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Spread Me
Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, after a routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.
When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.
One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.
When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.
One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....
197 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,390 reviews
July 20, 2025
This one is for the freaks. It’s like The Thing but 600% hornier.
October 24, 2025
I’ve been duped by tentacular temptation. I’m trying here. Trying to be hip enough to enjoy contemporary popular fiction, but I just don’t get it. I feel like Tom Wolfe in a modern art museum, staring at endless halls of canvas spatter, trying to convince himself that there is anything at all to be gleaned from it. And this one was supposed to be weird erotic horror. It’s not merely my chronic contrarian fuddy-duddyism flaring up. It’s light on any aforementioned element. Prose was occasionally impressive.
This is not so much as-advertised body horror as lugubrious ‘stalker romance’ with a creepy critter and yet it insists on comparing itself to John Carpenter’s The Thing, several times. In your wet dreams.
*Spoilers Ahead (I’m trying to be a good boy)*
A coyote cockroach with viral horniness winds up in the hands of a desert research team, infects them, mimics them with some additional appendages and orifices, attempting to goad an uptight, potentially asexual woman into letting it inside of her by seducing her in the various forms of her colleagues. But hey, she kind of likes how obsessed it is with her. She feels ‘noticed’ and special, pulled towards a sexual awakening that only a sentient, feral bug-puppy can provide.
A final, tangential note. What is with all the ‘too-wide grinning’? Why have my few forays into this genre all invoked the Cheshire Cat as a point of comparison? Is this an embraced cliche, an inside joke, coincidental laziness, or an A.I. default descriptor? If everyone has to be fiendishly smiling, can we at least branch out and get a Sardonicus reference or something? I’m frowning in protest. Rictus interruptus.
This is not so much as-advertised body horror as lugubrious ‘stalker romance’ with a creepy critter and yet it insists on comparing itself to John Carpenter’s The Thing, several times. In your wet dreams.
*Spoilers Ahead (I’m trying to be a good boy)*
A coyote cockroach with viral horniness winds up in the hands of a desert research team, infects them, mimics them with some additional appendages and orifices, attempting to goad an uptight, potentially asexual woman into letting it inside of her by seducing her in the various forms of her colleagues. But hey, she kind of likes how obsessed it is with her. She feels ‘noticed’ and special, pulled towards a sexual awakening that only a sentient, feral bug-puppy can provide.
A final, tangential note. What is with all the ‘too-wide grinning’? Why have my few forays into this genre all invoked the Cheshire Cat as a point of comparison? Is this an embraced cliche, an inside joke, coincidental laziness, or an A.I. default descriptor? If everyone has to be fiendishly smiling, can we at least branch out and get a Sardonicus reference or something? I’m frowning in protest. Rictus interruptus.
August 23, 2025
If you enjoy stories that mix the weird with a dose of erotica, this one will be right up your alley. With a touch of sci-fi, it gets even more unique. I really liked the premise, the setting, and the fact that it was a shorter read.
The “freaky” side of the erotica wasn’t really my thing, but that’s just personal taste. What did surprise me was how well the characters were developed, especially for such a short book.
Thank you for the ARC — definitely an interesting and different read!
The “freaky” side of the erotica wasn’t really my thing, but that’s just personal taste. What did surprise me was how well the characters were developed, especially for such a short book.
Thank you for the ARC — definitely an interesting and different read!
January 7, 2025
HOOTING AND HOLLERING, THIS ONE’S FOR THE TRUE FREAKS
November 3, 2025
A six-legged coyote thing carrying a virus into a remote desert research facility where it freakily transforms the scientists and makes them all very horny. Expect for the one who is REALLY into viruses in the first place. Truly high literature. A timeless classic.
September 5, 2025
Kinsey leads a team of scientists at a remote research outpost in the desert. She and her crew discover an odd specimen buried in the sand, and Kinsey breaks their quarantine rules to bring it into their habitation. But the longer it’s in their lives, the more things seem to unravel. Something isn’t right, Kinsey is at the center of it, and she’s soon unsure if anyone will make it out alive.
This book starts off right in the middle of the action, which was well done. It also includes several chapters set in the past when the characters were arriving or recently arrived at the research station, which helped to provide some good background for them. However, I would have liked a little more background relating to the research station and their goals and maybe even a bit more relating to the protagonist to add a little depth.
The protagonist is difficult to like from the beginning. The two main things that happen when we’re introduced to her are:
1. Her putting her colleagues in danger for no good reason and going against protocol, and
2. Her masturbating while she sexualizes a virus taking over a host.
This made it difficult to relate to her or to get in her head and figure out her motivations. All of the characters were decent, but I would have liked more depth/development from all of them. But this is a short work, and the author did a decent job with the short number of pages.
Honestly, I had no idea how sexual this work was going to be. I went back to read the blurb to see if I just missed it, but there’s no warning beyond some subtle word use. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have chosen to read this as highly sexual content isn’t my preference especially in horror reads. I’m not intentionally lowering my rating of the book based on this, but it really made it difficult to enjoy this as much as I wanted to. It also ended up being more focused on sexual desire/interactions than on the horror aspects, which was additionally disappointing.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It was decently written, but I wanted more horror and less erotica. If you like environmental horror reads and don’t mind a lot of sexual content, you might end up loving this. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published 23 September 2025. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This book starts off right in the middle of the action, which was well done. It also includes several chapters set in the past when the characters were arriving or recently arrived at the research station, which helped to provide some good background for them. However, I would have liked a little more background relating to the research station and their goals and maybe even a bit more relating to the protagonist to add a little depth.
