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Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing
Communications specialist Alto’s shift aboard the starship M.G. Yellowjacket turns hellish after waking from a triste to learn every crewmate has vanished. Worse, a sinister presence has crawled aboard the ship. It’s violent, destructive, and it can reach into your thoughts to make you see and feel what it wants.
Anxiety-ridden Alto might be the least-qualified person to face a creature that can hack minds like computers. Only a perilous journey to the ship’s bridge can reunite comms specialist with crew and give them a chance to call for help.
But the intruder only scratches the surface of this crisis, and discovering the truth will bring Alto face to face against a nightmare beyond flesh and thought.
Anxiety-ridden Alto might be the least-qualified person to face a creature that can hack minds like computers. Only a perilous journey to the ship’s bridge can reunite comms specialist with crew and give them a chance to call for help.
But the intruder only scratches the surface of this crisis, and discovering the truth will bring Alto face to face against a nightmare beyond flesh and thought.
Audible Audio
First published May 7, 2022
35 people are currently reading
2961 people want to read
About the author
Hailey Piper
106 books999 followersHailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Game in Yellow, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings, No Gods for Drowning, Cranberry Cove, and other books of dark fiction.
She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and various other publications, and of articles appearing in Writer's Digest, Tor Nightfire, CrimeReads, and Library Journal. Find her at www.haileypiper.com.
She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and various other publications, and of articles appearing in Writer's Digest, Tor Nightfire, CrimeReads, and Library Journal. Find her at www.haileypiper.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
January 17, 2023
Have just about 40 min left of the audiobook but I'm not feeling invested in the story at all. Didn't find the narration or the story easy to get invested in. But wasn't a terrible read, just not for me.
June 10, 2022
This was my first Hailey Piper book but it definitely won’t be my last!! This was a very fun sci-fi horror with some pretty unique imagery and body horror.
I struggled a bit with picturing the setting at times, but I think that’s only because I typically struggle with scifi and fantasy settings. Regardless, I highly recommend!!
I struggled a bit with picturing the setting at times, but I think that’s only because I typically struggle with scifi and fantasy settings. Regardless, I highly recommend!!
September 29, 2022
I genuinely like and enjoy Hailey Piper's writing – I like how she explores gender, psychology and identity in metaphoric ways and her style is particular and intense. In Your Mind is a Terrible Thing, I was served a little too much of what I usually so enjoy reading in her books. This is the story of a young person who wakes up alone in a space ship and has to fight giant manipulative brains; in a very concentrated way, we are taken on a journey very much about isolation, anxieties, confrontation; a very inward turned, strong story and it was just too intense for me this time.
March 23, 2023
[Solid 3½ stars.]
If I’d trust one writer to tell a space-horror story well (a niche genre that’s a lot harder to pull off than you might think), it would be Hailey Piper, an author who has demonstrated there’s no subject matter too gonzo for her to tackle at least once. Sure enough, Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing offers a terrific spin on the classic monsters-on-my-spaceship premise, though a lot of readers might not initially recognize everything it’s doing. It’s action-packed — the whole thing is about 90% one massive chase scene — but it’s less interested in being traditionally scary than it is in exploring themes and ideas. And for a novella about brains with tentacles attacking a spaceship, it’s working on a surprising number of levels.
On the surface, this is a gloriously gory spectacle that mashes together elements from the Dead Space video games with an approach to body horror that feels like Tetsuo: The Iron Man filtered through Junji Ito. Our hapless hero is Alto, communications specialist aboard the Yellowjacket, a merchant vessel whose cargo consists of hundreds upon hundreds of human cadavers, because this is a future in which dead human bodies are routinely recycled into robots called (with appropriately morbid humor) wraiths. This is Hailey Piper’s idea of a totally normal future and it’s exactly the level of batshit she can pull off while calmly drinking hot tea and getting a pedicure. One day she might finally decide to get weird and then we’ll all have to worry.
