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Carmen Maria Machado

Author of Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

28+ Works 4,816 Members 214 Reviews 8 Favorited

About the Author

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Series

Works by Carmen Maria Machado

Associated Works

Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale (1872) — Editor, some editions — 2,825 copies
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 (2015) — Contributor — 263 copies
Kink: Stories (2021) — Contributor — 201 copies
They (1977) — Introduction, some editions — 191 copies
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 (2018) — Contributor — 173 copies
The New Voices of Fantasy (2017) — Contributor — 173 copies
The Mythic Dream (2019) — Contributor — 167 copies
When Things Get Dark: Stories inspired by Shirley Jackson (2021) — Contributor — 162 copies
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (2022) — Contributor — 155 copies
Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond (2013) — Contributor — 146 copies
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eight (2016) — Contributor — 107 copies
Wastelands: The New Apocalypse (2019) — Contributor — 88 copies
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 (2018) — Contributor — 66 copies
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten (2018) — Contributor — 63 copies
Nebula Awards Showcase 2016 (2016) — Contributor — 63 copies
Body Shocks (2021) — Contributor — 60 copies
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 2 (2015) — Contributor — 58 copies
Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow (2019) — Contributor — 58 copies
Fat and Queer (2021) — Contributor — 56 copies
The Best of Uncanny (2019) — Contributor — 54 copies
Watchlist: 32 Stories by Persons of Interest (2015) — Contributor — 49 copies
Out of the Ruins: The Apocalyptic Anthology (2021) — Contributor — 40 copies
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: Volume One (2020) — Contributor — 32 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 47 • April 2014 (2014) — Contributor — 27 copies
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 5 (2018) — Contributor — 26 copies
2014 Campbellian Anthology (2014) — Contributor — 23 copies
Futures & Fantasies (2018) — Contributor — 20 copies
A Manner of Being: Writers on Their Mentors (2015) — Contributor — 12 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 107 (April 2019) (2019) — Contributor — 11 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 50 • July 2014 (2014) — Contributor — 10 copies
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 33 (2015) — Contributor — 9 copies
Uncanny Magazine Issue 12: September/October 2016 (2016) — Contributor — 8 copies
Come Join Us by the Fire: A Nightfire Anthology (2019) — Contributor — 8 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 93 • February 2018 (2018) — Contributor — 5 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 95 • April 2018 (2018) — Contributor — 4 copies
Survivor (2018) — Contributor — 3 copies
Fairy Tale Review: The Ochre Issue #12 (2017) — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

I have actually quite ambivalent feelings about this book, but there's parts that I think are gonna stick with me for quite a while. It's very much a book of ghosts, of isolated (alienated?) women, a book that on paper I'd adore, but something about the execution here didn't always quite click for me. I liked, in some way or another, almost all the stories, but "The Husband Stitch" left me cold.
Also, it is weird/interesting/affirming to read the work of someone who, I think, has an unusually similar frame of reference, literarily at least, to my own. Like, gay Shirley Jackson fans with feelings about being fat girls unite.… (more)
 
Flagged
localgayangel | 120 other reviews | Mar 5, 2024 |
insanely beautiful illustrations and a fantastic, unsettling tone throughout.
½
 
Flagged
bisexuality | 9 other reviews | Mar 5, 2024 |
“Especially Heinous” is probably the most compelling piece of fiction I’ve read all year.
 
Flagged
unsurefooted | 120 other reviews | Feb 25, 2024 |
I’ve heard so many people raving about this lately that I was excepting to love it- but very honestly this just wasn’t for me, almost in any way. To be blunt: I actually felt nauseous reading some of the stories. Not because of any particular graphic content, but because I genuinely could NOT understand what I was reading, or because I felt like I was losing my mind and reading the same story over and over again. While there are smatterings here and there of originality (like the twist of the classic ribbon story, or the women fading and becoming parts of garments) I was vastly underwhelmed by the plots, and at other times felt as if Machado had written down bizarre dream she had had and then edited nothing- “Mothers” and “Especially Heinous” felt like outright fever dreams to me.

I think how much a reader enjoys this book is going to be a hugely personal experience and going to lean heavily on personal tastes and aesthetics. I know, I know, that’s the case with like, ALL books, but this is just a very specific sort of book. While the overall premise of “stories that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their body” sort of hints at something many women will be able to relate to, there is obviously no one singular and universal experience of being a woman, so in turn there are clearly readers who won’t jive with this (myself included).
So while I admire the risks taken in “Her Body”, it’s not a book I can say I liked, or would feel comfortable recommending to many people.
… (more)
 
Flagged
deborahee | 120 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |

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Statistics

Works
28
Also by
50
Members
4,816
Popularity
#5,214
Rating
3.9
Reviews
214
ISBNs
66
Languages
12
Favorited
8

Charts & Graphs