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Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology
Reader beware! This sports and fitness body horror anthology is dangerous. Side effects include monstrous steroid transformation, concussion-induced madness, possession by jock ghost, death by yoga cult, and more. Read with caution!
Featuring seventeen reps of terror by Nikki R. Leigh, Tim Meyer, Brandon Applegate, Red Lagoe, Caias Ward, RW DeFaoite, Mae Murray, D. Matthew Urban, Charles Austin Muir, Joe Koch, Michael Tichy, Rien Gray, Robbie Burkhart, Eric Raglin, Matthew Pritt, Madeleine Sardina, Alexis DuBon, and J.A.W. McCarthy.
Featuring seventeen reps of terror by Nikki R. Leigh, Tim Meyer, Brandon Applegate, Red Lagoe, Caias Ward, RW DeFaoite, Mae Murray, D. Matthew Urban, Charles Austin Muir, Joe Koch, Michael Tichy, Rien Gray, Robbie Burkhart, Eric Raglin, Matthew Pritt, Madeleine Sardina, Alexis DuBon, and J.A.W. McCarthy.
273 pages, Paperback
First published August 17, 2022
4 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Eric Raglin
25 books68 followersEric Raglin (he/him) is a horror/Weird fiction writer. His short story collections include Nightmare Yearnings, Extinction Hymns, Sick! Stories from the Goop Troop (co-authored with Lor Gislason and Shelley Lavigne, currently out of print), and Lonesome Pyres. He owns Cursed Morsels Press and has edited No Trouble at All (co-edited with Alexis DuBon), Bitter Apples, Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology, and Antifa Splatterpunk. Find him on Bluesky or Instagram @ericraglin1992.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 19, 2022
My thanks to Cursed Morsels Press for sending me an early copy of this anthology.
Most of the anthologies I read range from 10-15 stories, so when I saw that Shredded: A Sports & Fitness Body Horror Anthology contained 17, I immediately thought, ‘Oh, there are probably some theme-adjacent duds in here somewhere.’
Nope.
And while I did enjoy some stories more than others, I can honestly say, there’s not a single dud in this whole anthology. They all stick reverently to both theme and body horror. Shredded covers wrestling, basketball, football, gym enthusiasts, rodeo clowns, cross-country runners, power lifting, swimming, gymnastics, MMA, hockey, figure skating, yoga, and more.
The stories that really stood out to me, hit me in the gut, were The Swish Heard ‘Round Central Nebraska by Tim Meyer (the format, almost done like a script, was effective, and the story moved like lightning), I’m Gonna Make You A Legend by Brandon Applegate (italics used to great effect here, a nice twist on the bully revenge trope), Don’t Make It Weird by Red Lagoe (a strong voice, super original), Massive Gains by Caias Ward (lots of humor, multiple formats/angles that serve the story well), Blood, Ash & Iron by Charles Austin Muir (masterful, probably my favorite story), It All Comes Back by Matthew Pritt (lean, simple prose, with a strong emotional core, this one hurt), and Avulsion by Madeleine Sardina (masterful in its ability to have a suffering character parallel the world around them, and an ending that goes full circle).
The gems here (and this is just my opinion, what hit hardest to me): Massive Gains, Blood, Ash & Iron, It All Comes Back, and Avulsion.
Cons: Lots of italics, mirror scenes, some story/plot overlap.
Pros: Story approach/format, gutsy, bold stories, strong voices, great story placement, true to theme and body horror, and, most of all, story length. The length of stories was pitch perfect. I read half of this anthology in one sitting, half in another. It’s a breeze to move through.
Shredded is well worth the price of admission. I highly recommend it!
Most of the anthologies I read range from 10-15 stories, so when I saw that Shredded: A Sports & Fitness Body Horror Anthology contained 17, I immediately thought, ‘Oh, there are probably some theme-adjacent duds in here somewhere.’
Nope.
