{"id":19001,"date":"2024-09-25T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=19001"},"modified":"2024-09-07T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T00:50:08","slug":"review-self-made-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-self-made-monsters\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><i><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19002\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-self-made-monsters\/self-made-monsters\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/self-made-monsters.jpg?fit=183%2C275&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"183,275\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"self-made-monsters\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/self-made-monsters.jpg?fit=183%2C275&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-19002\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/self-made-monsters.jpg?resize=183%2C275&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Self-Made Monsters\" width=\"183\" height=\"275\" \/>Self-Made Monsters<\/i> by Rebecca Cuthbert<br \/>\nAlien Buddha Press (October 5, 2024)<br \/>\nReviewed by Joshua Gage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebecca Cuthbert writes dark fiction and poetry. Readers of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cemetery Dance<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will be familiar with her work <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-creep-this-way\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creep This Way: How to Become a Horror Writer with 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and her debut collection, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-in-memory-of-exoskeletons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Memory of Exoskeletons<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the meantime, readers can enjoy Cuthbert\u2019s work in her newest hybrid collection <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Self-Made Monsters<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebecca Cuthbert\u2019s stories are delightfully shocking, in the best of ways. Reading a story like \u201cDare You\u201d or \u201cMakeover\u201d is like experiencing a <em>Twilight Zone<\/em> episode for the first time. Readers are presented with a normal tale, a tale they are familiar with that has some quirky nuances, but they know where it\u2019s going to go, because there are only two or three directions a tale about a dare in a local haunted house or a plastic surgery could go. Cuthbert\u2019s skill is in subverting those expectations or cliches in such a way that is not surreal or bizarre, but so fresh and blunt that it\u2019s even more haunting and scary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cuthbert\u2019s poems are equally as enthralling, though possibly less horrific and more humorous. Poems like \u201cLake Erie Omen\u201d and the near sea shanty \u201cMistress Meg O\u2019Malley\u201d are dark and threatening, but are so full of Cuthbert\u2019s trademark feminist triumph, that the horror is almost excused in the name of delightful vengeance. Though not truly scary, they serve almost as emotional counterweights from the heavier fiction, and are deliberately lighter in tone, though no less skillfully crafted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebecca Cuthbert is just starting to make her mark on horror as a poet, fiction writer, and non-fiction writer. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Self-Made Monsters<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is yet another example of why this is. Whether it\u2019s her shockingly original short stories or her delightfully dark and vengeful poems, Cuthbert\u2019s writing is fresh and clever. Fans of horror, especially those who want to catch an author who is certainly poised to be one of the next big things early, will absolutely want to read this book. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert Alien Buddha Press (October 5, 2024) Reviewed by Joshua Gage Rebecca Cuthbert writes dark fiction and poetry. Readers of Cemetery Dance will be familiar with her work Creep This Way: How to Become a Horror Writer with 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling and her debut collection, In Memory of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-self-made-monsters\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[506,2931,79,3191],"class_list":["post-19001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-joshua-gage","tag-rebecca-cuthbert","tag-reviews","tag-self-made-monsters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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