As the story opens, Alto has just managed some quality time with their crush, ship’s psychologist Esme, when they awaken to find her missing and the entire vessel overrun with horrific monsters resembling giant brains trailing a mass of tentacle-like extrusions. Whatever these beings are, they’re capable of hacking not only human minds but human bodies as well, absorbing victims into their biomass. But by a lucky accident, Alto — who has already undergone quite a lot of body modification — ends up with parts of a wraith robot embedded into their skull. This not only enhances Alto’s own mental faculties but protects them from the brains’ psychic assault as well.
It’s now a race against time. (Continued...)
If I’d trust one writer to tell a space-horror story well (a niche genre that’s a lot harder to pull off than you might think), it would be Hailey Piper, an author who has demonstrated there’s no subject matter too gonzo for her to tackle at least once. Sure enough, Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing offers a terrific spin on the classic monsters-on-my-spaceship premise, though a lot of readers might not initially recognize everything it’s doing. It’s action-packed — the whole thing is about 90% one massive chase scene — but it’s less interested in being traditionally scary than it is in exploring themes and ideas. And for a novella about brains with tentacles attacking a spaceship, it’s working on a surprising number of levels.
On the surface, this is a gloriously gory spectacle that mashes together elements from the Dead Space video games with an approach to body horror that feels like Tetsuo: The Iron Man filtered through Junji Ito. Our hapless hero is Alto, communications specialist aboard the Yellowjacket, a merchant vessel whose cargo consists of hundreds upon hundreds of human cadavers, because this is a future in which dead human bodies are routinely recycled into robots called (with appropriately morbid humor) wraiths. This is Hailey Piper’s idea of a totally normal future and it’s exactly the level of batshit she can pull off while calmly drinking hot tea and getting a pedicure. One day she might finally decide to get weird and then we’ll all have to worry.
As the story opens, Alto has just managed some quality time with their crush, ship’s psychologist Esme, when they awaken to find her missing and the entire vessel overrun with horrific monsters resembling giant brains trailing a mass of tentacle-like extrusions. Whatever these beings are, they’re capable of hacking not only human minds but human bodies as well, absorbing victims into their biomass. But by a lucky accident, Alto — who has already undergone quite a lot of body modification — ends up with parts of a wraith robot embedded into their skull. This not only enhances Alto’s own mental faculties but protects them from the brains’ psychic assault as well.
It’s now a race against time. (Continued...)
July 16, 2022
3.5 Stars
More cute than scary, this was fun space horror with some queer romance sprinkled in. Some of the author's previous work was a little too weird/cosmic for my tastes, but I found this one quite tame. I would be comfortable to recommend it to a wide mainstream horror audience.
More cute than scary, this was fun space horror with some queer romance sprinkled in. Some of the author's previous work was a little too weird/cosmic for my tastes, but I found this one quite tame. I would be comfortable to recommend it to a wide mainstream horror audience.
July 9, 2022
What's worse, anxiety or crawling feral brains that keep trying to pierce your consciousness and spread purple horrors within? Well, why not both? Myriad terrors await our poor anxious character Alto, communications guru on a "corpse ship"; from an ill-advised-to-this-reader hookup with their therapist to the disappearance of the crew/appearance of cosmic horrors in the shape of malevolent tentacled brains. This book is has a lot of violet in it, as well as a lot of violence (those two words appear often in conjunction, as well as the phrase "cathedral of gore"), and a lot of gross, gooey business with said feral brains, a spooky cryptic Messenger person who may or may not be real, onboard service wraiths that are human corpses reanimated with cybernetics that I wish had gotten a lot more play, and some spectacular body horror, and I almost think I'd prefer it as a movie for the Comet channel rather than a novella.
May 5, 2022
The best way I can describe Hailey Piper's work is horror with hope and humanity.
I've said in the past how few writers excite me like her novels, and Your Mind I a Terrible Thing is a sterling example of why. Alto awakens on a desolate spaceship after they spend the night with a counselor, and finds it empty. It is a scene of terror that has repeated itself through a great many blendings of horror and science fiction. Isolation is frightening. Isolation in space is even more terrifying, from Alien to System Shock.
But there's a more terrifying aspect to it: what if we're not alone? What is with us when we awaken? What remains there, to haunt us, if not our own fears and anxieties and can anything be more terrifying than that? Piper strives to answer that question in Alto, a person with so many insecurities and issues that many readers will see themselves in them.
And on this ship is the mind and the message, proclaimed by the messenger. Something has happened. Something is coming. Alto steadily unravels a frightening mystery, where the most frightening thing of all is how they truly appear in the eyes of others. How are they viewed by those around them? How do they see themselves?
Each of Piper's stories I have read so far feature the terror of something being out of the protagonist's control. In Benny Rose, a group of teenage girls are hunted by a ravenous ghoul actively aided by adults. In Queen of Teeth, Yaya faces her body's rebellion and begins to become something new. This is a loss of control of the mind, subsumed by a message humans can barely understand and the terrifying notion of what your individuality is worth when you can barely believe in yourself.
But Piper is a writer who refuses to let her characters give fully into despair. Alto is not a victim, they re not helpless. Their self actualization and their ability to overcome is one of the best parts of the novel, since individuality against the collective that seeks to subsume it remains important to the final page.
And of course with copious body horror. One scene when the crew is revealed reminds me of a Sci Fi Shunt (from Society!) and Piper knows when to bring the gruesome descriptions. Never does her writing feel gratutious and the story paces itself extremely well.
It's claustrophobic, it's tense, it's scary, but it's also hopeful. It's inspiring. It's about a single person fighting to matter and invites us to cheer for them through it.
Another terrific effort.
I've said in the past how few writers excite me like her novels, and Your Mind I a Terrible Thing is a sterling example of why. Alto awakens on a desolate spaceship after they spend the night with a counselor, and finds it empty. It is a scene of terror that has repeated itself through a great many blendings of horror and science fiction. Isolation is frightening. Isolation in space is even more terrifying, from Alien to System Shock.
But there's a more terrifying aspect to it: what if we're not alone? What is with us when we awaken? What remains there, to haunt us, if not our own fears and anxieties and can anything be more terrifying than that? Piper strives to answer that question in Alto, a person with so many insecurities and issues that many readers will see themselves in them.
And on this ship is the mind and the message, proclaimed by the messenger. Something has happened. Something is coming. Alto steadily unravels a frightening mystery, where the most frightening thing of all is how they truly appear in the eyes of others. How are they viewed by those around them? How do they see themselves?
Each of Piper's stories I have read so far feature the terror of something being out of the protagonist's control. In Benny Rose, a group of teenage girls are hunted by a ravenous ghoul actively aided by adults. In Queen of Teeth, Yaya faces her body's rebellion and begins to become something new. This is a loss of control of the mind, subsumed by a message humans can barely understand and the terrifying notion of what your individuality is worth when you can barely believe in yourself.
But Piper is a writer who refuses to let her characters give fully into despair. Alto is not a victim, they re not helpless. Their self actualization and their ability to overcome is one of the best parts of the novel, since individuality against the collective that seeks to subsume it remains important to the final page.
And of course with copious body horror. One scene when the crew is revealed reminds me of a Sci Fi Shunt (from Society!) and Piper knows when to bring the gruesome descriptions. Never does her writing feel gratutious and the story paces itself extremely well.
It's claustrophobic, it's tense, it's scary, but it's also hopeful. It's inspiring. It's about a single person fighting to matter and invites us to cheer for them through it.
Another terrific effort.
July 4, 2022
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the horror genre needs more sci-fi horror.
But now I’ll also say: the world needs more Hailey Piper space horror!
Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing starts off fast and keeps you gripped the entire way through. The main character, Alto, wakes up to a ghost ship situation — which is saying something, considering that the Yellowjacket is carrying cargoholds full of corpses and working with a skeleton crew (okay, I’ll stop.)
After that, every page is packed full of suspense and action as Alto tries to figure out what happened on the Yellowjacket and where their crewmates have gone.
But it’s a race against the clock and against the mind-hacking intruders that are slithering around the halls.
Despite the novella length, Hailey masterfully builds a fleshed out world (universe?), with guilds, politics, and industry — all without affecting the tight pacing of her story.
