Sharp & Sugar Tooth

Women Up To No Good

by Octavia Cade (Editor), Kathleen Alcalá, Betsy Aoki

Sharp & Sugar Women Up To No Good is a horror anthology of dark fiction and darker appetites, edited by Octavia Cade. Containing 22 stories of "bad" women, and "good" women who just haven't been caught yet, it features 22 fearless writers who identify as female, non-binary, or a marginalized sex or gender identity. It's the third in the Women Up To No Good series, which can be read in any order.

It includes original stories by Kathleen Alcalá, Betsy Aoki, Joyce Chng, Katharine Duckett, Anahita Eftekhari, Amelia Gorman, Jasmyne J. Harris, A. R. Henle, Erin Horáková, Kathryn McMahon, H. Pueyo, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Rachael Sterling, Penny Stirling, Sabrina Vourvoulias, and Rem Wigmore, and reprints of stories from Apex, Electric Velocipede, Fantasy, Lightspeed, and Nightmare Magazines by Chikodili Emelumadu, Crystal Lynn Hilbert, Catherynne M. Valente, Damien Angelica Walters, Alyssa Wong, and Caroline M. Yoachim.

Contributors are based in or hailing from Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, the UK, and all over the United States. Between them, they have won the Andre Norton, Eugie Foster Memorial, Hugo, Lambda, Locus, Mythopoeic, Nebula, Prix Imaginales, Rhysling, Romantic Times' Critics Choice, This Is Horror, James Tiptree Jr., and World Fantasy Awards, and been shortlisted for the Bram Stoker, John W. Campbell, and Shirley Jackson Awards!

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2019

Reviews

[Octavia (ReadsWithDogs) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the introduction to this book!
I believed I'd find engaging stories about women/ people who are nonbinary or identify as women and their relationships around food and power struggles with their gender identity, but the majority of the stories missed the mark for me. They were too food-focused for me and read like food fetish porn.

I really appreciate a collection put together featuring only female, non-binary, marginalized sex or gender identities though and really hope they continue doing this!

[Beth L · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I couldn't finish this book.
It's basically an anthology, using food as social commentary about how women are treated - that's the rubbish it tried to justify itself with anyhow.
But instead of any form of social commentary, the only thing I really took away from this book was that it was compiled by someone/people with a food fetish, pure and simple.
You know the people who like to roll around in their food, throw it everywhere etc? I don't know the name for it.
This book is written for them.
Which is fine, but that is definitely NOT what the blurb described !
I mean. At one point at girl is reminiscing about eating her fake-sweet ex-girlfriends gummy nipples? I mean come on !
DNF, 1 star. Absolutely not for me.

I was grateful (I think?!) to receive this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#sharpsugartooth #netgalley

[Octavia Cade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am clearly utterly biased, as I'm the one who picked the stories that ended up in this anthology, but I love them all to bits. Consumption is such an interesting theme, especially when it's tied into issues of sex and gender, and the stories in here have all approached the issue of women and food and horror in a variety of creepy, compelling ways. I love that while some of the stories in here depict women as victims, as consumable objects, others subvert that expectation by making women predatory consumers themselves. I love that some of these stories navigate and survive horror by relying on friendship and family and shared experiences and sticking together. I love that so many of them have a bone-deep streak of kindness that turns monstrosity into something generous and wonderful. And I love that they're about choosing to act, and choosing not to act, because so often objects of consumption aren't expected to have a choice.

[Kara Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this as a download on Book Sirens for my honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. The stories were all so unique and engaging. There were twists on classics and many fully new tales. Some stories were upsetting and made me really uncomfortable, in the best way possible. This dark collection all tied together by a common theme. My absolute favorite was The Honey Witch. It was beautiful and haunting. If you pick up this book and only have time for one read this is the one I would recommend.
There were unfortunately a couple stories I couldn't get into. The language was just difficult to connect with. I felt compelled to skip these stories, but read through them anyway. This isn't a book I could see myself rereading (with the exception of a few stories). But, if anthologies that are dark are something you enjoy, give it a shot.
It's also worth looking more into all of the authors included in this book.

