Status Updates From Swamp Foetus

The Elder- 5 stars What a heartwrenching story. *cries*
The Ash of Memory, the Dust of Desire- 3.5 stars Definite extreme horror, but it didn't end on a good note for me. Very underwhelming. I do love the comments about New Orleans at the end, but that can't save the story for me.

Calcutta, Lord of Nerves- 5 stars A zombie story in India!!! So much decay, grotesque detestation for the body of a woman, but also the worship of the chaos it can birth and bring into the world. Very complex. Can’t stop thinking about it!

Footprints in the Water- 4.5 stars I love a story where people are like Carrie. This took a more supernatural turn and I wish it was longer.
How to Get Ahead in New York- 3.5 stars an interesting viewpoint of a kid encountering homelessness and the horrors of it, but I didn’t love the presentations. Excited to read Lost Souls though and explore his character more.

Missing- 2 stars This is my least favorite of the collection and it doesn't feel like the rest of the stories (besides following queer punks in NOLA). The tone and the ending had no payoff for me.

Xenophobia- 4 stars The most extreme story in this story. We follow two xenophobes in Chinatown who say terrible things and do a deplorable act, but it ends in a great form of body horror, and they get their just desserts.
The Sixth Sentinel- 3 stars I should love this because Cajun heroine, but I found the story to be underwhelming in its build. I do appreciate that even in death men want to possess and own women.

Optional Music for Voice and Piano- 5 stars This story was so beautiful and haunting. I tend to love stories of music where they control people or lead to deaths and suicides, so I appreciated the melancholic tone and the implications that this little boy's early injury gave him the voice of death/the other side.

“His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood” ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The setting of the plantation outside of BR was so well written and atmospheric. Some of the language was racist, but I have to keep in mind how even progressive writers wrote in the 90s, but it did take me out of the story. Still a solid overall vampire/hoodoo curse tale.

- The ash of memory, the dust of desire: 4.5/5

- the elder: 5/5
holy shit. Sometimes the most horrific tale is the accidental death of a child.

- Calcutta, lord of nerves: 3/5