The Reading Frog (semi ia 3-6 August)’s Reviews > The Language of Knives: Stories > Status Update

I didn't expect a sudden sci-fi, transhumanist story that explored collective memory and autonomy but I'm here for it!

Also, homestretch! Only two more short stories left. 👏

"The feast is drawing near, Bernadette. All these people are going to die because of you ..."

This chapter about a haunted house B&B is so BuzzFeed Unsolved/Watcher's Ghost Files-coded, but imagine Ryan and Shane being married instead of bickering besties, and the ghosts being real and actual threats to their lives.

"The ultra-rich always indulged in weird foods. It's like they use eccentricity to separate themselves from those who can't afford it, Gianna had one said. Gabriel knew food and he doubted any of the bizarre shit he'd seen guests eat tasted good or that they enjoyed them whatsoever. To Gabriel it all felt like character work. A performance of wealth."

—I like what Markov is cooking up here

"I drape around his right arm and embroider it further with my kisses, bites, and scratches. Just to see whether I can damage him, affect his reality. Do I have any power over him or not? There is no blood in him and my attempts to make him feel something add scars, but nothing more. There are no weeping wounds."

—Uhm, gulp. How did this weird succubus-esque story suddenly get relatable on an emotional level?

What in the 'Lady of the Lake' / 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' is happening here 😩 I don't see this ending well, but please don't let this evil fuck win.

"Why did they hurt me?" He's no longer crying out of physical pain.

–This chapter is hitting me like a freight train wtf. Relatable on way too many levels. I love horror that can make me sad tho, idk, there's just something about it.

"That's how he knows he's delirious and the course of antibiotics has done nothing more than kiss the infection in his leg better and hope for the best. A fact he digests dispassionately, riding the heat waves of his fever."

Oh no, is this chapter gonna be about sepsis? Cuz that's literally one of my worst fears as someone who is immunocompromised. A whole different kind of horror 😭

"The kiss that unlocked the hunger and drove Varadin to bite the dead flesh off his wife's lips and Ghena to dig her nails deep underneath her husband's skin at the base of his neck and pull the large strips to her mouth where she chewed with gusto and swallowed."

I'm normally an enthusiastic consumer of cannibalism as an allegory for love/hunger/want/whatever, but idk about this one lol

"The branches, gnarled and twisted as they are, still reveal the hint of human hands-outstretched towards the sky. "As if drowning," that's how Mom described them back when she was up to describing anything."

Botanical/eco horror, my beloved 👏

Aquired this ARC via NetGalley. Might not binge-read this one since it is an anthology.

I'll try, however, to finish it before its publishing date. 👏
Buddy-read for spoilery updates is live on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/buddy_r...