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Year's Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology
Abodyemigphobia is the fear of the visceral aspects of the human body. Mutilation, alteration, and disfigurement at the epicenter of horror for many ages. In body horror we not only find something to fear, but we learn to fear ourselves.
How can one fear themselves? Why would something so natural disturb generations of readers?
Gehenna & Hinnom is honored to present the Year's Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology, the most disturbing and blasphemous collection of horror to ever be read by human eyes. Enter the morose. Embrace the Unknown.
How can one fear themselves? Why would something so natural disturb generations of readers?
Gehenna & Hinnom is honored to present the Year's Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology, the most disturbing and blasphemous collection of horror to ever be read by human eyes. Enter the morose. Embrace the Unknown.
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 6, 2017
This is a solid anthology full of very diverse takes on the concept of body horror. Carl Jenning's fabulous story "Cicada" left me horrified of ever having to have a cast. My very favorite tale "Tetanus" by Chris Vander Kaay, went in a completely unexpected and fascinatingly disturbing direction. Not a dud in the bunch- a fine antho.
September 19, 2017
This anthology contains some very well crafted tales of Body Horror by a diverse group of talented authors.
For example, "The Always Watching Eye" by Gary Power and "Porphyria" by John S. McFarland are chilling tales that draw you deep into despair and terror as they progress to their terrifying conclusions.
In fairness, I won't comment on my own contribution, but I will applaud C.P. Dunphey and Gehenna & Hinnom publishers on an excellent job curating this large collection.
Oh, and as author Carl R. Jennings would suggest, if you happen to hear the distinct scratching noise of a cicada, be afraid. Be very afraid, indeed.
For example, "The Always Watching Eye" by Gary Power and "Porphyria" by John S. McFarland are chilling tales that draw you deep into despair and terror as they progress to their terrifying conclusions.
In fairness, I won't comment on my own contribution, but I will applaud C.P. Dunphey and Gehenna & Hinnom publishers on an excellent job curating this large collection.
Oh, and as author Carl R. Jennings would suggest, if you happen to hear the distinct scratching noise of a cicada, be afraid. Be very afraid, indeed.
October 9, 2017
A fun collection of nightmares!
Read my full take here: Years Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology
Read my full take here: Years Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology
April 4, 2026
Every anthology is a mixed bag. That’s why they’re so exciting. You never know what you’ll get out of them. Some I really liked. Some I really did not like. I think this is an eclectic enough collection that there will be at least **ONE** story you’ll enjoy in here.
I think it’s a real shame we didn’t end up getting more books in this series. True, genuine body horror is a field that most people seem to not want to undertake. Cronenburg-style body horror is my favorite and the most difficult to find. This collection has some of those, but not as many as I wanted. Even so, there is a pleasantly small amount of splatterpunk and cannibalism which I personally feel pervade the genre to the extreme due to the fact that they’re easy to write and handle (in my opinion). Perhaps transformative body horror would have a bigger place if such body horror wasen’t just named Cronenbergian, forever giving credit to another person for the horror you create, but that never stopped the endless emulations of Lovecraft and his cosmic horror endlessly being called Lovecraftian, had it?
I think one of the most important parts of any body horror, no matter what method you undertake, is focusing on the human experience after. We often feel like a witness to misshapen in body horror stories, or if we are allowed to feel what the victims feel, it is then sent to a quick end. It’s merciful, but it weak. Body horror is a genre that thrives best when it marinates in being inside a body that is violated, wrong, ruined, other nasty words. It’s the feeling that lgbtqia+ and disabled people feel every day. It’s the feeling that those who do not fit inside society’s vision of beauty feel every day, whether it be aging or weight or having features society deems as ugly. It’s the feeling of existing in a body at all. Body horror is *uncomfortable*. It can brilliantly twist biological realities of sex and death into it so viscerally that even being alive feels monstrous. I don’t think most of these authors really, truely understand what that means.
That being said, there still are good stories in here! I won’t be cruel and rip them apart because, they don’t meet my overly deep feelings about Body Horror. Instead, i’ll mostly judge them based on my enjoyment of then. Beware, I had skipped a fair few of them, as I often do in anthologies due to one reason or another. Writing styles and energies might not always match up. I tend to not like more comedic tones when looking for dark, dreadful stories, for example.
# Reviews:
**Slobber by Shaun Avery**
In Slobber we start out with a fetish piece, which I feel is a strange choice to start out the collection. I feel anthologies should start out strongly and set the tone for the collection. This was a very bizarre tone to set.
