By Bora Chung
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2022. 247 pages. Fiction.
Cursed Bunny is unique and imaginative, blending horror, sci-fi, fairy tales, and speculative fiction into stories that defy categorization. By turns thought-provoking and stomach-turning, here monsters take the shapes of furry woodland creatures and danger lurks in unexpected corners of everyday apartment buildings. But in this unforgettable collection, translated by the acclaimed Anton Hur, Chung’s absurd, haunting universe could be our own.
If there’s one thing that can be said about Bora Chung it’s that she’s a one-of-a-kind original. I’ve never read a horror anthology quite like this. Each story is endlessly imaginative, twisted, and yet grounded by the tissues of society’s woes. You will find anything from body horror to fables that ruminate on feminism and capitalism. All of that said, this is not for those squeamish or faint of heart, but if you love dark, thought-provoking horror, Cursed Bunny is for you.
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By Julia Armfield
Flatiron Books, 2022. 228 pages. Fiction.
Leah is changed. Months earlier, she left for a routine expedition, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night. As Miri searches for answers, desperate to understand what happened below the water, she must face the possibility that the woman she loves is slipping from her grasp. By turns elegiac and furious, wry and heartbreaking, Our Wives Under the Sea is a genre-bending exploration of the depths of love and grief at the heart of a marriage.
By Carmen Maria Machado
Graywolf Press, 2017. 245 pages. Fiction.
In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives, and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella 'Especially Heinous, ' Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
BW
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