I love the main character, Alto. They are well-rounded, dynamic, and flawed in an oh so relatable way. I could immediately relate to Alto and their struggles as they sought a solution, a way to escape the crawling nightmares haunting the starship, and I couldn’t help but root for them, all the way through to the end.
Dealing with themes of isolation, anxiety, and self-doubt, Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing explores what it means to be human, what it means to be one’s authentic self despite flaws and hurt. It’s beautiful. It’s brutal. It doesn’t let go and the ending leaves you with a bittersweet mix of hope and despair.
But now I’ll also say: the world needs more Hailey Piper space horror!
Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing starts off fast and keeps you gripped the entire way through. The main character, Alto, wakes up to a ghost ship situation — which is saying something, considering that the Yellowjacket is carrying cargoholds full of corpses and working with a skeleton crew (okay, I’ll stop.)
After that, every page is packed full of suspense and action as Alto tries to figure out what happened on the Yellowjacket and where their crewmates have gone.
But it’s a race against the clock and against the mind-hacking intruders that are slithering around the halls.
Despite the novella length, Hailey masterfully builds a fleshed out world (universe?), with guilds, politics, and industry — all without affecting the tight pacing of her story.
I love the main character, Alto. They are well-rounded, dynamic, and flawed in an oh so relatable way. I could immediately relate to Alto and their struggles as they sought a solution, a way to escape the crawling nightmares haunting the starship, and I couldn’t help but root for them, all the way through to the end.
Dealing with themes of isolation, anxiety, and self-doubt, Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing explores what it means to be human, what it means to be one’s authentic self despite flaws and hurt. It’s beautiful. It’s brutal. It doesn’t let go and the ending leaves you with a bittersweet mix of hope and despair.
April 28, 2025
3 1/2 stars, rounded up, of course.
Hailey Piper is the queen of anxiety-fueled body horror, and here she increases the anxiety with the isolated paranoia of waking up on a guild space ship carrying corpses for cargo and all of your crew mates have mysteriously disappeared. Which may or may not be a result of the giant, tentacled mutant brain that's trying to meld with your mind and flesh at the same time.
The story's hero is Alto, a young communications officer who's recently gotten to shag their crush, the psychologist Esme, only to wake up alone in a dead ship - cough, cough (pun intended). As Alto tries to figure out what's happened with the assistance of their wraith friend (whom they keep hidden in the closet, but I'm not touching that one with a wet mop!), they are beset with the mental onslaught of the Messenger, who may or may not be real.
"This terrible mind will not trouble you onward," the Messenger said, its head leaning deep over the airlock door.
Between Alto's mental mind fuck and the flesh eating giant brains, this was one crazy story with an empathetic MC that I rooted for all the way, despite their anxieties. I have to admit, however, that half the time I had no clue what was going on, as Alto's perceptions of events seemed to alter a bit.
As the Messenger said, "The Message is not understood," the Messenger said. "To have it is to know it, and to know it is to know the dark.""
Isolation, suicidal ideation, body horror, abuse of corpses. This is a fun one, if a bit off.
Hailey Piper is the queen of anxiety-fueled body horror, and here she increases the anxiety with the isolated paranoia of waking up on a guild space ship carrying corpses for cargo and all of your crew mates have mysteriously disappeared. Which may or may not be a result of the giant, tentacled mutant brain that's trying to meld with your mind and flesh at the same time.
The story's hero is Alto, a young communications officer who's recently gotten to shag their crush, the psychologist Esme, only to wake up alone in a dead ship - cough, cough (pun intended). As Alto tries to figure out what's happened with the assistance of their wraith friend (whom they keep hidden in the closet, but I'm not touching that one with a wet mop!), they are beset with the mental onslaught of the Messenger, who may or may not be real.
"This terrible mind will not trouble you onward," the Messenger said, its head leaning deep over the airlock door.
Between Alto's mental mind fuck and the flesh eating giant brains, this was one crazy story with an empathetic MC that I rooted for all the way, despite their anxieties. I have to admit, however, that half the time I had no clue what was going on, as Alto's perceptions of events seemed to alter a bit.
As the Messenger said, "The Message is not understood," the Messenger said. "To have it is to know it, and to know it is to know the dark.""
Isolation, suicidal ideation, body horror, abuse of corpses. This is a fun one, if a bit off.
February 29, 2024
I would like to start by saying I love Hailey Piper, I've read two books previously and they were fantastic.. this one, on the other hand.. not so much.
It was very difficult to follow along and know what was happening, I have aphantasia so that may be why but I was confused a lot of the time with the setting, I couldn't picture the layout of the ship and just wasn't able to make much connections between the setting, the plot, and the characters.
I also felt it was slightly hard to read. Almost felt like i was doing research/homework with all the locations throughout the spaceship. between Pod Q and P, Pod P and O, and so on and on and on. It was just so tiring.
Read this if you enjoy: Horror, scifi, cyberpunk, lgbtqia+, space, novellas, weird fiction, space stations.
Unfortunately, this one was just not for me.
It was very difficult to follow along and know what was happening, I have aphantasia so that may be why but I was confused a lot of the time with the setting, I couldn't picture the layout of the ship and just wasn't able to make much connections between the setting, the plot, and the characters.
I also felt it was slightly hard to read. Almost felt like i was doing research/homework with all the locations throughout the spaceship. between Pod Q and P, Pod P and O, and so on and on and on. It was just so tiring.
Read this if you enjoy: Horror, scifi, cyberpunk, lgbtqia+, space, novellas, weird fiction, space stations.
Unfortunately, this one was just not for me.
August 14, 2022
easily one of my favorite reads of 2022
November 21, 2022
The best way I can describe Hailey Piper’s “Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing,” is imagine if Panos Cosmatos made a Cronenbergesque ‘50s pulp science fiction. And even that wouldn’t fully prepare someone for the wildly abstract ride that is this story. Even though it took me some extra time to unpack and decipher Piper’s writing (that often felt just as abstract as the story itself), I still had a fun time reading this book. It honestly just took a lot of energy to get through, but in the end I’m glad I trudged on.
March 11, 2023
Fun and gross! For fans of Event Horizon and Super Metroid.
April 7, 2023
You know it's good sci-fi horror when the cargo hold full of dead bodies isn't even close to the most unsettling thing Alto encounters. I won't describe what they encounter to avoid spoilers, but the horror here is delightfully disturbing and thematically rich.
June 3, 2022
Review soon!
September 20, 2022
“Human minds came stuffed with glass shards; a little shaking, and they would wound themselves.”
I picked this book up not realizing it was by the same author who wrote Queen Of Teeth that I just read and really enjoyed, but when I read the writing style I knew exactly who wrote this book! Even though this one leans more into a sci-fi vibe Hailey definitely caries her distinctive writing style with her across genres. Alto is the communications specialist working on The MG Yellowjacket, but when they wake up alone, no signs of any other crew their race to find, help, and save their crew mates from the monsters on board who ‘hack’ your brain to mess with you starts, also having to contend with fighting their own anxiety and self doubt. I don’t read a whole lot of sci-fi type stuff but this is definitely the type I enjoy when I do. I really like that there’s a constant theme of very odd, weirdness and really amazing and beautifully written prose in Hailey’s work. She also deals with mental health in a way that I really like, It’s not a strength or a weakness, it’s just something her characters have that they have to deal with and manage. I really enjoyed Queen Of Teeth, but after another of her knocked knocked it out of the park for me Hailey Piper is definitely an instant buy author for me, and a new favorite!
I picked this book up not realizing it was by the same author who wrote Queen Of Teeth that I just read and really enjoyed, but when I read the writing style I knew exactly who wrote this book! Even though this one leans more into a sci-fi vibe Hailey definitely caries her distinctive writing style with her across genres. Alto is the communications specialist working on The MG Yellowjacket, but when they wake up alone, no signs of any other crew their race to find, help, and save their crew mates from the monsters on board who ‘hack’ your brain to mess with you starts, also having to contend with fighting their own anxiety and self doubt. I don’t read a whole lot of sci-fi type stuff but this is definitely the type I enjoy when I do. I really like that there’s a constant theme of very odd, weirdness and really amazing and beautifully written prose in Hailey’s work. She also deals with mental health in a way that I really like, It’s not a strength or a weakness, it’s just something her characters have that they have to deal with and manage. I really enjoyed Queen Of Teeth, but after another of her knocked knocked it out of the park for me Hailey Piper is definitely an instant buy author for me, and a new favorite!