I think fetish body horror works are wonderfully uncomfortable due to the combination of sex and body horror and can offer their own kind of slimy experience, but the reactions overall of the victims left a bit to be desired. There was a lot to play with when it comes to the body horror of having your entire physiology change permanently and the psychological and sociological impact of what had been done to them, and therein comes the downside of fetish pieces. The author did not care. The ending was also of no interest to me. Fetish pieces often take a comedy route I think as a means to try and pass off their weird desires in a more socially acceptable manner, and I think that just makes it feel weirder in a bad way. It further dehumanizes the objects of their lust by reducing them to something equateable to clowns. This would have been fine on a story level, not an author level. I would have much rather leaned into the horror aspect more.
**Eruption by Charlotte Baker**
Eruptionis short, sweet, and to the point. It did what it needed to do. I feel like stories that end right at the climax don't usually work well on their own because they've been done so many times, but in an anthology, it can serve as a nice palette cleanser. The placement of this story for that, though, is poor. The anthology already didn’t start out strong, and then we move into a short story that ends before it really goes anywhere interesting.
**Devil’s Tears by Shadrick Beechem**
I liked the way this one started much better than it ended. It turned into a splatterpunk gorefest which is not my favorite form of body horror at all. I do like a good gore session when it’s used in certain instances, but there was so much of it for such a long time that it felt flat and somewhat irritating. What I do like about it is its obvious commentary on addictions and drugs. Addiction IS disgusting. It is full of death, madness, and ruin. You take enough of that stuff, you’ll never be you again.
I found it enjoyable though excessive gross out descriptions aren't really my deal. I liked the crime thriller set up better than where it went. Iy sort of felt like the set up was going to go somewhere else. Like, it felt like the author wrote a part of it and then just decided to finish it and be done with it by wrapping up the whole story now in a single instance of what would have been a much bigger story.
**An Angel Among Us by David Beers**
An Angel Among Us this is definitely one of the best stories in this collection. It had me questioning myself and whether I personally thought my own belief was enough to allow atrocities, as well as provided very keen insight into how foolish and easily Influenced humanity truly is. It's a dark story and highly distressing, but I feel it's also extremely insightful into the human condition.
**Human-Kings by Austin Biela**
This story is another one of the best in this collection. Human-Kings falls under the speculative fiction umbrella more than horror, though it is quite horrific to think about. I would love to read a series based around this world the author has made. It’s basically a story of humanity living in one big space vault and our tenacity for survival as a species. It asks very big questions I don't have an answer for : What does it mean to be human? Are we more than our fear of death? Did we truely survive?
**Wrigglers by Chantal Bourdreau**
I liked this one a lot. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King and Goosebumps but, that's probably because of the backwoods kids. The story and the characters are surprisingly cruel. I kept waiting for the characters to turn and show kindness, but they told us just who they were from the very start. I liked the way this one was written. Reading it was really smooth and enjoyable.
**Little Monsters by Ed Burkley**
This one's body horror scared me. I was honestly a little excited because, I’d finally found what I was looking for in this collection. Cronenburgian body horror with longterm pov of the consequences. This is the kind of body horror I really like-when you become something unrecognizable as human. It's a pretty good story with an overall allegory that works well.
**Tom’s Thumbs by K.M. Campbell**
I ended up skipping this one. If I read it, I truely don’t remember it. I tried to get into it for a bit, but I really wasen’t hooked nor interested in it. After finally getting a taste of what I wanted, I knew what I didn’t want.
**Family Dinner by A. Collingwood**
Family Dinner is a savage, on the nose revenge story. I don’t normally care for these nor cannibalism, but it was told in such a way I was cheering by the end.
**The Itch by Stuart Conover**
This story has a classic setup with alot of skin flakes and not alot of payoff. I did’t care for this one.
**The Blind Assassin by Damien Donnelly**
This is very short story that I also skipped. I read about half of it. It didn’t grip me.
**Flesh by James Dorr**
Flesh interesting allegorical tale about eating the rich. I enjoyed the perspective of the protagonist a fair bit. I enjoy the insight and cynical view of the wealthy who hoard resources endlessly, though the story was not all that riveting.
**A Normal Son by Spinster Eskie**
A Normal Son is yet another allegorical tale, though instead of covering the wealth gap, we take a look at mental disabilities. It takes a hard look at the concept of love and existence really nicely covers a topic I feel alot of people are hesitant to even think about. We are coming out of an age where alot of people thought, and still feel, that children are like pets that will solve all your problems and give you everything you ever wanted. Even almost a decade later, this story is STILL relevant.
**Gask Mask Baby by Santiago Eximeno**
This is by far the worst story in this selection and genuinely made me angry to read. It is one big pro-life guilt trip laying solely on the shoulders of the would-be mothers but nothing to say of the fathers. It lays the entire weight of responsibility and guilt right at the feet of the woman without a thought of money, support, a secondary parent, want, or anything else. It’s the epitome of ‘women exist to breed’ and ‘men can be well uh whatever they want’ old ass fuckwit ideology.
