by Amelia Gray
First published 2015
A woman slides through the narrow passages above a silent house, searching for something she cannot name. Below her, the world transforms in impossible ways. Medical operations uncover sacred artifacts hidden inside human bodies. A flesh-eating lizard grows larger with each victim, splitting the community into factions of believers and survivors. Gray places her characters at the intersection of intimacy and isolation, where ordinary people confront extraordinary circumstances that reveal their deepest fears and desires. Each story pulses with dark comedy as characters navigate a reality that bends around them. A couple discovers their relationship changes when one partner begins to disappear piece by piece. Neighbors watch as their street becomes a battleground between the rational and the inexplicable. Gray writes about connection and loneliness with brutal honesty, showing how people reach for each other even as the ground shifts beneath their feet. These tales capture the beautiful strangeness of human existence, where love and terror occupy the same space.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, dark
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
209 pages · Paperback · FSG Originals
Content warnings: body-horror, gore, medical-trauma, mental-illness