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Drive, She Said and Other Stories by Tracie McBride

IFWG Publishing Australia, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781925956689

Available: Paperback, Kindle

This book contains eighteen short stories of horror and dark fantasy written by the author. The tales feature women as protagonists, doomed heroines, and villains. While all the stories in this collection are well executed and well written, a few of them stood out above the others for me.

The tale “Breaking Windows” treats possession as a virus transmitted somehow through sight. Treatment is an ocular prosthesis that are programmed with demonic spectrum detectors. Jess’ partner, Leo, opts to get them implanted and he does his best to persuade her to do the same. As the statistics look grimmer, and a pregnancy test comes out positive, Jess must make her choice.

In “Ugly”, Janine has a growth on her face that, after treatment, continues to grow…and grow…and grow. This story in particular has some gruesome body horror involved.

In “The Changing Tree”, Sten, Liath, and the other boys of age are counting the days until ‘Changing Day’. The priestesses who guard the Changing House don’t allow anyone in the grounds unless they are chosen. All that Sten knows is that the chosen walk in boys and walk out as women. All of the women of the village had the same origin. What unfolds is a touching story of the two friends as they grapple with the changes of identity, gender, and sexuality.

Lara and Maxine are sisters who share a dark secret in “Slither and Squeeze”. The story opens on a subway with Lara trying to calm down an old homeless man who is yelling about a snake, disrupting other passengers. After she gets him calmed down, the sisters have a conversation about what to do about the situation. He witnessed the Change, something the sisters can’t abide. However, they are at odds about what to do: kill him or leave him as his words are only the drivel of a deranged old man.

In “Life in Miniature”, Michael is picked up by a middle-aged woman, thinking this will be some kind of favours traded for a meal and a shower kind of thing, but discovers too late that she has a more specialized use for him. She has so many realistic dolls in the house, but they do not look quite right around the faces.

This is just a small offering that Tracie McBride offers in her book. She has a concise way of writing her short stories that did not leave me wanting more at the end. I don’t want to say she ties everything up nicely at the end. That does not quite fit. It’s more like she provides just enough in each tale for the reader to digest. I will definitely be picking up more of McBride’s work. Recommended.

Contains: blood, body horror, sex

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker