Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

All of the stories in this collection take place in alternative worlds - one where skeletons walk around a campsite, or where ghosts eat dinner with Dad. These were interesting settings that I enjoyed exploring, but for the most part these stories seemed to focus more on the relationships between the characters. While the settings had drawn me in, my desire to learn more about the motivations and emotions of the intriguing characters kept me reading.

There were some connected elements shared show more by the stories (especially in the final three), but each brought something new that kept them feeling fresh. I'm not sure I could pick a single story as my favorite - I enjoyed them all. However, I'd say that "Where You Came From," "The Split," & the final three are up there as some of the ones I liked the most.

I saw another review refer to this collection as "haunting," & I have to agree (in the best possible way). I overall greatly enjoyed this collection, & would recommend it to anyone who enjoys short fiction & magical realism. show less

I’d previously read a few of the author’s stories and had remembered her name—maybe a little because it was an unusual name in addition to memories of some of the stories sticking with me. So when I saw her first collection offered as an LT giveaway, I clicked the Request button.

As with many collections, this one is a mixed bag. The story I read first was “The Split,” because it’s one I remembered reading before. I recalled the bones of the story (if not the ending), and the show more stylish but straightforward manner of writing. It explores the sense of displacement felt when moving away from one’s family, effectively manifested here in a literal splitting in half of the main character, Emma. The story succeeded in digging enough under my skin to allow me to empathize with both of Emma’s two halves. It’s a strong-enough story that as I continued randomly reading the rest of the stories in the book, this one held up as my favorite.

The other story that hit me strongly was the title story, “Where You Linger” (which was the last story I read in the book). Beginning with a chronological litany of sexual encounters, the story follows the protagonist as she experiences each of those encounters again, some alongside her twenty-something self, through some sort of brain-scanning procedure—seeing what worked, what she liked, didn’t like, why she moved on to the next one. The basic concept of the story is something I’ve done to varying degrees many times in my life, and as such, this story acted as an uncomfortable vehicle for remembering the same times in my life, when I wasn’t able to understand then why a relationship worked, or more usually didn’t work, but maybe understand a little bit better now.

The remainder of the stories ranged from adequately entertaining to unsuccessful. Many of them reused similar concepts or characters; specifically, living skeleton animals (interesting idea, but one that unfortunately was not fleshed out enough), and a troubleshooter for high-tech billionaires (all of these stories were short on interesting, relatable characters and lacked satisfying, unambiguous resolutions). The one original story in the collection, “The Queen of Kingdom Arts,” desperately needed some editing to fix the all-too-common errors and tamp down the weird extraneous fluff that could have been excised to produce a much more streamlined and effective story. show less

The world is full of monsters, but of those remembered best, it seems the boys have been having all the fun. The Monsters Three in Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam's Glorious Fiends intend to bring some gender equity to those numbers. Beginning just after a terrible battle in the Library of Evil with the tireless monster hunter Professor Abraham Lee Vansing, Roxanne the vampire must use an ancient ritual to revive her two slain immortal companions, Mx. Hyde (Doctor when they're in the mood) and Medusa show more (yeah, THAT Medusa). The fact that she has had to lower her standards and feed upon men hasn't made anything any easier. And of course, the underworld doesn't give anything up easily.

So yes, hopefully that synopsis puts clear that Stufflebeam's tongue is very firmly in cheek through this rip-roaring novella. From the beginning it felt very much in the mode of Christopher Moore's funny fantasies, with all the saucy queer sexuality and unadulterated gore of your Clive Barker. Our three femme monsters are unapologetically murderous (but hey, a girl's gotta eat/extract the pheromones that maintain their transformation) and unabashedly sapphic, though maybe aren't all quite ready to admit how much they love each other yet. At times I struggled to figure out exactly what the tone was supposed to be, between horror, humor, and heart. but when I realized she was making very obvious and specific movie references, I felt comfortable with the book to an homage to horror film with a pinch of farce. Stufflebeam's humor comes more from character and situation than jokes, and perhaps with the overt nature of the references some more jokes would have helped set the tone. But I really was rooting for Roxanne, Mx. Hyde, and dear sweet Medusa, and hope they have a chance for more adventures in the future.

I was provided a copy of this book to review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. show less

Roxanne is a vampire who resurrects her fellow monster friends, Mx. Hyde and Medusa, and the Guardian of the Underworld is not too keen on having lost these recent additions to his domain. Roxanne strikes a deal with the Guardian that would allow her to keep her and her friends’ lives, and the story follows their dark and wild adventure. This queer vampire novella explores identity and what it means to be true to yourself while also maintaining important friendships. I loved how the author show more used horror tropes to present these queer characters, and how she called on some horror mythology to tell the characters’ coming-of-age stories. The story is dark, bloody and sometimes shocking, as well as absurd and humorous. It’s the perfect short read as we’re transitioning into spooky season. If you’re down for a unique, fun, and bloody monster romp, check this out!

Thank you to the author and LibraryThing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! show less