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angels
Steven has a guardian angel
In the desolate Texas town of Butte, two teenagers collide in a twist of fate that creates a biblical flood. In a multi-faceted voice, May Leitz weaves a story about the trials of youth, the rot spreading in the United States, and how we create systems of harm that twist us into unrecognizable horrors. From the author of Fluids and Girl Flesh, angels is a new tale of love in the time of tragedy.
In the desolate Texas town of Butte, two teenagers collide in a twist of fate that creates a biblical flood. In a multi-faceted voice, May Leitz weaves a story about the trials of youth, the rot spreading in the United States, and how we create systems of harm that twist us into unrecognizable horrors. From the author of Fluids and Girl Flesh, angels is a new tale of love in the time of tragedy.
164 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 13, 2025
This is~ the story of a girl~ who cried a river and drowned the whole world... even though it's a different annoying 1990s pop hit that anchors this one.
Angels is a book that contains all kinds of things. Maybe foremost it is about, like, repression and "DL" among gay dudes and our boy Steven being a wreck about it, pushing his feelings down and reducing sex to a purely physical exchange and his difficulty when it comes to August, his long-haired true-love reciprocal doomed yaoi partner. A lot of it is things I'm casually aware of but have no bearing on my existence. There are a bunch of times that the narration leans on preconceived ideas about sex: "He was scared of what everyone was afraid of right before sex with someone they liked; he expected that this was of no consequence to them, but it was his whole life on the line." Part of me wants to chalk the lack of understanding (are you meant to feel this way about sex?) up to personal trauma or being acespec, but mostly I think I was previously unaware on this level because of gosh darned autism. I am like: can't relate. No idea what it's like. So on that level I was riding along with Steven as he coolly exchanges sexual favours for rides out to August's house and experiencing all-new things, which was a hoot, I will say. Steven is a car crash of a person, all internal and in his head 24/7 and also a fan of Burzum, not because he's a Norweigan nazi or anything, but mostly because he is like 17 and sucks and thinks it's hardcore. Distinctive boy.
However, the actual framing is outside of all of that burning hot unspoken gay yearning. Secretly, the novel is about a third person: Charlotte, who everybody calles Charles for whatever reason, is a girl with weird fixations and some kind of a death wish. Her whole thing seems to be that she needs to have had sex to like, ritually enter adulthood, which was also new but less surprising to me. Issues of self-worth, validation in the eyes of others. Ayup. Non-shockingly, when she gets fixated on Steven, he vey casually has sex with her because he's that kind of "whatever" guy, but then literally tells her to fuck off and leave when he's done. Aftercare isn't his specialty, and for that crime bad things happen to Charlotte, and the literal biblical apocalypse begins. Things get out of hand.
The New May Leitz here tends to lose me pretty hard and fast when it gets all christian about things. I think calling god a famous cuckold is pretty funny, but most times I find that I wasn't raised in fuckin' Texas Butte so much of it is lost on me, again. When Charlotte is gettin' homophobic with it about Steven and Austin, my only reaction is 'dude, what the fuck'? But I think that's the intention and there's a joke I'm missing, since Charlotte does narrate about it. Straight woman fury... Fucking at the literal end of the world in the midst of the Genesis flood sounds kinda rad, but I guess in the same way, the contrast is the point. Do you think August is just 24/7 ready to bottom? Sure seemed easy reading it back. Perhaps he is a nascent Bottom Shaman.
The fact that all of this might be preordained by a higher power is pretty wild, especially for taking place in a small town in bumfuck Texas. I guess hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned. Or, maybe Charlotte, Charles, is of other gender. There's a lot going on there for all of it to have been preordained. The climactic scene reminds me faintly of a dream I once had, down to the knife snugly between ribs. Not really the fun kind of stabbing this time.
The book also has Notes, sweet fucking god does it have footnotes, not as ubiquitous and unhinged as Psycho Nymph Exile's, and a key distinction is that Psycho Nymph plants them at the bottom of each page. Angels puts them all at the very end, so I did not read them until after. I wish for them to be footers on every page, they might have helped that way.
