The Corpse Archives

by Kameron Hurley

In this short story, a young person tossed into a work camp and categorized as an "imperfect text" becomes an archivist in charge of a historical library etched on human bodies.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2015

About the author

Kameron Hurley is the author of the upcoming science ficition thriller These Savage Stars (2026), The Light Brigade, and The Stars are Legion, as well as the award-winning God’s War Trilogy and The Worldbreaker Saga. Hurley has won the Hugo Award, Locus Award, Kitschy Award, and Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer. She was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Nebula Award, and the Gemmell Morningstar Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Popular Science Magazine, Lightspeed and numerous anthologies, and appears in two collections: Future Artifacts and Meet Me in the Future. Hurley has also written for The Atlantic, Writers Digest, Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, Bitch Magazine, and Locus Magazine. Her most popular essays, including the viral hit "We Have Always Fought" are collected in The Geek Feminist Revolution. She posts regularly at KameronHurley.com. Get a short story from Kameron each month via: patreon.com/kameronhurley

Reviews

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite of her works so far - feels a bit more sparse and unfulfilled. I have been enjoying the fill-in pieces in this world (I'm a huge sucker for in-world novellas, as I mention in MY BLOG POST ON THIS VERY SUBJECT. However, this one just didn't quite do it for me, even though Kameron's other shorts have been very enjoyable. I still am interested in her writing - it speaks to the grimdarky, dirty sensibilities of my reading, but it just hasn't quite put the pieces together yet. I think I'll give Mirror Empire a try, and see how I like it.

[ambyr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too self-consciously grimdark for my taste. At a flash fiction length I would have found the body horror elements alone compelling enough to carry the story, but at 30 pages those just weren't enough to balance out the vague worldbuilding and undeveloped characters.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to say whether the vagueness of the story is its biggest strength by keeping you curious, or its biggest weakness by never actually giving you the full story. Intriguing read, though.