Of Flesh & Metal

by Robert Essig, Chuck Nasty

Fresh off a breakup and down on his luck, Randy struggles to make ends meet and provide for himself and his daughter until he lands a factory job that seems to be the answer to all his problems. Things are finally looking up!

But this is not your normal factory. This place keeps their employees on a tight leash through means that would make OSHA blush. But Randy’s pulling in some dough, and he can’t let his daughter down, or his insufferable ex.

The money is good, but the consequences are dire as Randy navigates his way through a workplace where Big Brother watches and punishment can be violent… even deadly!

Does Randy have what it takes to be upper management, or will he have to bring the whole place down? As the lines between the past and the present blur and the struggle to make ends meet begin to consume him, Randy must fight for his life, his honor, and a reality that is slipping away like sand through an hourglass.

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2026

About the author

Robert Essig is the author of 30 books such as Baby Fights, Disco Rice, and Master of Bodies, which was nominated for a Splatterpunk Award. He has published over 130 short stories and edited three anthologies. Robert lives with his family in east Tennessee.

Reviews

[Corrina Morse]

Holy shit, this is a unique concept, and brutal AF! Incredibly descriptive, the two voices blend together seamlessly to make this story slick and enticing from the off.

MetalWorkz is a factory with a difference. A deeply dark, disturbing and fucked up difference. And one I absolutely was not expecting!!
It'll get its hooks into you and keep you guessing, from the very beginning to the very end.

Randy is down on his luck when he takes on a new factory job, but everything's very weird and secretive. The Upper Management don't like people asking too many questions, making him want to quit from day one, but the factory management has other ideas for him.

"The flesh isn't the only thing that is greatly important here. What exits from you is something special, too!" (The scene this line is from was one of my biggest gag moments, of which there were plenty! 🤢)

This was deeply sinister, gory, weird, and creepy. And what a great twist!

I kept watching the percentage read on my kindle going up and willing it to stop, I didn't want this to end! Although, I fear I will be hearing the clanking of chains, and becoming instantly rigid with fear when I do, long into my future….

[Milt Theo]

If you're into job (or workplace, or corporate) horror, this book will make your day! Utterly creepy scenes of mysterious happenings during a guy's shifts in a factory, strange coworkers, a weird receptionist, shadowy supervisors, and a monstrosity for a boss - not to mention the armed goons, the Kafkaesque settings and the kill chains (was that a pun?), plus the visceral body horror!

The book's greatest asset for me though was the flawed main character: you can really feel for him, share in his anxieties as well as the happy moments with his young daughter, and give him the benefit of the doubt as often as needed; he's just too damn relatable (which is ironic, come to think of it)!

Overall, this is actually a fun, easy read, but with a shocking ending! Should have seen it coming, but these authors combined are true magicians: they made sure I'd be looking in the wrong place for answers!

[Diana | Indie Book Addict]

From the start of this I was already super curious about MetalWorkz. It didn't seem like your regular factory job and as the story progresses you find out it definitely is not. So much weird stuff going on there that made me question why anyone stayed working there. In the end it all makes sense.

The MC in this was a likeable guy. He seemed real enough and someone you could relate with on certain things, so the ending made everything a bit more shocking. Not at all what I thought was going to happen, but it was an excellent ending that tied everything together nicely.

A must read for those that enjoy some work horror/sci-fi horror.

[Bookaholic__Reviews]

This was pretty fucking crazy. The whole time I was reading it and was thinking "this is insane" and then I got to the ending and I was thinking " no way". Fantastic story with a mindfuck of an ending.

[Steph Kneeland]

This was a great, fun, fast and exhilarating read! My first time reading Chuck Nasty and he and Essig wrote beautifully together.

This one brought me back to the 80's with terminator style writing. The flawed main character Randy was easy to empathize with as his story developed more and more. A family man, who made some mistakes, but was doing his best to make up for them. His ex wife Lacey, always berating him via text to pay what he owes, Randy finally gets a job, that pays well, but strange things happen at work and he has very strange coworkers to boot. As things ramp up, more and more comes out about this job, that though he knows he should quit, he just can't seem to do it.