December 28, 2022
I was so excited when Hailey Piper announced a spacey horror book, omg! This was everything I could've hoped for and more, tbh. I wasn't sure what to expect and even several chapters into it, you don't really know what's going on. It's not til pretty close to the end that things start to fully make sense and come together, and I loved the way the tension and terror built up - alongside extremely well-placed comedy and sweetness by little sidekick Zelany, who is probably one of my favorite characters in a book ever, I love him so much, lol.
I also loved the unlikely pairing of gory brainguts and mental health subtext -- just so good, the whole thing. A lot packed into a tiny package, and one of my top reads of the year! It's like if Star Trek & a horror movie had a book baby in novella form -- love it so much!
I also loved the unlikely pairing of gory brainguts and mental health subtext -- just so good, the whole thing. A lot packed into a tiny package, and one of my top reads of the year! It's like if Star Trek & a horror movie had a book baby in novella form -- love it so much!
April 6, 2024
what the hell did I just read (affectionate).
I loved the first half of this, onboard the Yellowjacket. I loved the incredible amounts of body horror, how visceral some of the damn descriptions are, and I loved Alto (who was so incredibly relatable). And I loved Zelany most of all, for providing tiny moments of much needed levity.
But when things got more cosmic in the second half, I had a harder time keeping with the story. And as chilling as I found the phrase "cathedral of gore" the first time Piper used it, by the end of the book, it was used so many times that it lost its impact on me.
However, while this is a 3.5 for me, I'm rounding up for the kickass non-binary protagonist who constantly fights their anxiety (and wins). Truly the dream.
I loved the first half of this, onboard the Yellowjacket. I loved the incredible amounts of body horror, how visceral some of the damn descriptions are, and I loved Alto (who was so incredibly relatable). And I loved Zelany most of all, for providing tiny moments of much needed levity.
But when things got more cosmic in the second half, I had a harder time keeping with the story. And as chilling as I found the phrase "cathedral of gore" the first time Piper used it, by the end of the book, it was used so many times that it lost its impact on me.
However, while this is a 3.5 for me, I'm rounding up for the kickass non-binary protagonist who constantly fights their anxiety (and wins). Truly the dream.
August 12, 2022
Zelany was my favorite character. I would punch someone for that little robot.
My review really would be " why not read about killer brains?"
Big ole goopy slimey brains moving around on a space ship. It's really just a fun time to be had. Unless you are on the spaceship with the brains. That didn't seem fun.
Its a short read and it's written by Hailey so you know it's going to be good!
My review really would be " why not read about killer brains?"
Big ole goopy slimey brains moving around on a space ship. It's really just a fun time to be had. Unless you are on the spaceship with the brains. That didn't seem fun.
Its a short read and it's written by Hailey so you know it's going to be good!
August 6, 2023
A little greater than three stars, but not quite four.
I really like the premise of this: the personification of anxiety as a giant brain monster attacking you in the spaces where you should feel safe or at home. I thought it would be campy in the bad way, but it was campy in the good way. The writing felt very genuine too, which balanced out the absurdity of everything that happened. I think roughly the last third of this novella was my favorite because the pacing all at once felt like it accelerated and had room to breathe, which was potentially helped by the solid integration of exposition into the climax.
The first chunk of this book, however, was very tough to imagine. I'm glad Hailey Piper provided a layout of the ship at the beginning cuz I would have been lost without it. I loved the addition of psionic abilities because I'm a huge fan of Octavia Butler's Patternist series, but the usage of color to describe when psionics were being used was, while cool, not enough for me to grasp what was going on.
All in all, though, this novella had some great scares and some brilliant world-building, the latter of which I can imagine was tough to do in such a small page span. Like, the wraiths? C'mon. What a cool hecking concept. Can't WAIT to read more from Hailey Piper. I just checked out two of her other books from the library, so hopefully I'll be able to get to those soon.
For fans of: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler, Providence by Max Berry, and probably anything by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
I really like the premise of this: the personification of anxiety as a giant brain monster attacking you in the spaces where you should feel safe or at home. I thought it would be campy in the bad way, but it was campy in the good way. The writing felt very genuine too, which balanced out the absurdity of everything that happened. I think roughly the last third of this novella was my favorite because the pacing all at once felt like it accelerated and had room to breathe, which was potentially helped by the solid integration of exposition into the climax.
The first chunk of this book, however, was very tough to imagine. I'm glad Hailey Piper provided a layout of the ship at the beginning cuz I would have been lost without it. I loved the addition of psionic abilities because I'm a huge fan of Octavia Butler's Patternist series, but the usage of color to describe when psionics were being used was, while cool, not enough for me to grasp what was going on.
All in all, though, this novella had some great scares and some brilliant world-building, the latter of which I can imagine was tough to do in such a small page span. Like, the wraiths? C'mon. What a cool hecking concept. Can't WAIT to read more from Hailey Piper. I just checked out two of her other books from the library, so hopefully I'll be able to get to those soon.
For fans of: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler, Providence by Max Berry, and probably anything by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
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May 27, 2022Brief synopsis: Alto, a comms specialist on the M.G. Yellowjacket, wakes up to find their crew has vanished. There's another presence, though, and it's invading their mind.
Hailey Piper has written an imaginative, queer world of cyperpunk, bodypunk, feral brains, and mind invasion. Her unique concepts for things like wraiths - androids created in a recycled human shell - were highlights for me. I also appreciated seeing inside the mind of a protagonist with anxiety and self-esteem problems, as well as the non-binary representation (Alto uses they/them pronouns).
Unfortunately, I don't think I was the audience for this story. I was expecting space horror, but this is very heavy on the hard sci-fi. I spent a lot of the story confused, and I had to reread sections multiple times. I also felt that most of the action was told rather than shown; combined with the confusion, that took away any suspense.
I am avoiding a star rating all-together for this read. I am positive that there is an audience for this book who will love it, so I don't want to turn anyone away from it.
I recommend it sci-fi readers in particular, as well as those who are looking for books with a non-binary protagonist.
Hailey Piper has written an imaginative, queer world of cyperpunk, bodypunk, feral brains, and mind invasion. Her unique concepts for things like wraiths - androids created in a recycled human shell - were highlights for me. I also appreciated seeing inside the mind of a protagonist with anxiety and self-esteem problems, as well as the non-binary representation (Alto uses they/them pronouns).
Unfortunately, I don't think I was the audience for this story. I was expecting space horror, but this is very heavy on the hard sci-fi. I spent a lot of the story confused, and I had to reread sections multiple times. I also felt that most of the action was told rather than shown; combined with the confusion, that took away any suspense.
I am avoiding a star rating all-together for this read. I am positive that there is an audience for this book who will love it, so I don't want to turn anyone away from it.
I recommend it sci-fi readers in particular, as well as those who are looking for books with a non-binary protagonist.
January 5, 2024
I saw this recommended in the comments section of a booktube video and picked it up so I could get more queer space horror in my life.
Honestly, for me it wasn't great. It's cyberpunk space body horror with trans/enby and anxiety/mental illness rep and metaphors. The plot was predictable and the writing was serviceable. To me, the main character, Alto, made a lot of dumb decisions (see everything with Esme). Though occasionally they made some smart ones, usually with the help of their wraith, Zelany (whose showbiz schtick got annoying after a while).
Despite these gripes, it was an entertaining read for most of an evening. However, I'm not looking to pick up more Hailey Piper at this point.
If you do want to read it, I recommend sourcing it from your library if possible.
