The Sea Gives Up the Dead: Stories

by Molly Olguín

The Sea Gives Up the Dead is a collection of stories sprinkled into the soil of fairy tale, left to take root and grow wild there.

A lovesick nanny slays a dragon. The devil tries to save her mother. A girl drowns and becomes a saint. Three kids plot to blow up their dad, a grieving mother sails the sea to find her son’s grave, a scientist brings a voice to life, and a mermaid falls into the power of a witch. Here, historical fiction, horror, and fantasy tangle together in a queer garden of love, grief, and longing.

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

152 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2025

About the author

Molly Olguín is a queer writer, educator, and monster aficionado. She has stories in magazines like Quarterly West and the Normal School. She was the recipient of the Loft Mentor Series Fellowship in 2019. With Jackie Hedeman, she is the creator of the audio drama The Pasithea Powder. She teaches English and creative writing to high school students in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

[Rosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A short story collection interspersing fantasy and horror into a mesmerising combo. Precise writing, intriguing characters, compelling plots. Had all the endings worked for me, this would have ended up as one of my favourites of the year. Regardless, the imaginative and distinct storylines still make this book a good option for short fiction lovers.

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This collection of twelve stories doesn’t have any author’s note to introduce the binding theme to us. However, the blurb has this interesting one-liner to offer: ‘a collection of stories sprinkled into the soil of fairy tale, left to take root and grow wild there.’ How poetic is that!

The dominant genre is fantasy-horror, but many stories also feel literary. Each of the tales has a fresh storyline, generating no feelings of déjà vu or familiarity. The narratives are distinct in plot, characters as well as emotions. The characters are especially memorable, as their flawed behaviour and their conundrums add much value to the basic plot.

As the title indicates, death has a strong role to play in this collection. Whether it is the literal death of the main character or the figurative death of a marriage, macabre thoughts about dying or plans of killing someone, death makes an appearance in every story, making this book morbidly fascinating. Do note that there are shades of horror to many stories, and the death include those of children and animals as well.

Though some of the stories have unreal elements such as magical occurrences or fantastical creatures like dragons or mermaids, the overall book still feels rooted in reality. And this is mainly because of the depiction of human emotions in every single tale. Spanning a wide array of feelings ranging from love to hatred, frustration to longing, bravery to cowardice, the collection offers an amazing insight into the human mind and its complicated working.

The writing is quite powerful. As the stories are character-oriented, there is a lot of introspection in the content. But this doesn’t come at the cost of the descriptive add-ons. It is very easy to visualise every scene, even when the visual is bizarre. Further, the pacing is also quite fast, a rarity for such a writing approach.

The main reason why my rating couldn’t touch greater heights was the endings. A few of the stories ended at an apt point, but many endings didn’t work for me. They weren’t abrupt as such, but they weren’t satisfying either, leaving me longing for more clarity or closure.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the twelve stories, two reached/crossed four stars. Most of the rest earned 3.5 stars, and at least half of these would have earned more stars had they offered me a satisfactory finale. The two best stories of the book for me were:

⚰️ Seven Deaths: A wildly crazy story that had me hooked from start to finish. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

⚰️ Captain America's Missing Fingers: When a little girl realises that the world behaves differently with little boys. Sad, really sad. Would have earned a higher rating with a better ending. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, though the endings somewhat sullied my experience, I still liked this collection for its innovative plotlines and diverse characters. I find it tough to accept that this is a debut work. The author’s pen holds much promise, and I’d love to read more of her works in future.

Recommended to short story fans who enjoy fantasy-horror, are comfortable with a literary writing style and don’t need solid endings.

3.2 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.


My thanks to Red Hen Press for providing the DRC of “The Sea Gives Up the Dead” via NetGalley & Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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[Sunny Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite stories include: Foam On The Waves, The Sea Gives Up The Dead, Esther and the Voice, Seven Deaths & Clara Aguilera’s Holy Lungs, in descending order. I appreciate the vagueness of time and space in these stories that interplay with highly specific moments in history in others. There’s a real preoccupation with the strangeness of love and grief, and lots of queerness here, which I appreciate. Would recommend to weird literary short story lovers out there!

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this short story collection from new-to-me author author Molly Olguín simply based upon title and cover art. I was not disappointed; in fact, the stories became stronger and stronger as the collection progressed, until the final stories were simply home runs for me.

