn't work. Sure, you have an unreliable narrator, but then when the character does things that just don't make much sense compared to a person who isn't in a horror story, it becomes frustrating to read. The characters were stilted, and that made for a rough read.
Second story: This isn't a horror story. I don't think the ending suddenly turns it into a horror story, either. The characterization was better in this, which is good since all it had to offer was messages between individuals.
The play: I have no idea what that was supposed to be, and frankly, I don't care enough to try to dissect it. I hated the play formatting with director notes.
Fourth story: This is probably my favorite out of the lot because it was well paced and easy to follow. I kind of wished for more when it ended. You get the tension build-up that you'd expect to see in a horror story.
Fifth story: I wish it wasn't just characters talking. It was an okay story, but it could use some fleshing out with actual settings and descriptions. This felt more like an idea than a completed story. It did have some build-up as well, but I think limiting it to speech hindered it.
Sixth story: Perfectly decent horror story. It's very predictable, but it's still fine for a story collection.
November 30, 2025
Full disclosure I read this AFTER the whole drama on tiktok, I wanted to see if it was good or not
Things I liked: the journal like writing in this book, I know people hate things like this but I love them
Things I hated: literally everything??
Non if these stories are scary, they aren’t spooky, the characters are boring and I found myself skipping through lines just to get ahead.
I do admit I fell for the rage baiting that led me to actually read this book but it is just bad, there is nothing interesting or of substance here, the author can bash acotar all they want but acotar actually had interesting characters, good enough plot to make you read more.
This was simply boring
Maybe look at your own writing before criticising everyone else’s?
Also please editors start doing your job, we are getting tired of wasting time over here
Things I liked: the journal like writing in this book, I know people hate things like this but I love them
Things I hated: literally everything??
Non if these stories are scary, they aren’t spooky, the characters are boring and I found myself skipping through lines just to get ahead.
I do admit I fell for the rage baiting that led me to actually read this book but it is just bad, there is nothing interesting or of substance here, the author can bash acotar all they want but acotar actually had interesting characters, good enough plot to make you read more.
This was simply boring
Maybe look at your own writing before criticising everyone else’s?
Also please editors start doing your job, we are getting tired of wasting time over here
November 28, 2025
✴︎ 'Tis the spooky season, so it was the perfect time to take this from my TBR list. Really needed it after some disappointing reads. Thank you, Miss Heath, for the perfect Halloween read for me.
I enjoyed the varied format of each part, and how the different scenarios thematically fit together snugly, while bringing something different to the mix each time. Something that quite struck me was the symbolism. (I'll definitely be searching out the author's poetry.)
Would have normally finished in one sitting, but I wanted to take my time and let myself sit with each part for a while. Also, I *needed* to—I was terrified of what would happen in the next. 😅
I enjoyed the varied format of each part, and how the different scenarios thematically fit together snugly, while bringing something different to the mix each time. Something that quite struck me was the symbolism. (I'll definitely be searching out the author's poetry.)
Would have normally finished in one sitting, but I wanted to take my time and let myself sit with each part for a while. Also, I *needed* to—I was terrified of what would happen in the next. 😅
September 25, 2024
Such interesting concepts and I loved the variety of narrative structures! There were moments throughout these stories that got a genuine visceral reaction from me and lots of grimacey faces were had. My favorites of the collection were Chloe.Claire1 and Little Blue Sticky Notes.
September 14, 2025
What a debut!
I found Willow through her YouTube channel where she discusses all things book-related. When I learned she'd written her own book, I knew I needed to check it out.
This collection of short stories is eerie as it is impactful. The tales are all different from each other as they're written in various formats: diary entries, scripts, texts back and forth - that variety kept me entertained the whole way through.
My personal favourite of the short stories was "LITTLE BLUE STICKY NOTES" for its suspense and twists. Who knew you could build up so much tension in less than 20 pages? My heart was pounding the whole time and the descriptions were so vivid in my mind.
What I also really appreciate about this book is its provision of insight into the trans experience. Rather than treating trans identity as a side note, the narrative offers a window into the complexities, challenges, and triumphs of living authentically. It highlights the emotional realities of navigating identity, relationships, and societal perceptions, while also celebrating resilience and self-discovery.
The only reason this book hasn't quite made it into my personal list of 5 star books is because it was my first "body horror" book which, turns out, is something I'm not really into. But boy did it do a good job of making me say "eeeeeeek!" And that's a sign of good art!
I look forward to reading Willow's next project if she so chooses to write more (which she totally should)!
I found Willow through her YouTube channel where she discusses all things book-related. When I learned she'd written her own book, I knew I needed to check it out.
This collection of short stories is eerie as it is impactful. The tales are all different from each other as they're written in various formats: diary entries, scripts, texts back and forth - that variety kept me entertained the whole way through.
My personal favourite of the short stories was "LITTLE BLUE STICKY NOTES" for its suspense and twists. Who knew you could build up so much tension in less than 20 pages? My heart was pounding the whole time and the descriptions were so vivid in my mind.
What I also really appreciate about this book is its provision of insight into the trans experience. Rather than treating trans identity as a side note, the narrative offers a window into the complexities, challenges, and triumphs of living authentically. It highlights the emotional realities of navigating identity, relationships, and societal perceptions, while also celebrating resilience and self-discovery.
The only reason this book hasn't quite made it into my personal list of 5 star books is because it was my first "body horror" book which, turns out, is something I'm not really into. But boy did it do a good job of making me say "eeeeeeek!" And that's a sign of good art!
I look forward to reading Willow's next project if she so chooses to write more (which she totally should)!
July 24, 2024
A Wonderfully unsettling debut collection!
July 20, 2024
Usually, I wait a bit longer after finishing a book to review it. It helps me work out what I want to say about it. In this case, though, I sort of feel that attempting to review it almost immediately after finishing it is the best thing to do, because I'm left mostly with impressions, and those will fade quickly.
First and foremost, I'm glad I read this book. I think it was a good use of the time, and I tend to think that's about the most useful thing I can say about a book.
It is, as the subtitle helpfully explains, a queer horror collection; more specifically, unless I'm mistaken, every story bar one prominently and explicitly features a trans woman character. Now, I'm not a trans woman. I really haven't worked out my relationship with the thing called gender, if I have a relationship with it at all, but there are doubtless a lot of nuances going on in this book that I do not understand. So I'm not the best person to comment on whether it succeeds from that perspective, so bear that in mind.
Overall, I think all of the pieces except the first, which is by far the longest, would probably have benefited from being longer. They feel more like fleeting vignettes than stories (that said, it's "a queer horror collection", not specifically a collection of "short stories", so... eh?), with one or two feeling like they just start launching the plane before abruptly cutting out before getting to the flight. Is that a real point of detraction? No, not really: if something's short and it works as a short thing, great. And these pieces do, I think, work as what they are, which in most cases is very short scenes or collections of scenes. Perhaps it's because the first story is so much longer that the ones that follow feel noticeably fleeting by comparison. I think every one of them has left me with at least one strong impression, though, which has to be considered something of a win for a genre that is, really, all about leaving people with lasting impressions.
I hope it doesn't wind up in the hands of bigots. This is not a didactic book intended to change the hearts and minds of people who already hate queer folk and show them that their hatred is misguided. It inhabits queer experiences, exposing the terror of being queer in a world that doesn't accept you and occasionally relishing in allowing queer characters to reclaim some power, but it's not trying to speak to those who would identify more with the antagonistic forces depicted herein.
So, the stories! (Spoilers follow, but I'm not marking the whole thing as spoilers because you can go and read the book in a couple of hours quite happily.)
