Scissor Sisters

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Scissor Sisters edited by Rae Knowles, April Yates

Short story horror anthology that will have you breathing hard from both fear and pleasure.

Anthologies are notoriously hard to review because some stories hit harder than others, but not here. Every single story does something to push, subvert or explore the genre of horror and Sapphic intimacy. What I especially love about the short story format of horror, is the authors quickly and skillfully build a world, create an emotional (and usually explicitly sexual) connection between characters, edging us with fear and then leaving us at the climax with no aftercare.

I love that all of our main characters are women and that every story is utterly unlike the last one. Our women are vengeful spirits, snuff film-makers, cannibals, murderers, evil scientists and monsters; but they're also juxtaposed by being deeply loving (to the point of obsession), incredibly intelligent and fully aware and in control of their actions.

Here are a few of my favourite stories and quotes:

"I only dream in shades of red. It looks like abstract art. Pollocks and Rothkos. Or like red chrysanthemums blooming, spreading their petals wide. I think it's the memory of the contents of the inside of my skull splattering against my eyelids." - You Oughta Be in Pictures by Anastasia Dziekan

"She couldn't decide on the more intriguing fantasy: how the woman would look roasting over a spit or rolling in the sheets in her bed." - Gingerbread Red by Chloe Spencer

"No, based on her cry of pleasure, she quite enjoyed the pierce of [character name]'s fangs in her throat and her climax was untampered by the steady flow of her blood." Oubliette by L.R Stuart

The story that stayed with my long after I finished the book was Buckskin for Linen by Mae Murray, about residential schools and the indigenous children taken from their homes and forced to attend. Mae Murray showcases indigenous revenge, joy and heritage on the backdrop of the horror of the residential school system. I loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Brigids Gate Press for the advanced reader copy.

This book is best read in a house with feet, while skeletons with glowing eyes watch you approach the steps to the front door with your gift, bleeding through the sheet it's wrapped in as it gently moves in your hand.