[Valerie - Cats Luv Coffee Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I typically love anthologies. I love that different authors have the ability create such diverse stories with just a premise to go on. Sharp & Sugar Tooth should have been one of those loves. A dark horror anthology revolving around food? Sounds like a lot of fun, right? The introduction of the book tells of "...we eat or we die. And that makes food ripe for exploitation and power." (Can't argue with that.) Food then becomes a "tool of empowerment within horror, and consumption is a two-way process". The many stories are set up as a look into the relationship between food and women, and how women are often consumed, with or without their consent, for the benefit of others. After such a thought-provoking introduction, I was excited to read this anthology.

Read more at Cats Luv Coffee

[Lexy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book had a few stories that actually got my attention and the narration on most of them was amazing, but it was just not for me. It was a little too bizarre and had a fixation with touching some important matters with food and cannibalism that I just couldn’t get. If another book is released about this subject, I think I might skip it.

[Elna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received via NetGalley for review.

The premise for this anthology is interesting, if not revolutionary: women through the lens of food and consumption. The introduction, written by Octavia Cade, brings up some wonderful points about how women are often the consumable in relationships of any type, offering themselves up for the enrichment of others in their lives.

Unfortunately, and as has been stated, the stories that follow don't really live up to the examining and thought-provoking introduction. Only a few of the stories collected has a strong connection to the theme (such as "Candy Girl," the first one, and whichever one features two lovers combining their boy parts into one), and the others didn't really hold my attention. The very last story was the best, so I'm glad it started and ended strong. But, overall, a very uneven collection.


These are listed alphabetically by author, not story order (since I don't remember off the top of my head and this is how the publisher listed them):
“The Doll’s Eye” - ... I literally don't even remember this one. So I guess that means 1 star.

“And When We Die They Will Consume Us” - 5 stars. My favorite! An abandoned crew on a space station finds themselves colonized and changed by some unexplained organism. Delightfully creepy and atmospheric.

“Dear Son” - 2 stars. An idea done better in"A Year Without the Taste of Meat."

“Gimme Sugar” - 2.5 stars. A man going through a breakup finds a bakery that promises to recreate your loved one through baked goods. An interesting premise, but could have delved deeper into the anger felt by those seeking out the bakery once they find themselves confronted with this implacable being.

“The Fool’s Feast” - 2.5 stars. It seems to be a failing of these stories that they're almost good. Almost interesting, almost living up to their potential, but not quite. "The Fool's Feast" has a great ending, but not enough lead-up.

“Candy Girl” - 4 stars. One of the few stories that seems to fit perfectly into the anthology. A woman finds herself turning into chocolate after an ex-boyfriend mispronounces a love spell. A meditation on how women are seen as object to certain men.

“She Makes the Deep Boil” - 4 stars. Doesn't quite fit the theme, but a creepy, atmospheric, and tragic tale of a woman who cooks up an unidentifiable mass from the ocean and unleashes something strange.

“What the Bees Know About Discarded Girlish Organs” - 5 stars. Another of my favorites, and one of the best in the collection, theme-wise. A tale of how fraught modern relationships are, and how women are generally the ones who suffer.

“Strong Meat” - 4 stars. Interesting and thought-provoking, but lacking a little something.

“Soul of Soup Bones” - 2 stars. An alchemist discovers that the key to memory (or something) is cooking (or food, or bones, or something).

“A Year Without the Taste of Meat” - 3 stars. Another almost good one. A woman comes home for a funeral, where in her culture it's customary to eat the dead once they've passed. Would have been better focusing on that aspect, rather than the journey to the funeral.

“The Honey Witch” - 2 stars. Another tale of attempting to reconstruct something after a loss, only to prove the futility of such a quest.

“I Eat” - 4 stars. I believe this is the one about post-apocalyptic survival, and what had to be done to get there. Heart-wrenching, sad, but ultimately hopeful in a twisted way.

“Bristling Skim” - 1 star. A young girl who feels alienated from her Japanese culture buys a can of skim milk that was distributed as rations after WWII. Once she drinks it, she has dreams of being in that time period. But we don't actually get to experience her dreams or what they mean to her, so it's actually kind of pointless.