The protagonist is difficult to like from the beginning. The two main things that happen when we’re introduced to her are:
1. Her putting her colleagues in danger for no good reason and going against protocol, and
2. Her masturbating while she sexualizes a virus taking over a host.
This made it difficult to relate to her or to get in her head and figure out her motivations. All of the characters were decent, but I would have liked more depth/development from all of them. But this is a short work, and the author did a decent job with the short number of pages.
Honestly, I had no idea how sexual this work was going to be. I went back to read the blurb to see if I just missed it, but there’s no warning beyond some subtle word use. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have chosen to read this as highly sexual content isn’t my preference especially in horror reads. I’m not intentionally lowering my rating of the book based on this, but it really made it difficult to enjoy this as much as I wanted to. It also ended up being more focused on sexual desire/interactions than on the horror aspects, which was additionally disappointing.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It was decently written, but I wanted more horror and less erotica. If you like environmental horror reads and don’t mind a lot of sexual content, you might end up loving this. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published 23 September 2025. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
September 10, 2025
I don’t know what kind of sense of humor author Sarah Gailey has, so she may not find it amusing that this was the 69th book I finished reading in 2025. But I do!
I absolutely loved this. It was basically "The Thing" except in the desert, super erotic, with a touch of David Cronenberg and just a sprinkle of "Annihilation." The body horror was on point and it even sort of had a message about staying true to your own sexuality. Main character Kinsey had one of the most unusual kinks I've seen in a hot minute, and it worked so well for the plot.
My only complaints: The shifts back and forth in time were a bit jarring, but my digital copy was missing chapter headings so that probably contributed to the confusion. Every chapter alternates between the present timeline and a memory centered around one of the characters, and having a past section every other chapter was distracting because I was so invested in the current storyline. Also, the John Carpenter reference swear jar was a bit too cute for me, too much of a wink to the audience. I get that it was a loving tribute, so this is just a minor nitpick.
A quick read, somewhat predictable but I loved the ending and found the horror very satisfying. 5 stars, and highly recommended for anyone else who likes their stuff weird and kind of gross!
Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved this. It was basically "The Thing" except in the desert, super erotic, with a touch of David Cronenberg and just a sprinkle of "Annihilation." The body horror was on point and it even sort of had a message about staying true to your own sexuality. Main character Kinsey had one of the most unusual kinks I've seen in a hot minute, and it worked so well for the plot.
My only complaints: The shifts back and forth in time were a bit jarring, but my digital copy was missing chapter headings so that probably contributed to the confusion. Every chapter alternates between the present timeline and a memory centered around one of the characters, and having a past section every other chapter was distracting because I was so invested in the current storyline. Also, the John Carpenter reference swear jar was a bit too cute for me, too much of a wink to the audience. I get that it was a loving tribute, so this is just a minor nitpick.
A quick read, somewhat predictable but I loved the ending and found the horror very satisfying. 5 stars, and highly recommended for anyone else who likes their stuff weird and kind of gross!
Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
December 1, 2025
SPREAD ME crashed through my reading slump like an eight car pileup. I've read and enjoyed a lot of Gailey's other work but I think this might have topped their other books in terms of the horrifying factor. What if a woman with a sexual attraction to viruses ended up at the forefront of a potential contamination? This is erotic horror at its finest, with shades of Clive Barker in its body horror: there's something so compelling about a desire that leads to certain doom.
It's been a while since I read something that made me so uncomfortable (complimentary).
4 stars
It's been a while since I read something that made me so uncomfortable (complimentary).
4 stars
February 28, 2025
Yes. This is exactly the kind of weird shit I needed in my life. The suffocating factor of isolation intensifies every aspect of this horrifying and, strangely enough, erotica gem of a novella.
Beyond the pure entertaining scope of analysis, this novella cleverly explores the relationship of shame and sexual desire which I found to be rather thought provoking.
Think Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer...but with like...parasitical sex monsters. Or S.A. Barnes space horror, but on land...and with parasitcal sex monsters lol
Beyond the pure entertaining scope of analysis, this novella cleverly explores the relationship of shame and sexual desire which I found to be rather thought provoking.
Think Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer...but with like...parasitical sex monsters. Or S.A. Barnes space horror, but on land...and with parasitcal sex monsters lol
November 27, 2025
Spread Me is an engaging, yet startling, SciFi-Horror novella from Sarah Gailey that contains quite a bit of, shall we say, surprising content. It certainly took me by surprise, perhaps you'll be better prepared than I was...
I can hardly believe I am giving this 4-stars. It's a strange novella. I'm low-key blushing thinking what y'all are going to think of me when you truly discover what it's about.
This is one of those cases, rare, but here we are, where I don't really like to discuss the plot. I want you to be as surprised as I was, because I think that's half the fun. It'll have your mind-spinning, trying to get your bearings, while your brain figures out how to respond to all this.
It has to be one of the most bizarre stories, as far as the more erotic/sexual elements, that I've ever read. It made me so uncomfortable, but I couldn't look away; COULD NOT. I still don't know what to think...
I have to applaud Gailey for their creativity and fearlessness. Honestly, I don't think this was published with the aim of having big mass appeal. Authors willing to take that kind of risk, to write what they want, always impress me.
Spread Me is definitely niche, and I feel like it may have some serious messaging that I think I am picking up on, but maybe not? It's tough. I'd love to see the author speaking about their thought process and goals with this one.
While I would recommend this to more seasoned Horror Readers, I would throw caution about the sexual elements. If graphic content, sexual in nature, is something that you don't enjoy reading, you may just want to skip this one.
If you don't mind those elements though, and just want to know what all the buzz is about, you should definitely check this out. The SciFi set-up, of this being in a research station, and the type of research the group was doing, that was all well executed and fascinating.
