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A review by leootherland
Your Body is not Your Body by Matt Blairstone, Alex Woodroe
5.0
I'm sitting here writing this review several days to a week after finishing Your Body Is Not Your Body with the book lying here on my desk beside my keyboard. I pulled it out of my draw to look at it and smell it and get reacquainted with it while I wrote this. They way any good reader might with a favored book. Your Body Is Not Your Body is something I watched all through its creative process. When Tenebrous Press put out the submission call I wanted to write for it but knew I lacked the time, so I contented myself with watching in anticipation of having this book in my hands when it came out.
I was not disappointed.
Your Body Is Not Your Body was well worth the wait and I devoured the whole book in what I think was about three days of fevered reading between customers at my day job. As a whole, Your Body Is Not Your Body is a wild mix of tantalizing body horror and bittersweet longing and bad ass avengery (yes I know I'm making up words). Every story, every poem, ever well crafted piece of art blends into a twisting, turning corridor of new weird delight. I can foresee myself coming back to reread this book in the future both in whole and in little bits and pieces of my favorite parts.
Like any anthology your likely to read there were pieces of Your Body Is Not Your Body that stuck out for me. And yes, these bits are biasedly based on my own option but I can't resist sharing the names of a few pieces that I can't get out of my head. So, in order of appearance in the book, I give you "Those bits I can't stop thinking about."
Tonsilstonespunksplatter666! What a ride this one was. I think another reviewer compared it to some form of neurodivergent experience and I have to say they are correct. This is what being stuck in my own neurodivergent head feels like some of the time and seeing that blended with the other elements of this story... well it's a ride. You'll love it.
High Maintenance. A friend and I were reading Your Body Is Not Your Body together and he said this one made him cry. I saw why the moment I read it. Pure, terrifying melancholy.
The Infinite Being. I. Don't. Read. Poetry. And yet I connected to this piece instantly. I loved the flow and the twisting of the storyline.
Brother Maternitas. A view on how two different people see their bodies turned into something else before their eyes. I keep pondering it no matter how immersed in other stories I become.
The Same Thing That Happened To Sam. I felt this in my soul. The anger, the frustration, the singular oppression followed by resistance. This piece is short but once you read it you won't forget it.
Why We Keep Exploding. Let me clarify, I'm a trans man pre-transition. Despite the fact I do not identify as a woman I've had to live my life seen as one and this story... Reading this felt like the truest thing I had experienced in a long time. When I was through I had to put the book down and stare at nothing for awhile. And then weird author that I am, I picked up my phone and messaged my publisher that she needed to read this one. That I thought it reminded me of one of her own stories and they she NEEDED to read it. Yeah. This one is that good.
Fencing Chestplate. I really don't know how to put into words what I feel about this one. It spoke to me as a trans man and my own feelings about my body. This is how it feels. At least for me.
The Divine Carcass. A strange, undulating tale full of kaleidoscope colors and significant body horror.
#MOTHERMYHEM. Another short one that got lodged in my head. Horror that makes you think.
The Lives of Scavengers. Body horror? Yes. Something bordering on dark fantasy? Also yes. Of all the stories in here I wished this one was longer. I would have read a book, or several for that matter, set in this world.
The Simulacrum. This has to be one of my favorite pieces of my favorite pieces. Evil government scientists and experiments that get their revenge and their freedom. You can't go wrong.
Stench. This one also got stuck in my head when I initially didn't think it would. The imagery made me consider in ways I liked and now this one is a facet of my brain.
Tiny Magic. I've had the pleasure of getting to "know" the author of this one on Twitter and their work definitely deserves a mention. I loved being in their character's head further loved the nuance of magic being just about anywhere we find it. We make our magic.
So if you haven't read it. I recommend reading it. Your Body Is Not Your Body is well worth it.
I was not disappointed.
Your Body Is Not Your Body was well worth the wait and I devoured the whole book in what I think was about three days of fevered reading between customers at my day job. As a whole, Your Body Is Not Your Body is a wild mix of tantalizing body horror and bittersweet longing and bad ass avengery (yes I know I'm making up words). Every story, every poem, ever well crafted piece of art blends into a twisting, turning corridor of new weird delight. I can foresee myself coming back to reread this book in the future both in whole and in little bits and pieces of my favorite parts.
Like any anthology your likely to read there were pieces of Your Body Is Not Your Body that stuck out for me. And yes, these bits are biasedly based on my own option but I can't resist sharing the names of a few pieces that I can't get out of my head. So, in order of appearance in the book, I give you "Those bits I can't stop thinking about."
Tonsilstonespunksplatter666! What a ride this one was. I think another reviewer compared it to some form of neurodivergent experience and I have to say they are correct. This is what being stuck in my own neurodivergent head feels like some of the time and seeing that blended with the other elements of this story... well it's a ride. You'll love it.
High Maintenance. A friend and I were reading Your Body Is Not Your Body together and he said this one made him cry. I saw why the moment I read it. Pure, terrifying melancholy.
The Infinite Being. I. Don't. Read. Poetry. And yet I connected to this piece instantly. I loved the flow and the twisting of the storyline.
Brother Maternitas. A view on how two different people see their bodies turned into something else before their eyes. I keep pondering it no matter how immersed in other stories I become.
The Same Thing That Happened To Sam. I felt this in my soul. The anger, the frustration, the singular oppression followed by resistance. This piece is short but once you read it you won't forget it.
Why We Keep Exploding. Let me clarify, I'm a trans man pre-transition. Despite the fact I do not identify as a woman I've had to live my life seen as one and this story... Reading this felt like the truest thing I had experienced in a long time. When I was through I had to put the book down and stare at nothing for awhile. And then weird author that I am, I picked up my phone and messaged my publisher that she needed to read this one. That I thought it reminded me of one of her own stories and they she NEEDED to read it. Yeah. This one is that good.
Fencing Chestplate. I really don't know how to put into words what I feel about this one. It spoke to me as a trans man and my own feelings about my body. This is how it feels. At least for me.
The Divine Carcass. A strange, undulating tale full of kaleidoscope colors and significant body horror.
#MOTHERMYHEM. Another short one that got lodged in my head. Horror that makes you think.
The Lives of Scavengers. Body horror? Yes. Something bordering on dark fantasy? Also yes. Of all the stories in here I wished this one was longer. I would have read a book, or several for that matter, set in this world.
The Simulacrum. This has to be one of my favorite pieces of my favorite pieces. Evil government scientists and experiments that get their revenge and their freedom. You can't go wrong.
Stench. This one also got stuck in my head when I initially didn't think it would. The imagery made me consider in ways I liked and now this one is a facet of my brain.
Tiny Magic. I've had the pleasure of getting to "know" the author of this one on Twitter and their work definitely deserves a mention. I loved being in their character's head further loved the nuance of magic being just about anywhere we find it. We make our magic.
So if you haven't read it. I recommend reading it. Your Body Is Not Your Body is well worth it.