In general a lot of Angels is outside of my direct purview, making it sort of a truckstop (kinda like Butte itself) on the big road of my Personal Quest, and as a result kind of weird to me, personally. I think I should also just read every and any May Leitz novel that will exist, though, because for as much of an out-of-body experience as it was, even though it's fucking bizzare and unpleasant, I still enjoyed it. How could I not? It is weird and gross (albeit only slightly) and made me reflect and consider in gross (this time intensely) ways on things. Angels is a heavyweight.
Angels is a book that contains all kinds of things. Maybe foremost it is about, like, repression and "DL" among gay dudes and our boy Steven being a wreck about it, pushing his feelings down and reducing sex to a purely physical exchange and his difficulty when it comes to August, his long-haired true-love reciprocal doomed yaoi partner. A lot of it is things I'm casually aware of but have no bearing on my existence. There are a bunch of times that the narration leans on preconceived ideas about sex: "He was scared of what everyone was afraid of right before sex with someone they liked; he expected that this was of no consequence to them, but it was his whole life on the line." Part of me wants to chalk the lack of understanding (are you meant to feel this way about sex?) up to personal trauma or being acespec, but mostly I think I was previously unaware on this level because of gosh darned autism. I am like: can't relate. No idea what it's like. So on that level I was riding along with Steven as he coolly exchanges sexual favours for rides out to August's house and experiencing all-new things, which was a hoot, I will say. Steven is a car crash of a person, all internal and in his head 24/7 and also a fan of Burzum, not because he's a Norweigan nazi or anything, but mostly because he is like 17 and sucks and thinks it's hardcore. Distinctive boy.
However, the actual framing is outside of all of that burning hot unspoken gay yearning. Secretly, the novel is about a third person: Charlotte, who everybody calles Charles for whatever reason, is a girl with weird fixations and some kind of a death wish. Her whole thing seems to be that she needs to have had sex to like, ritually enter adulthood, which was also new but less surprising to me. Issues of self-worth, validation in the eyes of others. Ayup. Non-shockingly, when she gets fixated on Steven, he vey casually has sex with her because he's that kind of "whatever" guy, but then literally tells her to fuck off and leave when he's done. Aftercare isn't his specialty, and for that crime bad things happen to Charlotte, and the literal biblical apocalypse begins. Things get out of hand.
The New May Leitz here tends to lose me pretty hard and fast when it gets all christian about things. I think calling god a famous cuckold is pretty funny, but most times I find that I wasn't raised in fuckin' Texas Butte so much of it is lost on me, again. When Charlotte is gettin' homophobic with it about Steven and Austin, my only reaction is 'dude, what the fuck'? But I think that's the intention and there's a joke I'm missing, since Charlotte does narrate about it. Straight woman fury... Fucking at the literal end of the world in the midst of the Genesis flood sounds kinda rad, but I guess in the same way, the contrast is the point. Do you think August is just 24/7 ready to bottom? Sure seemed easy reading it back. Perhaps he is a nascent Bottom Shaman.
The fact that all of this might be preordained by a higher power is pretty wild, especially for taking place in a small town in bumfuck Texas. I guess hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned. Or, maybe Charlotte, Charles, is of other gender. There's a lot going on there for all of it to have been preordained. The climactic scene reminds me faintly of a dream I once had, down to the knife snugly between ribs. Not really the fun kind of stabbing this time.
The book also has Notes, sweet fucking god does it have footnotes, not as ubiquitous and unhinged as Psycho Nymph Exile's, and a key distinction is that Psycho Nymph plants them at the bottom of each page. Angels puts them all at the very end, so I did not read them until after. I wish for them to be footers on every page, they might have helped that way.
In general a lot of Angels is outside of my direct purview, making it sort of a truckstop (kinda like Butte itself) on the big road of my Personal Quest, and as a result kind of weird to me, personally. I think I should also just read every and any May Leitz novel that will exist, though, because for as much of an out-of-body experience as it was, even though it's fucking bizzare and unpleasant, I still enjoyed it. How could I not? It is weird and gross (albeit only slightly) and made me reflect and consider in gross (this time intensely) ways on things. Angels is a heavyweight.
