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A review by davemusson85
SLASH-HER: An Anthology of Women in Horror by Jill Girardi, Janine Pipe
4.0
This one got added to my TBR as soon as I started to see it popping up on my Instagram feed, and it proved to be well worth the hype. This is a terrific collection of grizzly stories and, for me, had an impressively high hit-rate - with collections it’s often a bit of lucky dip but I found something entertaining in every story collected here.
If you’re of a nervous disposition, this book is not for you - across the board, these tales are violent, gruesome, and often pretty nasty. But, if you’re a fan a great writing and short stories that slap you in the face, you’ll be pleased to know Slash Her delivers in spades.
In terms of my selected highlights, I would like to pick out the following - but caveat it with a note that everything here is absolutely worth reading. Anyway, my favourites; Sarah Budd’s The Grukken was a powerful tale of a mother finding her fight, the black comedy of Holly Rae Garcia’s How to Pose the Dead was incredible, Sarah Jane Huntington’s Predator was chilling, Mai Kil’s Lefty got pretty weird and pretty dark, Stephanie Rabig’s A Helping Hand From Peter Pan was tight and effective, Ali Seay’s The One Who Won was nasty and fun, and I loved Briana Morgan’s dark tale of revenge Railroad. Oh, and remind me never to attend a Tupperware party organised by Villimey Mist!
However, I wanted to give some extra special credit to a few more. Cynthia Pelayo’s I Hate Slashers was impressively creative and also made me scared that - if she follows me on social media - I hope she likes my content! Mocha Pennington’s The Crimson Bride was incredible - I happened to be reading it at work and actually said ‘WOAH’ out loud at the ending, which earned me a few weird looks - totally worth it. But, my overall top pick was Somer Canon’s You’re Dying Up There - a brilliant explanation of why life is too short for bad art.
My only gripe with this collection is that I wanted more from each story - to the point where some of them felt a little rushed at the end. My guess is this was to do with word limits on the submission call, and I totally get that - but I could have happily had a bit more from each story if there was extra waiting in the wings.
Anyway, overall this was truly excellent - get it on your TBR now!
If you’re of a nervous disposition, this book is not for you - across the board, these tales are violent, gruesome, and often pretty nasty. But, if you’re a fan a great writing and short stories that slap you in the face, you’ll be pleased to know Slash Her delivers in spades.
In terms of my selected highlights, I would like to pick out the following - but caveat it with a note that everything here is absolutely worth reading. Anyway, my favourites; Sarah Budd’s The Grukken was a powerful tale of a mother finding her fight, the black comedy of Holly Rae Garcia’s How to Pose the Dead was incredible, Sarah Jane Huntington’s Predator was chilling, Mai Kil’s Lefty got pretty weird and pretty dark, Stephanie Rabig’s A Helping Hand From Peter Pan was tight and effective, Ali Seay’s The One Who Won was nasty and fun, and I loved Briana Morgan’s dark tale of revenge Railroad. Oh, and remind me never to attend a Tupperware party organised by Villimey Mist!
However, I wanted to give some extra special credit to a few more. Cynthia Pelayo’s I Hate Slashers was impressively creative and also made me scared that - if she follows me on social media - I hope she likes my content! Mocha Pennington’s The Crimson Bride was incredible - I happened to be reading it at work and actually said ‘WOAH’ out loud at the ending, which earned me a few weird looks - totally worth it. But, my overall top pick was Somer Canon’s You’re Dying Up There - a brilliant explanation of why life is too short for bad art.
My only gripe with this collection is that I wanted more from each story - to the point where some of them felt a little rushed at the end. My guess is this was to do with word limits on the submission call, and I totally get that - but I could have happily had a bit more from each story if there was extra waiting in the wings.
Anyway, overall this was truly excellent - get it on your TBR now!