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A review by horrorbutch
Lupus in Fabula by Briar Ripley Page
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
As a huge fan of Briar Ripley Page’s work (loooooved Body After Body!), I knew I had to check this anthology out. I am very thankful I received an ARC! I also really enjoyed that this anthology included trigger warnings for each short story in the back of the book with a note in the front, which is my favorite way to receive trigger warnings. Easy to access for a reader, but without the risk of spoiling those, who choose to forego the warnings.
The whole anthology embraces weird, queer, trans, haunting and sad horror, focusses on the dark and messy impulses inside of us and paints haunting pictures of different worlds. Briar’s writing style is rich and intriguing, and their characters are messy and wonderfully fleshed out, lead by impulses and needs and wants and so often desperately hungry. I found myself fully immersed in most stories after only a few pages and their world building and character work are certainly one of the major reasons for that.
My favorite short stories here were “Biological Reality” (messy trans man pregnancy!), “Therianthrope (we love transgender werewolves here!), “The Witch’s Wife” (a grieving witch and a messy magic system mixes incredibly well for horror!), “The Holy Incubus of West Virginia” (red eyes, caked up, soft wings… I didn’t say a name, but he popped into your head, didn’t he?) and “Lupus in Fabula” (more shape changers!).
All in all, this is an anthology I can recommend to any enjoyer of weird, messy, queer horror fiction. If the cover speaks to you, the stories will too!
*FAV* Biological Reality: A trans man deals with the parasite growing in his belly. Unsettling and heartbreaking. I really enjoy how Briar Ripley Page manages to paint a truly haunting picture in just a few pages here.
TW: traumatic pregnancy, cannibalism, infant death, gender dysphoria
Appetites: A man struggles with ever-growing hunger for other men’s bodies and their flesh, encouraged by a night-time visitor. Lovely and haunting, I adored it.
TW: cannibalism, animal harm, animal death, murder, asylum
Swallow me (W)hole: This is one of Briar’s short stories I’d already read through their itch.io account when it was still up, but it is still great. The story follows a young woman, who discovers a hole growing in her chest. I really enjoyed rereading it, because it’s still incredibly gnarly. Body horror, sapphic yearning, gore, a devouring hole. What’s not to love?
TW: sexual assault, self-harm, suicidal ideation, body horror, death, body horror, gore
*FAV* Therianthrope: A coming-of-age story of a young trans werewolf, where something dangerous is always itching under their skin. What will happen when they finally change forms? A really, really fun short story featuring a really unsettling narrator (they do freak out a serial killer by being too into it), that I really enjoyed! If you too enjoy weirdo narrators with issues and gender that’s never fully named, but just itching to burst forth throughout the entire narrative, you too will enjoy this short story.
TW: dog bites, murder, bullying, sexual assault, rape, intimate partner violence
Leavings: A hotel cleaner finds something strange left behind in the bathtub. Her coworker sends her to fetch the supervisor, but when they return only a beautiful woman is waiting, her coworker and the mess have disappeared. Haunting and unsettling, but really enjoyable.
TW: excrements, gore
*FAV* The Witch’s Wife: A witch who can use her pain to be granted wishes, wants to find a way to bring her dead wife back. God, this story was both incredibly gorey and incredibly heartbreaking. I loved it, but outch. Love the gender going on here as well.
TW: death of a spouse, self-harm, lobotomy
Close Encounter: Two siblings encounter an alien while hiking. Weird, with great character work, a bit short, but fun. Also. It kinda made me hungry.
*FAV* The Holy Incubus of West Virginia: Cryptid time! I love cryptids. I love transgender monster fucking. And I loved what this story did with the lore surrounding this Holy Incubus of West Virginia.
TW: bridge collapses
Desire in the Flooded World: Another short story that I’ve already read when it was still available on itch. It follows a family through a post-apocalyptic flooded world as they find new relationships and explore their sexualities. Their bodies, too, are changing, in strange and unusual ways. This is a really interesting immersive short story and I have to say I liked it even more on a reread. The parts with Selwyn reminded me of Middlesex, which was an interesting reference to include.
TW: sexual relationships between minors and adults, grooming, unhealthy relationships, terminal illness, homophobic s-slur, misgendering
December Story: A messy haunting story about a friend finally reaching out to a friend from the past, who has been writing concerning letters. With some really intriguing horror, this is a story I would love more of!
TW: institutionalization, mental illness, dissociation, hallucination
Gorgonland: A young man and his rich, older (much older) girlfriend visit Greece, exploring the countryside and the mythology. When the young man starts having nightmares, his girlfriend doesn’t really seem that bothered. This was an interesting look at the mythology, and I really enjoyed reading it. I wish there had been a bit more lore here though, and I would love to read more. The descriptions of the place are incredibly well done and intriguing.
The Mood After All: A young man keeps his high-school crush’s corpse in his house. Not as creepy as it sounds (the Dead came back for a while and then stopped moving again and when her dad wanted to get rid of her body at the dump, he intervened), but this story still manages to be plenty unsettling. It’s a really intriguing setup and I found Scout to be a very interesting weirdo.
TW: death of a child, addiction, suicide mention
*FAV* Lupus in Fabula: A night that beckons people to go outside, a night everybody is warned against and our main character, who goes outside and finds a group of people dancing around a fire in animal pelts and can’t help but join in. This one was really fun to me and narrated in an interesting way, in bits and pieces, switching between the before and after, slowly painting the full picture of that strange and joyful evening.