Managing starts out feeling like a fairly by-the-book (ha) haunted house story in the Gothic tradition, but... may or may not be that at all? I genuinely don't know, and that actually works for me. I think it's saying something about the pain of transitioning, particularly of changing your body, being frightening but worthwhile, although I'm not entirely sure what exactly the woman who facilitates the protagonist's, er, transformations is supposed to be. Maybe just a scary woman, but somehow I think there's more to her than that. This is probably one of the aforementioned nuances I just don't get because of my life experiences, but I still wound up enjoying this story more than I expected. It doesn't go the way I thought; it somehow becomes both happier and more frightening than I'd have expected, which I think is a win.
Chloe.Claire1 is in that modern epistolary format of comments or direct messages on social media, in this case between a film reviewer and a fan. This one made me uneasy in ways that I think were intentional, and at least one that I suspect may not have been (but I'm not sure). (Spoilers purely for that bit because I kind of want to remove it from the rest of the review: ) The biggest unease factor, actually, is just the author-biographical context that Willow Heath runs a pretty successful YouTube channel for reviewing books, so you can't help but wonder whether this is based on real interactions she's had with fans. Much of it feels highly plausible, though, with the fan opening up to the creator about her personal life in ways that you can really feel becoming increasingly meaningful for the fan and increasingly uncomfortable for the creator, who feels this sense of responsibility that's well-meaning but ultimately doesn't do either of them any good. The ending comes a little abruptly (as mentioned, this is a bit of a common theme), but in this story's case, I think ending on the note it does actually works. It leaves off in a place of high tension, which for an unsettling horror story is no bad thing.
A Mother's Love is written as a play, albeit one that definitely feels like it would be impractical if not entirely illegal to perform (you can simulate violence, of course, but I have a feeling erect penises aren't allowed in stage plays? not sure on that one). Its core subject matter is simple and probably one most queer people will recognise, but the addition of a genuinely creepy character who may or may not be there elevates it. I don't mind admitting here again that I'm not sure whether the naked man is an allegory for any specific aspect of the queer experience or just for the inherent violence involved in being rejected for who you are, but it certainly leaves a lasting image. The director's notes are interesting in that they reveal a little bigotry on the part of the director, which is... curious. Is this a comment on how much of queerness in pop culture gets filtered through largely non-queer lenses to make it palatable to a wide audience? Not sure. That's the best theory I've got on it at the moment, I think. It's a weird kind of double-bigotry, in that the play portrays but rejects bigoted views and the director of the play that rejects bigotry is also kind of bigoted, if possibly not exactly on purpose. Maybe it's about ownvoices representation and how even a well-meaning creative is probably just going to get things wrong if they try to take the helm of a work that is inherently about an identity they don't share.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly opens with a sentence in past tense and is then in present tense for the rest of the story. Couldn't not mention that, sorry! Now, I thought I knew where this was going, and I was almost right: a woman hitches a ride with a nice middle-aged lady. What I thought was going to happen was that the older woman was going to think that the younger woman was trans, because "we can always tell", but in fact the younger woman was going to be cis and it was going to be about how bigotry and hatred harms everyone, even the people you're claiming to be protecting. As the story in fact goes, the younger woman is actually trans and it turns into a fairly straightforward murder-attempt-turned-righteous-revenge-kill, which is fun but I didn't feel made much of a point, unlike the others.
Baby is fucked up. I don't even... I have a two-year-old, so shit involving young kids is hard for me to read. This one really feels like it's just the start of something that should continue, I think, because it sets up some questions it doesn't have time to answer. Which leaves me not certain what it was trying to say. I'm pretty sure it isn't saying that trans people being parents could cause babies to be born deformed, or indeed that there's any kind of conspiracy going on to harm the kids of trans parents. But neither can it be saying "hey, some people believe this crazy shit about trans people and isn't that a stupid misconception?", because in the world of this story, babies born to trans people genuinely are deformed. At least one is, anyway. So I'm left wondering on that one.
