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A review by wilt
Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror by Lor Gislason
4.0
(I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.)
This anthology is awesome. I'm not someone who usually enjoys short story collections because there's always a few stories that don't hit as well as the others. But having read a body horror novella by a trans author in the past I knew there would be something unique and creative to find here. And this ended up being so much better than I even expected.
It's impossible to pick a single favorite story because I could go on about what think is great about almost every single one of them. In the interest of keeping this concise I wanted to limit myself to picking three favorites, but this collection is just too good for that. So here are my top 5:
Wormspace - For setting the tone and making me feel genuinely disturbed from the get go, which made me wildly curious about the rest of the stories. The tension of the buildup really makes this my favorite choice for an opening.
Coming Out - For its startling quality. This is the point where I really thought okay, this collection is something special. I loved the structure of this story, the attention to its telling, and the details in the omissions that forced my brain to meet the horrors halfway.
Long Fingers - For quote-worthy paragraphs and an energy that made me feel excited to be trans, and for showing me that horror can be heartwarming when read by the monster.
A Brief History of The Santa Carcossa Archipelago - For getting weird with it. For mixing horror and sex in a way that felt nauseating and sweet at the same time, and oddly comforting. And I'm always a sucker for science.
Looking for the Big Death - For being a strong finish that really ramped up the horror and wrapped the anthology up in a memorable, exhilerating way. This was probably the story that disturbed me the most and I couldn't ask for a more satisfying end to this lovely gruesome collection.
The only story I disliked was The Haunting of Aiden Finch because it felt like it didn't really meet the theme of body horror to me. The quality didn't feel on the same level as the others, especially following Wormspace, and that's why I can't really give this a 5 stars. Maybe if the horror was more involved with the bodies of the characters and less relegated to a seperate entity it could have worked for me. But as it is it felt out of place and just didn't click with me.
Overall I'm surprised by how much I loved this collection. It makes me excited for the future of queer horror and grateful to be at a point where trans writers can get together to form works of art like this.
This anthology is awesome. I'm not someone who usually enjoys short story collections because there's always a few stories that don't hit as well as the others. But having read a body horror novella by a trans author in the past I knew there would be something unique and creative to find here. And this ended up being so much better than I even expected.
It's impossible to pick a single favorite story because I could go on about what think is great about almost every single one of them. In the interest of keeping this concise I wanted to limit myself to picking three favorites, but this collection is just too good for that. So here are my top 5:
Wormspace - For setting the tone and making me feel genuinely disturbed from the get go, which made me wildly curious about the rest of the stories. The tension of the buildup really makes this my favorite choice for an opening.
Coming Out - For its startling quality. This is the point where I really thought okay, this collection is something special. I loved the structure of this story, the attention to its telling, and the details in the omissions that forced my brain to meet the horrors halfway.
Long Fingers - For quote-worthy paragraphs and an energy that made me feel excited to be trans, and for showing me that horror can be heartwarming when read by the monster.
A Brief History of The Santa Carcossa Archipelago - For getting weird with it. For mixing horror and sex in a way that felt nauseating and sweet at the same time, and oddly comforting. And I'm always a sucker for science.
Looking for the Big Death - For being a strong finish that really ramped up the horror and wrapped the anthology up in a memorable, exhilerating way. This was probably the story that disturbed me the most and I couldn't ask for a more satisfying end to this lovely gruesome collection.
The only story I disliked was The Haunting of Aiden Finch because it felt like it didn't really meet the theme of body horror to me. The quality didn't feel on the same level as the others, especially following Wormspace, and that's why I can't really give this a 5 stars. Maybe if the horror was more involved with the bodies of the characters and less relegated to a seperate entity it could have worked for me. But as it is it felt out of place and just didn't click with me.
Overall I'm surprised by how much I loved this collection. It makes me excited for the future of queer horror and grateful to be at a point where trans writers can get together to form works of art like this.