A woman desperate to achieve the life she’s always dreamed of orders an AI baby online. Mounting workplace misogyny helps an introvert unlock her innate power. A woman obsessed with skincare goes to great lengths to rid her face of imperfections. A frat boy looking to score gets much more than he bargained for when a sexy coed turns the tables on him. Seeking relief from the pressures of everyday life, a woman checks into a hotel that caters to her dark predilections.
Equal parts heartbreaking and grotesque, How Lovely To Be a Woman: Stories and Poems explores the everyday horrors of womanhood and delights in the monstrous ways women adapt, evolve, fight back, and survive.
Reviews
“The title says it all—Tiffany Brown’s debut collection perfectly captures the beauty and the horror intrinsic in existing as a woman. Within these pages lie aching longing, terrifying devotion, skin-crawling body horror, and poetry that runs a blade beneath your skin. Brown’s empathy and inimitable style will pull you in like a lover’s embrace, and by the time you realize you’re clutched close to a chest cracked open, your cheek against the bloody, beating muscle, it’s too late to escape. A darkly gorgeous collection.”
Laurel Hightower
Author of BELOW and CROSSROADS
“Tiffany Michelle Brown creates a landscape of horror over which the reader can slither along, exploring expertly crafted stories, ranging from body horror to dark fantasy and poetry. How Lovely to Be a Woman is seasoned with delectable prose, making it all the more delightful for unhinging your jaw to devour each morsel, digest, and repeat. Brown’s exquisite balance of beautiful prose and twisted storytelling has easily placed her on my list of favorite writers, and I’m excited to see what she comes up with next.”
Red Lagoe
Author of Lucid Screams
and Dismal Dreams
“Brown’s How Lovely to Be a Woman is a riveting collection of stories and poems, a must for any lover of horror. Deliciously gory and thought-provoking, Brown had my emotions running the gamut, from anguish to vengeance to rage. Sink your teeth into this treasure… if you dare.”
NJ Gallegos
Author of Just Desserts and the upcoming novel, The Broken Heart
“Packed with beautiful stories both familiar and bizarre, Brown repeatedly demonstrates why she is an author to admire…A beautiful paean of dark, feminist fury.”
Zachary Rosenberg
Author of Hungers as Old as This Land and the forthcoming The Long Shalom