“Alice Underground” - 4 stars. A good story, but one that doesn't fit into the theme at all. Alice is now a grown-up, and it turns out Wonderland was a truly traumatizing and horrifying experience for her that she nonetheless capitalizes on. But when she accidentally sends a girl down there, she has to return to get her back. I wanted more!

“Red, From the Heartwood” - 2 stars. A tale about love, new relationships, and belonging. The scale of time/immortality plays a big role here, and it feels a little distant.

“The Lily and the Horn” - 3 stars. Another almost good one, which is killing me, all the stories I could have really liked. Women are the stewardesses of poison, and wars are now entirely between men trying to survive the longest through a poisoned meal. Could have done with a little more focus on that, rather than on the lost love angle.

“A Fish Tale” - 2 stars. Doesn't fit the theme and is too obtuse to be interesting.

“A Lie You Give, And Thus I Take” - 2 stars. A kind of breaking-down of fairy tales, where the captive realizes that she's the one in charge.

“Who Watches” - 3 stars. A day-in-the-life of the sole survivor of a lichen-infested zombie apocalypse. A little slow, but not bad.

“Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” - 3 stars. One I had already read and so skipped over for this review.

“The Carnival Was Eaten, All Except the Clown” - 2 stars. Could have been a wonderful existential horror story, but didn't live up to the potential.

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creepy, edgy, make-you-want-to-sleep-with-the-lights-on compilation of dark and twisted horror stories that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and had me taking a second look in the closet and under the bed -- more than once.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sharp & Sugar Tooth. Edited by Octavia Cate

Published 26 Mar 2019 by Upper Rubber Boot Books Independent Book Publishers Association.

All 22 short stories collated for this ‘women up to no good series’ are well-written works of fiction. The book is the winner of 13 awards and shortlisted for 3. I cannot fault the writing. Each author deserves to be followed up.

Octavia Cade, the editor, has pulled together a pack of writers whose brief was to write about the sweet and the sour, the mouth-watering, the edible, the dark and dirty side of the pleasures of eating, chopping, cooking, and consumption of anything and anyone. Some readers might care about these topics, or are daring readers of the dark and different.



Every story highlights the bite-able, chop-up-able, lick-able, poison-able and obsession-able. Knives and stakes are sharpened, people are tortured, sliced and consumed on a regular basis for the merest of reasons. Cannibalism, horror, sex and eating, sit side by side.

One story sums up the genre. Gimme Sugar by Katharine Duckett. A woman in a bar shares her confession of the unbearable loss of love. It all seems fairly normal until she tells a stranger of a possible cure. The cure takes her into a dark fantasy world of pastries and sweet things, her ex-lover is recreated into a life-size gingerbread model, which she makes love to and then gorges herself out of her romantic delusion. The stranger begs to be taken to this place as a form of absolution for a wife who ditched him and he is still obsessed with.

Overall, I found the content of women and their obsessions with food, consumption, pleasure, fetish and addictions with people fascinating.

However, these works took it too close to the dark edges of insanity, for me. I could imagine psychiatric wards containing people who think these thoughts and they are driven mad by it. I could imagine a commuter train filled with a batch of people who might consider cannibalism. Most stories are creepy and at times my stomach churned uncomfortably. I could not finish reading it.



I received this complimentary book via Net Galley and chose to review it due to its obsession with food and consumption. The following is my own, honest opinion.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Octavia Cade (editor), A. R. Henle, Alyssa Wong, Amelia Gorman, Anahita Eftekhari, Betsy Aoki, Caroline M. Yoachim, Catherynne M. Valente, Chikodili Emelumadu, Crystal Lynn Hilbert, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Damien Angelica Walters, Erin Horáková, H. Pueyo, Jasmyne J. Harris, Joyce Chng, Katharine Duckett, Kathleen Alcalá, Kathryn McMahon, Penny Stirling, Rachael Sterling, Rem Wigmore, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Upper Rubber Boot Books, and NetGalley for allowing me the extreme pleasure of access to an advanced reader copy of “Sharp & Sugar Tooth: Women Up To No Good” for an honest review.