As the title should imply, there is a lot of death here, and loss and grief, so readers shouldn't come into this expecting a nice sea shanty and some crabby patties. Instead, there is a mix of genres - fantasy, historical, contemporary, magical realism - that incorporate the themes of water and death and loss. In no particular order, the ones that will stick with me for a long time are "Captain America's Missing Fingers," "The Sea Gives Up the Dead," and the final story, a reverse little mermaid story titled "Foam on the Waves." I also really enjoyed "Small Monuments," with its powerful opening line that made me sit up and reread it twice before I was sure I understood what was to come.

"The love of Maria’s life died and sent herself to an oven in Chicago where she was baked into a diamond.”

I also really, really enjoyed the story of the WWI Gold Star mother, who travels to France to locate the remains of her son Eddie, only to find something completely different and wonderful instead. It was beautifully done, I thought.

So, two thumbs up, and kudos to the author!

[sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have absolutely no thoughts about this. nothing wrong with it, so glad i’m not still reading it though

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeously written collection of short stories that tread the line between fantasy and historical fiction.

Many are queer, most if not all are Latine, and all left me wanting more.

There were a couple that ended in a way that made me want more resolution, but I know that a lack of resolution is common in short stories (I just personally don't really like it), but Olguín's writing style is really beautiful. The way she describes things!

Themes of death (and pandemic), grief, love, queerness and transformation permeate.

[Taylor (Virginia Woolf’s Actual Wife)]

What a strange little collection. I liked it a lot

[Ashley Scow · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5 rounded down) What an odd collection of unsettling stories… I wanted to love this, considering it had a little taste of each genre sprinkled in, but most of the stories fell flat for me. The premise of each one was intriguing, but most of them were boring or perhaps not as colorful as I was hoping for.

I might try this again someday, but as of right now, it was a bit disappointing.

[Monet Daffodil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Sea Gives Up the Dead
Author: Molly Olguin

Thank you so much Netgalley and HighBridge Audio for this ALC! I will say, the audio was extremely well done and I was very captivated by the stories in this collection. They were extremely eerie and creepy while also bringing a fantasy element to them.. it was like a combination of fantasy / horror and I definitely was not expecting it. The narrator does a great job, and it’s almost like you are being read a creepy bed time story.. I do need to warn readers there was animal death so please be aware of that before reading. There were some aspects that just didn’t work for me and made me feel a little too yucky inside, BUT I think that may have been the authors point? Anyways, it was not really my cup of tea but horror readers and magical realism fans may go feral for this. Thank you again for the copy!

[Cass (the_midwest_library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this as an audiobook arc from Libby so thank you to Libby and the author/publisher.

I think there are some short stories within this collection that are fabulous, but this is a very bizarre collection. None of the stories have cohesive strong enough with each other for them to really make sense. The book is pitched as a folklore-esq collection all rooted in mythology and while that may be true, some of these are contemporary and science fiction which I found jarring when switching between stories.

The first few stories I wasn't as into but around the midway point I found the stories a lot stronger. I would be curious to see what this author may release in the future!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, this is almost unendingly beautiful and full of wonder, even with the hard hard contours, except that I can’t see how the story about killing dogs or about the sex doll who looks like the designer’s wife fit in with the grief-stricken but hope-rooted horizons of most of the rest; they were so unpleasant to me as to not make me want to take up the rest again, except I’m so glad I did. That’s always the catch with story collections, isn’t it, so subjective, but “The Sea Gives Up the Dead” and “Clara Aguilera’s Holy Lungs” will stay with me.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sea Gives Up the Dead is a short story collection whose themes of longing, grief, love, and regret span multiple genres. The prose in this collection is beautiful and lends well to the gravity of the topics explored. Most of the stories have brilliant premises, and the fantastical ones especially feel unique and creative. Though I enjoyed reading these, I was left disappointed with this book. None of the stories seem to go anywhere or say anything, making this a collection rife with missed potential. This book isn't very memorable as a result, and that's a shame because the writing shows talent and skill. While this was an intriguing collection, it falls flat for me and makes for a difficult book to recommend.

[Lauren M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow, what an exciting new voice. The blurb from Carmen Maria Machado on Netgalley (and thanks very much to Netgalley, Red Hen Press, and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review) and the gorgeous cover art/title combination drew me in, and then Molly Olguín’s words held me captive.

Across twelve stories, the author weaves an enthralling net of family drama, magical realism, love, grief, fable, folklore, and — as the title indicates — death.

There were a few stories that weren’t to my taste, but that’s inevitable in almost any collection. Although I appreciate the remarkable amount of character development it achieved in a short time, the animal abuse and death in “The Undertaker’s Dogs” was too graphic for me to do more than skim more of it. And Although I enjoyed the tone of “Devils Also Believe,” and “Esther and the Voice,” I didn’t find them as memorable as some of the other tales.

