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Body Shocks
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
12 posts | 5 read | 12 to read
Bestselling editor Ellen Datlow (Darkness, Lovecraft's Monsters) presents body horror at its most wide-ranging and shocking best. Discover twenty-nine intricate, twisted tales of the human body, soul, and psyche, as told by storytelling legends including Carmen Maria Machado, Richard Kadrey, Seanan McGuire, Caitln R. Kiernan, Nathan Ballingrud, Tananarive Due, Cassandra Khaw, Christopher Fowler, and many more.
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review
Lauranahe
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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Pickpick

This was fun! Some of the stories were just meh, but some were great. I think Spores made me squirm the most, but I hate fungi. I even have a hard time when using mushrooms in my cooking. Molds and fungi…😰

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Reggie
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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I have been on a Hellraiser high this whole week. In the first movie, blood dripped on the floor by Larry allows Frank to come back from hell. In the 2nd, a psychopath gives his patient who thinks roaches are always crawling on him a razor and his blood on a mattress allows Julia (pictured) to come back. The short story shown reminds me of both scenes. It‘s maybe 3 pages long and it is visceral, witchy, and wonderful. Happy Saturday, Littens!!!

Suet624 Happy almost Sunday to you! 2y
JoeMo Oh god….Roaches are where I “tap out” in terms of faking any courage. Have you seen the new Hellraiser on Hulu yet? The reviews seem okay, but I don‘t actually know anyone who‘s seen it yet 2y
Reggie @Suet624🖤🖤🖤 2y
See All 7 Comments
Reggie @JoeMo short answer, not really. Long answer: I enjoy horror when I can root for someone, and what I am finding lately is that with the gentrifiers in the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the mob in Halloween Kills, the junkie main character in this new Hellraiser, I‘m ok with them all getting killed. I don‘t feel invested and it lessens my enjoyment. Plus the format of the new Hellraiser turned it into a slasher with a plug and play formula, the👇🏼 (edited) 2y
Reggie Hellraiser high I‘m talking about is that in my excitement for the new one I revisited the first two which I love so much. This new one, meh. 2y
JoeMo Well said regarding the formulaic, plug and play nature of many slasher movies nowadays. I think a good movie will give you a person or two to root for and some jerks you can‘t wait to see bite it!😂 The sub-genre doesn‘t do well giving you interesting folks to root for anymore…like the Evil Dead remake. The cinematography was amazing, but I just didn‘t care about anyone! 2y
JoeMo I haven‘t seen X yet (it‘s on my list), but I saw its prequel Pearl. You might like it. I found it refreshing as it actually has a plot, and characters, who have a degree of depth and motivations and such. All of those things missing from most slasher flicks. If you see it, I‘d be interested in your thoughts even if you end up hating it. I love hearing others‘ opinions on books and films even if they‘re different from mine! 2y
50 likes7 comments
review
Ephemera
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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Pickpick

Ellen Datlow is the editor of this collection of horror stories with the theme of body horror. Datlow is probably the best editor there is with regard to short stories in the horror or fantasy genres. Her Best Horror of the Year collections are unmatched and I highly recommend them. This book does not disappoint and is full of truly frightening tales. If horror is your thing, you will enjoy this book. Five stars.

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Reggie
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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Pickpick

Going into this, I thought this was going to be torture and pain rough, but it wasn‘t. Yes, some were gross and I wouldn‘t recommend eating while reading this, but besides one meh story out of 29, they were great. There was a lesbian couple and their daughter at the beginning of a mold apocalypse, a description of a werewolf woman eating of a fat accountant that sounded so sumptuous and delicious, an autopsy whose ME‘s blood sacrifice into 👇🏼