I enjoyed the claustrophobic feel of the station itself. The research group felt extremely isolated, and then when it was discovered what they were dealing with, even more so.
Because this is a novella, coming in at just over 200-pages, Gailey wastes no time getting to the action. In fact, there's really no lull through the entire story. It's quick, punchy and effective at making you squirm in a limited number of pages.
I suspect for some Readers the initial knee-jerk reaction is going to be distaste, because I really don't see people going into this expecting what they're going to get.
However, I also feel like this story gets in your brain, and the more you think about it, the more you realize how much it actually drew you and impacted you. Whether those feelings were super highs or super lows, it impacted you.
Overall, this is memorable. There's a very solid SF-Horror plot here, that is somewhat overshadowed by the extreme nature of the sexual elements, but at the the end of the day, it somehow works. As strange as it may seem, it works.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me copies to read and review. I look forward to Gailey's next book!
I can hardly believe I am giving this 4-stars. It's a strange novella. I'm low-key blushing thinking what y'all are going to think of me when you truly discover what it's about.
This is one of those cases, rare, but here we are, where I don't really like to discuss the plot. I want you to be as surprised as I was, because I think that's half the fun. It'll have your mind-spinning, trying to get your bearings, while your brain figures out how to respond to all this.
It has to be one of the most bizarre stories, as far as the more erotic/sexual elements, that I've ever read. It made me so uncomfortable, but I couldn't look away; COULD NOT. I still don't know what to think...
I have to applaud Gailey for their creativity and fearlessness. Honestly, I don't think this was published with the aim of having big mass appeal. Authors willing to take that kind of risk, to write what they want, always impress me.
Spread Me is definitely niche, and I feel like it may have some serious messaging that I think I am picking up on, but maybe not? It's tough. I'd love to see the author speaking about their thought process and goals with this one.
While I would recommend this to more seasoned Horror Readers, I would throw caution about the sexual elements. If graphic content, sexual in nature, is something that you don't enjoy reading, you may just want to skip this one.
If you don't mind those elements though, and just want to know what all the buzz is about, you should definitely check this out. The SciFi set-up, of this being in a research station, and the type of research the group was doing, that was all well executed and fascinating.
I enjoyed the claustrophobic feel of the station itself. The research group felt extremely isolated, and then when it was discovered what they were dealing with, even more so.
Because this is a novella, coming in at just over 200-pages, Gailey wastes no time getting to the action. In fact, there's really no lull through the entire story. It's quick, punchy and effective at making you squirm in a limited number of pages.
I suspect for some Readers the initial knee-jerk reaction is going to be distaste, because I really don't see people going into this expecting what they're going to get.
However, I also feel like this story gets in your brain, and the more you think about it, the more you realize how much it actually drew you and impacted you. Whether those feelings were super highs or super lows, it impacted you.
Overall, this is memorable. There's a very solid SF-Horror plot here, that is somewhat overshadowed by the extreme nature of the sexual elements, but at the the end of the day, it somehow works. As strange as it may seem, it works.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me copies to read and review. I look forward to Gailey's next book!
December 23, 2025
If you find yourself fantasizing after viruses, then I have a book for you. Look no further…. Personally viruses aren’t my thing, and this very well could be a thing that I’ve never heard of before. To say I was unprepared for this novel is an understatement. But I couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t turn away. Curiosity, and all of that.
I originally had this at 2.5 but I think I’m gonna give at an even 3 stars. It definitely held my attention. It was unique and it was very short.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and I just don’t think we are a good fit. But they certainly write very unique books.
I originally had this at 2.5 but I think I’m gonna give at an even 3 stars. It definitely held my attention. It was unique and it was very short.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and I just don’t think we are a good fit. But they certainly write very unique books.
November 19, 2025
At a remote, isolated research facility in the desert, a scientific team discovers a strange specimen in the desert. Due to an approaching sandstorm they decide, against regulations, to bring the specimen inside. It was a mistake that many crew members will not live to regret.
Sounds great, right? In fact, maybe it sounds a bit like John Carpenter's The Thing, or perhaps the novella it was based on Who Goes There by John Campbell? You'd be correct on that. Instead of the snow and ice we have a desert and heat, but the bare bones of the stories are very similar. What makes this book stand out is the characters and what the specimen does to them. To be blunt? It makes them horny!
With a group of characters cooped up in a small place for a long period of time, one could see how relationships would develop or hell, even sex would develop between them. With characters as diverse and open as these, that could mean a lot of partner swapping and sometimes even two or threesomes. Take that type of sexual tension and ramp it up with an unknown being and that being's desires and you have SPREAD ME. (A nice little double entendre of a title, don't you think?)
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the excellent Xe Sands. (I've listened to her work before and loved her narration of Chuck Wendig's The Staircase in the Woods.) She did a superb job of narrating the escalating tensions of the crew as well as their inner thoughts, desires and needs. The book was written in such a way that it speeds by almost with the listener even noticing...each chapter just led to the next and before I knew it the whole thing was over. With all the similarities to The Thing, I was interested to see if the end would be similar as well. Was it? You'll have to read this, or listen, to find out!
Highly recommended!
Available September 23, 2025
*ARC from publisher
Sounds great, right? In fact, maybe it sounds a bit like John Carpenter's The Thing, or perhaps the novella it was based on Who Goes There by John Campbell? You'd be correct on that. Instead of the snow and ice we have a desert and heat, but the bare bones of the stories are very similar. What makes this book stand out is the characters and what the specimen does to them. To be blunt? It makes them horny!
With a group of characters cooped up in a small place for a long period of time, one could see how relationships would develop or hell, even sex would develop between them. With characters as diverse and open as these, that could mean a lot of partner swapping and sometimes even two or threesomes. Take that type of sexual tension and ramp it up with an unknown being and that being's desires and you have SPREAD ME. (A nice little double entendre of a title, don't you think?)