But the highlights are up there with the best short stories I’ve read recently. I loved “Clara Aguilera’s Holy Lungs” and its exploration of religious veneration in a time of climate dystopia. Written in the form of a Dear Abby letter, I read the unsettling messiness of “My Husband and Me” with bated breath.

And “Captain America’s Missing Fingers” and the title story “The Sea Gives Up the Dead” were nothing short of masterpieces to me in their ratios of richness to brevity, really demonstrating what a good short story is capable of in terms of creating a complex world and characters in only a few pages.

I’ll be eagerly awaiting the publication of this collection so that I can recommend it to friends, and equally anticipating Olguín’s future work.

[ladybird · Rating 3 out of 5]

(ty netgalley!!)

at first i was weirded out by the “strangeness” of the stories, then i got used to it, then i was hit with a fresh new wave of a completely different kind of weird, and that’s basically my experience with this book.
i’m not a big fan of magical realism but i can admit that these stories are EXTREMELY well written. a bit disturbing and horror-ish, yes, but that was the point (i think). even though i didn’t like this book much, the stories still stuck to my brain and had me going “????” hours after i read them. honestly i respect an author who can haunt her readers.

3.5⭐️ not my cup of tea but good nonetheless

[ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who normally wouldn’t pick up a short story collection, I really enjoyed this book. I think the length of each story was fitting and it didn’t feel like something was missing from each tale, which was my main issue with previous collections I read.

As the title suggests, most of the stories deal with death as a main theme in very different and interesting ways. Not all stories were great, but I did like most of them (especially the last one). This book was quite a surprise for me and I was pleased by the experience.

Many thanks to Red Hen Press and Edelweiss for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an early copy of this collection from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:

The Sea Gives Up the Dead is a captivating dive into stories and themes revolving around death, and all that encompasses it. These were engrossing interludes into death in all means and manners of the word, event, and experience. Even days later, I remain thinking about specific characters and themes that continue to reach out to readers from beyond watery and shallow graves. These stories creatively and closely evoke the tidal feelings of grief and what it means to constantly tread the seas of every emotion that comes thereafter, wave after wave, word after word.

This collection was a slight departure from my typical taste, as I am none-too-bold as to consistently pick up and engage in horror stories, but so many elements of The Sea Gives Up the Dead intrigued me on first introduction, from its inspirations and adaptations of folklore to the unifying exploration of themes and relations of death, that I could not let the collection pass me by. And I did thoroughly enjoy how Olguín's engaged with folklore, especially blending scenarios outside the mundane as a means to explore the otherworldliness and unfathomable relation of death. I sincerely enjoyed Olguín's exploration of the premise of the collection, which interested me immensely, but I do still fear it was just a bit too deep into horror for me.

I was most enthralled by "Seven Deaths," "Clara Aguilera's Holy Lungs," "Esther and the Voices," and the titular, "The Sea Gives Up the Dead." Some stories were too hard to read without pause and distance, too close to me as a reader, which only speaks to Olguín's prowess and power over prose. While the collection as a whole was very enjoyable and incredibly intricately interwoven through its overarching themes, for me, there were few stories truly sounded out against the rest.

[Blair (Patchwork Culture) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I didn’t expect the first story to start with such a statement. I can understand why this collection won a prize. Even the stories I thought I wouldn’t like quietly pivoted in new directions that kept me on my toes but also felt inevitable. The collection is aptly named, often revisiting death, literally and symbolically, of the body, the family, identity, and ways of life. A couple of stories explored AI/robots in an uncanny and timely manner. It makes me wonder how sci-fi will evolve as the field grows and our fears change. The sea, mortality, identity, religion, grief, and motherhood stood out as interesting motifs. I especially loved the exploration of unlikeable, difficult, monstrous women, even the stories that made me uncomfortable, because they were still well-written despite being willing to tread into unsettling territory. Loved: Seven Deaths, Devils Also Believe, The Princess Wants for Company, Foam on the Waves; Liked: Clara Aguilera’s Holy Lungs, Small Moments, Captain America’s Missing Fingers, Esther and The Voice, The Sea Gives Up the Dead; Meh: The Undertaker’s Dogs, honey from the rock, My Husband and Me; Need to Reread: N/A.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the weirdness of all the stories, and while they were weird and creepy, they sometimes make you think harder about the short story told. The narrator, Heather Kay Lings melodic voice makes these stories seems like bedtime stories. I am excited to read more from this author as this debut short story collection deserves a standing ovation. This is definitely a book you want to have for a re-read because its way to hard to choose a favorite story. Thank You NetGalley, Highbridge Audio. and Molly Olguin for the ALC for my honest review.

