Read This: Bleedthrough and Other Small Horrors

Bleedthrough and Other Small Horrors, Scarlett R. Algee’s 2020 debut collection, is a masterpiece of surgically brief terrors. The thirty stories here are a mix of flash pieces and vignettes interspersed with longer works, giving a distinct and compelling rhythm to the selections. Graveyards and burials are a recurring theme, and the dead do not rest easy. Nor, of course, do the living. Algee is able to capture real, palpable suffering as her characters face, and fight, the inevitable.

It’s a hard book to put down.

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While there is a wealth to choose from, these are my favorite stories of the collection: 

“The Tomb Wife”, “A Kiss of Flesh”, “The Sepulchre Bride”, and “Gravechild” interweave to form a story cycle recounting the family history of a ghoul inhabiting a French cemetery, and the mortals who love, despise, and need her.

“Half Past”, a brief and deeply felt love story warped by selfish magic.

“Flycatcher”, a quick, sharp shocker that would be at home in one of the classic EC horror comics. 

“Clary Recollected” uses slippery POV changes to tell the story of a woman who could not escape the early traumas of her life. Jarring and unexpectedly sad.

“Patient 49” lays bare the horrors of losing oneself. No supernatural terrors are needed in the 1950s psychiatric hospital setting.

“Bleedthrough” takes us to a near future where virtual reality experiences are commonplace and nonhuman therapists are not up to the psychological screening needed to keep the two worlds apart.

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 A talented editor, Algee is also a very talented author. Bleedthrough showcases her skill at creating emotionally complex and deeply atmospheric horror. The monsters are as recognizable as our friends, our families, our selves. The losses are authentic. The pain felt in these stories is real.

I recommend Bleedthrough highly.