And finally, Little Blue Sticky Notes is, I think, the sole story that does not feature an explicitly queer character. It's a reasonably simple throughline, but you know what? It's done well. Somehow, despite being probably the most straightforward if you just set out the actual plot, it works more effectively than most "let's just have creepy shit happen" stories would. Again, it feels like it could be just the first chapter in a full-length psychological thriller ("with a twist you won't see coming!", as every fucking psychological thriller on the Kindle Store likes to claim), but in this case I actually kinda like it ending where it does. It builds tension, then it never lets you calm down. And I think that's what it's aiming for, so it succeeds on that front.
Phew. Right. Well. I wrote a lot more than I expected about this, which... I usually take as a good sign. It means it's made me engage and think, which is always a positive.
Have I worked out exactly what I think of this whole book? Nah. I think it's one of those things that everyone will make something a little different of, and... well, a lot of really good books are like that. To go back to what I said at the start, I think it was worth reading, and I really do think that's just about the most important thing - more so than whether I think a book was enjoyable or good (yes, those are two different things!). For the record, this one is enjoyable some of the time and disturbing the rest of the time. As for good, I'll leave that to you to decide for yourself.
First and foremost, I'm glad I read this book. I think it was a good use of the time, and I tend to think that's about the most useful thing I can say about a book.
It is, as the subtitle helpfully explains, a queer horror collection; more specifically, unless I'm mistaken, every story bar one prominently and explicitly features a trans woman character. Now, I'm not a trans woman. I really haven't worked out my relationship with the thing called gender, if I have a relationship with it at all, but there are doubtless a lot of nuances going on in this book that I do not understand. So I'm not the best person to comment on whether it succeeds from that perspective, so bear that in mind.
Overall, I think all of the pieces except the first, which is by far the longest, would probably have benefited from being longer. They feel more like fleeting vignettes than stories (that said, it's "a queer horror collection", not specifically a collection of "short stories", so... eh?), with one or two feeling like they just start launching the plane before abruptly cutting out before getting to the flight. Is that a real point of detraction? No, not really: if something's short and it works as a short thing, great. And these pieces do, I think, work as what they are, which in most cases is very short scenes or collections of scenes. Perhaps it's because the first story is so much longer that the ones that follow feel noticeably fleeting by comparison. I think every one of them has left me with at least one strong impression, though, which has to be considered something of a win for a genre that is, really, all about leaving people with lasting impressions.
I hope it doesn't wind up in the hands of bigots. This is not a didactic book intended to change the hearts and minds of people who already hate queer folk and show them that their hatred is misguided. It inhabits queer experiences, exposing the terror of being queer in a world that doesn't accept you and occasionally relishing in allowing queer characters to reclaim some power, but it's not trying to speak to those who would identify more with the antagonistic forces depicted herein.
So, the stories! (Spoilers follow, but I'm not marking the whole thing as spoilers because you can go and read the book in a couple of hours quite happily.)
Managing starts out feeling like a fairly by-the-book (ha) haunted house story in the Gothic tradition, but... may or may not be that at all? I genuinely don't know, and that actually works for me. I think it's saying something about the pain of transitioning, particularly of changing your body, being frightening but worthwhile, although I'm not entirely sure what exactly the woman who facilitates the protagonist's, er, transformations is supposed to be. Maybe just a scary woman, but somehow I think there's more to her than that. This is probably one of the aforementioned nuances I just don't get because of my life experiences, but I still wound up enjoying this story more than I expected. It doesn't go the way I thought; it somehow becomes both happier and more frightening than I'd have expected, which I think is a win.
