 Tres Leches by V. Castro The book opens with a story short and compact enough to be flash fiction, introducing us to the proprietor of a bakery that sells rather more gruesome fare than pain au chocolat. Thankfully it immediately explains that Tres Leches is a kind of cake, as being more of a savoury man myself I had no idea and wondered if this would be a story about leeches. And in a way it is, given the ingredients of this particular bakery’s finest of delicacies… Like a small and delicately sweet confection, this story is light on the palate and leaves you wanting more. It’s not entirely filling or satisfying on its own, short as it is and light on story; it comes across more as a backstory for a character from another tale. Hopefully Castro will revisit this character and her bakery in a story with a fuller narrative, as this has barely scratched the surface of the character’s potential. Her writing here drips with blood and lust, and I want more. That said, it serves as a perfect first story to a collection on culinary terror – it certainly whet my appetite! Glut by E. Seneca Oh my. This was my favourite of the ones I read. It’s written in the second-person, tough to pull off but a delight to read here. Does anyone in the UK remember the Lynx advert with the man who was made of chocolate? His fixed smile, his staring eyes – and how a woman just takes a big ol’ bite out of him at the end and it’s played off for fun? Well. Imagine your lover lying in your arms and inviting you to carve him open and sample his delicious insides… which you happily do… Because he is made of cake. This premise should feel silly in the wake of the ‘everything is secretly cake’ meme that ran round Twitter not too long ago. But thanks to Seneca’s effortless writing, it’s horrifying and weirdly arousing in equal measures. That’s right, I’m not afraid to admit it: this story made the idea of devouring your actually-a-cake boyfriend sexy. Cannibalistic sex acts aren’t normally my thing, I hasten to add, but he just sounds so delicious that honestly I want to break off a chunk of him and gulp it down too. Of course, I’m not quite as sure I’d be up for the consequences... The Tea Party by Stephanie Yu 6th Grade is a strange time for kids, caught between the immaturity of fantasy play and the maturity of social play. Protagonist Liyan (who goes by Leah because no one can pronounce her name) lives in the shadow of her friend Alison, who is popular and conventionally pretty where Liyan is overlooked. The cakes in question are the mud cakes Alison takes joy in making, the secret pleasure of a girl who ought to be above such things, according to societal norms at least. Liyan reluctantly plays along, but it’s Alison’s other tea party guest that perhaps should have gone uninvited… This was an interesting one. A more thoughtful piece than the other two, less gruesome, more measured in its approach. The focus was on the horror of loneliness, of being the other and of being eclipsed by at a time when you’re meant to be growing and blooming. Liyan’s secret delight in knowing Alison’s imperfection is perfectly relatable to anyone who’s found themselves resenting a friend for being more accomplished or better-looking. This story is a quiet pause for breath, a sip of delicious but bitter tea between servings of blood-layered cake. Sam Kurd The Tea Party by Stephanie Yu The tea party is a tale of an uneasy, uneven childhood friendship; borne of circumstance and highly conditional, Liylan’s ‘friend’ Allison is the pretty, popular girl who has a strange if harmless secret. The story does a superb job sketching out an uneven power dynamic that will be familiar to anyone who survived high school; likewise, the drawing out of Allison’s secret preoccupation is brilliantly realised, with a passage describing Liylan’s unease that is a beautiful piece of genuinely rich, eerie, compact writing. The whole story is elegantly told, and ends with what I found to be a very satisfying ambiguity. Lovely work. Grind your Bones by Douglas Ford Ajet-black fairy tale, Grind Your Bones utilises the child voice of it’s narrator to strong effect, allowing simplistic language and tone to create a sense of dread in the reader from the first sentence. As the short tale develops, Ford does a good job weaving in the mythology of a known fairy tale with a new figure of menace. The timelessness of the tale’s setting also creates a pleasingly claustrophobic atmosphere, reinforcing the essential powerlessness of the child protagonist, and their acute vulnerability. A real creeper of a story with a gut punch final line. by Kit Power The Perfect Bite by Tiffany Michelle Brown Despite its rather silly premise, I don't know how long a bakery would stay in business before offering the products that they do, before being shut down, or at least being subjected to a investigation on BBC 1 by some old has been TV personality, The Perfect Bite still manages to deliver and effective and creepy slice of body horror. Brown, sets up the story well, with a light and easily accessible narrative, then shifts gear into full on Cronenberg slimy, gross out horror. Just don't listen to the Slomanites when they say that's what happens when you eat a coffee cream flavoured cupcake. An Old Fashioned Type of Girl by R.J. Joseph One of my most hated phrases in reviewerdom, is "I wish this story was longer" it suggests that the reviewer knows more than the author, beta readers and editors, however, here i am saying this exact thing. Joseph's supper creepy tale of a picture perfect suburban life, with a domestic Goddess searching for love and the one true man to fill the hole in life, is wonderful example of those stories that begin with a innocent feel, yet slowly prove into a nasty, creepy tale that will leave you wondering if you will ever dare go to a bake sale again, I'll certainly be doing background checks on anyone who bakes me a cake from now on. This is a great story, however the potential for expanding it into a a lager story, from more fully exploring her "gift", or from moving the ending on to less open ended one, really left me hankering for some more of it's tasty treats. Authentic Experience by Risa Wolf Risa Wolf's, takes a twisted and almost revenge take on the classic European fairy tale, instead of the villagers being terrorised by some mythical monster, the ones here have taken to literarily bite back at the creatures of the forest. With a guide to creating the most delicious cake, Authentic Experience is an disturbing read, with Wolf managing to elicit a sense of sorrow and pity for the creatures who have been feeding of the village folk. With a tight narrative, and a fantastic sense of ye olde worlde, Authentic Experience was a highly enjoyable read Reviews by Jim Mcleod Black Teeth by Sam Richard Cake at a funeral receives a surprisingly welcome reception from one guest. Despite its low word count, I did find the pace of this story a little slow. There’s virtually no action and most of it is abstract thought. However, the story is short enough that it doesn’t get dull. Refreshingly, I had no idea where this story was heading while I was reading it, and I found the ending both nicely explanatory yet subtle; what has gone before is not fully explained but enough is given away to make sense. The Crumb Reader by Jackson Nash Lisa Carter has to make her own 18th birthday cake so her fortune can be told by Grandpa Noah, but her failure to take the whole thing seriously has dire consequences. This story drew me in immediately. The family conflicts were instantly relatable and carried me through the weird central concept that fortunes can be told in cake crumbs. The build-up was steady, and I liked how the ending delivered a promise of brutality rather than making us watch the horror ourselves. by Charlotte Bond In Legs of the Dead by Liam Hogan, Frankenstein’s Monster (or Monster to his friends) reawakens after a hiatus under the ice in the artic wastelands. Returning to the world of men, men who once persecuted and chased him, reviled and rebuked him during his attempt to love, he sets himself up as a pastry chef. Of course, the problem with patchwork reanimated monsters is that they weren’t designed to enjoy the dexterity typical of those working with patisserie, and that – combined with a low level of bodily maintenance – leads to unexpected ramifications. Hogan’s tale has an absurdity which is reminiscent of Nikolai Gogol’s The Nose, albeit with a baked goods twist. The story is well woven and has a distinct voice which somehow makes it all so believable. The ironic twist at the end is the cherry on the metaphorical cake. Belinda Ferguson’s Tiers treads a more sombre and somewhat ethereal path through the bakery section. As a woman works to create a wedding cake, the detail given as she prepares the confection hints that all is not well. There underlying mystery creates a perfect layer of tension, although the reason and potential outcome are well concealed. As the tale unfolds, little by little the purpose of the baker is revealed, and yet even so when the story reaches its climax there is something of an element of surprise. Even as the outcome unfolds, it is told in such a way as to create a feeling of unease in the reader. A growing number of horror writers are moving toward stories which suggest something dark yet to come, and Eater of Universes by Madison McSweeney is one of these. It starts off as a simple tale, and when the protagonist meets the antagonist, it all seems to be a little coincidental. The deliverer of the ominous news comes across as an irritating old man more than a harbinger of doom, and that’s clearly what McSweeney has set out to deliver. The story is all set-up, again by design, but for me it lacked something in the open ending. I don’t know why, but I got the feeling the story was supposed to be an anti-climax, which I don’t mind one little bit, but I would have preferred something which slapped me around the face, even it if was the realisation I’d been had! The concept of cake-related horror might make some people smile. It might even make some laugh, and laugh I did at One Year Anniversary by Red Lagoe. The story opens with Gary clutching the askes of his recently deceased bride, wishing he could consume her. As their first anniversary approaches, he digs out the remaining piece of wedding cake from their nuptials, the cake they’d agreed to eat on their first anniversary. It’s almost a given he’ll end up mixing the ashes with the cake. This isn’t a spoiler: the first few paragraphs spell it out. However, as the story unfolds, it grows increasingly frantic, but to the level that it becomes comedic. The visualisation of Gary doing what he does had me laughing at the utter insanity, the pathos and ultimately the inner misery of his situation. I loved this story, and what made it better was the awkward feeling I shouldn’t be laughing. Nicole M Wolverton’s The North American Guide to Animal Slaughter is a well-woven tale of unknown longings and misunderstood cravings. When an elderly neighbour dies, Violet inherits her house and belongings. In the freezer she finds a piece of the lady’s homemade Almond Cake, a cake which she was aware of but never allowed to taste, despite her close relationship with the woman. She knows she’s going eat it, despite dire warnings of foo poisoning from her friend. What she gets as a result isn’t a mere case of the shits or a gyppy stomach. The prose is fast-paced and action-based, and this places something of a stressed feel to the story, which fits the content quite well. Although many will see the eventual ending coming, it is delivered well and as such doesn’t spoilt the anticipation. One story which follows a well trodden theme in horror, but which reinvents the trope in an interesting way, is Mrs Betty Briggs and the Angel Food Cake from Hell by Kelly Robinson. If you’ve ever lived in a small town or village where baking competitions and horticultural shows are the source of much rivalry and even malicious actions, then this story will appeal! Well written, with a 1950s feel to the narration, the story outlines Betty briggs and her repeated wins in the baking competition with a simple – and always the same recipe – Angel Food Cake. When her so-called friends and neighbours set out to find her secret, what they discover isn’t quite hat they expect. However, with the lure of first prize being so hard to resist, the real question is how they will use the knowledge they gain. The final take in the anthology is nothing if not whimsical. It’s a short, sweet ending to an unusual and enjoyable collection of cake-related horror stories. The Ritual by Benjamin Franke is well crafted, and while it does, to some degree, telegraph its ending, it matters not. It wraps things up well and delivers the final stroke to what is an unusual collection of stories. Peter Caffrey  Sliced Up Press is delighted to present its debut anthology, featuring sixteen sweetly sinister stories.Grab your fork and dig in to tales of tiered cakes and teary eyes, plump currants and sinister undercurrents, all-consuming hunger and bizarre gluttony. There's something for all tastes here, though you might think twice before ordering dessert...With all-new fiction from: Tiffany Michelle Brown, V Castro, Belinda Ferguson, Douglas Ford, Benjamin Franke, Liam Hogan, R.J. Joseph, Red Lagoe, Madison McSweeney, Jackson Nash, Sam Richard, Kelly Robinson, E. Seneca, Risa Wolf, Nicole M Wolverton and Stephanie Yu
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