Staff Pick
This collection of nineteen short stories is exactly what you would expect from the author of Tender is the Flesh, and I mean that in the best way. Once again, Bazterrica drags our darkest fears to light with tales of dystopia, alienation, and violence, but in her vivid and clever style, she also manages to make you laugh. This collection is witty, disturbing, and an absolute must-read. In many ways, reading these stories gave me that same gut punch of dread that I felt as a child when I first picked up Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and I loved every minute of it. It doesn’t matter if you love slashers or prefer your scares in small doses — there is something in here for everyone. Recommended By Aster A., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A collection of nineteen dark, wildly imaginative short stories from the author of the award-winning TikTok sensation
Tender Is the Flesh.
From celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of nineteen brutal, darkly funny short stories takes into our deepest fears and through our most disturbing fantasies. Through stories about violence, alienation, and dystopia, Bazterrica’s vision of the human experience emerges in complex, unexpected ways — often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound. In “Roberto,” a girl claims to have a rabbit between her legs. A woman’s neighbor jumps to his death in “A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound,” and in “Candy Pink,” a woman fails to contend with a difficult breakup in five easy steps.
Written in Bazterrica’s signature clever, vivid style, these stories question love, friendship, family relationships, and unspeakable desires.
About the Author
Agustina Bazterrica is an Argentinian novelist and short story writer. She is a central figure in the Buenos Aires literary scene. She won the prestigious Premio Clarin Novela for her second novel, Tender Is the Flesh, which has been translated into twenty-three languages. Several of the stories in Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird have also won awards, including First Prize in the 2004/2005 City of Buenos Aires Awards for Unpublished Stories and First Prize in the Edmundo Valadés Awards for the Latin American Short Story, among others.