Fit for Consumption
Stories Both Horrifying and Queer
by Steve Berman
In Berman's newest short story collection, the phrase "you are what you eat" is taken to heart; these are stories of men facing strange appetites within their own physicality, within a lover or, perhaps, a stranger's hungers. A young athlete attends an exclusive wrestling camp, but some of the campers are more focused on the unwelcome boys they claim lurk inside their bellies. A fixit man on a mission to retrieve a runaway finds himself forced into impersonating a pulp hero by her captor. Life as a pledge at a New Orleans fraternity is made all the worse when a magical--perhaps cursed?--flask that fills with whatever the bearer desires, yet also causes the drinker to desire the pledge. With stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Ramsey Campbell, the menu has thirteen tales that range from the weird to the humour noir to the monstrous. No digestif is necessary.
"Creepy things happen—and are frequently eaten—in these tasty gay horror stories. Berman’s characters seethe with illicit desire and, often, ingest inappropriate substances." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"...readers seeking to explore the dark underbellies of the queer community will fall for these lush tales..." - Publishers Weekly
"Fit for Consumption is an elegantly written and profoundly disquieting collection of queer horror. Admirers of the lyrical poeticism matched with unrelenting brutality of writers like Clive Barker and Michael McDowell will rejoice as Berman serves as a worthy heir to the throne." -Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Table of Contents
"In Summer Broken"
"Capturing Jove Lunge"
"The Balm of Sperrgebiet is the Krokodil"
"D is for Delicious"
"Passion, Like a Voice—That Buds"
"Unwelcome Boys" (a brand new novelette)
"He's so Tender"
"The Haferbräutigam"
"The Letter That Doomed Nosferatu"
"Poetaster"
"The Unsolved “Case of the Club Tarrare"
"His Mouth Will Taste of Chernobyl"
"Bottom of the Menu"
Paperback
Cover art by Jason Grim, design by Inkspiral