Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers

Man Made Monsters
by Andrea L. Rogers
⭐⭐⭐

Man Made Monsters is a really unique short horror story collection. It follows multiple generations belonging to one Cherokee family, beginning in the 1800s and continuing into our present time and future.  Each story contains its own horror element - from vampires, to aliens, to zombies - as well as discussing real life horrors, like colonialism, school shootings, and domestic violence. 

I really wanted to love this collection more than I did. That's not to say I didn't like it, because honestly, I liked most of the stories! I found the thread of family, love, and culture at the heart of this collection really powerful, and each story was one of a kind whilst still loosely connecting to the tales that came before and after. My main criticism is that, though entertaining and thought provoking, the stories themselves were very short. For me personally, I couldn't connect emotionally with many of the characters because we only spend tiny windows of time with them. I would've enjoyed more characterization with fully fleshed out thoughts and feelings - I just felt like many of the characters lacked the kind of emotional depth that I really adore.

I was also excited by the Cherokee/Native element of these stories - I had hoped for some Native folklore and/or mythology, but most of the horror in this collection is more along the lines of classic. With that said, however, I really liked the twists that Andrea L. Rogers' put on the stories we know so well. Also, politically speaking, Man Made Monsters hit the nail on the head and did an astounding job showcasing how normalized things like cultural destruction, child abuse, and sexual abuse has become in our world.

I also loved how many strong females are in this collection, as well as how connected the beginning story and the final story is. Overall, I liked Man Made Monsters and would recommend it to anyone who likes horror but who might also like delving into topics such as generational trauma and racial politics. I wanted a bit more from these stories, but I still really enjoyed reading them!

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

 *TRIGGER WARNINGS* sexual assault, gore, death, themes of violence, child abuse, substance abuse

Her Body and Other Parties
by Carmen Maria Machado 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Her Body and Other Parties is one of the best collections of short stories that I've ever read. Generally speaking, I'm not the biggest fan of short stories, but every so often I feel the urge to read a collection like this. To say that I enjoyed this book would be a massive understatement!

Her Body is every surrealist, horror obsessed feminist's fever dream. These stories bleed divine femme energy in the most amazing way, though there are definitely many trigger warnings that go alone with this book. 

At times cathartic, healing, powerful, disturbing, empowering, violent, subtle, loud, magical, unapologetic, and philosophical - these stories are so unique and refreshing. Not to mention the prose!! The prose in these pages was astounding and breathtaking, I annotated this book to death. 

Her Body and Other Parties is very dark and intense. It's not at all for the faint of heart. If you like fem lit, horror, or disturbing surrealism, this comes highly recommended from me! I've never read anything quite like this before and I loved every second of it!