TW: gore, body horror, animal mutilation
As a huge fan of Briar Ripley Page’s work (loooooved Body After Body!), I knew I had to check this anthology out. I am very thankful I received an ARC! I also really enjoyed that this anthology included trigger warnings for each short story in the back of the book with a note in the front, which is my favorite way to receive trigger warnings. Easy to access for a reader, but without the risk of spoiling those, who choose to forego the warnings.
The whole anthology embraces weird, queer, trans, haunting and sad horror, focusses on the dark and messy impulses inside of us and paints haunting pictures of different worlds. Briar’s writing style is rich and intriguing, and their characters are messy and wonderfully fleshed out, lead by impulses and needs and wants and so often desperately hungry. I found myself fully immersed in most stories after only a few pages and their world building and character work are certainly one of the major reasons for that.
My favorite short stories here were “Biological Reality” (messy trans man pregnancy!), “Therianthrope (we love transgender werewolves here!), “The Witch’s Wife” (a grieving witch and a messy magic system mixes incredibly well for horror!), “The Holy Incubus of West Virginia” (red eyes, caked up, soft wings… I didn’t say a name, but he popped into your head, didn’t he?) and “Lupus in Fabula” (more shape changers!).
All in all, this is an anthology I can recommend to any enjoyer of weird, messy, queer horror fiction. If the cover speaks to you, the stories will too!
*FAV* Biological Reality: A trans man deals with the parasite growing in his belly. Unsettling and heartbreaking. I really enjoy how Briar Ripley Page manages to paint a truly haunting picture in just a few pages here.
TW: traumatic pregnancy, cannibalism, infant death, gender dysphoria
Appetites: A man struggles with ever-growing hunger for other men’s bodies and their flesh, encouraged by a night-time visitor. Lovely and haunting, I adored it.
TW: cannibalism, animal harm, animal death, murder, asylum
Swallow me (W)hole: This is one of Briar’s short stories I’d already read through their itch.io account when it was still up, but it is still great. The story follows a young woman, who discovers a hole growing in her chest. I really enjoyed rereading it, because it’s still incredibly gnarly. Body horror, sapphic yearning, gore, a devouring hole. What’s not to love?
TW: sexual assault, self-harm, suicidal ideation, body horror, death, body horror, gore
*FAV* Therianthrope: A coming-of-age story of a young trans werewolf, where something dangerous is always itching under their skin. What will happen when they finally change forms? A really, really fun short story featuring a really unsettling narrator (they do freak out a serial killer by being too into it), that I really enjoyed! If you too enjoy weirdo narrators with issues and gender that’s never fully named, but just itching to burst forth throughout the entire narrative, you too will enjoy this short story.
TW: dog bites, murder, bullying, sexual assault, rape, intimate partner violence
Leavings: A hotel cleaner finds something strange left behind in the bathtub. Her coworker sends her to fetch the supervisor, but when they return only a beautiful woman is waiting, her coworker and the mess have disappeared. Haunting and unsettling, but really enjoyable.
TW: excrements, gore
*FAV* The Witch’s Wife: A witch who can use her pain to be granted wishes, wants to find a way to bring her dead wife back. God, this story was both incredibly gorey and incredibly heartbreaking. I loved it, but outch. Love the gender going on here as well.
TW: death of a spouse, self-harm, lobotomy
Close Encounter: Two siblings encounter an alien while hiking. Weird, with great character work, a bit short, but fun. Also. It kinda made me hungry.
*FAV* The Holy Incubus of West Virginia: Cryptid time! I love cryptids. I love transgender monster fucking. And I loved what this story did with the lore surrounding this Holy Incubus of West Virginia.
TW: bridge collapses
Desire in the Flooded World: Another short story that I’ve already read when it was still available on itch. It follows a family through a post-apocalyptic flooded world as they find new relationships and explore their sexualities. Their bodies, too, are changing, in strange and unusual ways. This is a really interesting immersive short story and I have to say I liked it even more on a reread. The parts with Selwyn reminded me of Middlesex, which was an interesting reference to include.
TW: sexual relationships between minors and adults, grooming, unhealthy relationships, terminal illness, homophobic s-slur, misgendering
December Story: A messy haunting story about a friend finally reaching out to a friend from the past, who has been writing concerning letters. With some really intriguing horror, this is a story I would love more of!
TW: institutionalization, mental illness, dissociation, hallucination
Gorgonland: A young man and his rich, older (much older) girlfriend visit Greece, exploring the countryside and the mythology. When the young man starts having nightmares, his girlfriend doesn’t really seem that bothered. This was an interesting look at the mythology, and I really enjoyed reading it. I wish there had been a bit more lore here though, and I would love to read more. The descriptions of the place are incredibly well done and intriguing.
The Mood After All: A young man keeps his high-school crush’s corpse in his house. Not as creepy as it sounds (the Dead came back for a while and then stopped moving again and when her dad wanted to get rid of her body at the dump, he intervened), but this story still manages to be plenty unsettling. It’s a really intriguing setup and I found Scout to be a very interesting weirdo.
TW: death of a child, addiction, suicide mention
*FAV* Lupus in Fabula: A night that beckons people to go outside, a night everybody is warned against and our main character, who goes outside and finds a group of people dancing around a fire in animal pelts and can’t help but join in. This one was really fun to me and narrated in an interesting way, in bits and pieces, switching between the before and after, slowly painting the full picture of that strange and joyful evening.
TW: gore, body horror, animal mutilation