Chloe.Claire1 is in that modern epistolary format of comments or direct messages on social media, in this case between a film reviewer and a fan. This one made me uneasy in ways that I think were intentional, and at least one that I suspect may not have been (but I'm not sure). (Spoilers purely for that bit because I kind of want to remove it from the rest of the review: ) The biggest unease factor, actually, is just the author-biographical context that Willow Heath runs a pretty successful YouTube channel for reviewing books, so you can't help but wonder whether this is based on real interactions she's had with fans. Much of it feels highly plausible, though, with the fan opening up to the creator about her personal life in ways that you can really feel becoming increasingly meaningful for the fan and increasingly uncomfortable for the creator, who feels this sense of responsibility that's well-meaning but ultimately doesn't do either of them any good. The ending comes a little abruptly (as mentioned, this is a bit of a common theme), but in this story's case, I think ending on the note it does actually works. It leaves off in a place of high tension, which for an unsettling horror story is no bad thing.
A Mother's Love is written as a play, albeit one that definitely feels like it would be impractical if not entirely illegal to perform (you can simulate violence, of course, but I have a feeling erect penises aren't allowed in stage plays? not sure on that one). Its core subject matter is simple and probably one most queer people will recognise, but the addition of a genuinely creepy character who may or may not be there elevates it. I don't mind admitting here again that I'm not sure whether the naked man is an allegory for any specific aspect of the queer experience or just for the inherent violence involved in being rejected for who you are, but it certainly leaves a lasting image. The director's notes are interesting in that they reveal a little bigotry on the part of the director, which is... curious. Is this a comment on how much of queerness in pop culture gets filtered through largely non-queer lenses to make it palatable to a wide audience? Not sure. That's the best theory I've got on it at the moment, I think. It's a weird kind of double-bigotry, in that the play portrays but rejects bigoted views and the director of the play that rejects bigotry is also kind of bigoted, if possibly not exactly on purpose. Maybe it's about ownvoices representation and how even a well-meaning creative is probably just going to get things wrong if they try to take the helm of a work that is inherently about an identity they don't share.
We Understand Each Other Perfectly opens with a sentence in past tense and is then in present tense for the rest of the story. Couldn't not mention that, sorry! Now, I thought I knew where this was going, and I was almost right: a woman hitches a ride with a nice middle-aged lady. What I thought was going to happen was that the older woman was going to think that the younger woman was trans, because "we can always tell", but in fact the younger woman was going to be cis and it was going to be about how bigotry and hatred harms everyone, even the people you're claiming to be protecting. As the story in fact goes, the younger woman is actually trans and it turns into a fairly straightforward murder-attempt-turned-righteous-revenge-kill, which is fun but I didn't feel made much of a point, unlike the others.
Baby is fucked up. I don't even... I have a two-year-old, so shit involving young kids is hard for me to read. This one really feels like it's just the start of something that should continue, I think, because it sets up some questions it doesn't have time to answer. Which leaves me not certain what it was trying to say. I'm pretty sure it isn't saying that trans people being parents could cause babies to be born deformed, or indeed that there's any kind of conspiracy going on to harm the kids of trans parents. But neither can it be saying "hey, some people believe this crazy shit about trans people and isn't that a stupid misconception?", because in the world of this story, babies born to trans people genuinely are deformed. At least one is, anyway. So I'm left wondering on that one.
And finally, Little Blue Sticky Notes is, I think, the sole story that does not feature an explicitly queer character. It's a reasonably simple throughline, but you know what? It's done well. Somehow, despite being probably the most straightforward if you just set out the actual plot, it works more effectively than most "let's just have creepy shit happen" stories would. Again, it feels like it could be just the first chapter in a full-length psychological thriller ("with a twist you won't see coming!", as every fucking psychological thriller on the Kindle Store likes to claim), but in this case I actually kinda like it ending where it does. It builds tension, then it never lets you calm down. And I think that's what it's aiming for, so it succeeds on that front.
Phew. Right. Well. I wrote a lot more than I expected about this, which... I usually take as a good sign. It means it's made me engage and think, which is always a positive.