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the excellent Xe Sands. (I've listened to her work before and loved her narration of Chuck Wendig's The Staircase in the Woods.) She did a superb job of narrating the escalating tensions of the crew as well as their inner thoughts, desires and needs. The book was written in such a way that it speeds by almost with the listener even noticing...each chapter just led to the next and before I knew it the whole thing was over. With all the similarities to The Thing, I was interested to see if the end would be similar as well. Was it? You'll have to read this, or listen, to find out!
Highly recommended!
Available September 23, 2025
*ARC from publisher
August 16, 2025
I am a huge fan of Sarah Gailey’s brand of psychological horror…but this book is super odd.
In order to escape a pandemic, Kinsey joins a research team in the desert to study the cryobiotic crust. When they discover a mysterious specimen buried in the sand, it is brought into the lab to study. Unbeknownst to the researchers, the specimen is in search of a new host, putting all of them in danger.
I alternated between listening to the audiobook and reading the Ebook. I initially found Xe Sands’ breathy tone really strange until I realized it was supposed to be a seductive novel. She definitely nailed that. Ha!
I think Gailey created their own genre with this one…seductive horror! Think Alien meets Orlando by Virginia Woolf. It’s too long to be a novella and too short to be a full novel at 208 pages. Most of the characters are gender neutral, using them as their pronoun. All are incredibly horny and graphic language is used to express their desires, which is a little off-putting. Gailey is expressing a clear agenda and message through this wild plot…but I will let readers discover it for themselves!
I have really enjoyed Gailey’s previous novels, but Spread Me just fell a little short. I’m still a fan of her writing and plan to read her next offering.
3.25/5 stars rounded down
Expected publication date: 9/23/25
Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, Macmillan Audio and Tor Nightfire publishing for the ARC of Spread Me in exchange for an honest review.
In order to escape a pandemic, Kinsey joins a research team in the desert to study the cryobiotic crust. When they discover a mysterious specimen buried in the sand, it is brought into the lab to study. Unbeknownst to the researchers, the specimen is in search of a new host, putting all of them in danger.
I alternated between listening to the audiobook and reading the Ebook. I initially found Xe Sands’ breathy tone really strange until I realized it was supposed to be a seductive novel. She definitely nailed that. Ha!
I think Gailey created their own genre with this one…seductive horror! Think Alien meets Orlando by Virginia Woolf. It’s too long to be a novella and too short to be a full novel at 208 pages. Most of the characters are gender neutral, using them as their pronoun. All are incredibly horny and graphic language is used to express their desires, which is a little off-putting. Gailey is expressing a clear agenda and message through this wild plot…but I will let readers discover it for themselves!
I have really enjoyed Gailey’s previous novels, but Spread Me just fell a little short. I’m still a fan of her writing and plan to read her next offering.
3.25/5 stars rounded down
Expected publication date: 9/23/25
Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, Macmillan Audio and Tor Nightfire publishing for the ARC of Spread Me in exchange for an honest review.
November 17, 2025
Maybe my expectations weren't in the right place but by the time I turned the last page it all felt very eh ok at best.
The story flits back and forth in time unceremoniously and often pointlessly in my opinion and it made it hard for me to get invested into anything that was happening. There were good ideas in there but it wasn't enough to wow me.
The story flits back and forth in time unceremoniously and often pointlessly in my opinion and it made it hard for me to get invested into anything that was happening. There were good ideas in there but it wasn't enough to wow me.
December 12, 2025
Fun, fast-paced, and unafraid to make you a bit uncomfortable, this short novel knows exactly what it is, and it goes hard. This survival-horror/body-horror hybrid has a wonderful found-family at its core as it wrestles with ideas of desire, loneliness, shame, identity, self-harm, and fulfillment, among others. The plotting moves at breakneck speed, fueling a sense of both urgency and desolation. Every other chapter is a flashback, the flashbacks generally being much shorter than the present of the story, and the movement back and forth, works really well. It builds tension and suspense while giving us more depth on the characters. Speaking of which, the characters are great. We have just the group of six, isolated at a research facility in the middle of the desert, caught in a sandstorm, and they work so well together. We don’t get too much back story on any of them, just pieces here and there, but there is the clear sense they are full and complete and have rich and varied lives that brought them to this place. The narrative structure, the interweaving of flashbacks with the present narrative, gives us a chance to see them both at play and under duress and it makes all of them feel organic and engaging; although it wouldn’t have benefited the story I just wanted to spend more time with them, they drew me in that much. The writing is sensual and descriptive, forcing you to confront your more disturbing desires while on the run to preserve your sense of who you are. It is unapologetic and captivates the reader instantly, working perfectly with the intense sense of place and the emotional depth of the characters. This book is a really quick read, which I appreciate. The dominoes are not only set up but start to fall almost immediately, and the story rides that momentum to a breathtaking, fitting conclusion that, once you get there, feels inevitable. But since it doesn’t ever linger, it doesn’t navel-gaze or try to be something it isn’t, the pacing makes the ending satisfying, even if you might guess what is going to happen before the characters get there on the page. The story was genuinely creepy and exciting, with wonderful atmosphere and great characters. The ground it treads on is not exactly new but everything it does it does really, really well. It is (very explicitly) aware of its influence and instead of shying away from them it embraces the beauty of genre to tell deeply personal, intimate stories that refuse to be buried in the sand.
