michaellouisdixon's review against another edition
3.0
I had pretty high expectations for this anthology, and maybe that was unfair. I absolutely adore David Cronenberg's films, so it was a pretty high bar that was set. In general, this was pretty good but not great. I hoped for great. Some of the stories were great though. Here are my favorites:
A Bad Patch by Brian Evenson. A fun gruesome way to start off this anthology.
Hekati Yoga by Max D. Stanton. I liked this story. It was an engaging Body Horror story. Well done!
Seminar by Cody Goodfellow. My favorite story in the anthology. Cody totally captures the aesthetic of David Cronenberg's work. And it's a fucking trip!
The Taint is Saintly with Her Welcome by Mona Swan Lesueur & Fiona Maeve Geist. This story really rips along with the surreal influences of William S. Burroughs.
A Future of Violence by Charles Austin Muir. A good story. Imagine a superhero origin story told by David Cronenberg.
Orificially Compromised by Ryan Harding. Ryan's work is always great, always disturbing, and guaranteed to make you clutch at your vitals. This story is no exception. After reading this, I may start paying more attention to those User Agreements, nah, fuckit!
The Human Clay by Brendan Vidito. This story seemed to embrace the essence of Clive Barker's work as well as David Cronenberg. Good stuff!
A Bad Patch by Brian Evenson. A fun gruesome way to start off this anthology.
Hekati Yoga by Max D. Stanton. I liked this story. It was an engaging Body Horror story. Well done!
Seminar by Cody Goodfellow. My favorite story in the anthology. Cody totally captures the aesthetic of David Cronenberg's work. And it's a fucking trip!
The Taint is Saintly with Her Welcome by Mona Swan Lesueur & Fiona Maeve Geist. This story really rips along with the surreal influences of William S. Burroughs.
A Future of Violence by Charles Austin Muir. A good story. Imagine a superhero origin story told by David Cronenberg.
Orificially Compromised by Ryan Harding. Ryan's work is always great, always disturbing, and guaranteed to make you clutch at your vitals. This story is no exception. After reading this, I may start paying more attention to those User Agreements, nah, fuckit!
The Human Clay by Brendan Vidito. This story seemed to embrace the essence of Clive Barker's work as well as David Cronenberg. Good stuff!
the_bookubus's review against another edition
4.0
As a Cronenberg fan I was so excited to read this anthology and it did not disappoint! I usually find anthologies are quite hit or miss and my individual ratings of the stories differ greatly but this is a really solid collection and all of the stories were at least good if not great.
Some authors took a specific Cronenberg film, such as Videodrome or The Fly, and ran with it whereas others delved into ideas and themes the director is known for such as body horror, man and machine, sex and death.
Some of my favourites were:
Hekati Yoga by Max D. Stanton
Convex by Emma Alice Johnson
Elk: An Oral History of an Abandoned Film (1987) by Jack Lothian
Typhoid Ananya by Madeleine Swann
Limbs by Alex Smith
A New Mother's Guide to Raising an Abomination by Gwendolyn Kiste
Reborn of Ash by Sam Richard
This collection has introduced me to a bunch of new authors I really want to check out more work from. It also has an introduction by the amazing Kathe Koja and some absolutely fantastic artwork too so there are many reasons to love this book. I highly recommend it for fans of Cronenberg, fans of body horror and splatterpunk in general, and any horror fan who is looking for something a bit different.
Some authors took a specific Cronenberg film, such as Videodrome or The Fly, and ran with it whereas others delved into ideas and themes the director is known for such as body horror, man and machine, sex and death.
Some of my favourites were:
Hekati Yoga by Max D. Stanton
Convex by Emma Alice Johnson
Elk: An Oral History of an Abandoned Film (1987) by Jack Lothian
Typhoid Ananya by Madeleine Swann
Limbs by Alex Smith
A New Mother's Guide to Raising an Abomination by Gwendolyn Kiste
Reborn of Ash by Sam Richard
This collection has introduced me to a bunch of new authors I really want to check out more work from. It also has an introduction by the amazing Kathe Koja and some absolutely fantastic artwork too so there are many reasons to love this book. I highly recommend it for fans of Cronenberg, fans of body horror and splatterpunk in general, and any horror fan who is looking for something a bit different.
More...