Anyway, if you like a good gory horror, mixed with what I would say sci-fi, this one is for you!!

[Alenna Burleson]

Randy is struggling to provide for his daughter,being divorced from his wife and not keeping steady income something has to change. Landing a job at a factory, he starts to be able to provide for his daughter and get back on track. Except his job is weird… there are chains that are seemingly moving by themselves and people are just not mentally there…

This was a really interesting story. I really enjoyed Randy’s character, I thought all of the things that he was going through was really hard but I really respected his dedication to his daughter throughout. I thought the whole chains doing their own thing was really creepy and very conceptually sick, I liked how the coworkers acted and the way they were through the story gave the whole thing a very menacing feeling throughout.

The things I really didn’t enjoy were, the pacing of the story, understandably it was monotonous, I mean it’s a story about a factory job, but it just dragged in places it didn’t need to and zoomed past really interesting or cool things I would have liked to read more about.

The addition of characters to add on to the story almost just made it feel more convoluted and just felt unnecessary in my opinion.

Lastly the ending of the story just felt very off for the whole time, The whole background behind the scenes just felt really hard to grasp and just didn’t resonate well with me. It felt rushed at the end and left me with a lot to digest in a short amount of time.

Overall this story was good and I finished it and enjoyed finishing it. There was just a couple parts for me that really didn’t work, after all it’s my opinion and I really love both these authors :))

[Becki 🤎]

Of Flesh & Metal 🏭

Oh I’m so so grateful for this ARC, Robert & Chuck teamed up to bring this brutal work of art & I loved every minute of it!!

Randy is desperate for a job, with a recent divorce from a woman who’s consistently demanding payment for their child, he’s no choice but to accept a maintenance job at a factory, MetalWorkz.

Instantly he knows theirs something off about this place, witnessing chains slithering around like they have a mind of their own & weird fists attached that pop up out of nowhere. Every question he asks his co-workers about the factory seems to get dodged. He knows something just isn’t quite right?!

But he needs the money, if he keeps his head down & doesn’t ask anymore questions then it’ll all be ok won’t it? Erm NOPE it won’t, the story unravels, NDA’s are signed…its gonna get a whole lot worse 🫣

👏🏼😱 So I read this until my eyes were stinging right before bed, I couldn’t put it down & guess what happened….I had the worse nightmares about big long chains with hands on them trying to get me! It was awful! 😩 safe to say this was impactful 😅

I don’t always like sci-fi horror, I don’t always gel with it but this! F yes to this!!
I devoured it & enjoyed the fear it put into me 🤣 it was a craaaazy story!! Also the ending was so unexpected 🫣

Thank you so much for the ARC! It is released & available now. Please do check those triggers first! 🤎

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Josh Hitch]

This was a fun read dealing with sort of a loser of a guy, just trying to get back on his feet. He gets a job at a factory, though it isnt any normal factory. It keeps a strict watch over its employees and offer strict punishments which could be even lethal. He would love to quit but he needs the funds and it doesnt seem like a job you can quit. He has to figure out what is going on.

Love the setting and the main character is definitely relatable. The chains that are sort of the watchdogs for the factory are wicked creatures that just shoot out and attack the unwary. Lots of weird things are happening for sure.

Highly recommended, was a quick read that kept my interest. Didnt see the ending coming but was fitting.

[Christine Fancher]

This was a fun, quick read with gore and grotesqueness! Imagine the worst job you could have and multiply that my 100 and the MMCs workplace would probably not even touch it! Randy works at a factory where strange things are happening but no one is willing to talk about it even when they all see it happen right before their eyes. Randy wants to leave but keeps at it. Work and his daughter and ex are the only things important to him..
This book gave me 80s/b flick horror vibes with the style of gore that it had. I really enjoyed that feeling and watching the secrets unfold. The ending was quite surprising, not what I expected at all!

[Leighah]

Yup this was a cool read. This book gave me the feeling I was reading a 80s scifi horror which was awesome. It's also rather creepy. Not just the creatures but also the way the factory was controlled. If you are into killer machines then you will really enjoy this book.