anthology

Book: Zippered Flesh: Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad! Year: 2012 Publisher: Smart Rhino Publications Author: Various Authors, Edited By Weldon Burge Language: English Chapters: 20 Short Stories Pages: Paperback = 284, E-Book = 285 Type: Anthology

Author’s Summary: Monstrous transplants. Appalling amputations. Bizarre implants. Nightmarish forms of body enhancements. Disturbing, perverse, often gut-wrenching stories–all between the covers of this anthology. Here are 20 tales by some of today’s best horror, suspense, and science fiction writers, including Graham Masterton, John Shirley, Scott Nicholson, Michael Laimo, Lisa Mannetti, L.L. Soares, Armand Rosamilia, Aaron J. French, Christopher Nadeau, Michael Bailey, Adrienne Jones, Charles Colyott, J. Gregory Smith, Michael Louis Calvillo, Jezzy Wolfe, Jonathan Templar, P.I. Barrington, Elliott Capon, Rob M. Miller, and Weldon Burge. The stories are not for those who are faint of heart or squeamish, or who are easily offended by nasty language, bloody violence, and freakish body augmentations. You’ve been warned!

Review: Zippered Flesh: Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad is a collection of 20 short stories, most are original even though there are a few republished stories here. This is an anthology style read where I will outline each story briefly. BOOTSTRAP – THE BINDS OF LASOLASTICA; A Scientist, cancer and cloning do mix; IDOL; Family members body parts help a girl perform on-stage again; UNPLUGGED; A recluse encounters aliens; COMFORT; A crazy guy cuts open his dead mother for some womb-style feelings; YOU WITH ME; Drugging women, cutting facial parts and sewing them to oneself is an atrocity; THE SHAPING; Sculpting using real body parts is the key; SOMETHING BORROWED; Borrowing organs doesn’t always work; EQUILIBRIUM; Body parts show up on the doorstep of a family; SAWBONES; Replacing limbs and organs with tools and reptiles; WHIRLING MACHINE MAN; Imagination produces a fairy; SEX OBJECT; Surgery and sex; THE SAD, NOT-SO-SAD, BALLAD OF GOAT-HEAD JEAN, AMBIVALENT DEVIL QUEEN; Women sacrifices and cults; LOCKS OF LOATHE; Receiving organs from a donor causes serial killings; BY HOOK; Curses, fears and more body parts; CREEPING DEATH; It’s addicting to get tattoos, but you don’t think it’s cult related, do you; PARAPHILIA; An amputee tries to make money; INDEPENDENCE DAY; Glamor surgery turns bad when the devil appears; MARVIN’S ANGRY ANGEL; Attaching an angel to your body isn’t always a plus; CHANGE OF HEART; Reversing witch curses causes more harm than good; HEARING MILDRED; A spouses death turns maniacal when voices are heard.

I gave you a quick feel of each story, and overall I would like to state that it was a struggle for me to get through many tales encompassing one overall book. The collection is brutal…nice, but traveling in-and-out of stories got cumbersome. Zippered Flesh is not for the squeamish, it’s detailed, and gore entrenched, cancer ridden with body part mutilations which I personally desire with a book of this nature, but…after reading almost 300 pages and different entanglements it got overbearing.

My favorite story by far was SAWBONES by L. L. SOARES which garnered a 10 rated fictional story. I truly wish the whole book was based around this subject matter. It has several different feels all rolled into one. A person goes through surgery to add saws to his bones, he is a killer, and he crosses paths with a woman that instead of intestines replaces them with a serpent or snake so to speak. It was engaging, climactic and different than any horror story I have ever read. A huge thank you to the author for providing an unparalleled story that grips you to the inner-core. Give us more L. L.!!!

My thought process was similar to another anthology book I read earlier for Horror Palace, which is; my “review mind” had to keep it fresh and not confusing, I wrote down a rating for each individual story. When the book was completed, I totaled up the ratings and divided by 20 which gave me the final overall outcome of Zippered Flesh. It’s the only way to be fair for a book in this written style. Some stories and authors are better than others, way better actually.

The book is available to buy at Amazon on Paperback for $12.78 or you can get the E-Book or Kindle Edition for a mere $2.99. Readers who like short stories and torturous details will definitely get a thrill ride with Zippered Flesh. My ratings, suggestions and links are below.

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Reviewer: Dark Goddess Date: 10/23/2012 Rating: 5/10 Suggestion: Paperback: Avoid Suggestion: E-Book: Buy