November 5, 2025
Two teenagers meet in a park and their lives change afterwards. Steven, a drifter deep in denial about his sexuality, spends the night in the park before hitchhiking to August, the guy he has a crush on. Charles, a girl with a boy’s name, who hasn’t been interested in relationships yet, meets him and it awakens her interest. After getting her heart broken by Steven’s disinterest after they have sex, she is hit by a car and begins to haunt him.
Gender and sexuality blurs, gruesome violence occurs and time becomes somewhat nonlinear afterwards with Charles replaying moments of her past and propelling the story forward to a cataclysmic change that will drown the world and what happens after.
Haunting, brutal and choked with loneliness and trauma, this was a tough read, but an incredibly interesting one as well. I loved how horrible and disastrous Charles was allowed to become, seething with jealously and rage and heartbreak, having died before she could every learn to move on from it. I also liked Steven’s and August’s relationship and the way they treated each other, a sweet, fumbling romance, doomed from the start. I especially enjoyed how Charles uses Steven as a figure in her story, the things she told herself to reclaim control over her afterlife.
The ending is a really dark one and one that fits incredibly well with the rest of the story and if you’ve read other pieces of May Leitz’ work you should check this out, it was interesting. Do be aware that this is an extreme work of horror and the horror is gruesome and violent and unflinching.
Tw car accident, death, drowning, f-slur, homophobia, sexual assault (graphic), strangulation, violence
Gender and sexuality blurs, gruesome violence occurs and time becomes somewhat nonlinear afterwards with Charles replaying moments of her past and propelling the story forward to a cataclysmic change that will drown the world and what happens after.
Haunting, brutal and choked with loneliness and trauma, this was a tough read, but an incredibly interesting one as well. I loved how horrible and disastrous Charles was allowed to become, seething with jealously and rage and heartbreak, having died before she could every learn to move on from it. I also liked Steven’s and August’s relationship and the way they treated each other, a sweet, fumbling romance, doomed from the start. I especially enjoyed how Charles uses Steven as a figure in her story, the things she told herself to reclaim control over her afterlife.
The ending is a really dark one and one that fits incredibly well with the rest of the story and if you’ve read other pieces of May Leitz’ work you should check this out, it was interesting. Do be aware that this is an extreme work of horror and the horror is gruesome and violent and unflinching.
Tw car accident, death, drowning, f-slur, homophobia, sexual assault (graphic), strangulation, violence
November 20, 2025
Transitioning may have saved Charles tbh
December 9, 2025
Full disclosure I am probably the most biased reader ever as May Leitz is my all-time favorite horror writer. That being said, my overall opinion is that I did not find this book as strong as Fluids and Girl Flesh. However, overall, I feel like this author has another great story on her hands. The story taking place in Texas hits close to home for me, in particular, having grown up in a small town so similar to Butte it is eerie. This setting, being the backdrop for a biblical level flood makes such sense. I saw another review state that if Charles just transitioned, all this would be solved, and I do feel a similar sentiment. One of the things I really enjoyed with this book was the ability for our resident ghost girl to view herself both as a victim and a villain. I think we all tend to box ourselves in to one or the other without realizing we are all capable of epic levels of destruction. I was a little taken aback by some of the language, but obviously, that's the point. May Lietz will never cease to both horrify and impress me. I truly believe queer people understand the horror of the human body and the expectation placed upon it better than anyone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2025
I like that the chapter breaks are very short, can pick this up for a quick read at any moment. I don’t really care much for the characters but there’s some extremely hard hitting lines here and there. Horrific finale too, last 15% of the book is a pure nightmare. All in all it’s pretty alright.
September 4, 2025
Agonizing & brutal & hauntingly lovely.
May Leitz, I love your brain <3
May Leitz, I love your brain <3
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews