Others: Leaning positive In her brilliantly inventive and haunting debut collection of stories, Julia Armfield explores bodies and the bodily, mapping the skin and bones of her characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession, love and revenge. Teenagers develop ungodly appetites, a city becomes insomniac overnight, and bodies are diligently picked apart to make up better ones. The mundane worlds of schools and sleepy sea-side towns are invaded and transformed, creating a landscape which is constantly shifting to hold on to its inhabitants. Blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, salt slow considers characters in motion – turning away, turning back or simply turning into something new entirely.
Genres: fantasy, horror, literary fiction
Lists: …
Jenny Hval
2018 · 148 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveJo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo's sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh. This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.
What made the match, strongest first
Yah Yah Scholfield
2022 · 1 review
Others: MixedLone Women meets Sorrowland in this sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut about a woman who escapes her family home to the uncanny woods of northern Georgia and must now contend with haints, ghosts and a literal beast in the woods.When Judith Rice ran away from the house she grew up in, she thought she severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. Seventeen years later, she’s made a home for herself in a cottage secluded deep in the forests of northern Georgia. Jude believes she’s settled into a quiet life.But when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep, Jude’s tentative peace is threatened by the stranger’s presence. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Caught between her desire for this woman and the violence that seems to simmer just beneath her skin, Jude’s past and present clash as the woman stirs up memories that force her to reckon with the violence of her escape years ago.Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sundays She Picked Flowers is a propulsive debut exploring retribution, family trauma and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.
What made the match, strongest first
Samantha Allen
2022 · 256 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveWhen the final four women in competition for an aloof, if somewhat sleazy, bachelor's heart arrive on a mysterious island in the Pacific Northwest, they mentally prepare themselves for another week of extreme sleep deprivation, invasive interviews, and of course, the salacious drama that viewers nationwide tune in to eagerly devour. Each woman came on "The Catch" for her own reasons—brand sponsorships, followers, and yes, even love—and they've all got their eyes steadfastly trained on their respective prizes. Enter Patricia, a temperamental, but woefully misunderstood local, living alone in the dark, verdant woods and desperate to forge a connection of her own. As the contestants perform for the cameras that surround them, Patricia watches from her place in the shadows, a queer specter haunting the bombastic display of heterosexuality before her. But when the cast and crew at last make her acquaintance atop the island's tallest and most desolate peak, they soon realize that if they're to have any hope of making it to the next Elimination Event, they'll first have to survive the night. A whirlwind romp careening toward a last-girl-standing conclusion and a scathing indictment of contemporary American media culture, Patricia Wants to Cuddle is also a love story: between star-crossed lesbians who rise above their intolerant town, a deeply ambivalent woman and her budding self-actualization, and a chosen family of misfit islanders forging community against all odds.
What made the match, strongest first
Tiffany Morris
2023 · 112 pages · 2 reviews
Others: PositiveThe debut novella from the Elgin Award winning author of Elegies of Rotting Stars. After the death of her estranged father, artist Rita struggles with grief and regret. There was so much she wanted to ask him-about his childhood, their family, and the Mi'kmaq language and culture from which Rita feels disconnected. But when Rita's girlfriend Molly forges an artist's residency application on her behalf, winning Rita a week to paint at an isolated cabin, Rita is both furious and intrigued. The residency is located where her father grew up. On the first night at the cabin, Rita wakes to strange sounds. Was that a body being dragged through the woods? When she questions the locals about the cabin's history, they are suspicious and unhelpful. Ignoring her unease, Rita gives in to dark visions that emanate from the forest's lake and the surrounding swamp. She feels its pull, channeling that energy into art like she's never painted before. But the uncanny visions become more insistent, more intrusive, and Rita discovers that in the swamp's decay the end of one life is sometimes the beginning of another.
What made the match, strongest first
Eric LaRocca
2023 · 214 pages · 1 review
Others: NegativeAfter a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community―a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.
What made the match, strongest first
Sara Tantlinger
2019 · 131 pages · 2 reviews
Others: MixedWhat does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she’s buried beneath anger-induced blackouts. Her girlfriend, Luna, tries to help Andi battle her inner darkness and infatuation with the vultures. However, the desire to taste dead flesh, to stitch together wings of her own and become one with the flock sends Andi down a twisted, unforgivable path. Once she understands the secrets the vultures conceal, she must decide between abandoning the birds of prey or risk turning her loved ones into nothing more than meals to be devoured.
What made the match, strongest first
MixedSalt Slow is a short story collection by Julia Armfield that if you haven't read Our Wives Under the Sea yet, I would recommend you pick it up, give it a try, see if you like her writing. I can see how a lot of these stories inspired Our Wives Under the Sea. I don't think it's really worth reading if you've already read that novel.
Not a fansalt slow I loved Julia armfield's other book and that's all I'm going to say
Loved itOne of my favourite books was Salt Slow,also by Julia Armfield.She's a short story collection.
Loved itthe rest of these are all 5 star books ... salt slow by Julia Armfield this is a story collection that I requested from the publisher