I was so excited to hear about this anthology when I stumbled over it seeking new, upcoming releases by Cat Valente. There's such a wonderful way that one came play on the idea of appetites in a people and how that can relate to food, sex, death, and truly almost any part of what someone puts their focus on/passion into. That this was a book on women's appetited, and it was going to be the sweet ones and sharp ones, I was over the moon and had to have it immediately.

Sadly, I feel this whole book came off as trying too hard, as being an amazing concept but one lacking in execution.

[isobel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Advanced reading copy supplied from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I have no clue how a collection of short stories was this hard to get through, but I really struggled with this one. The introduction set things up for a lot of introspective, critical commentary on how food can be used as a metaphor for how women are treated in society. I really liked everything discussed in that introduction and I thought it drew some interesting comparisons I wouldn't have otherwise considered.

The stories however.... I think there were perhaps three that I actually enjoyed. The majority of them didn't reflect the purposeful nature of the introduction, didn't really have room to interpret much. They were just kind of there. While a few of the stories were good, the general writing quality for the majority was quite poor and all in all the whole thing felt like a waste of time.

[Michelle Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

The theme for this horror anthology by writers who identify as female, non-binary, or a marginalized sex or gender identity was food and consumption, and some stories really ran with the theme in creative directions.

An example is the lead story, “Candy Girl” by Chikodili Emelumadu, which uses chocolate to tell the story of a love spell gone wrong.

But a good portion of the 22 stories had potential that was wasted by the need to shock rather than scare. Some even felt meandering with no point other than to fulfill the theme.

There are enough good stories that this book is worth checking out, but not enough for me to fully recommend. I’d give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I received a review copy from NetGalley. As always, my opinions are my own. A full review can be found at Zengrrl.com.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of culturally-diverse short stories. It immediately reminded me o the final story in the film The Theatre Bizarre. The editor chose a great transition from one story to the next and each story is beautifully written; but, as with most anthologies, some stories are more remarkable than others. I probably disliked more than I liked, but my favorites were 'What the Bees Know of Discarded Girlish Organs', 'Strong Meat', and 'Who Watches'.

I received this book for free and have reviewed voluntarily.

[wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories that you must have a taste for. I say this because because the stories are not for everyone. They are a tad shocking and out of the ordinary to say the very least..

I myself could not get into the book but I did read the entire book. I refuse to give up on any book regardless of what it is. There were a couple that were good, so it did have its good points. Give it a try and see for yourself.

I am leaving my honest review because I was given this arc copy from book siren

[Estel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all anthologies, this has some great, some okay, and some not-for-me stories. I feel it would have been stronger if more stories had hopeful even if not happy endings, but I think that's a base issue with me and the genre. (A story using the word metamour! ...and ends in heartbreak and horror! :-/)

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this! Obviously, I liked some stories more than others, but can we talk about how this was a great showcase of horror that involved a wonderful array of authors that are from around the world. The main theme is consumption/eating/food, and I know that might put a few people off. Knowing what I was getting into, it was much easier to enjoy it all. Great anthology.

[Dorre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not my type of book.. found it difficult to get into the stories though to be fair I am generally not a huge fan of short stories. This book was graciously provided via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp & Sugar Tooth was a great book of short horror stories about Women Up To No Good. Captures your imagination from the beginning. It may even change the way you look at food.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Vnunez-Ms_luv2read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tried this author for the first time and was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the stories that were presented. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner has no bearing on this review.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this one seemed exciting, but the actual book was disappointing. I was looking forward to some enjoyable short stories, but felt like I had to force myself to finish the book.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

https://aspeccharactersoftheday.tumbl...

[Heather Bennett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, I just don't think this book was for me. I struggled with this book to finish it. I believe the stories just missed the mark.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be completely honest, this book wasn't really for me.
I thought it sounded really great, and I love creepy stuff but the stories was weird and honestly just gross.
I really liked the idea behind the anthology, but I ended up giving up halfway through it. A for effort though.