(Rounded from 3.5)
(Rounded from 3.5)
October 16, 2025
I hadn’t really noticed this book on my GR feed until a few interesting reviews came to my attention. “Like ‘Annihilation’ but with parasitic sex monsters”, “Think ‘The Thing’ but 600% hornier”, “Horny horror tale” and most importantly: “If you’re the kind of sex-positive horror reader who sees a title like ‘Spread Me’ and automatically thinks of double-entendres, you’re Sarah Gailey’s target audience”...
I pre-ordered a copy for my Kindle rather quickly. That device is already full of filth anyway, what’s one more? But this book is not monster porn, oh no! Something much more sophisticated and scientifically minded is going on here. No shade on those who enjoy their cryptid smut, I respect whatever floats your imaginary boat, but this isn’t that.
Listen: most life forms in the universe have reproduction as their primary goal. It’s how they evolve. We just happened to have evolved brains so complex we wrapped the whole thing up in social and moral norms, but our bodies remember… And Kinsey, who leads a team of scientists stranded in a small settlement in the middle of a hostile climate, her body remembers some urges that are way more aligned with those of a fungal virus her team discovers by accident than with what typical humans crave.
I fell like I am stating the obvious here, but this won’t be for everyone. I had fun with it, and Sarah Gailey officially has a new fan. I love how bizarre, and yet never gory for the sake of gore this novella is. I love her characters, who are almost all non-binary and queer, who are open-minded and respectful – up until the moment they realize they are in the middle of a potentially deadly scenario, obviously.
This was a fun, and yes, extremely bizarre little story. If Lovecraft had a libido, he might have written something just like this, and I can’t think of a better way to sell it!
I pre-ordered a copy for my Kindle rather quickly. That device is already full of filth anyway, what’s one more? But this book is not monster porn, oh no! Something much more sophisticated and scientifically minded is going on here. No shade on those who enjoy their cryptid smut, I respect whatever floats your imaginary boat, but this isn’t that.
Listen: most life forms in the universe have reproduction as their primary goal. It’s how they evolve. We just happened to have evolved brains so complex we wrapped the whole thing up in social and moral norms, but our bodies remember… And Kinsey, who leads a team of scientists stranded in a small settlement in the middle of a hostile climate, her body remembers some urges that are way more aligned with those of a fungal virus her team discovers by accident than with what typical humans crave.
I fell like I am stating the obvious here, but this won’t be for everyone. I had fun with it, and Sarah Gailey officially has a new fan. I love how bizarre, and yet never gory for the sake of gore this novella is. I love her characters, who are almost all non-binary and queer, who are open-minded and respectful – up until the moment they realize they are in the middle of a potentially deadly scenario, obviously.
This was a fun, and yes, extremely bizarre little story. If Lovecraft had a libido, he might have written something just like this, and I can’t think of a better way to sell it!
November 10, 2025
When you science nerd so hard your wild erotic fantasies feature you as a bacterium being violated by a virus. Never thought I’d witness someone theoretically fuck a cryptobiotic crust.
September 13, 2025
Freaky and weird but interesting! Spread Me is an erotic horror novella following a group of researchers in a dystopian future who find a strange specimen in the desert, and then some of them begin to change. Meanwhile the main character is mostly asexual, except that she finds viruses attractive...sexually. This is like an elevated cousin to Kissing the Coronavirus with more sci-fi horror elements. It's won't appeal to everyone, but it was entertaining! The audio narration is excellent and really captures the duality of the horror and weird eroticism of the story. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
September 27, 2025
Sci-fi smut (that was not sexy 👀), definitely not horror.
Dropping rating to 1 star after further reflection.
Dropping rating to 1 star after further reflection.
October 1, 2025
I genuinely don't even know how to correctly rate this, tbh. How do you even properly assess a viral apocalypse starter that feels like a bad Tinder date? It's like if your favorite body horror rom-com got lost in the mail and showed up as a soggy pamphlet instead.
The plot meanders like a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving dinner, all charm and zero direction. By the end, I'm left wondering if the virus won now that it's contained to Kinsey locking everyone inside and dry humping the desert sand.
Read it if you're into Gailey's vibe, but maybe keep some antifungal cream handy. Or a therapist. Either works.
The plot meanders like a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving dinner, all charm and zero direction. By the end, I'm left wondering if the virus won now that it's contained to Kinsey locking everyone inside and dry humping the desert sand.
Read it if you're into Gailey's vibe, but maybe keep some antifungal cream handy. Or a therapist. Either works.
October 9, 2025
"The thing about the desert is, it's alive."
Dark, shocking and spicy in a very very very uncomfortable way.
Kinsey is the lead of a research team in a desert. It's a far post and they have 4 years to be there. Kinsey loves the isolation because she has a unhealthy fascination with viruses, diseases, and she knows she needs some distance between herself and all the pandemics and viruses running around. She just wants to work and have her own fantasies that she can never have for real.
However, her group finds a specimen in the desert and they break the first rule. Even though Kinsey can see it breathing, they bring it inside. And from there, something is in. Something begins infecting her team and they need to figure out how to survive.
This book was deeply uncomfortable. I tried to find a message in it - about fighting sexual attraction or being scared of fantasies - but I was so distracted by the disturbing idea of viruses and sickness and. . .everything Kinsey found so alluring.
Dark, shocking and spicy in a very very very uncomfortable way.
Kinsey is the lead of a research team in a desert. It's a far post and they have 4 years to be there. Kinsey loves the isolation because she has a unhealthy fascination with viruses, diseases, and she knows she needs some distance between herself and all the pandemics and viruses running around. She just wants to work and have her own fantasies that she can never have for real.
However, her group finds a specimen in the desert and they break the first rule. Even though Kinsey can see it breathing, they bring it inside. And from there, something is in. Something begins infecting her team and they need to figure out how to survive.
