Customer Reviews

Kissing Carrion

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
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I hate horror. I never read the stuff and I read this anthology in one sitting. That's how good it is.

Gemma Files knows what makes a good horror story. Horror is the only genre in which a hero is not rewarded for his insight and change. Instead, he pays a dear price for his newfound knowledge. In the most unpleasant, visceral and terrifying manner possible. Kind of like real life. The irony of horror is that in many ways this unreal genre of storytelling is also one of the most realistic.

Gemma Files knows this. Her writing is deep, insightful, meaningful. Often, the first few lines or paragraphs offer some of the greatest insights I've ever read and the story's just started! Trust me, there's usually more by the end of each of her twisted tales.

The most horrific monsters are always human. Gemma Files also knows this. Nothing a vampire or a werewolf or a Jason or a Freddy Kreuger can do compares to the horrors a human has, can and will do. Just read "Keepsake" and "Mouthful of Pins" for confirmation of this.

Love is terrifying. It scares the hell out of people. Of course, if love is terrifying then sex is truly horrific. And mean. And nasty. Conversely well-done horror is absolutely sexy. Gemma Files also knows this. The titular opener, "Kissing Carrion," sets the pace with a nice little romance about a man looking for his one true love. He also happens to be a necrophiliac. Ah, true love.

Gemma's strength is her ability to extract the absolute horror from love and its lesser sibling obsession as demonstrated in "Keepsake," in which a woman adoringly takes care of her sick younger brother only to find that there are some diseases which have absolutely no cure; "Rose-Sick," which will make you think twice about eternal love; "Torch Song," in which a love spell goes horribly awry.

She also respectfully pays homage and lends her own unique interpretation to such classic staples of horror as the haunted mansion in "Folly" and a great take on werewolves in "Skin City." "Seen" boasts one of the most unique serial killer slaying devices of all time. Eat your heart out, Jason with your cheap machete and Freddy with your overgrown Press-On fingernails!

I hate horror. But I loved "Kissing Carrion." I can only imagine that someone who actually likes horror will thoroughly enjoy her anthology.

I am happy to say that Kissing Carrion is a great family read if your family's last name is Bundy or Gacy. This should be read for shock value alone.

All of the stories featured here are most definitely frightening enough for the avid horror reader but Gemma Files' seems to be very concerned with character development in her writing which makes you feel that much more horrified at or for her characters. The most intriguing story by far is the book's namesake, Kissing Carrion, which kept me interested and disgusted in a sort of surreal and appealing way from beginning to end.

As a student of Gemma's I felt as though I had to read this book as if I was in some way obligated but was pleasantly surprised at the quality of storytelling featured in Kissing Carrion. However, if disturbing subject matter doesn't particularly interest you I suggest you steer clear of this book but otherwise it's a great read.

Kissing Carrion is a macabre collection of seventeen horrific and original short story fantasies, each of which is carefully and dramatically crafted by author Gemma Files about dark magic, burning desires, and vampires that long for a great deal more than mere human blood. Hideous hungers and soul-consuming obsessions mark these lurid yet fascinating stories that fearfully keep one up late at night. Kissing Carrion is especially recommended to the attention of all horror fantasy enthusiasts.

Do you ever feel that horror nowadays is stuck in one place? Like if they can't scare or impress you anymore? Not with this book.

Try to remember that feeling of being alone in your dark room when you where 5, thinking that the monster would soon attack, and it is such a live moment; that's how it made me feel, and I love it.

Another good thing about it; every story is different. You don't get stuck with the same formula on every page you turn. Is like if you could jump into a unique world everytime you change from story.

I really recommend it, especially if you have short attention spam, this will really work for you.

You'll be sucking your fingers after you're done.


A little note: Me, as a non avid English speaker(or reader), I found it easy to read, If I can read it, so can you.

As a student of Gemma's, I was eager to read something from her short story collection. I'm not really a big horror fan but like to think I'm open to reading almost anything that's supernatural.

However, the supernatural side of Gemma's writing seems to be secondary as she really delves deep into the psyches of her characters and in a very realistic and gutteral way. She has a cerebral style to her horror writing and its very effective.

So give Kissing Carrion a shot. It's perverse, crude and gross but also very well-written, honest and remarkably creative.

Gemma Files, Kissing Carrion (Prime Books, 2003)

I read the first few stories in this collection and liked them, but was wondering, in the back of my head, what it was about this collection that had just about every big-name writer I know spinning their wheels. Then I read "Skeleton [...]."

Holy [...].

The splatterpunks-- oh, excuse me, "writers of extreme horror"-- are a bunch from whom you expect certain things. They write the horror equivalent of hardboiled detective fiction, with all the stylistic qualities you would expect from it. Gemma Files writes a whole different ballgame, and so when you get to the squick, it has that much more of a punch. You know Charlee Jacob, Edward Lee, and that bunch are going to gross you out from the first page. Files seduces you; her stories are more Flannery O'Connor than Robert Devereaux. More to the point, not all of her stories climax in that orgy of disgust and violence that one expects from the splatterpunks, which makes it, when it surfaces in Files' work, even more powerful. Kissing Carrion showcases excellent work both ugly ("Skeleton [...]," especially) and quiet ("Bear-Shirt," for example, is exquisite).

You may love this book, and you may hate it; if you read it, however, you will not emerge from it unchanged. ****

I hate horror. I never read horror stories and I read this anthology in one setting. That's how good it is.

Gemma Files knows what makes a good horror story. Horror is the only genre in which a hero is not rewarded for the insight and change most characters underatke in a good story.

Instead, the hero is made to pay a dear price for his newfound knowledge. In the most unpleasant, visceral and terrifying manner possible. Kind of like real life. The irony of horror is that in many ways this unreal genre of storytelling is also one of the most realistic.

Gemma Files knows this. Her writing is deep, insightful, meaningful. Often, the first few lines or paragraphs offer some of the greatest insights I've ever read and the story's just started! Trust me, there's usually more by the end of each of her twisted tales.

The most horrific monsters are always human. Gemma Files also knows this. Nothing a vampire or a werewolf or a Jason or a Freddy Kreuger can do compares to the horrors a human has, can and will do. Just read "Keepsake" and "Mouthful of Pins" for confirmation of this.

Love is terrifying. It scares the hell out of people. Of course, if love is terrifying then sex is truly horrific. And mean. And nasty. Conversely well-done horror is absolutely sexy. Gemma Files also knows this. The titular opener, "Kissing Carrion," sets the pace with a nice little romance about a man looking for his one true love. He also happens to be a necrophiliac. Ah, true love.

Gemma's strength is her ability to extract the absolute horror from love and its lesser sibling obsession as demonstrated in "Keepsake," in which a woman adoringly takes care of her sick younger brother only to find that there are some diseases which have absolutely no cure; "Rose-Sick," which will make you think twice about eternal love; "Torch Song," in which a love spell goes horribly awry.

She also respectfully pays homage and lends her own unique interpretation to such classic staples of horror as the haunted mansion in "Folly" and a great take on werewolves in "Skin City." And "Seen" boasts one of the most unique serial killer slaying devices of all time. Eat your heart out, Jason with your cheap machete and Freddy with your overgrown Press-On fingernails!

Like I said, I hate horror. But I loved "Kissing Carrion." I can only imagine that someone who actually likes horror will thoroughly enjoy her anthology.