And while I did enjoy some stories more than others, I can honestly say, there’s not a single dud in this whole anthology. They all stick reverently to both theme and body horror. Shredded covers wrestling, basketball, football, gym enthusiasts, rodeo clowns, cross-country runners, power lifting, swimming, gymnastics, MMA, hockey, figure skating, yoga, and more.
The stories that really stood out to me, hit me in the gut, were The Swish Heard ‘Round Central Nebraska by Tim Meyer (the format, almost done like a script, was effective, and the story moved like lightning), I’m Gonna Make You A Legend by Brandon Applegate (italics used to great effect here, a nice twist on the bully revenge trope), Don’t Make It Weird by Red Lagoe (a strong voice, super original), Massive Gains by Caias Ward (lots of humor, multiple formats/angles that serve the story well), Blood, Ash & Iron by Charles Austin Muir (masterful, probably my favorite story), It All Comes Back by Matthew Pritt (lean, simple prose, with a strong emotional core, this one hurt), and Avulsion by Madeleine Sardina (masterful in its ability to have a suffering character parallel the world around them, and an ending that goes full circle).
The gems here (and this is just my opinion, what hit hardest to me): Massive Gains, Blood, Ash & Iron, It All Comes Back, and Avulsion.
Cons: Lots of italics, mirror scenes, some story/plot overlap.
Pros: Story approach/format, gutsy, bold stories, strong voices, great story placement, true to theme and body horror, and, most of all, story length. The length of stories was pitch perfect. I read half of this anthology in one sitting, half in another. It’s a breeze to move through.
Shredded is well worth the price of admission. I highly recommend it!
November 26, 2023
Sports is not my thing. Also can't watch sports because I'm always too anxious about the athletes getting injured, so of course I had to check out this body horror anthology that focuses on sports and fitness. Each story really emphasizes how horrifying and brutal sports and fitness can be, and the things people are expected to do in order to be "perfect." Some of the stories feature queer characters as well, which made this anthology even more enjoyable.
October 19, 2022
Gonna need at least five more volumes of this anthology. All of stories were hard hitters (pun intended) ; sports is a brilliant medium for horror- it is a breeding ground for body horror, psychologically and physically. The queer narratives puts this at ten stars.
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April 22, 2024I only read Rien Gray's story in this anthology since I am on a mission to read everything they write. [I might one day get around to some more stories but I have a harder time picking up anthologies over collections.]
I think it's interesting that in the two anthologies I've read so far (this and Heckin' Lewd: Trans and Nonbinary Erotica), both of their pieces are about trans men when all of their longer works focus on nonbinary people and/or sapphic relationships with women.
In Scale we follow Robert, a college student who wants to become a better swimmer and considers going on drugs for it. Instead, his teammate invites him to join him for a different type of doping.
I really liked the beginning and the descriptions, the focus on Robert's tumultuous emotions about the situation. It does rush the transition from him just being complicit to the end where loyalty bids shift.
I think it's interesting that in the two anthologies I've read so far (this and Heckin' Lewd: Trans and Nonbinary Erotica), both of their pieces are about trans men when all of their longer works focus on nonbinary people and/or sapphic relationships with women.
In Scale we follow Robert, a college student who wants to become a better swimmer and considers going on drugs for it. Instead, his teammate invites him to join him for a different type of doping.
I really liked the beginning and the descriptions, the focus on Robert's tumultuous emotions about the situation. It does rush the transition from him just being complicit to the end where loyalty bids shift.
September 9, 2022
I’ve never heard of body horror so I had no expectations going in & holy moley what a ride it was. This is such an immersive read filled with turns that will leave you wanting to cancel that gym membership. I didn’t expect anything less from Cursed Morsels Press. Such an interesting idea executed so well by the authors in it. A treat for fans of campy horror who enjoy dark humor. Tens across the board.