**Human Body by Balazs Farkas**
I didn’t know how I felt about this one at first. I’m really sensitive to weird things and repeatedly calling the human body ‘the human body’ irritated me. I was able to look past it and perservere and was rewarded with a pretty solid story. The ending was killer.
**Fresh Face by Tarquin Ford**
Fresh Face was a story that read like someone who was trying to elicit a reaction above everything else. The concept of a demon influencing the couple to behave as they did is an antiquated trope (think devil on your shoulder). It wasen’t bad, but it didn’t feel like it had anything to say.
**Meet the Wife by Ken Goldman**
Meet the Wife was highly predictable but, the body horror element was solid. The sex worker’s behavior was nonsensical though. I’d need to believe she was way more desperate to simply stay when things were getting that intense. She had no street smarts nor self preservation and that isn’t explainable to abandon by calling out extra money she haden’t even see.
**Madman Across the Water by James Harper**
Madman Across the Water has a very, very loose essence of Ebineezer Scrooge that I surprisingly really enjoyed. A rich, sociopathic man hungry for money and not caring for anything else but himself and his ambitions gets the cosmic horrors of his dreams. This another one I really, really liked. The protagonist was interesting to follow around and the horrors are worth the ride.
**Mantis by Kournea Hogan**
Mantis is a very short vore story with a predicable ending. Mantis is serves as an interesting twist on the Siren story and, I will give it props for being willing to make their monster woman horrifying to behold.
**Cicada by Carl R. Jennings**
This story tested my mettle. I was SO uncomfortable. This is a gross out story done right. Self mutilation abound. The set up was believable which made the story even more uncomfortable - because it’s believable. Medical neglect and head injuries are a painfully sad, and common, combination.
**Tetanus by Chris Vander Kaay**
This one got under my skin so badly. I have severe medical anxiety and this set me off. You never know what will happen when you fall asleep. You’re giving up your entire autonomy.
**Grub by Alaexander LLoyd King**
Grub is another one of the top stories in this collection. It’s well written with its descriptions and progression painting pictures in your mind smoothly without being overly flowery. The body horror in this is very solid. A pattern I’m picking up in horror that serves as a fantastic narrative vehicle is the dangers of looking back at what you’ve left behind. Pillar of salt, guys.
**My Love Burns with a Green Flame by Thomas Marvourdis**
Another great piece of body horror can be found in this oddly titled story. The transformation progression reminds me alot of a classic Stephen King story where a man is overcome by an alien plant. A fantastic allegory for infidelity and STDs that never takes the front seat while leaving the story behind.
**The Face in the Mirror by Sean McCoy**
This story is visceral and has that particular flavor of energy that you can just *feel* the author was putting pieces of themselves into. Anxieties about your body have a very particular, tragic flavor and I can see it clearly. This one, I believe, is coming from the changes that diseases can rend upon your body and life. It takes everything. This is a tragic story and the final line hit me right in the feels.
**Porphyria by John S. Mcfarland**
I don’t know how to feel about this story. I liked it, but I didn’t like it. It’s unique.
**Things by Rick McQuiston**
Things is a great use of a small amount of space. It’s a relatively short story with a full beginning middle and end with anticipation, curiosity, anxiety, and stakes. I like how it didn’t linger on what happened to really drive home just how quickly it all happened. It makes the danger and the terror of the Things even more intense. It scared me.
**The Flesh Gardener by Jeremy Megargee**
“I’m here to tell you that bug chasers are mere amateurs in the world of viral delights. Narrow is their vision, and mundane is their pursuit. If one is to poison a meat vehicle, then why not chase the most exotic of venoms? The self-inflicted ruin of a human carcass should be something bordering on a holy rite, and I’ve always believed that Eden is momentarily remade in the disintegration of flesh. “
I also did not care for this story. The POV didn’t interest me, but it is very uncomfortable and creepy. There are some killer lines in here. The POV of someone with such intense nihilism and fetishistic, self destructive desires is intense. You can feel the sick passion in every word like you can feel the MC getting off to even talking about it.
**Ear Wax by G.A. Miller**
Ear Wax is another story that draws from real life anxieties. While its story isn’t quite as deep or scary, it definitely surprised me.
**The Face by Kurt Newton**
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like the onomonopedia used. It agitated me.
**Battleground by Drew Nicks**
This story had me so fascinated. When you’re in a warzone responsible for so many injuried people and basically alone, what if thing had gotten even worse? I wasen’t scared but, I enjoyed watching the way the main character handled things.
**Whizz-Bang Attack by Sergio “ente per ente” Palumbo**
I skipped this one. I didn’t like the writing style.
**The Always Watching Eye by Gary Powers**
I skipped this one at first, but I’m not sure why. It’s a very solid read. The ending is horrifying.
**Hot Flashes by Jenya Joy Preece**
There is definitely social commentary here in this story, but it was so bizarre and short I didn’t really have time to marinate on it.
**The Implosion of a Gastrocrat: An Experiment in Autophagy by Frank Roger**
I alaso skipped this one. I was not about it.
**No Strings by Josh Shiben**
This one is a classic. I swear I’ve read this one somewhere before. Horrifying. Utterly horrifying. And amazing. Why do we keep worrying about Cordycepts when we have worms to worry about! This one is one of my top favorites.
**Babel by Ian Steadman**
Babel is a short and sweet story about the dangers of what ‘the unknown’ truely means and a consideration on the value of ignorance as something worth cherishing rather than admonishing, though never outright saying so. Great body horror.
**A Pound of Flesh by Edmund Stone**
A lovecraftian style horror story with a bizarre protagonist. The story asks, was it consequence or merely fate? The overall message and theme is extremely simple but, the main horror scene is unique and impressive. I feel it held the style well. You can see obvious inspiration from The Dreams in the Witch House which is my favorite of Lovecrafts works though far more simplistic.
**Conditioned Apocalypse by Aric Sunquist**
TW: Extreme Animal Abuse and Death for this story.
It would not surprise me if this short story inspired the game “No! I am not human.” It has a very similar set up. It’s a disturbing piece, that’s for sure. I enjoyed this one and thought the overall plot was good. It’s not just the gore and torture, but the idea of: what if you weren’t quite you anymore? Would you even know?
**Length by David Turton**
Length is a story about shame. Shame and body horror go hand in hand. Shame is also a huge proponent of fetish which is why we so often see body horror and fetish go hand in hand. Personal desire isn’t all that far from sexual desire. Sex is a huge part of our society and belonging, and sexual partners are often picked from those that physically meet societal expectation. (We are really just a messy clump of meat and chemicals.) Not everyone meets societal expectation. This is required for those to exist who do. It’s only natural the ‘have nots’ would desire to be a ‘have’. Our protagonist here is a ‘have not’ diagnosed with a micro penis. You can imagine what a lonely, difficult life its been for him in our sex obsessed society. If bigger = better than excess = perfection, right? Alas, not so. Not in a horror story, it isn’t. Sometimes things can always be worse. Sometimes you can lose alot more if you don’t value what you have. (I don’t know why I went into this tangent.)
I’m a sucker for monkey’s paw-style stories. Having your own body part become someone else’s and turn against you is extremely uncomfortable to imagine. I enjoyed this one. Some of the writing towards the end was a bit clunky though.
**Natural Growth by M.B. Vujacic**
Similar to the previous story, this one also deals with the growth of sexual organs but on a pair of breasts rather than a penis. This one takes a different tone when it comes to the anxieties of the body but does linger on the benefits of reaching societal expectation as well as the consequences of believing in a free lunch. I liked this story better than the previous one. The consequences of wanting more and not valuing what you had hit harder here. I am thoroughly disgusted and don’t think I need any injections from doctors in my boobs any time soon.
**Utter No Evil by Joseph Watson**
Anxiety over cuts and infections is relatable to almost everyone. I’m surprised more people haven’t done something with this sort of set up. This covered the feeling of helplessness wonderfully when doctors don't do all the magical things they do on TV. They get you in and out and move on to the next person.
The story took a twist I was not expecting! Pretty solid. I thought the ending was great.
**Down Where Her Nightmares Dwell by Sheldon Woodbury**
This was a great story to end the anthology. It is great insight into the mind of those that enjoy body horror. The protagonist knows the pai
I think it’s a real shame we didn’t end up getting more books in this series. True, genuine body horror is a field that most people seem to not want to undertake. Cronenburg-style body horror is my favorite and the most difficult to find. This collection has some of those, but not as many as I wanted. Even so, there is a pleasantly small amount of splatterpunk and cannibalism which I personally feel pervade the genre to the extreme due to the fact that they’re easy to write and handle (in my opinion). Perhaps transformative body horror would have a bigger place if such body horror wasen’t just named Cronenbergian, forever giving credit to another person for the horror you create, but that never stopped the endless emulations of Lovecraft and his cosmic horror endlessly being called Lovecraftian, had it?
I think one of the most important parts of any body horror, no matter what method you undertake, is focusing on the human experience after. We often feel like a witness to misshapen in body horror stories, or if we are allowed to feel what the victims feel, it is then sent to a quick end. It’s merciful, but it weak. Body horror is a genre that thrives best when it marinates in being inside a body that is violated, wrong, ruined, other nasty words. It’s the feeling that lgbtqia+ and disabled people feel every day. It’s the feeling that those who do not fit inside society’s vision of beauty feel every day, whether it be aging or weight or having features society deems as ugly. It’s the feeling of existing in a body at all. Body horror is *uncomfortable*. It can brilliantly twist biological realities of sex and death into it so viscerally that even being alive feels monstrous. I don’t think most of these authors really, truely understand what that means.
