In an effort to appease her mother, a beauty pageant veteran competes one last time, wearing a hand-sewn gown that cuts into her flesh.
After taking a job as a shop window mannequin, a cash-strapped college student learns she’s not allowed to break her pose.
A family pet decides it doesn’t want “owners” anymore.
A journalist falls head over heels for a mysterious woman with the ability to vanish and reappear hours later in the same place.
These, and nine more grim and horrific tales.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Tamika Thompson is ready to set the horror fiction world on fire. The author of Salamander Justice, Thompson’s work has appeared in such publications as Interzone, Prairie Schooner, Dark Recesses Press, and The New York Times, and has graced the pages of anthologies such as If I Die Before I Wake: Tales of Savagery and Slaughter, and co-edited the inaugural anthology edition of Graffiti. Thompson is the co-creator of the artist collective POC United, and has producing credits at Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, NBC and ABC News. With her debut collection, Thompson presents tales of obsession, twisted love, and speculative landscapes with a horrific flair all her own. Bailey Hunter (Dark Regions Press) says: “Each story pulls you in, ties you to it for one blistering hard ride after another. They all are certain to leave their own personal mark, whether it’s the twisting of everyday common things, people, or animals, or the more reflective, unspoken sorrows and hatred of those closest to us, and of ourselves.”, and Publishers Weekly says: “This powerful collection of 13 intimate horror shorts from Thompson (Salamander Justice) derives its scares by pushing mundane Black experiences into unsettling territory. Several pieces dive into simultaneously validating and terrifying expressions of Black female rage … Readers of any background will find that these stark terrors hit close to home.”
Releasing from Unnerving 26 January 2023, Unshod, Cackling, and Naked by Tamika Thompson is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA