I got this softcover from a local Savers thrift shop, for another release copy.

Intriguing collection of stories, often dealing with personal relationships in surprising (and sometimes very disturbing) ways. Among the most notable:

"The Husband Stitch" mixes the various legends of a woman who always wears a ribbon around her neck (sometimes a green one, sometimes black velvet) and instructs her lover never to try and remove it with fourth-wall-breaking stage directions to tell a tale of a marriage...

"Inventory" presents the end of the world in the form of one survivor's inventory of all the people they've had sex with - including little details that present the unfolding of the apocalypse and its aftermath. (This one's my favorite in this collection.)

"Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order: SVU": yep, this one's a riff on the TV series, posting an escalating series of loosely-linked snippets about the main characters as they deal with crimes and personal problems.

"Real Women Have Bodies" posits that some women are simply... vanishing, becoming translucent before fading - and what it might be like to live in such a world.

"Eight Bites" is a chilly tale of a woman who joins her sisters in having permanent gastric-bypass surgery, with the subsequent limitations on her diet - and significant changes to her sense of self.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

Released for:

** 2025 Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes challenge **