Reggie the cavern of his subject allows the subject to be born anew as it crawled through the entrails of its old body(totally got some Hellraiser vibes in this one), a country duo conjoined out of love and many more!!! This was great. A big ol‘ body horror pick! (edited) 3y
TrishB Great review 😁 3y
Reggie @TrishB thanks! They were a lot of fun. 3y
See All 13 Comments
Centique Oh my god a mold apocalypse. Just thinking about it creeps me out. Give me spiders any day. 😂😂 3y
Bookzombie This is a great review! Already stacked. 🙂 3y
Reggie @Centique it comes from old fruit and it keeps growing and one of the mothers just swipes her finger across it like nothing to prove it‘s just simple mold. By the end she‘s just a blob of mold in the hospital. It was horrible. 3y
Reggie @Bookzombie Thanks, Margie. There‘s a wide variety of stories in here. You‘ll enjoy it. 3y
Centique @Reggie that is very bleurgh 🤯 3y
vivastory I see that my local B&N has this in stock. I foresee a quick trip to the store in the next week! I also really want her recent anthology of Shirley Jackson inspired stories (edited) 3y
Reggie @vivastory I saw that one tonight because I was at B&N earlier but that they‘re Jackson inspired not puts me off but if I haven‘t read her then I won‘t get the reference even though I‘m sure I would just enjoy them on their own. It‘s a mental block. Lol. I think you would very much like Body Shocks. 3y
vivastory I really look forward to it. Body horror unnerves me like no other type of horror. To this day one of my most memorable reading experiences was literally gagging in a waiting room while reading The Troop. 3y
Reggie @vivastory oof I always think about the poor monkey and the poor turtle. And I could just see those worms ascend into the air, ugh. 🤮 3y
vivastory The worms going into the air gave me nightmares. I've thought about rereading the book, but also “No, thanks...“ 😂 3y
56 likes1 stack add13 comments
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Reggie
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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I liked this sentence. From “I‘m Always Here,” by Richard Christian Matheson. Photo is of artist Peter Pavlesnkiy in his artistic form of protest against the Russian government.

Twainy OMG that looks painful. 3y
Megabooks Whoa! Great line! 3y
sharread 😳 ouch 3y
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BiblioLitten This is the second time I‘m seeing this picture on Litsy in 24 hours 😳 3y
Reggie @Bibliolitten what a coincidence. Dark times here on Litsy. Lol 3y
DivineDiana Perfect visual choice! 3y
61 likes6 comments
blurb
Reggie
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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In a book of body horror themed short stories, I would never have guessed there would be one about the fashion industry. As someone who watched the first 6 seasons of America‘s Next Top Model back in the day, I was into it. It‘s so satirically scathing, making fun of all the pretentiousness, and yet, it manages to boil it down into a moment of beauty right before that last paragraph that knifes you in the back. Sooo good this story.

Lindy 💪😱 3y
Centique Next Top Model was my Friday night go to for years. It was compulsive stuff! I guess it‘s one of the godfathers of reality tv. 3y
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blurb
Reggie
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
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Just picked up this anthology of body horror yesterday. The cover looks like something Clive Barker would have done. The table contents is pretty awesome. Read the first story and even though it is about a family being caught at a roach motel and turning into roaches themselves it had a nice little lesson about life. I 🖤 horror.

Nute Spot on with the cover art…Clive Barker all the way. People turning into roaches, oh, my!😳 Just so you know you were correct about The Ruins…I liked it! I‘ll put some words on paper soon. 3y
Reggie @Nute 😁yay about the Ruins! I just remember that guy who wanted to be a doctor just wanting to save everyone and he couldn‘t. 3y
Nute Remember what you told me…to give it a chance for the top notch character development. Right on! Still gross in places.🤢 And I‘m definitely not reading a story about roach people! HaHaHa! I‘ll pass on this and see what you recommend for me next time.😀 3y
60 likes4 stack adds3 comments
review
khooliha
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow
Pickpick

I enjoyed these stories, though I'm not sure all are body horror and I don't think most of them are especially extreme. There's some gnarly bits, to be sure, but I was expecting worse, or at least a higher level of gnarly consistency.

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khooliha
Body Shocks | Ellen Datlow

Speaking of body horror, I have pre-ordered this book and if it's painfully straight and/or custom I am going to be disappointed!