Cursed Bunny & Your Utopia by Bora Chung
A head made out of your poop, a never ending period, and an elevator who falls in love with a 90 year old woman – just scratching the surface of the super fun and weird stories from the mind of Bora Chung. I’m putting these books instantly on my top recommendations list, although I definitely prefer Cursed Bunny a bit more over Your Utopia. YU is heavy on robots, personified machinery and space, where as CB feels more Black Mirror on a social level. Both are great, immediate favorites. Obsessed.

Bad Dolls by Rachel Harrison
I absolutely LOVED this collection of stories. Slurped it right up and devoured it in one day. There’s only 4 short stories, and I’d rate them all 5 stars. There’s a haunted magic-8 ball, a culty bachelorette trip, a Goblin phone application, and a possessed baby doll. Super creepy and scary, but in the fun way that only Rachel Harrison can capture. Freaky but lots of fun. Again, LOVED it.

Nineteen Claws And A Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica
This was really fucked up, hard to read, and yet still kinda awesome – as only Agustina Bazterrica can do. All of these stories are dark with different elements of horror. I definitely love her writing style and her ability to be so creatively awful in such unique ways, but I will admit that I wish she included less rape in her stories. That’s my only critique, and I still really loved reading these – especially how short they were!

She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark
I absolutely loved this! I’d say that I avidly enjoyed 75% of the stories in this book, and still liked the other 25%. This was my first experience reading Eliza Clark, and I’ve heard mixed reviews on her novels, but this was such a wonderful collection of stories. It was great to read while in a man-hating headspace, although I think I would have enjoyed it nonetheless. Definitely will be coming back to reread this one and will be recommending.

Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang
These were slice-of-life stories of Chinese / Chinese American experiences. I think some could have found the stories to be simple or even boring, but I actually loved the simplicity of these glimpses into people’s lives. I really enjoyed this, and the cover was really the main thing that attracted me to the book, so it’s nice that the stories lived up to the hype I created by judging it by the cover.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Marana Enriquez
I’m not sure that I loved every single story in this collection honestly, but I did appreciate its uniqueness. The author writes standalone stories that all have some sort of supernatural, voodoo, or superstitious element. While some stories are more intriguing than others, they are all relatively quick and easy reads. I found this book somewhat eerie, but still kinda cool nonetheless.

A Sunny Place For Shady People by Marana Enriquez
I actually liked this one so much more than the previous collection by the same author. This also had a supernatural or ghost element in every story, and some of these left me thinking about them for day. There was a lot of symbolism in the stories, talking about redlining and generational trauma and karma. Somewhat creepy and a little bit of body horror for sure, but I really really really enjoyed this read.

Out There by Kate Folk
This was a really weird one! I bought this from a book fair where the author was signing copies, so I really knew nothing going into reading it. The book is a collection of fiction stories – sorta sci-fi, sorta Black Mirror-y, almost medical-horror but in realistic worlds. I really liked the two stories specifically that centered in a world where online robots were made into humans that are hidden among regular men but are designed to seduce and scam women. The whole book was a really cool read and I’m glad to have stumbled upon it.

Life Ceremony
This is a collection of stories that feel almost like small pitches for the novels of Sayaka Murata’s that I’ve already read. All of these stories center around a piece of society that differs from our present in a somewhat shocking way, yet it has been normalized. I would say that the point of all of Sayaka Murata’s work is to showcase how anything at all can be normalized if everybody normalizes it. I think there are certain stories that do this successfully than others, and in this collection I loved the first one and the one in which the book was named after, although I enjoyed almost all of them.

Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan
I liked this cause it was queer and weird, but it was definitely disturbing. It went from horror to tortured love stories to family dynamics and back again. I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others, but overall I found it enjoyable. This is best for people who enjoy being slightly uncomfortable, but only just slightly. Crazy lesbians will love it for sure!

Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
The whole book was actually only four stories, and my only critique is that I think all four of them could have been further explored and each turned into their own novel instead of shoving them all into one. Each story surrounded a trans story of some kind, usually in a world that’s slightly different than our own. Each character is at different phases of their life and transition, and there’s so much commentary about what life could be like. I did enjoy the stories, but I really just think they could have all stood on their own.

Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele
I will be honest in that I went into this book with different expectations, which did unfortunately end up skewing my experience overall, I feel. I was expecting more from Jordan Peele than just a short intro, but I was excited to read the authors that he chose to highlight. There are a few stories that I absolutely loved, and were giving me “Black Mirror” vibes, which was awesome. However, there was a large number of stories that I wasn’t that into, which was probably majority of the collection. The story “Happy Place” is definitely the one that stuck with me the most – seriously, should be made into a “Black Mirror” episode!

My First Book by Honor Levy
This was the 2008 Tumblr/AIM stories of my middle school dreams. You probably have to be very online to enjoy some of these stories, but I thought they were pretty fun for the most part. It started to get a little repetitive, and I definitely liked the shorter stories more than the longer ones. But I had fun with this one.

Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung
I normally love Bora Chung’s stories, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I fear that maybe I didn’t get it? The stories all center around this Institute that is haunted, and the stories start to intertwine together as the book progresses. I found most of it boring and didn’t feel like it really went anywhere, so I don’t think this one was for me unfortunately.

Thanks for reading! (Last Updated: Nov 2025)