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 12 short stories, mostly in the realm of fantasy(/horror), though some stories also seem literary.
I picked this up solely based on the title, disregarding that I am not the biggest fan of fairytales. And most of these are definitely modern fairy tales, although often the endings were lacking. The writing style did not engage me. It felt very descriptive, but at the same time quite distanced.
My favorite story by far is the penultimate and titular „The Sea Gives Up the Dead“, probably because it felt less like classical folklore.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this short story collection.

I ended up DNFing it at around 50%, having read the first half of the book along with one of the later short stories. While I am sure some readers will enjoy this book, it's not a good fit for me, and it's not what I expected based on the blurb and cover.

From the blurb, I expected the stories to read more like modern fairy tales in the style of, for example, Angela Carter or Kat Dunn. Some of the stories did show a clear fairy tale inspiration — The Princess Wants for Company, for example, hit a similar note to When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Others, however, had at most some faint parallels (e.g. The Undertaker's Dogs).

The tone and writing style has a distinctive American literary flavour to it. I found that it did not match the style of the blurb, with its "stories sprinkled into the soil of fairy tales, left to take root and grow wild there".

Most — but not all — of the stories I read before DNFing were historical and set in North America. There are elements of Latin American magical realism. Major themes include family, relationships, death and social class. There is LGBTQ+ rep, but again, not as much as the blurb's description of a "queer garden" led me to expect.

I think that for the right reader, this could be a very enjoyable book. Personally, I enjoyed some of the concepts the writer played with. Devils Also Believe was one of my personal favourites. However, I don't think any of the stories will stick with me for long.

The writer is clearly talented. The copy is also generally very clean, although there were several Spanish-language errors that I hope the editors will fix prior to publication. (One example was the use of dragónes instead of dragones — dragón should only have an accent mark/tilde in singular, not plural.)

[Stephen Andriotis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An audio arc provide by NetGalley.

These were a set of dark, fairy tale like short stories, nothing like I've ever read before. While dark they were sweet and touching. Even the shorter stories made an impact on me. They are definitely worth the read, and they don't take long to finish.

Rating 3.5 ⭐

[Relena_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of short story collections and I'll come back and pick up more by Olguín, though I hope that before her next anthology she works on conclusions. It's a strength of short stories that they can be a tiny thought experiment, but that doesn't excuse the stories here that just stop mid-thought. My favorite story is the title of the collection, “The Sea Gives Up the Dead,” which is consistent from start to end. I also enjoyed the ways that many of the stories wove fairy tale themes into deeply human stories. The emotions generally felt right, even if the pay-off wasn't present. This is Olguín's first collection, so I think things will smooth out over time, or with longer works. Hers is a talent that will keep developing.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

[raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories interested me more than others, but I was gripped by the beautiful writing every single time. I'd love to get a full novel by this author.

My favourites were Seven Deaths, The Sea Gives Up the dead, and Foam on the Waves. 

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely (if ever) do I find every short story in a collection to be perfect. This one feels good. Thanks for the ALC, Highbridge!

[Julia Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy and haunting and beautiful, I loved every story for different reasons. I’ll be recommending this to so many people.

Full disclosure - the author is one of the first people I have memories of as a child. I would have happily read anything she put out, but this really was amazing and I’m thrilled to tell anyone who will listen. The references to our shared home town were subtle and perfect.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

unfortunately, none of the stories felt like they "delivered"

[Grace Stafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most cohesive collection of short stories but definitely unique and worth the read! Loved the queer fairytales throughout.

[camille! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really really lovely, but perhaps I'm just a sucker for strange stories about the ocean and also the dragon short story.

[Erica Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

this anthology was exactly what i wanted it to be

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carmen Maria Machado blurbed it so you better believe I'm going to read it.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short-story collection is steeped in maritime imagery, grief, and the uncanny, all circling the idea of what the ocean takes and what it returns. Several stories focus on drowned bodies resurfacing, coastal communities shaped by generations of loss, and the sea as a mythic, almost sentient force that remembers violence.

While individual pieces have moments of striking imagery, the collection as a whole felt repetitive rather than cumulative. The same emotional beats recur, and by the midpoint, I could often predict the shape of a story before it finished. As an audiobook, this sameness was especially noticeable. The tonal consistency made it hard to stay engaged, and I found myself pausing far more often than I should have.

There is beauty here, and readers who enjoy slow, melancholic, atmosphere-first storytelling may connect more strongly than I did. For me, the experience became tiring over time.

⭐ 3 stars — haunting in concept, but repetitive and fatiguing in audio.