February 28, 2023
As a former competitive gymnast and current martial artist working up to competition level of fighting, I really enjoyed this sports-themed body horror romp of 17 stories. There's all sorts of creepy stories for a variety of sports from lifting to football to gymnastics to yoga to fighting to basketball, all exploring the limits that athletes will push themselves to for their chosen poison out of a combo of self-driven ambition and competitive yearning to prove yourself to others.
My favorites included:
"I Am the Ring, My Heart Is the Mat, My Bones Are the Ropes" by Nikki R. Leigh, an absolutely heart wrenching story about a terrible betrayal and what it really means to give your body to your sport.
"I'm Gonna Make You A Legend" by Brandon Applegate, a wonderfully spooky story about the horrors of possession and how success comes at a price.
"Don't Make It Weird" by Red Lagoe about being a girl or woman in male-dominated boys clubs and how men are always the ones who make it *weird*.
"Massive Gains" by Caias Ward, a hilarious autopsy of the constant gym culture push to get bigger, bigger, bigger and never settle.
"That Southern Spirit" by Mae Murray about what it really means to be a man and how little that has to do with actually being a "man".
"Flesh Advent" by D. Matthew Urban, an eldricth horror kind of story about a boy who throws himself so thoroughly into running that he completely loses himself.
"A Pain All My Own" by Eric Raglin about how women don't need protected or coddled, only given the chance to succeed.
"Lucky Like Elena" by Alexis DuBon, the gymnastics story I was waiting for about all the ways we lie to ourselves about why others are better than us when we're not able to accept that only one can be the best.
"Our Perpetual Intention" by J.A.W. McCarthy, which took on the challenge of making a gentle, non-competitive sport just as goopy and horrifying as all the sports we typically think of as meat grinders.
My favorites included:
"I Am the Ring, My Heart Is the Mat, My Bones Are the Ropes" by Nikki R. Leigh, an absolutely heart wrenching story about a terrible betrayal and what it really means to give your body to your sport.
"I'm Gonna Make You A Legend" by Brandon Applegate, a wonderfully spooky story about the horrors of possession and how success comes at a price.
"Don't Make It Weird" by Red Lagoe about being a girl or woman in male-dominated boys clubs and how men are always the ones who make it *weird*.
"Massive Gains" by Caias Ward, a hilarious autopsy of the constant gym culture push to get bigger, bigger, bigger and never settle.
"That Southern Spirit" by Mae Murray about what it really means to be a man and how little that has to do with actually being a "man".
"Flesh Advent" by D. Matthew Urban, an eldricth horror kind of story about a boy who throws himself so thoroughly into running that he completely loses himself.
"A Pain All My Own" by Eric Raglin about how women don't need protected or coddled, only given the chance to succeed.
"Lucky Like Elena" by Alexis DuBon, the gymnastics story I was waiting for about all the ways we lie to ourselves about why others are better than us when we're not able to accept that only one can be the best.
"Our Perpetual Intention" by J.A.W. McCarthy, which took on the challenge of making a gentle, non-competitive sport just as goopy and horrifying as all the sports we typically think of as meat grinders.
July 28, 2022
Shredded is an anthology of body horror stories that are centred around sports and fitness. The stories are a diverse set that cover a lot of different sports and fitness activities (including wrestling, american football, going to the gym, swimming, hockey, yoga, and gymnastics) and a range of ways in which the body horror plays out, helps and hinders. This really stands out, as you never know what kind of story you're going to get next.
I really enjoyed what body horror has to say about sports and fitness, and vice versa. In particular, ideas around having the ideal body for your activity and the lengths people will go to, as well as more monstrous and uncontrollable elements of bodies pushed to their limit. I found both the stories featuring trans men particularly interesting, with one playing off ideas around T but also bear culture amongst gay men, and the other a water-based body horror that at the same time showed quite a sweet instance of a trans guy finding a place in a swimming team. Body horror has plenty to say about different kinds of bodies, but also about who finds a place within sports and fitness, which is something a lot of the stories address in some way or another.
Overall, this is an impressive anthology that will make you wince and laugh, and has a lot to say about the relationships between bodies and physical activity at the same time. Sports and fitness is not a topic I would usually look for fiction about and Shredded was a chance to see that the horror side of the topic isn't confined to the jock getting killed near the start of a horror story.
I really enjoyed what body horror has to say about sports and fitness, and vice versa. In particular, ideas around having the ideal body for your activity and the lengths people will go to, as well as more monstrous and uncontrollable elements of bodies pushed to their limit. I found both the stories featuring trans men particularly interesting, with one playing off ideas around T but also bear culture amongst gay men, and the other a water-based body horror that at the same time showed quite a sweet instance of a trans guy finding a place in a swimming team. Body horror has plenty to say about different kinds of bodies, but also about who finds a place within sports and fitness, which is something a lot of the stories address in some way or another.
Overall, this is an impressive anthology that will make you wince and laugh, and has a lot to say about the relationships between bodies and physical activity at the same time. Sports and fitness is not a topic I would usually look for fiction about and Shredded was a chance to see that the horror side of the topic isn't confined to the jock getting killed near the start of a horror story.
July 5, 2024
Shredded - 4/5
This anthology was a lot of fun! This being a horror anthology the stories focus down on, well, the horrors of sport: dodgy drugs, debilitating injuries, toxic rivalries, and the occassional coach-induced parasitic and body melting infection. However, there's also a lot of emphasis on the joys of sport, of the joys of pushing yourself and your limits both phyiscially and mentally, owning the pain sports can bring, and how it can drive changes in your body that you want for yourself. It's definitely not enough to make me want to touch the stuff, personally exercise as a concept is horrifying enough without the worry of turning into a steaming pile of goo, but I did really appreciate that it wasn't an anthology solely focused around the terrifying evils of sports and fitness. Also, it's quite queer, so that's a lot of fun too.
My only major criticism would be that sometimes the stories got a little samey. For example, there are a lot of stories about drugs or steroids which are sold as helping improve your performance but which, gasp!, end up morphing someone into something horrific, and that dragged the anthology as a whole down for me. The individual stories themselves are all very solid, but having them lined up next to each other in one collection leads the whole thing feeling somewhat repetitive at times. Again, I still enjoyed these stories, I just sometimes wished for a little more variety from short to short.
Overall though a very fun anthology, and one I'd definitely recommend to all those body horror freaks out there like me.
This anthology was a lot of fun! This being a horror anthology the stories focus down on, well, the horrors of sport: dodgy drugs, debilitating injuries, toxic rivalries, and the occassional coach-induced parasitic and body melting infection. However, there's also a lot of emphasis on the joys of sport, of the joys of pushing yourself and your limits both phyiscially and mentally, owning the pain sports can bring, and how it can drive changes in your body that you want for yourself. It's definitely not enough to make me want to touch the stuff, personally exercise as a concept is horrifying enough without the worry of turning into a steaming pile of goo, but I did really appreciate that it wasn't an anthology solely focused around the terrifying evils of sports and fitness. Also, it's quite queer, so that's a lot of fun too.
My only major criticism would be that sometimes the stories got a little samey. For example, there are a lot of stories about drugs or steroids which are sold as helping improve your performance but which, gasp!, end up morphing someone into something horrific, and that dragged the anthology as a whole down for me. The individual stories themselves are all very solid, but having them lined up next to each other in one collection leads the whole thing feeling somewhat repetitive at times. Again, I still enjoyed these stories, I just sometimes wished for a little more variety from short to short.
Overall though a very fun anthology, and one I'd definitely recommend to all those body horror freaks out there like me.
July 23, 2022
Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology is the latest from the mind of Eric Raglin, editor of
ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK
, exploring a vital part of life: fitness! Sports, fitness, wellness and what human beings do with their bodies. Fitness is the ultimate form of control in oneself; the ability to shape and mold a body towards how a human being feels it should look.
By contrast, body horror is the ultimate lack of control. Something is happening to a human body that should be, and oftentimes one is helpless to prevent it. Combining these two makes for a rip-roaring fun time.
You can read Zach's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
By contrast, body horror is the ultimate lack of control. Something is happening to a human body that should be, and oftentimes one is helpless to prevent it. Combining these two makes for a rip-roaring fun time.
You can read Zach's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
October 28, 2025
I'm not a sports fan at all, but I love horror, and I'm working on building up my tolerance for body horror. I tried reading the stories aloud to my husband, who loves sports, but the opening story made him nauseous. So Shredded might be too much for non-horror fans, but just right for those of us who love the carnage and chaos.
Overall, I had a great time with Shredded. I was able to follow along with the sports and fitness talk with my minimal knowledge, and only had to ask for explanations for a couple of things. I loved that every story in here is unique. Nothing typical, nothing expected, I was shocked pretty much every single time.
My favorite stories were:
I'm Gonna Make You a Legend by Brandon Applegate
Don't Make it Weird by Red Lagoe
Lucky Like Elena by Alexis DuBon
Overall, I had a great time with Shredded. I was able to follow along with the sports and fitness talk with my minimal knowledge, and only had to ask for explanations for a couple of things. I loved that every story in here is unique. Nothing typical, nothing expected, I was shocked pretty much every single time.
My favorite stories were:
I'm Gonna Make You a Legend by Brandon Applegate
Don't Make it Weird by Red Lagoe
Lucky Like Elena by Alexis DuBon
August 31, 2022
Really dug this one, despite having only a passing interest in body horror and almost no interest in sports. There aren't any bad stories, but a few have stuck with me:
- Massive Gains by Caias Ward, a funny/sad/creepy monster story told through YouTube comments, text messages and police reports.
- It All Comes Back by Matthew Pritt, which shows that illnesses -- CTE in this case -- can be plenty horrific all on their own. A lovely and heartbreaking portrait of a marriage.
- Lucky Like Elena by Alexa Dubon, which -- out of all the horrors contained here -- features an amputation scene that made me mentally recoil.
- Massive Gains by Caias Ward, a funny/sad/creepy monster story told through YouTube comments, text messages and police reports.
- It All Comes Back by Matthew Pritt, which shows that illnesses -- CTE in this case -- can be plenty horrific all on their own. A lovely and heartbreaking portrait of a marriage.
- Lucky Like Elena by Alexa Dubon, which -- out of all the horrors contained here -- features an amputation scene that made me mentally recoil.
October 11, 2022
Shredded is an amazing anthology of sports-related body horror. From Ghosts possessing humans, yoga cults, wrestling fighters with a sick advantage, to a Cosmic horror event. There are so many different subgenres and characters and themes that anyone will find a story they'll enjoy. I loved this book because each tale caught my attention right at the beginning, and once the body horror started, I couldn't stop reading. It's a beautiful and horrific body of work that I can't recommend enough!
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September 3, 2022I breezed through this collection, and as a sports fan, it really hit my interests. Standout stories to me were
"Avulsion" by Madeleine Sardina
"Lucky Like Elena," by Alexis DuBon
"Scale" by Rien Gray
"Avulsion" by Madeleine Sardina
"Lucky Like Elena," by Alexis DuBon
"Scale" by Rien Gray
March 20, 2025
A horror anthology revolving around sports and fitness. I thought this was really interesting theme for a horror anthology but I found lot of the stories quite lukewarm. Some of the stories were really good, but like 40% or so left me wanting more.
Still a nice reading experience.
Still a nice reading experience.
May 7, 2023
Very enjoyable short story collection and in the immortal words of Ronnie Coleman, "yeaaaaa buddy; light weight!"
December 10, 2024
A brilliant collection of horrifying, grotesque body horror. Whether you play sports or not, this is well worth a read. Honestly, that goes for anything Cursed Morsels publishes!
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