Wednesday I finished the book Spread Me by Sarah Gailey. The recommendation came via one of those best horror of the year / 2025 lists that are cropping up at the moment. There are a bunch of reviews on Storygraph that sum it up as succinctly as I would...what would The Thing (you know, the Carpenter movie with the shape changing monster) be like if instead of the arctic (a cold desert) it was set in a traditional (sand) desert, and what if the lead researcher was absolutely horny for the monster and vice versa. That will get you 95% of the way there. It’s a bit all in on the sex (what would The Thing do if it had enough presence of mind to seduce its victims with it’s ability to mimic body parts?) and the sense of nihilism driven by researching full-on climate change/impact while isolated with a bunch of scientists/doctors who have somewhat given up and are thinking about just staying there until someone forces them to leave and coupling their research with….coupling...and copious alcohol.
It’s an enjoyable read. Gailey is a good writer. And if you aren’t someone who gets hung up on sex and weird sex at that, Gailey is saying something interesting about partners who go all in trying to change and be what you want, almost to the point of creepiness and turning you off, when all along what you wanted was what was original about them and drew you to them in the first place.
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