The Society of Vegetarian Cannibals

by A.M. Muffaz

ABOUT THIS BOOK Welcome to the Downlands, the last safe haven in a dying world. Even as the outside world remains poisoned and the population stagnates, purity runs deep here. Every person is born whole and complete. Every bite of food, manufactured from its base chemicals, is a perfect recreation of flavours from better times. And every one who dies becomes the perfect meat, raised on the perfect diet. At the funeral, the deceased's companions feast on this perfectly raised meal, absorbing the dead's memories and thus preserving their existence in historical record.

When Fritzel accidentally discovers his beloved cousin Bern is dead, and worse, has been refused a funeral, everything he thought he knew is shattered. No one in his family will tell him how Bern died or even what happened to the body. Desperate to salvage his cousin's memory, Fritzel begins a journey to discover how they lived. As he does so, he finds others who knew and loved Bern. Together, they find a way to save the memories they hold dear and savour the taste of a life that was worth living.

76 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2025

About the author

A.M. Muffaz is a Malaysian author based in San Francisco. She whiles away her days with a husband who is way too kind as he is tall and a food inspector cat who speaks in pirate. When not reading obsessively difficult books, she is probably thinking about obsessively difficult things. She enjoys history, video games, anime, manga and cute, fluffy animals. Oh, and murder. Because some murders are clearly more delightful than others.

Her writing has previously appeared in Chiaroscuro, The Dark and other magazines. Finches, her first book, is coming out from Vernacular Books in Oct 1, 2021.

Reviews

[Happy Goat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is lovely. I normally just read horror and I'd class this as peculiar fiction, but I loved it! Our protagonist stumbles across the news of his cousin's death, and for some reason their parents are being weirdly secretive about it. The quest for answers brings our main character to some truly wonderful insights and new beginnings. Just lovely.

[Kayleigh Dobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a peculiar and lovely story of people (though not quite as we are now), acceptance, ritual, and found family <3