That being said, there still are good stories in here! I won’t be cruel and rip them apart because, they don’t meet my overly deep feelings about Body Horror. Instead, i’ll mostly judge them based on my enjoyment of then. Beware, I had skipped a fair few of them, as I often do in anthologies due to one reason or another. Writing styles and energies might not always match up. I tend to not like more comedic tones when looking for dark, dreadful stories, for example.
# Reviews:
**Slobber by Shaun Avery**
In Slobber we start out with a fetish piece, which I feel is a strange choice to start out the collection. I feel anthologies should start out strongly and set the tone for the collection. This was a very bizarre tone to set.
I think fetish body horror works are wonderfully uncomfortable due to the combination of sex and body horror and can offer their own kind of slimy experience, but the reactions overall of the victims left a bit to be desired. There was a lot to play with when it comes to the body horror of having your entire physiology change permanently and the psychological and sociological impact of what had been done to them, and therein comes the downside of fetish pieces. The author did not care. The ending was also of no interest to me. Fetish pieces often take a comedy route I think as a means to try and pass off their weird desires in a more socially acceptable manner, and I think that just makes it feel weirder in a bad way. It further dehumanizes the objects of their lust by reducing them to something equateable to clowns. This would have been fine on a story level, not an author level. I would have much rather leaned into the horror aspect more.
**Eruption by Charlotte Baker**
Eruptionis short, sweet, and to the point. It did what it needed to do. I feel like stories that end right at the climax don't usually work well on their own because they've been done so many times, but in an anthology, it can serve as a nice palette cleanser. The placement of this story for that, though, is poor. The anthology already didn’t start out strong, and then we move into a short story that ends before it really goes anywhere interesting.
**Devil’s Tears by Shadrick Beechem**
I liked the way this one started much better than it ended. It turned into a splatterpunk gorefest which is not my favorite form of body horror at all. I do like a good gore session when it’s used in certain instances, but there was so much of it for such a long time that it felt flat and somewhat irritating. What I do like about it is its obvious commentary on addictions and drugs. Addiction IS disgusting. It is full of death, madness, and ruin. You take enough of that stuff, you’ll never be you again.
I found it enjoyable though excessive gross out descriptions aren't really my deal. I liked the crime thriller set up better than where it went. Iy sort of felt like the set up was going to go somewhere else. Like, it felt like the author wrote a part of it and then just decided to finish it and be done with it by wrapping up the whole story now in a single instance of what would have been a much bigger story.
**An Angel Among Us by David Beers**
An Angel Among Us this is definitely one of the best stories in this collection. It had me questioning myself and whether I personally thought my own belief was enough to allow atrocities, as well as provided very keen insight into how foolish and easily Influenced humanity truly is. It's a dark story and highly distressing, but I feel it's also extremely insightful into the human condition.
**Human-Kings by Austin Biela**
This story is another one of the best in this collection. Human-Kings falls under the speculative fiction umbrella more than horror, though it is quite horrific to think about. I would love to read a series based around this world the author has made. It’s basically a story of humanity living in one big space vault and our tenacity for survival as a species. It asks very big questions I don't have an answer for : What does it mean to be human? Are we more than our fear of death? Did we truely survive?
**Wrigglers by Chantal Bourdreau**
I liked this one a lot. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King and Goosebumps but, that's probably because of the backwoods kids. The story and the characters are surprisingly cruel. I kept waiting for the characters to turn and show kindness, but they told us just who they were from the very start. I liked the way this one was written. Reading it was really smooth and enjoyable.
**Little Monsters by Ed Burkley**
This one's body horror scared me. I was honestly a little excited because, I’d finally found what I was looking for in this collection. Cronenburgian body horror with longterm pov of the consequences. This is the kind of body horror I really like-when you become something unrecognizable as human. It's a pretty good story with an overall allegory that works well.
**Tom’s Thumbs by K.M. Campbell**
I ended up skipping this one. If I read it, I truely don’t remember it. I tried to get into it for a bit, but I really wasen’t hooked nor interested in it. After finally getting a taste of what I wanted, I knew what I didn’t want.
**Family Dinner by A. Collingwood**
Family Dinner is a savage, on the nose revenge story. I don’t normally care for these nor cannibalism, but it was told in such a way I was cheering by the end.
**The Itch by Stuart Conover**
This story has a classic setup with alot of skin flakes and not alot of payoff. I did’t care for this one.
**The Blind Assassin by Damien Donnelly**
This is very short story that I also skipped. I read about half of it. It didn’t grip me.
**Flesh by James Dorr**
Flesh interesting allegorical tale about eating the rich. I enjoyed the perspective of the protagonist a fair bit. I enjoy the insight and cynical view of the wealthy who hoard resources endlessly, though the story was not all that riveting.