This book was deeply uncomfortable. I tried to find a message in it - about fighting sexual attraction or being scared of fantasies - but I was so distracted by the disturbing idea of viruses and sickness and. . .everything Kinsey found so alluring.
December 31, 2025
So there’s like three things that get under my skin when it comes to horror. Spiders, eyes, and hands. Spread Me has one of the three and I’m pretty sure I will never be okay again.
Sarah Gailey is a master at creeping me the fuck out. This was the perfect book to read on a snowy day. Mainly because my heart rate is through the roof and keeping my quite warm! Holy shit. NOT for the faint of heart. Or eye. Or hands. Or really anything. It also did not help that a strand of my dark hair curled across one of the pages and then moved. If you see the illustrations on some of the pages, you’ll understand why my soul left my body.
I’ll be hiding under my blankets if anyone needs me. But like, don’t need me.
Sarah Gailey is a master at creeping me the fuck out. This was the perfect book to read on a snowy day. Mainly because my heart rate is through the roof and keeping my quite warm! Holy shit. NOT for the faint of heart. Or eye. Or hands. Or really anything. It also did not help that a strand of my dark hair curled across one of the pages and then moved. If you see the illustrations on some of the pages, you’ll understand why my soul left my body.
I’ll be hiding under my blankets if anyone needs me. But like, don’t need me.
August 9, 2025
I was so excited to start Sarah Gailey’s newest book, SPREAD ME, because it sounds bonkers AF. Say what you want, but Sarah Gailey comes up with some unique horror stories for us!
At around 200 pages, I’ll keep it brief: Kinsey thrives as the team lead at a remote desert research outpost, far from the temptations of the outside world—until her crew uncovers a strange specimen buried in the sand. Breaking quarantine to study it, she soon finds her orderly life unraveling as the organism’s influence grows. Now the team realizes it’s searching for a new host—and one of them is the perfect choice.
SPREAD ME is a horny horror tale, to say the least. The dynamics of the story were very interesting and fun, but the build up takes too long for the momentum to get going. I felt that there could’ve been less story in the first half and double the story in the second half. I can see this being a series of some sort. I just noticed that I’ve read three of this author’s books and they’ve all been 3 stars, so although I continue to want to read this author’s stories, I tend to be a bit critical of them. I do recommend reading SPREAD ME because it’s so short you can read it very quickly.
At around 200 pages, I’ll keep it brief: Kinsey thrives as the team lead at a remote desert research outpost, far from the temptations of the outside world—until her crew uncovers a strange specimen buried in the sand. Breaking quarantine to study it, she soon finds her orderly life unraveling as the organism’s influence grows. Now the team realizes it’s searching for a new host—and one of them is the perfect choice.
SPREAD ME is a horny horror tale, to say the least. The dynamics of the story were very interesting and fun, but the build up takes too long for the momentum to get going. I felt that there could’ve been less story in the first half and double the story in the second half. I can see this being a series of some sort. I just noticed that I’ve read three of this author’s books and they’ve all been 3 stars, so although I continue to want to read this author’s stories, I tend to be a bit critical of them. I do recommend reading SPREAD ME because it’s so short you can read it very quickly.
August 18, 2025
This review was originally published at FanFiAddict on Monday, Aug. 15, 2025.
If you’re the kind of sex-positive horror reader who sees a title like Spread Me and automatically thinks of double-entendres, you’re Sarah Gailey’s target audience.
Spread Me is Gailey’s riff on The Thing, with a few important distinctions. Instead of being set in the Antarctic, Spread Me’s research station is desert-based, and the shape-shifting alien creature that can be anyone is, here, an Earth-based virus living a few feet below the shifting sands in the desert’s cryptobiotic soil. The researchers themselves are diverse, as are their sexual partnerships with one another. Gailey’s is a slow-burn modern-day update to the classic John Carpenter flick (and John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella, Who Goes There, which inspired it and Carpenter’s filmic predecessor, The Thing from Another World), with one other key difference – Spread Me is horny as fuck.
If there’s one genetic imperative driving all life on Earth, it is to reproduce. From the mitosis of single-celled organisms to us sex-having mammals, we all gotta do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. Gailey’s ancient (or perhaps newly evolved?) cryptobiotic virus seizes control of the humans it infects, causing rampant, unquenchable desire with occasional sides of body horror. It’s a nice touch that our lead heroine is named Kinsey, no doubt after famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. Sadly, there are no Dr. Ruth’s at this desert research lab.
Although it’s set in a desert, there are certainly no dry spells happening inside this scientific habitat, even before these researchers are introduced to this sexed-up virus. While Gailey stops well short of Spread Me being a straight-up monster porn spoof, the eroticism is likely not of one’s usual expectations. In one instance, Kinsey masturbates imagining the penetration of cellular walls by a virus and keeps a poster of cellular organisms close at hand the way a teenager hides copies of Playboy. In another, while taking a biopsy, the act of puncturing skin with a needle is described the way one might write of sexual penetration. In order to gain her patient’s consent, Kinsey must assure assure the patient that this procedure really turns her on, transforming a rote medical exam into a pseudo-sexual ritual. Readers are forced to question consent and issues of control — and who, exactly, is manipulating whom — in this twisted dynamic.
Gailey knows that, despite the focus on the sexual predilections of her scientists and the virus they are forced to contend with, comparisons to The Thing are inevitable and she establishes early on that the movie is a favorite of these researchers, as it is for all good taste-having movie lovers. Even the characters are not immune to drawing parallels between their ordeal and the seminal, iconic 1982 film. “It’s impossible not to make John Carpenter references when you work at a research station in the middle of fucking nowhere,” one character intones at the start. Instead of a swear jar, they have a John Carpenter jar and every time somebody references the movie they have to pony up some cash. Another researcher wears a Baby Slut shirt in a deep cut reference to a Kurt Russell meme.
