Body Shocks

by Ellen Datlow

First published 2021

A fashion designer meticulously plans their most ambitious collection yet, one that will transform the very flesh of their models into living art. Across twenty-nine interconnected tales, bodies become battlegrounds where identity dissolves and horror takes physical form. A son hunts the parent who raised him as a living blood bank. Sex workers endure surgical modifications at an elite brothel catering to celebrity fantasies. Surgeons slice into conscious patients while harvesting organs for profit. Each story explores how the human form becomes a canvas for cruelty, whether inflicted by monsters or by other people. The anthology reveals that our greatest terror lies not in external threats but in the vulnerability of our own flesh when it falls under someone else's control.

Genres: science-fiction, horror

Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: body-as-canvas, body-horror

380 pages · Paperback · Tachyon Publications

Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence, medical-trauma

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