**A Normal Son by Spinster Eskie**
A Normal Son is yet another allegorical tale, though instead of covering the wealth gap, we take a look at mental disabilities. It takes a hard look at the concept of love and existence really nicely covers a topic I feel alot of people are hesitant to even think about. We are coming out of an age where alot of people thought, and still feel, that children are like pets that will solve all your problems and give you everything you ever wanted. Even almost a decade later, this story is STILL relevant.
**Gask Mask Baby by Santiago Eximeno**
This is by far the worst story in this selection and genuinely made me angry to read. It is one big pro-life guilt trip laying solely on the shoulders of the would-be mothers but nothing to say of the fathers. It lays the entire weight of responsibility and guilt right at the feet of the woman without a thought of money, support, a secondary parent, want, or anything else. It’s the epitome of ‘women exist to breed’ and ‘men can be well uh whatever they want’ old ass fuckwit ideology.
**Human Body by Balazs Farkas**
I didn’t know how I felt about this one at first. I’m really sensitive to weird things and repeatedly calling the human body ‘the human body’ irritated me. I was able to look past it and perservere and was rewarded with a pretty solid story. The ending was killer.
**Fresh Face by Tarquin Ford**
Fresh Face was a story that read like someone who was trying to elicit a reaction above everything else. The concept of a demon influencing the couple to behave as they did is an antiquated trope (think devil on your shoulder). It wasen’t bad, but it didn’t feel like it had anything to say.
**Meet the Wife by Ken Goldman**
Meet the Wife was highly predictable but, the body horror element was solid. The sex worker’s behavior was nonsensical though. I’d need to believe she was way more desperate to simply stay when things were getting that intense. She had no street smarts nor self preservation and that isn’t explainable to abandon by calling out extra money she haden’t even see.
**Madman Across the Water by James Harper**
Madman Across the Water has a very, very loose essence of Ebineezer Scrooge that I surprisingly really enjoyed. A rich, sociopathic man hungry for money and not caring for anything else but himself and his ambitions gets the cosmic horrors of his dreams. This another one I really, really liked. The protagonist was interesting to follow around and the horrors are worth the ride.
**Mantis by Kournea Hogan**
Mantis is a very short vore story with a predicable ending. Mantis is serves as an interesting twist on the Siren story and, I will give it props for being willing to make their monster woman horrifying to behold.
**Cicada by Carl R. Jennings**
This story tested my mettle. I was SO uncomfortable. This is a gross out story done right. Self mutilation abound. The set up was believable which made the story even more uncomfortable - because it’s believable. Medical neglect and head injuries are a painfully sad, and common, combination.
**Tetanus by Chris Vander Kaay**
This one got under my skin so badly. I have severe medical anxiety and this set me off. You never know what will happen when you fall asleep. You’re giving up your entire autonomy.
**Grub by Alaexander LLoyd King**
Grub is another one of the top stories in this collection. It’s well written with its descriptions and progression painting pictures in your mind smoothly without being overly flowery. The body horror in this is very solid. A pattern I’m picking up in horror that serves as a fantastic narrative vehicle is the dangers of looking back at what you’ve left behind. Pillar of salt, guys.
**My Love Burns with a Green Flame by Thomas Marvourdis**
Another great piece of body horror can be found in this oddly titled story. The transformation progression reminds me alot of a classic Stephen King story where a man is overcome by an alien plant. A fantastic allegory for infidelity and STDs that never takes the front seat while leaving the story behind.
**The Face in the Mirror by Sean McCoy**
This story is visceral and has that particular flavor of energy that you can just *feel* the author was putting pieces of themselves into. Anxieties about your body have a very particular, tragic flavor and I can see it clearly. This one, I believe, is coming from the changes that diseases can rend upon your body and life. It takes everything. This is a tragic story and the final line hit me right in the feels.
**Porphyria by John S. Mcfarland**
I don’t know how to feel about this story. I liked it, but I didn’t like it. It’s unique.
**Things by Rick McQuiston**
Things is a great use of a small amount of space. It’s a relatively short story with a full beginning middle and end with anticipation, curiosity, anxiety, and stakes. I like how it didn’t linger on what happened to really drive home just how quickly it all happened. It makes the danger and the terror of the Things even more intense. It scared me.
**The Flesh Gardener by Jeremy Megargee**
“I’m here to tell you that bug chasers are mere amateurs in the world of viral delights. Narrow is their vision, and mundane is their pursuit. If one is to poison a meat vehicle, then why not chase the most exotic of venoms? The self-inflicted ruin of a human carcass should be something bordering on a holy rite, and I’ve always believed that Eden is momentarily remade in the disintegration of flesh. “
I also did not care for this story. The POV didn’t interest me, but it is very uncomfortable and creepy. There are some killer lines in here. The POV of someone with such intense nihilism and fetishistic, self destructive desires is intense. You can feel the sick passion in every word like you can feel the MC getting off to even talking about it.
**Ear Wax by G.A. Miller**
Ear Wax is another story that draws from real life anxieties. While its story isn’t quite as deep or scary, it definitely surprised me.
**The Face by Kurt Newton**
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like the onomonopedia used. It agitated me.
**Battleground by Drew Nicks**
This story had me so fascinated. When you’re in a warzone responsible for so many injuried people and basically alone, what if thing had gotten even worse? I wasen’t scared but, I enjoyed watching the way the main character handled things.
**Whizz-Bang Attack by Sergio “ente per ente” Palumbo**
I skipped this one. I didn’t like the writing style.
**The Always Watching Eye by Gary Powers**
I skipped this one at first, but I’m not sure why. It’s a very solid read. The ending is horrifying.
**Hot Flashes by Jenya Joy Preece**
There is definitely social commentary here in this story, but it was so bizarre and short I didn’t really have time to marinate on it.
**The Implosion of a Gastrocrat: An Experiment in Autophagy by Frank Roger**
I alaso skipped this one. I was not about it.
**No Strings by Josh Shiben**
This one is a classic. I swear I’ve read this one somewhere before. Horrifying. Utterly horrifying. And amazing. Why do we keep worrying about Cordycepts when we have worms to worry about! This one is one of my top favorites.
**Babel by Ian Steadman**
Babel is a short and sweet story about the dangers of what ‘the unknown’ truely means and a consideration on the value of ignorance as something worth cherishing rather than admonishing, though never outright saying so. Great body horror.
**A Pound of Flesh by Edmund Stone**
A lovecraftian style horror story with a bizarre protagonist. The story asks, was it consequence or merely fate? The overall message and theme is extremely simple but, the main horror scene is unique and impressive. I feel it held the style well. You can see obvious inspiration from The Dreams in the Witch House which is my favorite of Lovecrafts works though far more simplistic.
**Conditioned Apocalypse by Aric Sunquist**
TW: Extreme Animal Abuse and Death for this story.
It would not surprise me if this short story inspired the game “No! I am not human.” It has a very similar set up. It’s a disturbing piece, that’s for sure. I enjoyed this one and thought the overall plot was good. It’s not just the gore and torture, but the idea of: what if you weren’t quite you anymore? Would you even know?
**Length by David Turton**
Length is a story about shame. Shame and body horror go hand in hand. Shame is also a huge proponent of fetish which is why we so often see body horror and fetish go hand in hand. Personal desire isn’t all that far from sexual desire. Sex is a huge part of our society and belonging, and sexual partners are often picked from those that physically meet societal expectation. (We are really just a messy clump of meat and chemicals.) Not everyone meets societal expectation. This is required for those to exist who do. It’s only natural the ‘have nots’ would desire to be a ‘have’. Our protagonist here is a ‘have not’ diagnosed with a micro penis. You can imagine what a lonely, difficult life its been for him in our sex obsessed society. If bigger = better than excess = perfection, right? Alas, not so. Not in a horror story, it isn’t. Sometimes things can always be worse. Sometimes you can lose alot more if you don’t value what you have. (I don’t know why I went into this tangent.)
I’m a sucker for monkey’s paw-style stories. Having your own body part become someone else’s and turn against you is extremely uncomfortable to imagine. I enjoyed this one. Some of the writing towards the end was a bit clunky though.
**Natural Growth by M.B. Vujacic**
Similar to the previous story, this one also deals with the growth of sexual organs but on a pair of breasts rather than a penis. This one takes a different tone when it comes to the anxieties of the body but does linger on the benefits of reaching societal expectation as well as the consequences of believing in a free lunch. I liked this story better than the previous one. The consequences of wanting more and not valuing what you had hit harder here. I am thoroughly disgusted and don’t think I need any injections from doctors in my boobs any time soon.
**Utter No Evil by Joseph Watson**
Anxiety over cuts and infections is relatable to almost everyone. I’m surprised more people haven’t done something with this sort of set up. This covered the feeling of helplessness wonderfully when doctors don't do all the magical things they do on TV. They get you in and out and move on to the next person.
The story took a twist I was not expecting! Pretty solid. I thought the ending was great.
**Down Where Her Nightmares Dwell by Sheldon Woodbury**
This was a great story to end the anthology. It is great insight into the mind of those that enjoy body horror. The protagonist knows the pai
November 15, 2020
Sad Year for Horror
2017 was a sad year for Horror if,indeed, this anthology represents that year's best.
What passes for horror these days is primarily gore and violence, as this collection of mostly disappointing and underwhelming stories demonstrates.