One might find it easy to view Spread Me in the context of covid. While it’s not directly a book about covid – Spread Me is set in a near-future where pandemics have become routine staples in daily life – it’s hard not to draw those parallels. The single-celled kinks at the heart of Gailey’s book recall the loud pro-COVID-19 forces that reared their ugly heads, demanding an end to masking protocols and for everyone to put themselves in danger for their own anti-masking comfort, delirious with a desire not only to be infected but to freely infect others even as they gussied it up under the guise of civil rights and freedom. These mask scofflaws were intent on doing the virus’s work for it, as if they were themselves some kind of Ur-virus wrapped up in the cellular walls of their flag and loud-mouthed ignorance. The mounting paranoia of who is infected parallels that of Carpenter’s The Thing, only instead of Cold War concerns, Spread Me has more recent worries that echo our period of isolation and sickness during the pandemic — who is infected, who is hiding it or lying about it, and who can be trusted when the masks, not to mention the clothes, come off?
Spread Me plays around a lot with sexual identity, too. Wanting to love, and to be loved, on one’s own terms as their own unique individual, warts or mutant limbs and all, are predominate themes. Kinsey and her staff of researchers defy heteronormativity, with Kinsey going a step further with her infatuation for single-celled organisms and their methods of replication. Isolated with only each other, the researchers pair off with fluid abandon for both same- and opposite-sex pairings and hints of threesomes behind closed doors, in their need for connection. Replication drives our genes, but it’s our need for understanding and camaraderie that unites us. All we need is love, be it platonic or romantic, but finding that love can be an ordeal, fraught with peril and complications, and maybe a little bit of murder here and there. As Johnny Cash once sang, love is a burning thing, but in Spread Me, nothing’s hotter than the desert…or what lies beneath.
If you’re the kind of sex-positive horror reader who sees a title like Spread Me and automatically thinks of double-entendres, you’re Sarah Gailey’s target audience.
Spread Me is Gailey’s riff on The Thing, with a few important distinctions. Instead of being set in the Antarctic, Spread Me’s research station is desert-based, and the shape-shifting alien creature that can be anyone is, here, an Earth-based virus living a few feet below the shifting sands in the desert’s cryptobiotic soil. The researchers themselves are diverse, as are their sexual partnerships with one another. Gailey’s is a slow-burn modern-day update to the classic John Carpenter flick (and John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella, Who Goes There, which inspired it and Carpenter’s filmic predecessor, The Thing from Another World), with one other key difference – Spread Me is horny as fuck.
If there’s one genetic imperative driving all life on Earth, it is to reproduce. From the mitosis of single-celled organisms to us sex-having mammals, we all gotta do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. Gailey’s ancient (or perhaps newly evolved?) cryptobiotic virus seizes control of the humans it infects, causing rampant, unquenchable desire with occasional sides of body horror. It’s a nice touch that our lead heroine is named Kinsey, no doubt after famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. Sadly, there are no Dr. Ruth’s at this desert research lab.
Although it’s set in a desert, there are certainly no dry spells happening inside this scientific habitat, even before these researchers are introduced to this sexed-up virus. While Gailey stops well short of Spread Me being a straight-up monster porn spoof, the eroticism is likely not of one’s usual expectations. In one instance, Kinsey masturbates imagining the penetration of cellular walls by a virus and keeps a poster of cellular organisms close at hand the way a teenager hides copies of Playboy. In another, while taking a biopsy, the act of puncturing skin with a needle is described the way one might write of sexual penetration. In order to gain her patient’s consent, Kinsey must assure assure the patient that this procedure really turns her on, transforming a rote medical exam into a pseudo-sexual ritual. Readers are forced to question consent and issues of control — and who, exactly, is manipulating whom — in this twisted dynamic.
Gailey knows that, despite the focus on the sexual predilections of her scientists and the virus they are forced to contend with, comparisons to The Thing are inevitable and she establishes early on that the movie is a favorite of these researchers, as it is for all good taste-having movie lovers. Even the characters are not immune to drawing parallels between their ordeal and the seminal, iconic 1982 film. “It’s impossible not to make John Carpenter references when you work at a research station in the middle of fucking nowhere,” one character intones at the start. Instead of a swear jar, they have a John Carpenter jar and every time somebody references the movie they have to pony up some cash. Another researcher wears a Baby Slut shirt in a deep cut reference to a Kurt Russell meme.
One might find it easy to view Spread Me in the context of covid. While it’s not directly a book about covid – Spread Me is set in a near-future where pandemics have become routine staples in daily life – it’s hard not to draw those parallels. The single-celled kinks at the heart of Gailey’s book recall the loud pro-COVID-19 forces that reared their ugly heads, demanding an end to masking protocols and for everyone to put themselves in danger for their own anti-masking comfort, delirious with a desire not only to be infected but to freely infect others even as they gussied it up under the guise of civil rights and freedom. These mask scofflaws were intent on doing the virus’s work for it, as if they were themselves some kind of Ur-virus wrapped up in the cellular walls of their flag and loud-mouthed ignorance. The mounting paranoia of who is infected parallels that of Carpenter’s The Thing, only instead of Cold War concerns, Spread Me has more recent worries that echo our period of isolation and sickness during the pandemic — who is infected, who is hiding it or lying about it, and who can be trusted when the masks, not to mention the clothes, come off?