Have I worked out exactly what I think of this whole book? Nah. I think it's one of those things that everyone will make something a little different of, and... well, a lot of really good books are like that. To go back to what I said at the start, I think it was worth reading, and I really do think that's just about the most important thing - more so than whether I think a book was enjoyable or good (yes, those are two different things!). For the record, this one is enjoyable some of the time and disturbing the rest of the time. As for good, I'll leave that to you to decide for yourself.
December 5, 2025
This was a stunning and haunting debut collection of short stories that I tore through in one day. Willow, you truly gave us something spectacular that you should be proud of! I cannot pretend to understand the trans experience in the ways authors like Heath of course do, so I’m so grateful for their voices that unabashedly confront the societal and personal horrors they are made to face in the ways these stories show.
She’s currently getting review-bombed by people who didn’t like something she said on YouTube (an extremely benign comment about romantasy readers that does nothing to change her wonderful character), so don’t let the fact that the book is teetering on a somewhat lower than average rating right now deter you from picking this up.
She’s currently getting review-bombed by people who didn’t like something she said on YouTube (an extremely benign comment about romantasy readers that does nothing to change her wonderful character), so don’t let the fact that the book is teetering on a somewhat lower than average rating right now deter you from picking this up.
May 29, 2025
I'm not a huge fan of short stories but I'm a huge fan of Willow on YouTube so I decided to grab a digital copy of this collection. Wow. I am a cis-female horror fan with a number of very dear trans friends. This was a very dark and sometimes horrifically delicious dive into what horrors could (do?) exist in the world for trans folk and all of us. Keep writing, Willow!
February 17, 2025
This book was written by one of my favourite content creators on YouTube and I loved every minute I spent between the pages of this book!! Every story, every character, every setting, every word was chosen carefully to craft these tales. A little bit Larocca, a little bit Kafka but very much her own voice, her writing had me glued to each page from beginning to end.
June 12, 2025
I’m not great with horror, particularly body horror, so there are parts of this book I did really struggle with, but that was very much a me issue.
However, the writing is phenomenal and Heath does her intended job of keeping you near perpetually ill at ease with flying colours.
If you’re into this type of genre, I couldn’t recommend this highly enough for you.
However, the writing is phenomenal and Heath does her intended job of keeping you near perpetually ill at ease with flying colours.
If you’re into this type of genre, I couldn’t recommend this highly enough for you.
May 26, 2025
Good stuff
Really glad I gave it a try. This was a quick, fun (and at times kind of traumatizing) read. Some of the stories managed to both deeply upset me and also make me feel weirdly well seen. (Sometimes at the exact same time.)
If I had to describe the overall vibe, I'd say it's like finding a lost season of Tales from the Crypt, only queer and trans and that much better for it. I very much hope to read more horror from Heath in the future; if a book gives me a bunch of crazy dreams after, it's definitely a keeper.
Really glad I gave it a try. This was a quick, fun (and at times kind of traumatizing) read. Some of the stories managed to both deeply upset me and also make me feel weirdly well seen. (Sometimes at the exact same time.)
If I had to describe the overall vibe, I'd say it's like finding a lost season of Tales from the Crypt, only queer and trans and that much better for it. I very much hope to read more horror from Heath in the future; if a book gives me a bunch of crazy dreams after, it's definitely a keeper.
September 10, 2025
I bought this because I'm a fan of Willow's YT channel (Willow Talks Books), and had the BEST time reading it. Short stories, all exploring different types of psychological horror, written with detail and nuance.
November 29, 2024
I’m so happy I picked up this book! I’ve been watching Willow’s reviews for a while and her debut shows just how much respect for the craft of writing she has, can’t wait to see what she does next!
January 10, 2025
The first story literally make me sooo nauseous! Good stuff.
September 25, 2025
Willow Heath ('Books and Bao') is one of the few booktubers I can stand to watch. She delivers thoughtful reviews and honest opinions, thinks deeply about matter, and is not afraid to admit when she has been wrong about something, and is just generally wonderful to listen to. This is a varied collection of her short horror stories, all but one of them (unless I missed some detail in the final story) based on salient LGBTQ+ themes, some I expect drawn from the author's own experiences.