When I choose to read horror, I want to be riveted by fear and dread, tinged with a compulsion to keep reading because I HAVE to know how it ends. What l DON'T want is to be revolted by a deluge of senseless violence and bloodletting that compels me to stop reading and scan ahead for a better story.
Please don't misunderstand me. I am no weak-stomached, lily-livered, flowers-and-butterflies-only wimp of a horror fan. I can take, and appreciate blood and guts just fine, thank you very much, when appropriate to the unfolding of a well-told story.
What I find objectionable is writing that confuses the ultimate gross-out for true horror. Too many of today's horror writers seem to rely on that tactic, which, in my opinion, demonstrates immaturity, laziness, and a dearth of creativity and skill.
Notable exceptions to these disappointing stories include Babel.
2017 was a sad year for Horror if,indeed, this anthology represents that year's best.
What passes for horror these days is primarily gore and violence, as this collection of mostly disappointing and underwhelming stories demonstrates.
When I choose to read horror, I want to be riveted by fear and dread, tinged with a compulsion to keep reading because I HAVE to know how it ends. What l DON'T want is to be revolted by a deluge of senseless violence and bloodletting that compels me to stop reading and scan ahead for a better story.
Please don't misunderstand me. I am no weak-stomached, lily-livered, flowers-and-butterflies-only wimp of a horror fan. I can take, and appreciate blood and guts just fine, thank you very much, when appropriate to the unfolding of a well-told story.
What I find objectionable is writing that confuses the ultimate gross-out for true horror. Too many of today's horror writers seem to rely on that tactic, which, in my opinion, demonstrates immaturity, laziness, and a dearth of creativity and skill.
Notable exceptions to these disappointing stories include Babel.
February 19, 2018
OK
Some stories scary, some not so scary. Several just plain nauseating. Did any keep me awake at night? No. Were any so interesting I couldn’t put the book down? No.
Some stories scary, some not so scary. Several just plain nauseating. Did any keep me awake at night? No. Were any so interesting I couldn’t put the book down? No.
August 26, 2024
This is a review for 'A Pound of Flesh' by Edmund Stone which can be found in this collection; Year's Best Body Horror 2017 Anthology.
*2.5 stars rounded up*
A Pound of Flesh follows our young protagonist, a tattoo artist who unlocks evil entities after he tattoos ancient symbols and imagery onto his partners leg.
I was quite disappointed by this short. When reading the description I had high expectations, but it unfortunately fell short in my opinion. The concept was great, but it was not executed very well and did not feel as if I was reading a horror short until the last couple of pages, where everything felt rushed. There was a lot of unnecessary details in the first half of the book that allowed readers to feel as if the story was getting dragged out. I felt as if the climax to the story happened too late and was very rushed and overly detailed to the point that it did not paint a clear picture to the reader.
*2.5 stars rounded up*
A Pound of Flesh follows our young protagonist, a tattoo artist who unlocks evil entities after he tattoos ancient symbols and imagery onto his partners leg.
I was quite disappointed by this short. When reading the description I had high expectations, but it unfortunately fell short in my opinion. The concept was great, but it was not executed very well and did not feel as if I was reading a horror short until the last couple of pages, where everything felt rushed. There was a lot of unnecessary details in the first half of the book that allowed readers to feel as if the story was getting dragged out. I felt as if the climax to the story happened too late and was very rushed and overly detailed to the point that it did not paint a clear picture to the reader.
December 5, 2020
Great Body Horror Anthology Ranging from the Bizarre to the Disturbing
I managed to read this anthology over the course of three months through my busy schedule. Very few of the stories were duds where as the vast majority was entertaining in their own twisted ways.
Some of the stories were gross, others disturbing, some frightening, and others just weird or bizarre.
Other than this book, I couldn't find many other horror anthologies that focuses so in-depth on the specific subject matter.
Highly recommend if you find the sub-horror genre of body horror especially fascinating and frightening.
I managed to read this anthology over the course of three months through my busy schedule. Very few of the stories were duds where as the vast majority was entertaining in their own twisted ways.
Some of the stories were gross, others disturbing, some frightening, and others just weird or bizarre.
Other than this book, I couldn't find many other horror anthologies that focuses so in-depth on the specific subject matter.
Highly recommend if you find the sub-horror genre of body horror especially fascinating and frightening.
October 21, 2021
Spky Szn
Good read overall! Pretty solid anthology for anyone needing a short story fix. Not for the meek of heart, though
Five stars
Good read overall! Pretty solid anthology for anyone needing a short story fix. Not for the meek of heart, though
Five stars
Read
March 26, 2025Good read
Some stories better than others as in all anthologies. At times I lost interest but I did manage to finish it. Meh!
Some stories better than others as in all anthologies. At times I lost interest but I did manage to finish it. Meh!
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