Honestly, for me it wasn't great. It's cyberpunk space body horror with trans/enby and anxiety/mental illness rep and metaphors. The plot was predictable and the writing was serviceable. To me, the main character, Alto, made a lot of dumb decisions (see everything with Esme). Though occasionally they made some smart ones, usually with the help of their wraith, Zelany (whose showbiz schtick got annoying after a while).
Despite these gripes, it was an entertaining read for most of an evening. However, I'm not looking to pick up more Hailey Piper at this point.
If you do want to read it, I recommend sourcing it from your library if possible.
May 14, 2022
Great concept delivered by Piper's unique voice. Fantastic read!
I loved the fantastic world-building in this one. Piper gave us enough to understand how space travel was accomplished, as well as the different factions, without any huge chunks of exposition. The use of "wraiths" was really intriguing, as was the idea of body modification and how easily it could be done, thanks to the advanced technology. Alto is a great protagonist, exploring their mental health and feelings of self-loathing while battling the mysterious enemy who utilise human flesh in a gruesome and visually stunning way. Great concept, delivered by Piper's unique voice. A fantastic read.
I loved the fantastic world-building in this one. Piper gave us enough to understand how space travel was accomplished, as well as the different factions, without any huge chunks of exposition. The use of "wraiths" was really intriguing, as was the idea of body modification and how easily it could be done, thanks to the advanced technology. Alto is a great protagonist, exploring their mental health and feelings of self-loathing while battling the mysterious enemy who utilise human flesh in a gruesome and visually stunning way. Great concept, delivered by Piper's unique voice. A fantastic read.
April 11, 2025
This book is really trying some interesting things. I didn't think it was always successful and at several parts it went too far and lost me completely but there is a core here that I found compelling. I enjoyed the Event Horizon-esque scenario and I thought Alto was a strong protagonist (yay for non-binary rep). I was even surprised that a character that annoyed me at first, Zelany, became so emotionally resonant. Some of the more wild elements of body horror were off putting and I thought the entire final confrontation with the Messenger rather histrionic. Overall though I think the author has potential and I admire any book that is really swinging for the fences even if it isn't great.
Trigger warnings for extreme body horror and both consensual and non consensual body modifications, depictions of characters undergoing mental crisis, hallucinations, lots of organ focused gore, surgical trauma, mind control,
Trigger warnings for extreme body horror and both consensual and non consensual body modifications, depictions of characters undergoing mental crisis, hallucinations, lots of organ focused gore, surgical trauma, mind control,
March 27, 2023
Your Mind Is A Terrible Thing by Hailey Piper is a space horror centered around the unreliability of the brain and doing whatever it takes to survive.
Reading a bit like a fever dream, one that totally carried me along for the ride! I could never have guessed what was going to happen next, and I was so nervous to see what would be around the next bend.
Fans of horror mixed with sci-fi, set in space, this is one for you!
Check out my full review here:
https://www.ericarobynreads.com/your-...
Reading a bit like a fever dream, one that totally carried me along for the ride! I could never have guessed what was going to happen next, and I was so nervous to see what would be around the next bend.
Fans of horror mixed with sci-fi, set in space, this is one for you!
Check out my full review here:
https://www.ericarobynreads.com/your-...
May 10, 2022
With this and "The Queen of Teeth," Hailey Piper has proven herself to be the teller of some of the most unique stories I've read. She is a fantastic writer and this is a fantastic story.
July 7, 2022
Hailey Piper has done it again! This is a truly terrifying sci-fi hoor book set on a cargo ship making its way through space. We follow our main character Alto as they wake up one day to find that the crew seems to have disappeared. Alto soon discovers that something else is aboard and it’s a race against the clock as they try to make to a part of the ship before it locks down. It’s very fast paced and had me turning the pages so I could figure out what’s going on. The intruders on the ship are so scary! I really appreciated the themes of isolation, anxiety and body autonomy. Alto made modifications to their body to feel more comfortable inside of their own skin. I love how this was expressed in the story. This is such a unique story and was a blast to read!
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January 9, 2024Sci-fi isn’t my preference, but I love the author and checked this one out for the vibes. Plenty of fun descriptions for those who enjoy body horror and technology!
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