Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: Anthology Review
Hello dear reader!
I have a super fun anthology I am reviewing today for you and I also interviewed the editor (that video drops Thursday, as per usual.) I got a copy of this in advance so I am keeping this review spoiler-free.
The Editor
Jolie Toomajan is a PhD candidate, writer, editor, exhausted feminist, and all-around ghoul. Her dissertation in progress is focused on the women who wrote for Weird Tales and her work has appeared in Upon a Thrice Time, Black Static, Los Suelos, and Death in the Mouth (among other places). Despite all of this, her plan for the zombie apocalypse is to pour a bottle of hot sauce over her head. — Toomajan’s bio at the end of the anthology
You can visit her on her website or follow her on Twitter.
The Anthology
Coming May 21, 2023 and with a beautiful cover by Mary Esther Munoz, Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic is a stunning horror anthology themed around “hysteria.”
Check out the book’s description:
Are you sure something’s wrong? Or are you just hysterical?
Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic is rage-made-art, an unsettling meditation that also serves as a charitable platform to support abortion rights in the United States. Inside are twenty-six haunting speculative tales that explore the social, political, and personal dimensions of hysteria.
Women who are convicted of sexual transgressions are forced to become living seed mounds.
A lonely young man makes his perfect girl out of caulk and endeavors to teach her about the wonders of the world.
The poor barter for health insurance by serving as living batteries for the elite.
In this anthology of feminist dark fiction, presented by CHM, author and editor Jolie Toomajan has curated a collection of nightmares from both award-winning and emerging writers, including Hailey Piper, Christi Nogle, Joe Koch, Kelsea Yu, Laura Cranehill, and more.
Proceeds will benefit the Chicago Abortion Fund — Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic landing page
The table of contents includes this stellar line-up:
“The Girls of Channel 9” — Jennifer Lesh Fleck
“By Their Bones Ye Shall Know Them” — Joe Koch
“China Doll” — Kelsea Yu
“The Flock” — Marisca Pichette
“Exodus” — Dante O. Greene
“The Dark Mother’s Call” — Cheyenne Shaffe
“The First Mrs. Edward Rochester Would Like A Word” — Laura Blackwell
“Speak of the Hunger” — Tania Chen
“The Girls With Claws That Catch” — Hailey Piper
“Lakeglass Houses” — J. Z. Kelley
“Nectarine, Apple, Pear” — Laura Cranehill
“Light House” — K. Wallace King
“Oblong Objects In The Mirror (Are Closer Than They Appear) — Lillah Lawson
“The Heaviest Fall The Furthest” — Alex Laurel Lanz
“Mother Mansrot In The Glass Mountain” — Sarah Pulling
“Revenge Dress” — Susan L. Lin
“Semelparity” — Katherine Marzinsky
“Body Parts” — Sarah Zell
“Riveted By Bullets — Dee Engan
“Abaddon, 1861” — M. Regan
“Piece by Piece” — Erin Keating
“The Voice of Nothing” — Diane Callahan
“The Potter” — Aya Maguire
“Right to Life” — Ian Gabriel Loisel
“Bitter Makes The Sweet So Sweet” — Christi Nogle
“How To Make A Girl Love You (On A Budget)” — Kenzie Lappin
The Review
Is it cool if I start my review with the blurb I wrote for this anthology?
Powerful and poignant, Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic resonates with brutal imagery, themes, and characters. Packed with 26 gut-wrenching tales brimming with blood, tears, and screams—this is one anthology you’ll need smelling salts for.
This has to be one of my favourite anthologies of all time, not to mention this year.
I definitely have my favourites in this anthology but, this was a rare occasion that in an anthology, there was not a single story I did not enjoy.
I loved how very unique each story was from one another, ranging from weird fiction to body horror, from settings in a grim, terrifyingly possible future realities to unpleasant presents. Starting with a poignant and heartwrenching foreword from the editor herself, I couldn’t put this anthology down! Each story grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go.
Let me call out my favourites (though, let me remind you again, that not a single story missed the mark, which is so rare to find in an anthology!):
“The Girls of Channel 9” by Jennifer Lesh Fleck opens the anthology with a super grim story set in some (maybe not so) distant future where women are punished for sexual “transgressions” are forced to live as living seed mounds. The imagery Fleck put in my mind will be living rent-free there for a while. This one gave me The Handmaid’s Tale vibes.
“By Their Bones Ye Shall Know Them” by Joe Koch is set in a different reality and spins the idea of forced birth on its head. Koch effectively builds a complex world and a cast of unique characters without interrupting the quick pacing of the tale. I can’t say too much more without spoiling anything so let me just say that Koch absolutely has a new fan.
“The Girls With Claws That Catch” by Hailey Piper takes a new spin on “The Jabberwocky”. This story felt like a modern fairy tale and Piper flavours it full of her skillful prose, ripe with imagery, and dripping with bitter-sweet themes. What if the Jabberwocky was real, what place would they have in our world and what repercussions?
“Lakeglass Houses” by J. Z. Kelley was so deliciously weird and vivid. A young woman is meeting her partner’s parents for the very first time. We all know what that is like, navigating the rocky politics, the awkward first impressions. Well, nothing compares to what she has to go through.
“Piece by Piece” by Erin Keating is another fairy tale-esque story along the same vibe as Bluebeard but with Keating’s unique flavour. The tale centers around a town called Lodestone, where a man named Desmond White lives and is a serial widower. I loved the gothic vibe to this story. So well paced and tense throughout, with a haunting end.
“The Potter” by Aya Maguire legitimately made me gasp at the end and then I immediately re-read it. Set on a spaceship, a mother and a daughter are heading to a new planet. I can’t say more, but this story was so well written. Short, straight to the point, and unforgettable.
Definitely check out this anthology. I cannot stress it enough, every story was a banger.
10/10
x PLM
p.s. remember to check back on Thursday when my interview with editor Jolie Toomajan drops.