Spread Me plays around a lot with sexual identity, too. Wanting to love, and to be loved, on one’s own terms as their own unique individual, warts or mutant limbs and all, are predominate themes. Kinsey and her staff of researchers defy heteronormativity, with Kinsey going a step further with her infatuation for single-celled organisms and their methods of replication. Isolated with only each other, the researchers pair off with fluid abandon for both same- and opposite-sex pairings and hints of threesomes behind closed doors, in their need for connection. Replication drives our genes, but it’s our need for understanding and camaraderie that unites us. All we need is love, be it platonic or romantic, but finding that love can be an ordeal, fraught with peril and complications, and maybe a little bit of murder here and there. As Johnny Cash once sang, love is a burning thing, but in Spread Me, nothing’s hotter than the desert…or what lies beneath.
October 7, 2025
2⭐️ 3🌶️
An alien virus discovered during a research probe in a remote desert outpost begins to infect the crew, creating a "darkly seductive tale of survival" with elements of erotic and body horror.
Read if you like:
• under 200pgs
• dark
• locked room
• alien
• LGBTQIA+ rep
• small team of 6
• a WTF read lol
• paranoia
• body horror
• erotic horror
An alien virus discovered during a research probe in a remote desert outpost begins to infect the crew, creating a "darkly seductive tale of survival" with elements of erotic and body horror.
Read if you like:
• under 200pgs
• dark
• locked room
• alien
• LGBTQIA+ rep
• small team of 6
• a WTF read lol
• paranoia
• body horror
• erotic horror
September 15, 2025
4.5/5 stars, rounded up. I wasn’t expecting such a freaked out read!! Ooooh, this took me by surpiseeeee. This very roughly reminded me of Splice and The Thing.. but a very *very* erotic version.
I definitely don't think that this book will resonate with a lot of people due to the strong sexual nature combined with the bizarre "romantic interest." That being said, I think this was a well-done book if you can simply take this book at face value and enjoy it for what it is. I for one, really loved this. It took me by surprise and offered something different to me than I'm used to reading. Prior to reading this, would I have ever reached for a smutty creature (virus) book? Probably not. But I'm glad that I ended up here.
To say that this book was entertaining, is an understatement. This book had my undivided attention from start to finish and I finished this in one sitting. I was physically reacting to this book. I found myself gasping, laughing due to the strange turn of events, and I was physically cringing.
I enjoyed the writing, the characters, the dynamic between the characters, and the setting. I'm a huge fan of weird reads and this delivered. I think it could've had a slightly stronger plot, but I wasn't mad at it because of how entertaining this was.
I received the ALC of Spread Me and I'm so glad that I did because listening to this was a whole experience. The narrator, Xe Sands, did a fantastic job.
If you want a well-written and crafted, weird, smutty creature horror story, this is certainly for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.
I definitely don't think that this book will resonate with a lot of people due to the strong sexual nature combined with the bizarre "romantic interest." That being said, I think this was a well-done book if you can simply take this book at face value and enjoy it for what it is. I for one, really loved this. It took me by surprise and offered something different to me than I'm used to reading. Prior to reading this, would I have ever reached for a smutty creature (virus) book? Probably not. But I'm glad that I ended up here.
To say that this book was entertaining, is an understatement. This book had my undivided attention from start to finish and I finished this in one sitting. I was physically reacting to this book. I found myself gasping, laughing due to the strange turn of events, and I was physically cringing.
I enjoyed the writing, the characters, the dynamic between the characters, and the setting. I'm a huge fan of weird reads and this delivered. I think it could've had a slightly stronger plot, but I wasn't mad at it because of how entertaining this was.
I received the ALC of Spread Me and I'm so glad that I did because listening to this was a whole experience. The narrator, Xe Sands, did a fantastic job.
If you want a well-written and crafted, weird, smutty creature horror story, this is certainly for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.
November 14, 2025
The Thing but super horny
November 16, 2025
Utterly perfect sexy queer body horror, chef's kiss, no notes!
October 29, 2025
📖 Bookish Thoughts
This was the weirdest book I’ve ever read. I honestly don’t even know how to describe how odd it was. Be prepared for some truly interesting fantasies from the FMC. About 30% in, it fully shifts into a sci-fi horror movie vibe, and I couldn’t look away. It was disturbing, gross, and somehow gripping all at once.
🖤 What to Expect
• Body horror
• Sci-fi survival
• Claustrophobic isolation
• Quarantine
• Disturbing intimacy
_ _ _
📖 Final Score: 4 stars
🎧 Audio Score: 5 stars
🎙️ Narration Style: Solo (Xe Sands)
📅 Pub Date: September 23, 2025
📝 Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. All thoughts are my own.
This was the weirdest book I’ve ever read. I honestly don’t even know how to describe how odd it was. Be prepared for some truly interesting fantasies from the FMC. About 30% in, it fully shifts into a sci-fi horror movie vibe, and I couldn’t look away. It was disturbing, gross, and somehow gripping all at once.
🖤 What to Expect
• Body horror
• Sci-fi survival
• Claustrophobic isolation
• Quarantine
• Disturbing intimacy
_ _ _
📖 Final Score: 4 stars
🎧 Audio Score: 5 stars
🎙️ Narration Style: Solo (Xe Sands)
📅 Pub Date: September 23, 2025
📝 Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. All thoughts are my own.
January 5, 2026
Spin on the classic movie The Thing but it’s set in the desert and the creature can be anyone. It is caused by a virus living a few feet below the desert’s cryptobiotic soil and causes its host to have extreme sexual desire.
It’s a short stimulating story with many unique characters and a good lesson on the use of human pronouns. It took me a bit to get used to and some of the flashback chapters took some time for me to realize it was the past but overall I recommend and gave it four stars.
It’s a short stimulating story with many unique characters and a good lesson on the use of human pronouns. It took me a bit to get used to and some of the flashback chapters took some time for me to realize it was the past but overall I recommend and gave it four stars.
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