These stories take the horror of TERFs, misgendering, the struggle of being out and being simply accepted, and other aspects from a variety of lives, and gives them meaningful additional horror punch. Some are straightforward; others, like the titular Managing, the opening and longest story in the collection, are clearly allegorical. Just don't expect me to be able to explain exactly what the man and woman and house in that story represent, exactly, but it's great in that it provides the reader with a lot of room for thought and discussion and consideration of meaning and interpretation. You know, literary horror.
There are several different narrative formats. One story is presented entirely as YouTube comments and DMs. One is a script for a stage play with a director's comments. A couple of the stories are so dominated by dialogue that I had to wonder if they were also intended as scripts. All the stories do an effective job of creating mountain tension and fear for coming events. None were entirely predictable.
I would happily read additional stories from Willow. My only beef with the book is formatting; the usual incorrect extra spacing between paragraphs and, at first, non-indenting of paragraphs is present, as is common across self-published books. I thought it might be just the e-book formatting, which I am led to understand is difficult to get right, but it's in the print book also.
These stories take the horror of TERFs, misgendering, the struggle of being out and being simply accepted, and other aspects from a variety of lives, and gives them meaningful additional horror punch. Some are straightforward; others, like the titular Managing, the opening and longest story in the collection, are clearly allegorical. Just don't expect me to be able to explain exactly what the man and woman and house in that story represent, exactly, but it's great in that it provides the reader with a lot of room for thought and discussion and consideration of meaning and interpretation. You know, literary horror.
There are several different narrative formats. One story is presented entirely as YouTube comments and DMs. One is a script for a stage play with a director's comments. A couple of the stories are so dominated by dialogue that I had to wonder if they were also intended as scripts. All the stories do an effective job of creating mountain tension and fear for coming events. None were entirely predictable.
I would happily read additional stories from Willow. My only beef with the book is formatting; the usual incorrect extra spacing between paragraphs and, at first, non-indenting of paragraphs is present, as is common across self-published books. I thought it might be just the e-book formatting, which I am led to understand is difficult to get right, but it's in the print book also.
July 13, 2024
short story collections are often hit or miss but this was a big hit!! hours after reading I can still remember the plot of each story which is rare for me. these stories were unique, creepy, unsettling and unforgettable. I’m absolutely loving the ever increasing sub-genre of weird trans and queer short story collections and this is one not to miss. fave stories were: Managing, We Understand Each Other Perfectly and Baby (although please check trigger warnings haha)
I feel like Erica Larocca was the perfect person to blurb this because if you enjoy their work, you’ll love these stories!
can’t wait to see what the author puts out next 👀😱
I feel like Erica Larocca was the perfect person to blurb this because if you enjoy their work, you’ll love these stories!
can’t wait to see what the author puts out next 👀😱
August 8, 2024
Wow! This was quite the queer fiction short story compilation. I really enjoyed all the stories very much. I follow Willow on her YouTube channel for some years now and I knew she would write interesting stories. She is very intelligent, articulate, interesting, and just fun to watch. This was a wonderful debut and I look forward to more from her very soon I hope.
November 16, 2024
I have been so excited to get my hands on this wonderful collection and all of that enthusiasm was not wasted.
This collection is the perfect blend of thought-provoking and horrifying and will keep you enraptured until the last second. I could not recommend it enough!
This collection is the perfect blend of thought-provoking and horrifying and will keep you enraptured until the last second. I could not recommend it enough!
October 11, 2024
A new favourite! I felt like I was reading a Shirley Jackson novel, but it was also very new and disturbing.
September 10, 2025
Simply can't rate this anything lower than 5/5. Great short stories, some that horrified me and made me emotional in equal measure. The book is presented beautifully also.
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